Gordon Zuckerman

Pushing Back the Desert by Gordon Zuckerman was so bad that it was impossible to finish. I almost never stop reading a book, and I will give almost anything a chance. However, I knew within the first two chapters that this wasn't a good book. I still gave the author a chance and read through about halfway. A couple of specific points: the storyline pretty much assumed you had read his previous work (which I hadn't) and was nearly impossible to follow if you had not. The dialogue was robotic show more and in no way reflected how people actually interact and talk to one another. The characters were tropes and uninteresting. I found myself not caring at all what happened to any of them.

Hope this review keeps someone else from wasting any of their time!

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Pushing Back the Desert: Operation Ajax by Gordon Zuckerman is a masterful blend of historical accuracy, political intrigue, and emotional depth. Set in the late 1950s, this gripping first installment in The New Sentinels series explores themes of duty, sacrifice, and morality. The richly developed characters wrestle with their responsibility to fight against global injustice, even when the cost is heartbreakingly personal. Zuckerman’s storytelling is show more immersive, combining suspense, romance, and humor with an elegantly detailed backdrop of real-world events. Fans of historical fiction and complex, character-driven narratives will find this book absolutely captivating. An absolute must-read! show less

Big Money – Who is in Control by Gordon Zuckerman is an interesting novel with a unique twist on Eisenhower’s warning about the Military-Industrial Complex. The story is set in the early sixties during John F. Kennedy’s administration. The Sentinel Institute’s new graduating students are presenting their doctoral thesis. The thesis is regarding a group of international businessmen who are secretly controlling lending from the International Money Fund and World Bank to their benefit show more on the lending of money for big international construction projects. The thesis also ties this group of businessmen into trying to increase government spending on the military by assisting in the Congressional and Senate elections along with the President.

The story revolves around three major events in the early sixties. The events are the financing for the Aswan Dam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Viet Nam War. The “Estate of Organized Capitalism” is the name of the cabal used in the novel. This group is involved in the kidnapping and attempted murder of several of the New Sentinels and others who are involved in these events. The cabal is using several security businesses and the Mafia to track the New Sentinels and others to commit the criminal acts against them. The action takes place at various locations in the US, Switzerland, Egypt, Mexico, Argentina, and New Zealand.

I have enjoyed the earlier Sentinel trilogy and the first two books in the New Sentinels trilogy. The books have all taken a look at past historical events and laid out an interesting story line regarding how big business has been involved in the events and a group of people attempting to thwart their actions. I heartily recommend all of the books in both series. show less

At Berkeley, California, in 1932, post-graduate students began their doctoral studies at the influential and highly respected Institute for World Economic Studies. By mid-year 1938, 6 doctoral candidates claimed they had

"discovered a pattern that explains and can even predict repeating cycles of the rise and fall of world powers."

The students were the sons and a daughter of highly respected and influential families in the banking and financial world, a son from a family known for fine wine show more production and a son from a family owning a prestigious auction house.

Unknown to the students, German industrialists were plotting in closed-door meetings to use their connections around the globe to hoard a vast sum of money from illegal war profits, hiding their agenda from those financing the Third Reich.

I have read many riveting WWII historical fiction novels, many of which are based on meticulous research of actual events and people. This novel is gripping in a different way, using the backdrop of World War II to shed light on powerful people using their social status in society in combination with their financial profits to obtain power behind-the-scenes to change the course of history for their monetary gain. Each turn of the page brought new dramatic twists as the scenes changed from the United States to England to Switzerland, including unplanned diversions taken by air, land, and sea.

The scope of political intrigue, greed, secrets, lies, romance, danger, conspiracy, and violence illustrate a compelling narrative of good vs. evil. A thought-provoking novel, leaving a reader to wonder if one-day evil will win or if we admit that evil has won many times around the globe and simply wonder what the future might hold. show less