Rating: 
Summary: Pace e guerra (Peace and war)
Review: Ho appena riletto con grande piacere questo libro di John McPhee nella sua brillante traduzione italiana. Nessun autore (a me noto) é riuscito a darci un'immagine così precisa dell'esercito più pacifista del mondo e degli uomini che lo compongono. John McPhee non ha solo cercato di scavare nelle caverne-hangar delle inaccessibili montagne svizzere, ma anche -e soprattutto- é riuscito a fornirci un quadro luminoso dei caratteri umani e della commistione tra potere economico ed esercito.D'altra parte per la Svizzera, piccolo territorio e grande potenza finanziaria, conservare la pace -anche con la forza di dissuasione- é fondamentale per la sua stessa esistenza: "se vuoi la pace prepara la guerra" dicevano al proposito gli antichi romani 2000 anni addietro. John indaga, curioso ed ironico, e rinviene dati ed informazioni che amalgama con le proprie fonti di conoscenza: il risultato é un'affascinante romanzo verità, un saggio nel vero senso del termine che diventa leggero e godibile per il lettore. La narrativa é talmente avvincente che in alcuni momenti il freddo del ghiacciaio esce dal libro e ci congela le dite delle mani, il vento sibilante gira da solo le pagine, una dietro l'altra, fino alla fine del racconto, lasciandoci solo il tempo di pensare che la pace svizzera descritta da John McPhee é poco diversa da una guerra senza sangue. Assolutamente fantastico!
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Summary: A faithful rendition of the Swiss military tradition
Review: In German, La Place de la Concorde Suisse is rendered Concordiaplatz, and it is visible from the Jungfraujoch, which means "virgin saddle," and which is reached via funicular railway from Interlaken. Depending upon the season, one can either hike or ski from the Jungfraujoch down the Aletsch glacier to Concordiaplatz and view the redoubt containing the sunken armory described in McPhee's book. There may even be a visible contingent of soldiers guarding and maintaining it, just as their brethren maintain the explosives stashed in the outerworks of all key bridges in the country, or inspect the radar installations on key peaks such as the Weissflühgipfel above Davos. As one who lived and worked in Switzerland for eight years, and whose published memoir, Living Among The Swiss, is listed on this website, I can attest to the accuracy of McPhee's account. Most of my business colleagues were required to take annual two- or three-week military leaves, and one sees soldiers everywhere: on trains, in ski resorts, along low and vulnerable mountain passes such as those north of Sargans, and, increasingly, at airports. Their efficiency of organization has been admired not only by the Israelis, who imitated it, but also by the Russian defense minister, and McPhee accurately captures their esprit de corps - in the process expanding, as usual, the reader's vocabulary.
Rating: 
Summary: A portrait of Switzerland
Review: La Place de la Concorde Suisse is about the Swiss army, but, as they say, when you talk about Switzerland, you talk about their defense. Because everyone in Switzerland is in the army, you are talking about their country. An incredibly rich country, and thus, an incredibly paranoid country. Although many people are now looking at the Swiss, and especially their banks, with new eyes following the revelations of Nazi war booty being hid within their anonymous, numbered accounts, McPhee put them in the spotlight a decade earlier here. While his light is not as bright as some of those today, he did discover some interesting bits which had been hid by shadows before, like their placement of explosives (or identification of where to place such) under each bridge into the country, a discussion of the surreptitious bombing they suffered under Allied planes in the war, and the old boys network that links the army and the industry. At the end, you don't necessarily emerge with a message, but rather a portrait of the country.
Rating:
Summary: My first time
Review: Reading a McPhee book that is. It was loaned to me by someone since he knows my wife is Swiss. LPDLCS was a great book of his to start with and I think is the quintessential McPhee book. His subject matter has always puzzled me. He goes to Iceland to document their fight against the lava flows, to Greece to learn more about Ophiolite sequences, and to the Alaskan bush to see how the last great "Pioneers" live. Of course in LPDLCS he travels with member of the French-Swiss military on their yearly excursions, but you learn so much more about things you never thought could be interesting. His books are as eccentric as they are fascinating. I have not yet read a bad book from this guy. La Place De La Concorde Suisse is where several glaciers meet in the Swiss Alps. What a bizzare, but appropriate, title. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: My first time
Review: Reading a McPhee book that is. It was loaned to me by someone since he knows my wife is Swiss. LPDLCS was a great book of his to start with and I think is the quintessential McPhee book. His subject matter has always puzzled me. He goes to Iceland to document their fight against the lava flows, to Greece to learn more about Ophiolite sequences, and to the Alaskan bush to see how the last great "Pioneers" live. Of course in LPDLCS he travels with member of the French-Swiss military on their yearly excursions, but you learn so much more about things you never thought could be interesting. His books are as eccentric as they are fascinating. I have not yet read a bad book from this guy. La Place De La Concorde Suisse is where several glaciers meet in the Swiss Alps. What a bizzare, but appropriate, title. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Swiss Freedom: a Number One Priority
