Bookworm on Nov 17 2007
Have you read a book lately that you think other visitors to this blog would enjoy? If you have, leave a comment here with information about the book. It can be as little as the book’s name, and as much as a whole book review.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Spartacus on Why atheists have no fixed moral points — and why that’s a problem (even if they’re really sweet people)
Charles Martel on Why atheists have no fixed moral points — and why that’s a problem (even if they’re really sweet people)Spartacus on Why atheists have no fixed moral points — and why that’s a problem (even if they’re really sweet people)
Oldflyer on The peculiar coincidence of Muslims who commit acts of violence
riw777 on Why atheists have no fixed moral points — and why that’s a problem (even if they’re really sweet people)
jj on Why atheists have no fixed moral points — and why that’s a problem (even if they’re really sweet people)jj on Why atheists have no fixed moral points — and why that’s a problem (even if they’re really sweet people)
Michael Adams on A quick riff on yesterday’s events in LondonCharles Martel on Why atheists have no fixed moral points — and why that’s a problem (even if they’re really sweet people)jj on Why atheists have no fixed moral points — and why that’s a problem (even if they’re really sweet people)
BIOGRAPHY
“Enjoy” isn’t the word for this book, but I just finished A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. It’s his story of being a child soldier in Sierra Leone in the 90s, and it’s heartbreaking and inspiring. I have nothing to complain about in my life after reading of his and his country’s suffering.
RELIGION, HISTORY
Well, the best non-fiction book I’ve read recently was Max I. Dimont’s Jews, God, and History.
For a long time, I had been in search of a history of the Jews that started at the beginning, used the Bible as well as other historical references, and was geared for someone who was interested in the mid-level detail. (Many Jewish history books appear to be written for those with more academic-level interests.)
This book did not disappoint. Dimont avoids the downfall of history books – you know, the ones that give you the horrible sense that you are trudging through the centuries at the same pace as those who actually lived the events. His book is organized by the ideas that shaped the time periods so although the book moves in chronological order, each chapter starts by “backing up” a couple of centuries because of course, the forces that shape new ideas come into play long before the idea is in full bloom.
I particularly appreciated the attention Dimont paid to the Nazi’s anti-Christian ideas. I do not know much about Nazi history and was therefore surprised at the extent to which they also persecuted Christians.
In short, this is one of the books that I plan on reading again in order to absorb more of the material. Which is not to say that it is a difficult read – it isn’t. It is just that there is a lot of enjoyable material.
Deana
GENERAL FICTION
On another note: I love all books so all recommendations are great but I’m particularly interested if someone has a really good fiction read out there. Something in the vein of Love in the Time of Cholera or historical fiction or even an epic – something you can get lost in.
I’ll be most thankful!
GENERAL NON-FICTION, GENERAL FICTION, PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY
Deana
It’s hard to know where to start, but being a male I’m naturally drawn to masculine writers and themes such as Hemmingway’s. Thinking of books with cross gender appeal I would recommend the 4 book series starting with “The Clan of the Cave Bear” or any of James Michener’s books except for “Texas” and “Iberia”. Lately, I have been working on the classics such as “The Brothers Karamazov”, “Rob Roy”, Plato’s “Republic”, Machiavelli’s “The Prince”. The non-fiction “Lenin’s Tomb” was very good.
GENERAL FICTION, GENERAL NON-FICTION
One of my law school alums, Michael Lee Weems wrote “The Ghosts of Varner Creek,” an outstanding book from all accounts I’m privy to.
I’ve been reading de Tocqueville off and on for a couple years now; he’s not bad, either.
Additionally, I would recommend just about anything from David L. Robbins, but one needs to start with War of the Rats, an historic fiction about Vassily Zaitsev far superior to the film Enemy at the Gates.
[...] Books! [...]
HISTORY
“The Making of the Atomic Bomb” by Richard Rhodes.
A fascinating book about the people, policies, and history associated with atomic research which culminated in the bomb.
This book is also about a dark time for humanity. From the purges of Jews from universities and research centers in Germany to survivors accounts from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
HISTORIC FICTION
If you want an historical fiction to get lost in, I highly recommend The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman.
It’s about the War of the Roses and a perfect read (900+ pages) if you are snowed in with a bottle of brandy and a raging fire.
Ellie -
I DID read The Sunne in Splendor last year and yes, it was fantastic! Armageddon could have been raging at my front door and I would have been oblivious. She is a wonderful, wonderful writer.
Ivan -
Don’t worry about suggesting masculine themes. My taste in reading material leans toward the masculine from time to time. That, along with my politics, makes me super popular with my girlfriends. (Hee-hee-hee!)
Wonderful suggestions, everyone! I hope people will add to this list as they discover new books.
HISTORIC FICTION, GENERAL FICTION
Deana, if you want a really good fiction read, get into Lawrence Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet.” Four volumes (“quartet” – duh…) which may well be the finest exercise in English literature of the twentieth century. A very broad statement, I know, but one with which much of the world seems to agree: since publication of the last volume in 1958, even in this mostly-illiterate country they have never for as much as one minute been out of print. You’ll find them at your neighborhood Borders, B & N, Walden, or B. Dalton.
Right behind Durrell, and maybe with more humor, is Robertson Davies’ “The Deptford Trilogy,” or his “The Salterton Trilogy,” also exercises in sustained brilliance.
Durrell and Davies are extraordinary artists, and will effortlessly move you from your world to theirs. They will also occupy you for the rest of your life, as re-reading the quartet and both trilogies is something you can do on an annual basis: you’ll find something new every time you re-read them!
HISTORY, POLITICS
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. by Steve Coll.
Great book. Truly informative and revealing. Everyone should read this book to understand some of the background of what we are dealing with today. This one is an eye opener.
HISTORIC FICTION, GENERAL FICTION
Fiction, hands down Neal Stephensen’s the Baroque Cycle. It’s a 3 volume set. In order, “Quicksilver” “The Confusion” and “The System of the World”
The characters in these books are rich. They also include historical figures made real such as Newton, Liebniz, Hooke, and others. These books at times had me exploding with laughter.
Follow up with Stephensen’s “Cryptonomicon” there will be some surprises for you.
I’m going to try to post what I got, Book. It probably won’t get through the spam filters given that it has many links.
If anyone is interested in my book recommendations, you can see my comment at my blog, through my name-link.
This is for if my comment hasn’t already shown up here of course.
ROMANCE, HISTORY, SCIENCE
To the list of books I’d recommend, I’ll add a quick three:
Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans by Jane Green, which is a slightly tart, knowing romance.
Sovereign Ladies: Sex. Sacrifice and Power–The Six Reigning Queens of England, by Maureen Waller, a beautifully written history of the English queens, which fleshes out lesser known queens such as Mary and Anne.
Napoleon’s Glands and Other Ventures in Biohistory, by Arno Karlen, a delightful look at history through the eyes of bacteria, virus and other bio phenomena.
PHILOSOPHY
I’ll second the recommendation for the Stephenson trilogy.
I recently read C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, a very useful and interesting series of lectures on science, human nature, and ethics. I recommend it especially to other atheists.
GENERAL FICTION
Trimegistus,
That’s funny. I’m reading The Abolition of Man right now
Howdy Bookworm,
For a fun insightful read, I’d recommend GK Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday. This is a wonderful book that speaks more to our time, I think, than when it was written.
SCIENCE, GENERAL FICTION, MYSTERY, GENERAL NON-FICTION
I am reading “Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend” by Barbara Oakley, which posits a genetic link to evil behavior. I do like reading about personality disorders.
And I just started “Mystic River” by Dennis Lehane. He is doing a marvelous job of portraying the hum-drumminess of life before one of the main character’s lives is completely devastated by another’s actions (maybe). I feel sure I will be reading more of his books.
I have also been racing through several mysteries by Anna Salter, a forensic psychologist. She knows whereof she speaks about the evil in her books. She wrote a non-fiction book too, called “Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders : Who They Are, How They Operate, and How We Can Protect Ourselves and Our Children” which was hugely informative and I would recommend to anyone, especially parents.
GENERAL FICTION, HISTORIC FICTION, MYSTERY
For those who like Elmore Leonard type reading, I suggest any of Irish writer Ken Bruen’s police procedural novels. Bernard Cornwell wrote a lovely offbeat novel called “Gallow’s Thief” about capital punishment in 1820′s London. I’m almost done with Ian Rankin’s “Witch Hunt“. Also, there’s a wonderful new series of mystery-crime-noir anthologies by Akashic Books, each with the title of a world city like Havana Noir, New York Noir etc.
I mostly added a few selling points to many of Baen’s freely available books in addition to some other science fiction favorites of mine.
More Books at Bookworm Room
HISTORIC FICTION, HISTORY
Why not try Benning’s War a novel of the American Revolution?
I’m reading Paul Johnson’s “A History of the American People”. Very good stuff!
GENERAL FICTION
I also just finished The Man Who Was Thursday and was spellbound – I swear I was in that snowstorm.
