tome 4 the last days of America

série:	Polar/Erdman
éditeur:	Chaucer Press
auteur:	Erdman Paul E.
classement:	carton46
année:	1981
format:	cartonné, avec jaquette
état:	TBE (scotché)
valeur:	5 €
critère:	*
remarques:	English book this time a political thriller being a conspiracy against the USA by Germany, the action takes place mostly in Basel which Erdman seems to know and like very much and again the Swiss are not in great esteem of Erdman >> p. 9 dr. Simonius, the Basler lawyer and a master for bribery as an agent for black money >> p. 10 the Mac Arthur's bribery (the story of) - p. 19 the "Fremdenpolizei" the Swiss police organization which comes as close to the Gestapo! >> p. 27 the Swiss bank secrecy and the Swiss conection with the Germans who are their natural allies (reference tothe second world war) >> p. 31 the "Bottminger Schloss" and its drawbridge >> p. 74 the story about Franz Josef Strauss and reference is made to the Congress of Vienna in 1815 >> p. 77 the affair with the "Spiegel" >> p. 79 "Deutschland über alles", the barbarians of the "Karneval" time and of the "Oktoberfest", Germany has got to be a nuclear power in order to defend Europe against the Soviets >> p. 107 the word "hypocrisy" was probably invented to describe the most notable trait of the Swiss >> p. 111 the danger with which Germany is now faced: finlandization of West Germany by the Soviets or reunification with East Germany under the hammer and the sickle >> p. 158 the conspiration of the Black Forest in Titisee near the Feldberg mountain >> p. 164 mr. Erdman is wrong in that case: although the "Sturmgewehr" is kept at home with some "full metal jacket", guns are not at all taboo in the Swiss cult of everyday living >> p. 174 the drive through the village of Oberwil, Biel and Benken = 155 souls (?) >> p. 185 Village-Neuf, famous for the asparagus and the Kaefferkopf Riesling at the restaurant du Canal n.b. no longer exists in 2010 >> p. 222 the extradition treaty between the States and Switzerland >> p. 229 71% of the German missiles could now hit their target in Russia, the deal of "stealth technology" was perfect >> p. 232 the prediction about the breaking point of the Soviet system (which happened in 1990) >> p. 237 history repeats itself: the German/Soviet non-agression pact in 1987 by now the USA have been put to side and isolated, the USA have lost their position of prepondency in the world and are even obliged to take part on a political meeting at Munich >> a good book but not as thrilling as "the crash of 1979", this time all the story is about a conspiracy against the USA by Germany which is eager to restore its political, economical and military supremacy in Europe against the Soviet Union, supported of course by Switzerland, its natural ally!! but the end of the novel is not really convincing with some questions involved such as - why should USA and URSS not intervene in Germany's production of missiles - why was Rogers - when not extradited - at least charged in the USA for the murders in Europe, it makes no sense that USA would not intervene in that relation - how can Rogers explain to the tax authority the origin of the money used to buy the vineyard in California? the tax authority would probably not accept it as simple as explained >> the original idea for the story is good but the end of the story is not trustworthy and it is certainly not the last days of America but rather, as predicted, the last days of the Soviet Union corruption, bribery (especially again against Switzerland) as well as international politics are the main plots in the book, at least it is written in a plain understandable language
couvertures: