Gordon Zuckerman

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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

This book attempts to make an economic theory appealing by disguising it as a novel. At least I think it’s intended to be serious judging from the author’s note that refers to an appendix containing statistics that one of the characters presents in Chapter 6. The problem is, some of these statistics are wrong. Unemployment rates of 27% in 1960, and 18.4% in 1970? Well, after all, I guess this is fiction, but I’m more inclined to think it’s sloppy editing. (According to the Bureau of show more Labor statistics the highest monthly rates in 1960 and 1970 were 6.6% and 6.1% respectively).
The theme behind this book is that a group of students at The Sentinels, a university of sorts, prepared a doctoral thesis demonstrating that America's economic problems can be solved by bringing manufacturing back on shore. Through the magic of three new service jobs appearing for each new manufacturing job, our economic problems are solved. A few other elements are also necessary such as affordable energy and a new labor policy, and something has to be done about the bad guys who are impeding progress by blowing up the research building.
Aside from editing problems, this book violates many fundamental novel-writing principles. To begin with, it is excessively wordy. The dialog is stilted and guaranteed to put the reader to sleep. The characters deliver long lectures that sound like robots speaking. Exposition uses the classical "as you know, John," following which the speaker delivers a long speech that, of course, John already knows, but the reader needs to catch up.
The characters often have long and protracted thoughts that seem totally unbelievable. Here's an example of a young woman admiring a man who has just entered the room: "Even with so much on his mind this tall, athletic, dark completed [sic] man with the curly black hair and piercing brown eyes reminds me of some big cat carefully stalking his prey." Do real people think this way?
I think the best advice for this author is something I read long ago: if you want to entertain, write a novel; if you want to send a message, use Western Union. show less

I loved the idea of this unusual thriller: Big companies are the big powerbrokers influencing the world stage (specifically World War II in this work.} The Sentinels are a group of young adults, fresh from graduate school with deep insight into this influence over history and they set out to create an organization that will counterweight those big companies in using their resources to fuel war and conflict.

The story reads very well and the pages turn at a rapid pace. The plot is good and I show more enjoyed getting to know the characters. I look forward to reading the remaining books in the series and see what affects this group of Wiz Kids can have on the world. Recommend for fans of International intrigue and spy dramas. 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