Review: The latest reprint of John McPhee's 1983 La Place de la Concorde Suisse is a perfect complement to Stephen P. Halbrook's TARGET SWITZERLAND: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II. As a Swiss-American, in 1951 I saw the WW II defensive preparations: valley to valley anti-tank barriers; rail iron roadblocks that could be set up in minutes; gun emplacements covering roads and passes, and a Reservist army of every male still on maneuvers. Today most men have an automatic weapon or pistol and sealed packet of cartridges at home. Yet a national mentalite' - a word that may be translated as an accute sense of the responsibility inherent in possessing a gun - precludes the use of these weapons in criminal acts. They're registered, just as automobiles are, and private gun ownership is strictly regulated by cantonal laws. None protest that their to right to own guns is infringed! McPhee follows a reconnaisance patrol of French-speaking reservists as they cull information in the mountains: how many men can fit in a cable car? Are explosive charges in place under a bridge? How long would a relief force take to reach a certain village? (89 minutes.) The leader of this somewhat laid-back unit is a vintner in civil life - when pondering a problem he uncorks a bottle of his own wine and shares it with his men. He has no ambitions toward promotion, although many Swiss corporations see a correlation between the prestige of army rank and their executives' jobs. Swiss preparedness and determination deterred invasion in WW II by implementing the dictum, "Switzerland doesn't have an army, Switzerland is an army." Today, not everyone agrees, but the national attitude may summed up in a bumper sticker: "Everyone talks about wanting peace. Our army assures it." Albert Noyer; author The Saint's Day Deaths. male
Rating:
Summary: Swiss Freedom: a Number One Priority
Review: The latest reprint of John McPhee's 1983 La Place de la Concorde Suisse is a perfect complement to Stephen P. Halbrook's TARGET SWITZERLAND: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II. As a Swiss-American, in 1951 I saw the WW II defensive preparations: valley to valley anti-tank barriers; rail iron roadblocks that could be set up in minutes; gun emplacements covering roads and passes, and a Reservist army of every male still on maneuvers. Today most men have an automatic weapon or pistol and sealed packet of cartridges at home. Yet a national mentalite' - a word that may be translated as an accute sense of the responsibility inherent in possessing a gun - precludes the use of these weapons in criminal acts. They're registered, just as automobiles are, and private gun ownership is strictly regulated by cantonal laws. None protest that their to right to own guns is infringed! McPhee follows a reconnaisance patrol of French-speaking reservists as they cull information in the mountains: how many men can fit in a cable car? Are explosive charges in place under a bridge? How long would a relief force take to reach a certain village? (89 minutes.) The leader of this somewhat laid-back unit is a vintner in civil life - when pondering a problem he uncorks a bottle of his own wine and shares it with his men. He has no ambitions toward promotion, although many Swiss corporations see a correlation between the prestige of army rank and their executives' jobs. Swiss preparedness and determination deterred invasion in WW II by implementing the dictum, "Switzerland doesn't have an army, Switzerland is an army." Today, not everyone agrees, but the national attitude may summed up in a bumper sticker: "Everyone talks about wanting peace. Our army assures it." Albert Noyer; author The Saint's Day Deaths. male
Rating: 
Summary: As Well Arranged as a Swiss Army Knife
Review: This book (digressing from "Assembling California" and the omnibuses which include "Pieces of a Frame") finds its own unsuspecting terrain in a study of the Swiss Army. Perfidious, deft, exacting, and precise, the small civilian-based group which functions in the semineutral country makes high art of most everything associated with preparedness. There are leesons here on the complex of hidden caverns storing years' worth of food in teh event of the unthinkable, tales of unexploded discharges along routeways and the relevant merits of Swiss history to world culture (Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of the World Unite!). Each chapter is as well arranged and fits as compactly within the whole like an individual instrument in a Swiss Army Knife; as much a joy to discover as to contemplate its application. What makes this books significant is the lasting sense of an example (as with other books by the author. See e.g., "The Headmaster") both enduring and of interest. While those interested in confining themselves to studies as to how certain armies function -Thucydides and von Clausowitz- this book allows one to understand why they exist.
Rating:
Summary: As Well Arranged as a Swiss Army Knife
Review: This book (digressing from "Assembling California" and the omnibuses which include "Pieces of a Frame") finds its own unsuspecting terrain in a study of the Swiss Army. Perfidious, deft, exacting, and precise, the small civilian-based group which functions in the semineutral country makes high art of most everything associated with preparedness. There are leesons here on the complex of hidden caverns storing years' worth of food in teh event of the unthinkable, tales of unexploded discharges along routeways and the relevant merits of Swiss history to world culture (Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of the World Unite!). Each chapter is as well arranged and fits as compactly within the whole like an individual instrument in a Swiss Army Knife; as much a joy to discover as to contemplate its application. What makes this books significant is the lasting sense of an example (as with other books by the author. See e.g., "The Headmaster") both enduring and of interest. While those interested in confining themselves to studies as to how certain armies function -Thucydides and von Clausowitz- this book allows one to understand why they exist.
Rating:
Summary: As Well Arranged as a Swiss Army Knife
Review: This book -diverging from the writer's "Assembling California" or the omnibus which include "Pieces of a Frame"), finds its own unsuspecting terrain and subject in the days in the lives of the Swiss Army. Prefidious, deft, exacting, and precise, this group, decentralized and civilian-based in th semineutral country demonstrates several aspects as to why the Swiss play an instrumental part in European and world history (Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts of the World unite!); being prepared here is not so much a motto as High Art itself. There are descriptions of caverns storing entire food supplies for years (in end in the event of the catastrophic), highways where explosives remain hidden, and exactly the manner under which Swiss eat their lunch. Each chapter, always a surprise and of interest, holds togetherin the books compactness like an individual instrument in a Swiss Army Knife. What makes this significant is the way in which such example can (as with the author's other excellent studies; see e.g., "The Headmaster") are noteworthy and that beyond Thucydides or Clausowitz may prove enduring (i.e., knowing why as opposed merely what armies are for is of note)
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