Also recommend The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, a story of an intellectually bright but behaviorally dumb, narcissistic couple and the bohemian life they force on their family as they keep one step ahead of the bill collectors. It is the matter-of-fact, unselfconscious telling of the story, through the eyes of a daughter who loved them, that is so captivating.
GENERAL NON-FICTION, HORSES
I really like this idea of book suggestions. My reading queue is stacked up, thanks everyone. I’ll file this one in the how to section.
For riders, instructors, parents whose kids want to learn to ride horses this one is great. I just finished re-reading most of this.
Basic Horsemanship English and Western by Eleanor F. Prince and Gaydell M. Collier.
If you’re a parent who’s children wants to take riding lessons I highly recommend reading this. Especially if you are not that sure, or have little knowledge on the subject. Though I might not train a horse or a student in exactly the same manner I find nothing the least bit objectional in the methods they espouse.
GENERAL NON-FICTION, FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION
Freakonomics! I loved that.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
the Lord of the Rings books.
Ender’s Game.
Sun Tsu’s Art of War (it’s a cliche to recommend it but, why not?)
I have a $20 Amazon gift certificate burning a hole in my email inbox — and now I’ve got way too many choices for using it!
Do you remember the publication that O propounded so vigorously? Right. The Economist. It was, as I recall, one of the few ways to become truly informed.
Well, I got a severe case of the giggles when I read about their newest contributor. Angelina Jolie is going to be a regular there now.
http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzJkNDUwYzQ5NDQ1YmU5MmZkZDAzOTEzMjc3NzUzYTg=
HISTORY, WORLD WAR II
The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz is the best survivor book ever. I reread it every few years and still enjoy it.
BIOGRAPHY, WORLD WAR II
I just finished a good one. I’ll preface this with an experience of mine. i went to a promotion ceremony for a cousin. She was being promoted to Colonel, since promotions are done by superior officers a one star general did hers. I was introduced to him by my cousin, he eyes my uniform and decorations, and I do the same to him. We immediately started making snide comments to each other about the others unit.
My cousin said to me later since when does a Sergeant talk like that to a General? I explained I wasn’t talking to a general I was talking to a brother. He was 101st and I was 82nd. Having said that.
Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters by Major Dick Withers with Col. Cole C. Kingseed.
Truly astounding story by the commander of Easy Company 506th PIR
CHINA, GENERAL NON-FICTION
I recently finished China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford. It’s a fascinating snapshot of Mainland China today, and among other things forecast by implication the problems we’re having with Chinese exports today.
Al
I came across this by accident. A short story written in the 30′s to try to get America’s attention — then solidly isolationist — turned to what was happening in Germany. It’s written as a morality play.
Two friends and business partners live in San Francisco, one Jew one Gentile, both Germans. The Gentile decides to return to Germany because his wife is homesick. The story concerns their correspondence.
Address Unknown by Katherine Kressmann Taylor.
SCIENCE FICTION
The Shiva Option was a pretty good space opera in my opinion.
It is the last book in the series but given that it wraps things up, I recommend reading it. If you like it, you can always read what went on before. That is actually what I did.
HISTORY, POLITICS
Patrick, the Paragraph Farmer, left this comment at another post (about Nazis and Marxism), but I wanted to copy it over here, since it sounds like a book that belongs in this list of reader recommendations:
“I haven’t read widely in this area, but from what I’ve seen, the man who made this point best was Erik von Kuehneldt-Leddihn in his masterful book, “Leftism Revisited: From De Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot.” Erik was a classical European liberal in the old sense of those words; it’s a shame his work is not better known.”
BIOGRAPHY, LITERARY CRITIQUES
Van Wyck Brooks was a Pulitzer winner 60 or 70 years ago. His literary/cultural histories are inspired with a vital beauty & joy that is just a delight to bathe in. He is new to my uneducated mind and I really am enjoying his:
1) The Life of Emerson; 2) The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865 and 3) New England: Indian Summer, 1865-1914.
There were many more titles by him, but this is where I am now.
RELIGION, GENERAL NON-FICTION, POLITICS, ROMANCE, GENERAL FICTION
I’m delighted with the book recommendations here. I’ve got a few books swirling around my house, all of which I’m reading more or less simultaneously. In no particular order:
1. Robert Spencer’s The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion, the title of which is self-explanatory.
2. Bernard Goldberg’s Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right: How One Side Lost Its Mind and the Other Lost Its Nerve, which is basically a rant, alternately amused and angry, by a guy who is not so much a neo-con, as a neo-libertarian (although I don’t think he’ll be supporting Ron Paul anytime soon).
3. Jay Winik’s The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788-1800, which examines the effect the American Revolution had in America, France and Russia. It’s a fascinating book, delightfully written.
4. Trisha Ashley’s Every Woman for Herself, which is a very sweet British chick-lit book. I’ve discovered that the ones that take place in London tend to involve rather pathetic, sordid women who nevertheless find love with the cool guy. However the ones that take place in the countryside, as this one does, tend to have a wholesomeness that I find pleasant. It’s still a little difficult to figure out why the heroine would be attractive to the hero, but the whole ambiance is so charming, I forgive the inconsistencies.
5. And, as always, anything by Helen MacInnes, an author I enjoy reading when I just don’t feel like reading anything else.
[...] Books! [...]
HISTORIC FICTION
For years I never got around to reading the series of Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian about British naval life during the Napoleonic wars. Spending so much time in the car driving my son, I found the answer: listening to them. The reader, Patrick Tull, is the best I have ever heard. It’s a long term project that will take months, and I will be sad when it is over.
HISTORIC FICTION, GENERAL FICTION
“The Widow of the South“, a novel based on a true character from the Civil War. A wonderful and sad book.,. by Robert Hicks.
In a totally different direction, for those of us old enough to remember those days, Bill Bryson’s “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” is hilarious and heartwarming.
HISTORIC FICTION, POLITICS, GENERAL NON-FICTION, GENERAL FICTION, ROMANCE
Ivan, I was a huge James A. Michener fan too; most of his books I read only once, but The Source I can read over and over again. (Tells the fictional history of a town in what became Israel, from prehistoric days to the modern.) I’d highly recommend “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell, quick read and enjoyable. For more political reading, try The Ten Things You Can’t Say In America (Larry Elder); for relatives who need a dose of common sense, give ‘em Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel – Why Everything You Know is Wrong (John Stossel, and just fabulous). And for anyone who likes romance but not “romance novels,” try The Time Traveler’s Wife; just a wonderful, wonderfully written book.
MYSTERY
Dorothy Sayers’ wonderful mysteries, which are as much literature as mystery.
PHYSICS
This one might sound a bit odd, but if you want a glimpse into a great scientific mind it’s well worth it. I often enjoy re-reading books because I gain new insights as time passes, and I just re-read this one.
Relativity : The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein.
He was actually quite an elegant writer, he uses analogy well, and has a nice turn of phrase. The mathematic content is small and can be followed quite readily by most. The ideas are another matter, and require introspection and scrupulous attention. The book is quite a bit shorter than you might think for such a profound idea.
FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION
Fantasy Genre:
Tigana – Too complicated to explain here. Suffice it to say that this is a political fantasy with strong characterization, an interesting magic system and a beautiful plot. You will laugh, and (possibly) cry, and the ending is wonderful in a “he’s not writing a sequel? Awww…” way.
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel – You hate the cliches too, don’t you? Then read this encyclopedia, where we learn why Horses never have to rest, where to buy your Sword (and pitfalls to avoid), who your Companions will be, and your Ultimate Destiny as Saviour of the Human Race / Hero of the Universe / Discoverer of the Secret Quest Object / All-Around Awesome Guy.
The Silmarillon – Um. Read it if you liked LoTR, otherwise ignore it. (It’s far easier to read, in my opinon, than LoTR.)
The Golden Compass (actually, the second and third books are far better than the first) – Why are all the adults talking in whispers about Dust? And why are Lyra’s friends hearing rumors about Gobblers, strange folk who kidnap street children to separate them from their souls? Eventually, Lyra gets involved in a quest to find out.
Sabriel – “One in the line that wears the Crown, Two in the ones who keep the Dead down…” Not all is well beyond the Wall, for Abhorsen, the leader whose job it is to ensure that the Dead stay that way, has been killed by a powerfully evil wizard bent on immortality. Now it’s up to Sabriel, the old Abhorsen’s daughter, to take up the task.
Sci-Fi / Speculative Fiction Genre
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – When the gov’t pursues policies that will result in mass starvation, a political activist, a retired professor and a computer technician become the head of a revolutionary movement.
Starship Troopers – ignore the movie. This is a book about the footsoldiers fighting against an alien species that would love to colonize Earth the way they’ve colonized so many other planets. Dratted humans, however, are refusing to lay down and die …
Ender’s Shadow (and the whole series) – The first in a series about Bean, one of Ender’s soldiers. Yes, Bean really is as much a genius as we thought before.
Lucifer’s Hammer – “First the odds of the comet hitting Earth were one in a million. Then one in a thousand. Then one in a hundred. And then …”
Time Traveler’s Strictly Cash – any and all of the Callahan series by Spider Robinson will have you roaring with laughter, although they become more improbable as the series goes on.
