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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2204 KP) rated Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (Mrs. Pollifax, #6) in Books

Mar 9, 2018  
MP
Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station (Mrs. Pollifax, #6)
Dorothy Gilman | 1985
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mrs. Pollifax heads to China to find out the location of a forced labor camp so the CIA can free a political prisoner. As much as I love the series, this is a disappointment. It reads more like a travelogue for too much of the book, which doesn't give the plot enough time when it is finally tries to go somewhere.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/05/book-review-mrs-pollifax-on-china.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
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Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA in Books

Jun 16, 2018  
A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
Joshua Kurlantzick | 2017 | History & Politics
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Great Place to Have a War by Joshua Kurlantzick is a book about the history of Laos. The synopsis caught by eye since I lived and worked in Laos for a year as an English teacher. The book is about the conflict which occurred in Laos roughly during the same period of the Vietnam War. This is an interesting and impressive book, yet depressing. Details the rise of the CIA as a war machine during the Vietnam War, which was fought to a great extent in Laos. It looks at some of people involved in building the war to epic proportions, and then withdrawing, leaving the country to collapse into yet more suffering.

This is a fascinating look at the shadow war in Laos, staged by the CIA, during the Vietnam War. It's an extremely interesting history of the how that war came to be, some of the main people involved in that war, and the rise of the CIA as an organization conducting paramilitary operations, not just spy missions. It also relates the political intrigues of the time, and the fate of Hmong who fought for Laos, and with and for America.

I learned a lot about the history of the conflict itself, and the characters on both sides of the war. This war which has been hidden in the shadows, and the author has given the people involved a chance to have their deeds, or misdeeds aired in the light of day. As with most of the little wars that occurred during the Cold War period, there is a lot of political manoeuvring which occurs in the background.
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2204 KP) rated A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax (Mrs. Pollifax, #4) in Books

Mar 9, 2018  
AP
A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax (Mrs. Pollifax, #4)
Dorothy Gilman | 1992
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mrs. Pollifax is on her first investigative assignment when the CIA sends her to a resort in Switzerland to find the stolen plutonium. But suddenly, she finds herself on her own just hoping to figure everything out before the villain catches up with her. I loved this book just as much on the reread as I did the first time over a decade ago.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/04/book-review-palm-for-mrs-pollifax-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
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