Apologies, I couldn’t figure out how to do links.
Also, oops: “Time Travelers Strictly Cash”
HISTORIC FICTION, GENERAL FICTION
Susan Shepard,
I read Lucifer’s Hammer many years ago and was completely captured! I haven’t talked to or heard of anyone else who ever read it, but strongly second your suggestion to anyone looking for an apocolyptic science fiction kind of read…very exciting!
For more intelligent material, I recommend these by Mark Helprin, now a resident scholar at the Claremont Institute: “Winter’s Tale” and “A Soldier of the Great War“, both in a sort of magical realism mode, but extremely well done.
Don De Lillo’s “Underworld” is one of the best novels I’ve ever read; the first chapter alone is worth the price of admission. It is about the end of America’s innocence, following a thread from Booby Thompson’s 1953 World Series home run to the advent of the internet, with a short riff on Catholic liberal education in the middle that is absolutely profound. I know he’s kind of gone to seed as a writer and thinker, but this book shows him in top form. I would love to build a college course on 20th century American life and thought using this book as a launching point.
SCIENCE FICTION, SCIENCE, GENERAL FICTION
Susan S and pacificus – hurrah for Lucifer’s Hammer! I still have it in paperback and I re-read it every few years just for fun!
Let me add my contribution: “Rendezvous with Rama” by AC Clarke. The best “hard” sci-fi I have ever read. The last line of the book still gives me the willies every time I re-read it. I won’t spill the beans here though.
There were follow-ons, and I think I may have read the first one, “Rama II”, but I don’t remember much about it, and the rest I haven’t bothered with.
It might also interest people here to read a very interesting early non-fiction book by Neville Shute, author of “On the Beach” (a damn good movie), when he was younger and writing under his real name, Neville Shute Norway. Mr. Norway was a junior designer of the 1920′s British airship R100, and it is the story of that effort, including the techno-political infighting between his team and the government-sponsored team designing the R-101, and the tragic consequences.
Oh, you want the name of the book? Well, I probably didn’t want to mention it up front, because it is utterly dorky – “Slide Rule“. The title is relevant, but unfortunate in that it doesn’t tell you anything about what the book is about. Not a masterpiece – but a fascinating look at early 20th-century technology, including what “computers” actually were prior to the invention of the programmable computing machine in the 40′s.
(It’s me, Bookworm, tagging on to Sherlock’s recommendations saying that if you like great stories and dry, clear prose, you can’t do better than Neville Shute. My particular favorites are A Town Like Alice, a story set during and after the Japanese occupation of British Malaya, and Pastoral, a story of a man and maid, in the English countryside, during WWII.)
Thanks, Bookworm – I did not know that N.S. wrote “A Town Like Alice”, and I had not heard of Pastoral! I will try to pick up one or both for my reading during my upcoming Christmas sojourn in La Paz, Mexico, where we have built a holiday home. Luckily my line of work allows me to work remotely via computer, so I can afford to stay down there for a month. Hopefully I’ll have some time away from the keyboard for non-technical reading.
HISTORIC FICTION
I highly recommend Gates of Fire, the novel recommended by LTC Kurilla in Michael Yon’s article, Book.
It is an epic and heroic tale of Thermopylae, told from the perspective of the king and soldiers that fought in it.
I tried reading Lucifer’s Hammer, but I think I couldn’t get through the prose. If the author was Ben Bova, that is, and it was one of those 1,000 paged hardbacks.
If you haven’t read Gates of Fire, Book, then you’re missing out on a lot of Marine type heroics and death defying philosophical discussions. It deals with the true nature of courage as well as the support of the spouses of the soldiers.
I found an article, while doing research, that explains the critical factors of Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire issues that those interested in the military would find important.
I only know how to get it from galileo, though. I am going to have to post an excerpt.
[...] Books! [...]
PHILOSOPHY, GENERAL FICTION, AMERICAN HISTORY, SPIRITUALITY
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig
The Last Cattle Drive by Robert Day
The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris
Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene
I was reading Fel’s website at Sennadar, picked up on the news that Vernor Vinge released his Rainbow’s End for free.
You can read about it from boing boing actually.
Link
Btw, BOok has got to be crazy to be putting in links for all these books. Even though it is amazon, I would literally go crazy if I tried to do something like what she did and is still doing.
There are two reasons you should read Rainbow’s End, which is a science fiction set in the near future, dealing only with human terrorism and problems. Could call it a sci fi thriller really.
First reason is one word, narcissism.
Second reason is the amazing story between a man that grew up in the past without tech and now has to deal with a world that has accelerated beyond the beyond.
Good for young and old, really.
Btw, if you have ever read Kathy’s blog about narcissists like greg and found that you were fascinated with the behavior of these blood sucking constructs, then you got to read Rainbow’s End. There’s even a happy ending.
BIOGRAPHY, AMERICAN HISTORY
Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin : An American Life.
Ben Franklin, our first blogger. This one’s great.
This group has nothing but conservative books, many obscure, but important ones:
http://www.isi.org/books/subjects.aspx
Forgot about my latest prize – To Set the Record Straight by Swett & Ziegler. This can only be found, so far, on this site: http://tosettherecordstraight.com/index.php
As the subtitle says “How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media defeated John Kerry.”
Much unknown (to me anyway) history about the effective, deliberate bias of the old media against the Vietnam war & warriors.
One of my favorites to re-read every few years is Shogun by James Clavell. It has so many great stories rolled into one, conflicts in religion, conflicts in Japanese politics, a great love story.
And the other one, which I can pick up anywhere because I have it half-memorized, is Gone With The Wind. You have to maintain your historical perspective while reading it and remember that Margaret Mitchell was half grown before she even knew the south lost the Civil War. Florence King once said this book contains the best example of “showing, not telling” in American literature in the scene when Scarlett is trying to figure out what to wear to the barbecue at Twelve Oaks. It’s a great story with wonderful writing and has been a favorite since childhood.
You should contrast this with Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation, which can be found online here: http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/KemPlan.html . Fanny Kemble was an English actress who married an American who owned a plantation in Georgia. Fanny Kemble turned out to be an abolitionist who was absolutely appalled by the conditions in which the slaves were forced to live and her in-laws were appalled by her sympathy for the slaves. I think she divorced the plantation owner.
This looks like an excellent title; see the review in the University Bookman online, Spring 2007 issue.
The Triumph of the Therapeutic by Philip Rieff
SCIENCE
This one has taken me a year to read and ponder, and run a few programs to help me comprehend it.
A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram.
I really don’t know how to begin to describe this work. I can only say that it gave me some profound new insights.
You can read all or portions of Wolfram’s book online at his website.
http://www.wolframscience.com/
Sorry about that.
VIDEO OF A CLASSIC NOVEL
I know this is a books, not a video, site, but I just had to recommend the 1995 Pride & Prejudice, which is, in my estimation, one of the best recreations of a novel ever. And that’s saying a lot, because I firmly believe that Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice is one of the most perfect books ever written, and one that I reread every couple of years for the sheer pleasure of her prose and wit.
IRAQ, WAR, MARINES
I just read Charlie Battery: A Marine Artillery Unit in Iraq – what a great book this is!
Written by the father of a young Marine deploying to Iraq in January 2003, the book follows one young Marine and his gun battery as they sail off to Kuwait, train in some awful camps, and then fight (and win) at An-Nasiriyah.
The author blends the stories of the young Marines with the feeling and reactions of their parents, wives, and girlfriends in a very smooth and telling manner.
Andrw Lubin (the author) is a great story-teller, and I thoroughly enjoyed the way he told the story of the Marines and their families.
2004 ELECTION, SWIFT BOATERS, JOHN KERRY, MEDIA
I just finished “To Set the Record Straight.”
http://www.tosettherecordstraight.com/index.php
What I found most chilling was the totalitarian tactics of the so-called free press. Their strategy was to ignore (the charges) and if that failed, deny and if that failed make ad hominem attacks on the witnesses.
Somehow the concept of “answer” or “refute” the vets didn’t come up. Logic must not be a popular elective for reporters or commentators. “Liars!!” was about as eloquent or persuasive as they ever got.
The coalition of Vietnam Vets that came together to reveal the Kerry they knew deserve the Medal of Honor. (The MSM was sentenced to a well-deserved death penalty. RIP Dan Rather.)
A testament to the power of a few committed men to change the world… And to the power of Al Gore’s most famous invention to gather in like minded people.
FANTASY
I read the first two books of the Prydain Chronicles, Book. They had a nice mix of character development, humor, action, and series jokes. I didn’t like how the stories began though, given that each of the 3 novels start off without adopting the character changes of the previous novels.
The heroin, of course, is indeed a funny talker. I can just imagine her as an anime character that keeps on talking and making the male protagonist go crazy.
Like Ellie, I finished “To Set the Record Straight tonight.” Kerry is not only a traitor & a phoney sailor, who should have been in a military prison, but he covered up his dishonorable discharge. How? The same way he became Senator & almost President – by lying, distorting and relying on powerful, prominent enemies of this nation – not all of which are overseas.
This election of 2008 will have the same totalitarian old media, using the same tactics; but perhaps this time their M.O. will not be as effective, since many millions now see through them.
WRITING
In connection with a comment about good grammar, I suggested the following books to someone:
I can recommend a couple of books to make you feel more confident about your writing skills. First, although I’ve never been a big fan, most people swear by Strunk’s & White’s The Elements of Style. The other big that I love, even though it’s written for lawyers, is Bryan Garner’s The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts, which offers the best ideas I’ve ever seen for writing lucidly. Even though it’s examples often take place in the legal context, anyone wishing to learn more about good writing can benefit from reading Garner’s book.
The other thing, of course, is to read, read, read. A lot of books, nowadays, use grammar that I consider incorrect (split infinitives, misused words, mixed-up pronouns, dangling and misplaced modifiers), but they’re still right more often than not. Additionally, certain classic books will ensure that you write like a pro. One of the best semi-modern stylists is Dorothy Sayers, who wrote the wonderful Peter Wimsey murder mysteries. My favorite stylist is Jane Austen, whose prose, although a little antiquated, is always impeccable.
NOVEL
i have just read The Choice of nicholas sparks. have to say this is the best one so far. its about taking chances and making choices.. this is the only book that made me feel a million other feelings. really. plus.. it made my heart beat faster. i wont spoil it for you, find out why!
SPANISH CIVIL WAR, BEHAVIOR, SOCIOLOGY, RAILROADS
Just discovered this blog, via The Anchoress. Some books I like and have reviewed include:
Forging a Rebel, by Arturo Barea…a participant’s memoir of the Spanish Civil War, but not a conventional military or political history. The writing is so rich, dense, and vivid that reading it is like finding yourself inside someone else’s dream.
The Logic of Failure, by Dietrich Doerner. The thought processes that lead to failure, based on research by a professor at a German university.
On the Rails: A Woman’s Journey. Linda Niemann got a PhD in English and then went to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad. One reviewer commented that this book is about railroading in the same way that Moby Dick is about whaling.
NOVELS
To Deana:
For one of those great, large, all-surround-feeling novels (a la Love in the Time of Colera) I would like to recommend:
The Dissertation by R.M. Koster
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
Dalva by Jim Harrison
Poor Things by Alasdair Gray
HOLOCAUST, WORLD WAR II
Dex -
Thank you for the recommendations! I’ve added them to my (now growing) list of things to read. Anything remotely similar in feel and scope to Love in the Time of Cholera would be a find.
Right now I’m reading The Lost : A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn. The author relates his search for the fate of his grandfather’s brother and his family who were trapped in Poland during WWII. Although the author uses a frustrating writing style at times (200 word sentences with 17 commas), his story is fascinating and really drives home what it must have been like for family members who survived the Nazis but were forced to live with the knowledge that they were unable to help their loved ones when they needed it most. It really is a book that celebrates the beauty of life and love in spite of crushing sorrow.
Deana
WORLD WAR II, HISTORY, HISTORIC NOVELS
Some more books:
1. Marie Vassiltchikov’s Berlin Diaries, 1940-1945. Vassiltchikov was a White Russian princess whose family escaped the Bolsheviks. She ended up in Berlin during the Nazi era. This book — as the title says — is the diary she kept during the war years. It’s absolutely fascinating. She was an aristocrat and an anti-Nazi. The diary tells not only of day-to-day events in the lives of Berliners during the war, but also tells of the plot to kill Hitler, in which her friends were involved. Great book.
2. Dorothy Dunnett’s Niccolo series, which starts with Niccolo Rising. Set in Europe beginning in the 1460s, the Niccolo books chronicle the adventures and machinations of a young man who starts off as a dyer’s apprentice in Bruges, and rises to become a power broker in most of the major European events of the era. Dunnett’s writing style can be oblique and elliptical — which is not something I’ll usually tolerate in a book — but her stories are so fascinating and her characters are so interesting, I stick with the books in spite of myself. Dunnett also wrote the Lymond Chronicles, which take place in Scotland and Europe a century later. Again, difficult, but fascinating.
[...] Books! [...]
NOVEL
Several people have mentioned various end-of-the-world novels. The best book of this genre, IMNSHO, is Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz, which deserves to be considered as a serious philosophical novel.
SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY:
Our whole family reads Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series- the first book is “Wizard’s First Rule.” It’s exciting enough to keep my teens (boys and girl) clamoring for the next book and yet full of social commentary, politics, and philosophy that relate to our world which stimulates thought and conversation.
Got my reluctant reader hooked on books, and my husband hooked on the series, too!
Without spoiling anything, Wizard’s First Rule is: “People are stupid and will believe almost anything”. Sound familiar?
Every year, dozens of books are published on business strategy. Most of them are eminently forgettable. “The Innovator’s Solution,” by Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor, is an exception. It should be read by everyone who has responsibility for establishing a business strategy (or aspires to such a position), and should also be useful for those involved in running non-profit organizations, specifically including universities. It will also be of value to investors, who (except for those who are pure short-term traders) should be making conscious judgments about the strategies of the companies in which they invest.
In this book, the authors develop four major themes, which are amplified using examples ranging from semiconductors to automobiles to milkshakes:
1) Disruptive innovations–those destined to change the structure of an industry–tend to attack from below. They usually first appear in a form that is in some ways inferior to the existing dominant technologies, and hence are unlikely to get the attention or respect of industry incumbents.
2)In a venture dedicated to the introduction of a disruptive technology–whether a start-up business or a division of a larger company–early profitability is more important than early rapid growth. (This is a *very* contrarian opinion in some quarters.)
review continues here.
I was going through the library and I found a book I didn’t even know I had. My wife used to get me books, all of them she could find, of an author I became interested in.
James Ellroy, he has a number of books including, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz, and The Black Dhalia. All quite good but edgy and dark.
The one I found: My Dark Places. It’s an autbiography and a murder mystery, about his mother. The only word I can come up with is mesmerizing. This is his Heart of Darkness.
HISTORY, AFGHANISTAN, CHINA, NON-FICTION
If you want to know about the Soviet experience in Afghanistan, you need to read “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” by Les Grau and the companion book “The Other Side of the Mountain” by Les Grau and Ali Jalili. These books contain vignettes and after action reports from Soviet and Afghani troops involved in the Afghanistan conflict; the vignettes are taken directly from battle reports and filtered through the Frunze Academy and the U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Office to distill the lessons and underlying truths of the conflict. The books are required reading for U.S. military commanders of all grades deploying to Afghanistan and all soldiers going to that theater of operations are encouraged to read them. Les has a forthcoming book on the U.S./NATO experience in Afghanistan – he has been commissioned by the USMC and Army to cover the war in the same unwavering and blunt style as the first books, exposing error and brilliance so that the first can be reduced and the latter expanded.
Also worth reading is Tim Thomas’ “Dragon Bytes” on Chinese information warfare in the modern era.
Both books are available on the open market and originate from the Foreign Military Studies Office, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.
Best wishes and good reading,
SGT Dave
“And men would proudly claim – yes, I worked alongside giants and was humbled by their presence.”
Becoming Charlemagne, by Jeff Sypeck.
The reign of Charlemagne is remembered as a brief flash of light in the midst of the Dark Ages: a time of revived respect for learning, of physical improvements, codification of laws, and relatively-enlightened and centralized administration. In this book, Jeff Sypeck tries to get beyond a thousand years of myths and portray the reality of the man and his time.
His real name wasn’t Charlemagne, of course: he was Karl, son of a Frankish king. Charlemagne–Karolus Magnus, Charles the Great, is an appellation bestowed upon him by scholars and keepers of legends.
review continues here.
Sgt Dave..you might enjoy Flames of Heaven, by Ralph Peters, written at near the end of the Cold War from a Soviet viewpoint. Characters include an idealistic Red Army officer, a variety of cynical opportunists, and a crippled young woman, an artist, who is hopelessly in love with the protagonist.
I understand that the book has been translated into Russian and published there.
This one is a wow. John Grisham’s first foray into non-fiction. Yet, it reads like a novel. It really makes you think about the death penalty.
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
AMERICAN HISTORY
Just finished Hampton Sides’ “Blood & Thunder”, a breathtaking history of the conquest of the American Southwest and, in particular, Kit Carson (whose nickname graces the book’s title). It’s an absolutely riveting book that brings to life one of the bloodiest and most romantic chapters in our history. What I liked in particular is that there are no angels and there are no demons.
Believe that the Indians were simply victims of white oppression? This book will set you straight. Kit Carson himself is revealed to be a man capable of both incredible viciousness and incredible decency. In this the book provides great insight into our human nature.
Upon reading this book, I now see my beloved Southwest with a renewed awe for the giants that strode its dessicated earth before me and shaped its bloody history.
Did you read the Rivers of War 1812 by Eric Flint, danny?
I read Robert Ferrigno’s “Prayers for the Assassin” in 2006, and the sequel is coming out next month. “Prayers” was great, so I hope that the sequel is likewise!
BHG
Now available on Amazon!
The liberal advocacy of the media & the real face of liberal politics are made crystal in this new history:
To Set The Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry
George Orwel.
My dad sent me The Orwel Reader.
Orwel was simply an amazing thinker and observer of human affairs. He is definitely left wing. But he is unsentimental and crystal clear in his thinking. He is all the things that I wish the left was today (i.e. an honest and thoughtful opposing voice). It is a real pleasure to read. It is a collection of excerpts from some of his works.
I misspelled Orwell. How cool is that? And I even have a spell checker in the browser for Pete’s sake!
As Susan Shepard, Pacificus, and Sherlock noted in 41, 43, and 44, “Lucifer’s Hammer” is a fantastic read.
If you HATED “The Day After Tomorrow” because of it’s leftist orgasmic approach to trashing America and Northern Europe… but not the rest of the world! Trashing only America and Northern Europe, to the point where their refugees were welcomed by the friendly, forgiving Third World people of color…
In short, if you HATED the leftist approach to apocalypse, try “Lucifer’s Hammer”, a conservative, law-and-order approach to the end of the world. “At first the odds of the comet hitting the Earth were a million to one. Then a thousand to one. And then…”
Disaster on an incredible scale. Right thinking people respond rightly… left thinking people respond wrongly, and in some cases VERY wrongly. Definitely rooted in the 70′s, when it was written, yet if you’re willing to absorb that step back in time, it is a very entertaining read.
Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies, by M. Stanton Evans.
Absolutely astounding! ALL my teachers hated Joe McCarthy, my grandparents too, I was told stories about people who were “ruined.” The truth is, the man was a hero. The State Department was so full of agents working directly for Moscow that our foreign policy ended up supporting Mao and Tito.
Only one of the five McCarthy hearings were actually run by McCarthy, the other four were actually attacks on him! Talk about setting the record straight, this is a must read!!!
McCarthy never set out to ruin or even prosecute anyone, his goal was always to get the Federal Government to stop hiring Moscow agents. And they fought back. Wow, now that the KGB files and the FBI files have became public it is apparent that everyone McCarthy accused was indeed a conspirator.
For reasons I have never tried to understand, I find myself in spring generally engaging in re-reads. Never tried to understand it because I enjoy it, but usually from March to about mid-June I’m reading things I’ve read before.
So, Deana, if you’re still looking for long, rich, and engrossing fiction reads, a suggestion or two. (No idea how to do links – sorry, Ms. Worm: more work for you!)
I’ll presume you’ve read Galsworthy, and the “Forsyte Saga” is on your list of the “done.” If by some chance you haven’t – do. (“The Man of Property,” “In Chancery,” and “To Let.”)
You may have to resort to Abe Books or some similar service for Hugh Walpole’s “Herries” novels, though I’m pretty sure they remain in print in England. (Try Foyle’s or Hatchard’s – both available on-line.) It is the multi-generational chronicle of one family. (“Rogue Herries,” “Judith Paris,” “The Fortress” and “Vanessa,” – and “Vanessa” is a recognized classic by anybody’s standards.)
I’ve also just re-done the “Snopes” trilogy by William Faulkner (“The Hamlet,” “The Town,” and “The Mansion.”) Faulkner is an acquired taste and often supposed to be heavy going; so if you’ve tried him before and he’s driven you crazy – skip it.
I don’t know how much of an antiquarian you are, but if you can find them, the four volume set of “The Facetious Nights of Giovanni Francesco Straparola” are splendid, and you will plainly see where Rabelais, along with most of the folk-lorists, fabulists, and story-tellers got their start. Straparola was the first (he was writing in the 1530s) to gather together into one collection the stray tales, fables and legends that originated in the Orient, wandered into Venice when Venice was heavily engaged in Oriental trade, and ultimately distributed themselves (largely through people who read him) throughout Europe.
The English translation by W.G. Waters will be probably the most commonly available – which is good: it’s the best translation.
It’s tales and fables told during the thirteen days of carnival in Venice in the 14th century,and once you read them you’ll never describe anything as “Rabelasian” again: Rabelais himself was “Straparolian” – except Rabelais was far more interested in bodily functions, and raunchier.
Hi jj –
Thanks for the suggestions! I’ve put them on my list.
I haven’t read anything you listed but am particularly interested in “The Facetious Nights of Giovanni Francesco Straparola.” I read a book not that long ago that I would call “faction” – it was called “The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi.” The author took a true story of a romance (no, not the cheap, bodice ripping type!) as documented in actual correspondence between the young man and woman in the 15th century and crafted a story around the reality. I love everything about that time period so am thrilled to hear about this set.
Thanks!
Deana
Deana,
Just because I made myself curious about availability, I went hunting online for Straparola – imagine my surprise to realize that you’re going to have a very tough time finding a set for less than about $400.00 – if you can find a complete set at all.
Which is a fair amount. (And I sure didn’t buy mine 30 years ago for that…)
But – as we are talking several hundred years ago, they have long since passed into public domain, and are available online at the following link:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/facetiousnights/
Print them out yourself – the cost of the ink cartridge and paper work are a whole lot less than buying the books!
http://www.amazon.com/tag/khaavren%20romances
I have just finished the Phoenix Guards, Book, which I highly recommend to you for its clever dialogue and comedic genius.
This is essentially a story of an impoverished noble setting out on a high adventure in the company of trusty and loyal friends to combat treacherous scheming by villainous elements.
Unlike many stories which I sometimes get bogged down in concerning the descriptions or slow pace of the plot or any number of other circumlocutions that abound, the Phoenix Guards narrates in a fashion that is quite entertaining.
Here is an example of the text, Book, which I believe you will find particularly fascinating and satisfying.
The way the narrator jumps from locale to locale, character to character, is also particularly entertaining. It is never done in a passive way such as describing things from an imaginary perspective that you are never quite exactly aware of. The narrator will explain and argue and enlighten the reader on why and how the moment of perspective is now being changed.
I just read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for the first time, and much to my surprise I really enjoyed it! I know it’s a classic, but I’d never been interested in it because science fiction is not a genre I enjoy. This, I enjoyed!
Elantris is a wonderfully crafted dramatic tale of war, survival, duty, responsibility, and the quest to redeem the past.
It is by Brandon Sanderson
I don’t cry at sentimental moments, I don’t cry at particularly sad things, if I did feel anything it would be anger at the injustice that caused the sadness. I do shed tears of pride when a character does something monumentally heroic and beyond basic human decency or duty.
Many people will say that they cried at a particularly poignant moment in films or novels, but I find that my eyes are only wet in one particular instance of human endeavours. Which is not so much fighting evil but putting yourself in the path of the strong to protect the weak, the downtrodden, the hopeless, and thus the future of humanity for untold number of generations.
It’s one part sadness, one part joy, and one part triumph. This is a triumph.
The political machinations and magic system is also rather complex and logical. I give it good marks for realism, which means accuracy and faithful rendition of how political maneuvers should be conducted. People should essentially know my fundamental disagreement with Bush’s policies on this score.
I just finished reading “The September of Shiraz,” a novel by Dalia Sofer, and all I can say is “wow”!
Sofer’s first novel is about gem trader in Iran immediately following the Iranian revolution. who is imprisoned by the revolutionaries. Sofer examines the lives and experiences of the gem trader, his wife, his young daughter, and the son they had sent abroad to the U.S. during his imprisonment.
Although the main character and his family are Jewish and that certainly plays a role in his imprisonment, it is clear that what the family experiences happened to many Iranians, regardless of their religious beliefs. But what I love is that the author contrasts the Jewish perception of life and beliefs with that of Muslim perception of life and beliefs.
Another fascinating thing about this book (and I’m not making this up): some of the arguments that the Muslim revolutionaries express in their dialogues throughout the book are echoed eerily in what we hear from liberals today. There is one dialogue in particular toward the end of the book in which the Muslim character says something that is almost verbatim to what liberals say when attempting to explain why they think it is the government’s job to force the rich to give to the poor. I’m quite confident that Ms. Sofer did not intend to draw that parallel but it is there and only a willfully blind person would miss it.
So go get the book – you’ll enjoy it!
Deana
“The Shack” by William P. Young, is a great novel. I never finish novels, rarely finish books in general. This was captivating!
MacG,
Thanks for the book recommendation on ‘The Shack’. I checked it out on Amazon. It looks like a compelling and affirming book! I’ve just ordered it and I’m eagerly awaiting it.
Do you mind me asking: What part of the US or World are you located in? I’m pretty sure you just posted your recommendation within the last hour, yet the timestamp on your comment says you posted at “12:20 am”. I think our comments may all be posted – and saved to database – with *local* timezone timestamps, so I was wondering.
(It makes the order of comments in the ‘Recent Comments’ section of Books’ blog difficult to follow, since those are ordered by timestamp, and varying local timestamps would totally mess up the ordering. In fact, when comments get going hot and heavy, you could post from a timezone five hours away from California, and by looking at Recent Comments, no one would ever know that you’d posted… because by local timestamp ordering, your comment would have gotten buried…)
Hmmm, my comment above was posted at 10:47 CDT, or 8:47 PDT, so the timestamps are being saved in the db correctly… I wonder if the db query for ‘Recent Comments’ is ordering comments in an unexpected manner? It would be fun to run an experiment with a commenter on the east coast and on the west coast, to see! (The software geek in me got interested, apologies…)
Mike, I think the answer lies in the fact that, because MacG is new to my blog, he got placed in moderation pending my approval. This meant that there was a long time gap between his writing the comment and my waking up in the morning and approving of it — when it suddenly appeared.
I’m looking for a good book on the history of the Holy Roman Empire. I noticed “Becoming Charlemagne” on here somewhere, but does anyone know of any books on the history of the empire as a whole?
Thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SQ9bJIhcJ0
I watched Twilight 2008, the movie adaptation of the 4 series romance-thriller novel. It was a rather good movie. On par with Stardust and the other gushy romances that women just seem to flock to out of hand. The links go to comments made by the author, which provides a good backdrop on this.
And I’m not being facetious about the number of women.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=defzNM0vSDg&feature=related
Judging by the background, I’d say most of the audience there, the fans, are women.
but does anyone know of any books on the history of the empire as a whole?
Try Gibson’s Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Link
It is multi volume and quite long, but it was written around the time the US first became independent.
As for more modern works, I can’t really say.
Brian Sanderson’s books are a sure fire deal with me. That means his Mistborn trilogy, The Final Empire, the Well of Ascension, and the Hero of Ages (unwritten at this time), are amazing stories.
Sanderson has also written Warbreaker and made it available online, in first draft manuscript form, for free.
This is the good stuff.
If I were to review The Final Empire, it would simply be the story of freedom fighters like the Deathstalker series. However, it is not just your regular fantasy esque story of whatevers. This is, namely, a political thriller that only happens to be set in fantastic locales utilizing a magic system that consists of burning metals to do magical jobs.
Both books were very satisfying, although obviously there’s a major cliffhanger in Well of Ascension, for obvious reasons.
If you like reading about politics or thinking about politics or wanting to manipulate national policies and if you think you know how they work, then The Final Empire will be able to engage your mind as well as your heart. If you don’t like politics, then this won’t be as good. The Finale Empire does have a romantic sub-plot for one of the protagonists, of course, complete with noble balls and what not. People may find that amusing.
I also recently read David Weber’s Honor Harrington series. Man those novels were great examples of character development. You could not find a stronger female protagonist and more complete character development than Honor Harrington, Book. Harrington’s various interactions with Grayson were probably the highlight of the series. It was part of what made her who she is, right now, after all. Also each book tends to contain a specific kind of action, that you won’t ever see again. You’ll see it mentioned, but never re-enacted. Which makes every single book in the series rather unique. There’s a beginning, a middle, and a conclusive end to each tour of duty for Honor Harrington. Usually by the time one book ends, her tour of duty is also ended and she begins another one, in one way or another. This is a refreshing change from some series that simply reproduce the same kind of book over and over again. That gets boring after awhile.
I’m running out of time and don’t have the right words to write this out without music anyways, so I’ll finish up later.
If you are really interested in the British nobility and the various fling flangs that go on there in terms of both political power and personal romance and drama, then you must read Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber. And the sequel, of course.
There’s personal sword combat, galley naval battles, science fiction, alien invasions, assassination, intrigue, realpolitek, religious extremism, sex changes, spycraft, infiltration, and more and more.
I couldn’t get enough of that novel.
Greetings:
HISTORY
“Comanches: The History of a People” by T.R. Fehrenbach (Anchor Books, 1974)
I grew up in the Bronx but I was something of an American Indian-o-phile thanks to the deviousness of one James Fenimore Cooper. I was lucky enough to have a father willing to traipse all over the Adirondack Mountains with me to keep my fantasies alive and growing. Eventually, I began to develop a more balanced understanding of Indian life in the northeastern part of the U.S. However, the only other book about American Indians I have read was “Apache Chronicles”
I actually wanted to get away, reading-wise, from the Middle East/Arab/Muslim concentration that has interested me for the last year or two. Mr. Fehrenbach’s work did that for a while, but, eventually, I was struck by the number or similarities between the Comanches and the Muslims. However, “Comanches” was an excellent read. Mr. Fehrenbach seems to have a mixed historical/anthropological approach so that one learns about how the Indians were both before and after the arrival of the Europeans and how their culture was effected by the Europeans “horse technology.” Having spent a lot of time in the woods, I was able to sympathize with the downfall of the Comanches, but their world view was just too different and too rigid for them to adapt.
Mr. Fehrenbach has also written a history of the Indians in Mexico so there was quite a bit of depth to the Spanish-Comanche period but he really shines on the Texas-Comanche period. I think he is a big fan of the Texas Rangers because of their success in dealing with the Comanches with very limited resources. The author doesn’t suffer from today’s “political correctness”, even though I was almost scared off the book by a positive blurb from Dee Brown of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” fame or is it infamy.
Worth the money and even better for free.
I am about finished reading the Ronald Reagan diaries – the diaries he kept while he was President – and wow, what insight into the man and his thinking. He was just so straight forward – uncomplicated. It’s refreshing.
Easy to read or even just skim, it makes you appreciate what a president has to accomplish every day. It also makes me realize how fortunate we were to have him as president.
Reading it makes my heart break – it’s hard not to feel sorrowful at what we are saddled with now.
Well, it ain’t fiction, but it sure reads like it – the best thing I’ve read in some time was Jung Chang’s Wild Swans. It was so good that I’m following up by reading her brilliant Mao: The Unknown Story. Ten years in the making, it is indeed ‘astonishing’ and ‘an atom bomb’ of a book.
Sorry, not much of a fiction reader. But trust me on the Swans book. *wink*
Oh, and Alan, The Making of the Atomic Bomb was, without doubt, the best science history I’ve ever read. That’s also an amazing non-fiction piece.
This is a very good short sci fi story from Brandon Sanderson. I highly recommend you take half an hour or so to read it. Firstborn is well worth the time, regardless of what literary preferences you have.
Sanderson also recently released the latest Wheel of Time book, since the author died a year ago. Though to be honest, no one with a reasonably filled day has time for that series. 12 books so far with 2 more to go roughly is just insane.
I’d have read the entire WoT series instead of petering out at book 6 if the characters weren’t part of the feminist, ant-male movement. And if the main protagonist wasn’t a numb skull when it comes to introspection.
For some reason, Sanderson likes the sweeping nature of the WoT, although I wasn’t against the plot per say. Additionally, because he decided to write 3 books to conclude the series, I must conclude, form my experience with his previous works, that Sanderson saw a whole heck load of loose plots and other torturous cliff hangers that needed resolution. He’s good at that. Jordan wasn’t.
I’ve read all the Brandon Sanderson stuff except for his Alcatraze 2 book and the rest of that series. Even though it is ostensibly marketed for early teens, they are very entertaining for adults at least. At least those that have been often frustrated by literary conventions such as Robert Jordan esque story telling, plot development, and character development.
Hi all! If anyone is interested in Espionage (Non fiction) I recently read 2 books that are fabulous reads. They read just like Novels. “The Dead Hand” written by David E. Hoffman, is about the cold war and the negotiations between Russia and the U.S. relative to Nuclear and Biological weapons. If the subject matter interests you, don’t miss it. The 2nd is “Treachery”, by Chapman Pinchner which deals mainly with the U.K.s, MI5 intelligence agency and the spying that was going on and the information being forwarded to the USSR, by spys in England and the U.S.
Another book I recently read after seeing a movie of the same name, is “An Evil Cradling” which deals with an Irishman’s hostage taking by muslim extremists. He was in captivity for 5 years.
I recently read James LePore’s new novel A World I Never Made and enjoyed it immensely. The plot is centered around a theme as old as time, a father’s search for his lost child. But it’s also a cautionary tale that pulls no punches when describing the moral bankruptcy that lies at the heart of international Islamo-Fascist terrorism. As wise old Talleyrand used to say, “Above all, no zealotry.”
In order to escape from a very dangerous situation, Megan Nolan fakes her own death, but leaves enough clues behind for her father, Pat Nolan, to realize she is actually still alive. And thus begins the tale. I do not wish to describe any more of the plot other than to say it will pull you along at a rapid clip and expose you to people, places and cultures that I’m sure you will find most interesting and compelling–and shocking as well.
Although the story is told mostly from the point of view of her father, the character of Megan Nolan will stay with you long after you’ve put the book down.
I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what Mr. LePore comes up with next.
A World I Never Made written by Jame LePore is a great read and wonderful respite for the winter weary. It has something for both men and women, espionage, political intrigue, romace, emotional ups and downs and beautiful locales for this mystery. There are amazing and provocative connections made to the world since 9/11. Written by a man this quick read gives hope and comfort to women and challenges the macho man… a great book to dicsuss at a co-ed book group.
Sarah A Hoyt’s DarkShip Thieves is a great SF work that I reviewed here
Fate: Stay Night PC Game in JP released with Mirror Moon English patch
Amazing story. H-Rated. Superior drama. Multiple story line, parallel character development, and multiple parallel endings.
Phenomenal in the depiction of human motivations and battle motivations. Excellent battle choreography, tactics, and logic in the Unlimited Blade Works branch.
I just saw the True Ending of Tosaka Rin and it’s so beautiful, sad, funny, and complete.
I just read for the second time Harry Stein’s “How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and found inner peace)”. I used to be a Democrat who had my entire brain shift 180 degrees when 9/11 occurred. I picked up this book and Stein seemed to be the only person I had heard who was thinking my thoughts about liberalism. I grew up in a liberal family in San Francisco and moved to a nearly all liberal area in Los Angeles, so until I read this book I felt alone.
Now that Obama is in office and I am alone (because my husband isn’t very political) screaming at my TV, so I found sanity again by re-reading this book.
I recommend it for any Democrats with an open mind. He’s a former college-type Marxist and journalist surrounded by Liberal bias. So he, like myself, knows Liberalism from the inside. He breaks down very well the way they think and can explain why he no longer thinks the same way.
Just read Leif Engen (?) “Peace Like a River” - what a great story. A couple other favorites are “A Prayer for Owen Meaney” (can’t remember the author!) and Ken Follet’s “Pillars of the Earth” and it’s sequel “World Without End.”
Rising above the vapors of modern life, via philosophy, gives one (or me at least) a clarity & freshness much needed. The Golden Chain by Algis Uzdavinys is an anthology of philosophers & mystics: Pythagoras, Plato, Porphyry, Proclus, Plotinus (why so many Ps?) Iamblichus etcetera.
http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/Algis-Uzdavinys.aspx
For some time, decades, my reading list has gone into the thousands. At last a favorite author has emerged, and now, often, opening an S J Rozan book to almost any paragraph, or sentence can leave me stunned.
How does she do it? That question is both a mystery and a field of study.
The new releases by Eric Flint and Brandon Sanderson are worth mentioning. The Way of Kings by Sanderson and the Eric Flint’s personal continuation of the Ring of Fire novel series are both worthy and evolved works.
To that I must include Japanese novels as well. Clannad, Sharin no Kuni, Utawarerumono, Eien no Aselia, Planetarian, Fate Stay Night, and Tsukihime.
All have funny beginnings, consistent and logical internal worlds, with an emotional and dramatic ending.
http://ymarsakar.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/sharin-no-kuni-the-wheeled-country/
For my review of that story.
My favorite historical novel series to date about the American revolution is a lenghty series by Ron Carter entitled Prelude to Glory. It is quite lenghty (there are 9 volumes, all of which are 400 pages or more) but in my opinion well worth the read. It follows one family from the beginning to the end and beyond of the revolution.
Oh Holy Night: THe Peace of 1914
The Christmas truce…Christ’s light in the darkness of WWI.
http://christianbooknotes.com/2010/oh-holy-night-the-peace-of-1914-by-mike-snow/
see Amazon for other reviews, link here:
http://tinyurl.com/2b2gy8y
What, what, what? In this looong list of excellent recommendations there is no mention of P.G.Wodehouse? The funniest writer of all time who just happened to be an elegant stylist and the premier creator of metaphors in the English language. But don’t take my word for it. Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, and Douglas Adams couldn’t say enough good things about him. And…
“there is not, and never will be, anything to touch him.” Christopher Hitchens
“The best writer of English now alive. The head of my profession…” Hilaire Belloc
If you haven’t read him, you can’t miss with one of his best Jeeves and Wooster, ‘Code of the Woosters.’ or a Blandings Castle story (my favorites) such as ‘Pigs have Wings’, or ‘Summer Lightning’. All are good for endless re-readings.
There’s a great new SF-Fantasy author out there – Patrick Rothfuss. He has written only two books, the first two books in a trilogy of epic fantasy. The books are “The Name of the Wind” and “The Wise Man’s Fear”. The first of those is out in paperback, the second just published in hardcover.
For those who love the power of the written word, I can’t recommend him more highly. He has complete command of all aspects of writing *and* he is a joy to read. The language and style is head and shoulders above most authors. To be so young and ambitious *and* to succeed so wildly in your first two books… it’s amazing. Give him a shot, you’ll be glad you did.
The plot itself is common in SF-Fantasy: A young man becomes a hero in a world beset by troubles. But the richness of the story and the pure pleasure of reading it are what sets it apart. One of his major themes is about the importance and power of stories themselves. Stories and Songs. He’s a wry humorist as well, which adds to the constant pure enjoyment of simply reading what he’s written.
He’s dedicated to quality writing. He spent three years REVISING the second book, working on it draft after draft until the 990-page novel said exactly what he wanted it to say. He wrote the first draft of the entire trilogy first, about ten years ago, and then has been rewriting since, to polish the books. That’s the approach Tolkein took with the Lord Of The Rings, by the way. It’s the approach that works best.
If you don’t read much, or any, SF-Fantasy, try him out as the perfect introduction. Go to your local bookstore, pick up a copy of “The Name Of The Wind”, and just read two pages, any two pages. You may miss a lot of context in that initial perusal, but via that simple experiment you’ll see the quality of his writing leap off the page.
If you love great writing that is also highly accessible, purely enjoyable and fun, give him a shot.
If you are a conservative and appreciate fine literature, then I must insist that you read “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh, one of the greatest authors of the 20th century. You will thank me after. The book itself is profound, beautiful, fascinating, and deeply conservative. But I hope you didn’t see the recent movie based (loosely) on the book. It is an abomination. The miniseries starring Jeremy Irons is a much finer representative. Please don’t be put off by that “fine literature” phrase. Waugh’s writing is as readable and accessible as it is poetic.
Waugh wrote several great novels, including his World War II trilogy, Sword of Honour. (Waugh served with distinction during the war.) His comic masterpiece is “Scoop,” a send-up of journalism, which is as relevant, and hilarious, today as when it was written. All highly recommended, but I would start with Brideshead and Scoop.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8041873-hold-me-closer-necromancer
I discovered that book by accident, because I chose it by the author’s name. I skipped to the second chapter and it was rather witty and action-funny, and that gave me the impetus to finish the first chapter. The book isn’t long but a lot of content is contained in it. I was very well satisfied with the character and plot development. She created an interesting world, populated it with interesting people, loyal friends, and a main character with a substantial hidden background that got unfurled slowly. The story also had multiple perspectives, with the main character being in first person, so that gave a rich and interesting twist.
I would recommend this book for those interested in seeing a modern fantasy about supernatural creatures, but from the perspective of a more human perspective.
I added “Hold Me Closer, Necromancer” to my wish list, Ymar. Looks like great fun.
I recently finished “A Dance With Dragons”, book 5 in George R R Martin’s “A Song Of Ice And Fire” epic fantasy series – seven books planned in all. The first book, “A Game Of Thrones” was recently an HBO miniseries, with the second coming on HBO soon. I highly recommend the series for SF-Fantasy fans. Martin is a highly skilled writer who makes you deeply care about his characters, and he’s extensively researched Middle Ages history and mores on which this geopolitical series is based. The sword-and-sorcery aspect is beginning to heat up as the end of the series approaches, too. It’s brutal, uncompromising fiction at its best.
I also recently finished Dan Simmon’s “Flashback”, a story of a collapsed America thirty years from now and a murder-mystery extraordinaire. Simmons takes the premise that if all current trends are allowed to continue, America’s collapse will be beyond belief – in this manner it is a love letter to the Tea Party conservative movement. He then posits a drug called flashback that Americans flee to by the millions, a drug that allows you to relive any experience in your past. All this hung upon the framework of a very complex murder mystery set in this dystopia.
I’ve commented elsewhere on Mark Steyn’s “After America”. The first half of the book is phenomenal and chlling – and a good companion to the economic premises of Simmon’s Flashback. The epilogue concerning what we can do to avoid disaster is awesome as well. The second half of the book is rather unfocused and not as compelling, but that first half and the epilogue are brilliant beyond compare. You will be glad you read it. Remember that Mark Steyn is a satirist, and he’s at his most entertaining and frightening in the great parts of the book.
It’s interesting to note that I had started the visual novel, Fate Stay/Night, more than 2 years ago. I never regretted investing so much time in visual novels. They were more than worth the time.
I prefer to read novels in one sitting, but there’s no way that can be done with visual novels. It’s why I use the trick of skipping ahead, and seeing if I am curious enough to read the beginning. If I am, that’s usually a good sign that this book can hold my interest. Mighty useful given the infinite amount of novels that are around.
Did you ever read the Firestaff Chronicles, Devx? The author never published it in print or ebook format, he just posted it online for free. But it was the closest in terms of excitement and action I had seen, back then, to Japanese style stories.
It’s too bad only a few people know about Japanese visual novels like ML Alternative. That kind of story is world shattering. It has such quality but is relatively unknown outside Japan or Asia. It’s like a love story, a war story, a drama, a comedy, and a science fiction story all rolled into one. There was nothing in it that was boring to me. It was the only visual novel, so far, that I re-read twice. It takes around 30-50 hours to finish it the first time. That eternal torment people felt waiting for Wheel of Time or RR Martin’s books, I never had to feel with ML Alternative. That, by itself, would have called my attention. The ability to offer a conclusion, an end, without waiting 20 years for it.
The next book in David Weber’s Sci-Fi “Safehold” series is called “How Firm A Foundation” and has just become available. (I had it on pre-order and just was notified that it has been shipped.) A planet is firmly under fascist theocratic control, but that might is challenged by (essentially) a rag-tag group of rebels heading one lonely country, is the basic premise of the series (with a lot of plot twists thrown in.) It’s geopolitical SF, and via allegory takes an expert look at feudal army and naval developments in our own past as the framework for such events on this imagined planet. Expertly written, strong characters. The quality of the writing is not “literary”, but that is not a big problem: You read these books for plot and rip-roaring adventure, to cheer on the heroes and heroines, and hiss the villians. It is well done, great fun.
Ymar, I’ve never been a fan of Japanese-style anime; I just can never get into it. Maybe I’ll take another dive soon and give it a try, but that style of visual fiction has always left me, not merely uninterested, but even cold. I’m not much for movies, actually, either – the written word, not graphic arts, is where my interests lie these days.
Pick a favorite genre and I can recommend one that netflix can provide.
I’ve read How Firm a Foundation now. Quick review.
It’s better than the last 2 books in the series, notably due to better adventures of Merlin Athrawes. He was the central figure in the first book, and it was awesome only in so far because it was about his actions and adventures. The later books became more socio-political world building tests. While there still isn’t as much action concerning Merlin Athrawes as there was in Off Armageddon Reef, the slot he got was very enjoyable. Most of the story was split between Charis, the Temple Lands, and HMS Destiny with the midshipman. Charis represented socio-political maneuvering, the Temple Lands represented evil megalomaniacal lords plotting to do more evil, and HMS Destiny represented the down to earth physical naval action.
I Prefer Brandon Sanderson’s endings, as they had higher dramatic tension and impact. Weber’s world building is good, but due to the number of details, starts to diffuse too much and take attention away from the central figures (namely Merlin Athrawes, which I reread his parts in Off Armageddon Reef many many times). The same is true in Honor Harrington starting from book 8 or so. It is not yet true for the March UpCountry series, probably due to the script writing style of John Ringo, the co-author of that series.
Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson was mentioned before, and others, who did not like the length and content of Wheel of Time, seem to be taking his more compressed plot and more logical world building, into their stride.
I’ve read all of Sanderson’s Alcatraz series, his young adults line, and it is quite witty, funny, entertaining, and compact. It has a simple plot, done elegantly with sufficient interpersonal development and introspection on the main character’s part, that it has “depth” other stories of the same usually lack.
Peter V Brett’s Demon Spear series (Painted Man, Desert Spear) were better than I had expected. It’s akin to a dark fantasy, where the night belongs to demons and towns and cities must setup defensive barricades to prevent them from being killed. It is very survival and horror natured in the first novel. And it is a story about 3 people, told from their own life perspective as they grew up, learning to use their particular talents and gifts to retake the night from the demons. The plot is compressed so years roll by (whereas HFAF takes the time of 1 year a book normally) from beginning to finish. That cuts down on a lot of the tedium and introduces you to the character’s early life, but it gets more interesting once they grow up and have to take on other issues.
The Identity Man by Andrew Klavan is a story about redemption and how one person tries to escape his criminal past. What’s interesting is that the setting is in New Orleans and is full of Leftists or Democrats conducting murder, corruption, and all kinds of other stuff. Thus it presents a “verisimilarity” to the real world, which can be great for immersion if you agree with the author’s fundamental premises. Klavan is the guy who does the funny one shots of various current events, at PJ media. I found the novel entertaining in a sense of good vs evil drama. Klavan did his research on inner city violence quite well, as nothing he described sounded disharmonious or inconsistent with my own research.
Although as a personal decision, I wouldn’t have let the gang go so easily in one of the scenes.
Chris RB over at TFT Blog recommended a book “Blink” by Malcom Gladwell. Basically, it describes how people can reach intuitive decisions via parallel thinking, rather than pausing to contemplate and logically deliberate upon a decision. In 2 seconds, a person can make an accurate assessment intuitively and by instinctual gut reaction, than a whole team of expert scientists could in 12 months of doing complete and thorough scientific testing.
Sound familiar people?
There is a great new historical romance ebook available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. The storyline of “Captive Heart” tells the fascinating story of the clandestine practices of the early Mormon Church. It is a fast paced and a uniquely different read; with spine-tingling suspense, and sizzling romance. http://amzn.com/B004SY9IDY
Hey guys-
Just finished a fantastic piece of historical writing: Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts: Love, terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin is fantastic- it really captures a lot of the human element of the drama of Hitler’s ascent. It follows the American Ambassador William Dodd from his initial arrival in Berlin and covers the range of emotions that his family felt watching the Nazi rise to power: from disbelief to anger to despair and, finally, to a kind of desperate campaign to warn the world of the impending danger of the rise of Nazi-ism in Europe. It is compelling, lively, and above all PERSONAL history…anything but dry- and a superb read!
If you haven’t read Larson before: he is phenomenal at bringing history to life and adding a layer of suspense to everything that he writes that left me chewing my nails to the nub. If you are in the mood for a book that will scare you silly- check out Larson’s first non-fiction book: Devil in the White City. That one led to a few sleepless nights in my household (couldn’t put it down). It follows the first serial killer in America…and, incidentally, the Chicago World’s Fair.
“The Prettiest Snake in Hell” may be the most outrageous political satire you’ve ever encountered. Set in the future, it follows the adventures in Hell of characters who now strut the political stage in America. They’re rubbing elbows with Roman Emperor Nero, Niccolo Machiavelli, and other infamous characters from the past. Contemporary targets of the author’s bad taste include President Obama, both
Clintons, Ted Kennedy, Planned Parenthood, and the legion of political and academic hucksters who promote global warming religion as “settled science.”
Three hundred pages of political satire could get kind of tiresome. So “The Prettiest Snake in Hell” is also a comic opera, a love story, a spiritual allegory, and a science fiction tale.
Lost in Zombieland: The Rise of President Zero
This book is right for this crowd.http://www.amazon.com/dp/1470165228
Lost in Zombieland is more than a political satire: it is an adventure story about the future of the America. It is hysterically funny and thought provoking. It is scarey too. The USA is on brink and it could go either way. Read the book and see my vision of where this nation is and where we could be heading.
JT
Posted this as a comment to your “Half-Review” of The Tyranny of Cliche’s, THEN discovered the Books! part of your blog. Sorry for the double post.
A great insight into the psychological underpinnings of the kind of thought Goldberg skewers is offered by social scientiest Jonathan Haidt in his new book “The Righteous Mind. Haidt offers a Rosetta Stone for understanding political thought not only of today but through the ages. I was surprised to find only one post about Haidt in a search of your site. I highly recommend that you read his book and review it on your blog.
Moral foundations are some of the core elements of fundamental human nature, instilled in us over half a billion years of natural selection so that humans can create “Moral systems [of] interlocking sets of values, virtues, norms, practices, identities, institutions, technologies, and evolved psychological mechanisms that work together to suppress or regulate self-interest and make cooperative societies possible.” (The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt, page 270)
Haidt sees six foundations, instilled in us by natural selection, that each of us uses in differnt amounts to construct our own morality. They are harm/care, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, sanctity/degradation, and liberty/oppression.
The first three foundations are focused on the individual, the second three are focused on suppressing or regulating self-interest and increasing cooperation. Liberal morality rests largely on the first three, and of those mostly care/harm. Conservative morality rests on an equal balance of all six. I would further suggest that conservative morality is focused on finding the right balance between the individualizing foundations and the binding ones.
In my view, Moral Foundations tell us even more about human nature than even Haidt suggests. The way I see it:
1) Moral foundations are the color receptors of the moral eye. The more color receptors one employs the more of the building block of human nature one perceives.
2) Moral foundations work together to give us our “gut feel” about right and wrong; our instantaneous, automatic-process reaction of like or dislike, approach or avoid, fight or flee that results from half a billion years of evolution.
3) Moral foundations are the tools of the controlled-process cognition conscious thought. They are the hammer, saw, pliers, screw driver, et al, we use to process and understand what our moral eye perceives – to make sense of the social world around us – and to construct the reasoned arguments of persuasion. Reason evolved to serve our intutions. Reason is for winning arguments, it is not for finding the truth (but under rare circumstances it can be used to work toward the truth.) Only the tools associated with the intuitive senses are available to our conscious thought, and in the same proportions.
In other words, Moral Foundations define the the scope, the limits, of one’s perception, understanding, and prescriptions of and for human nature and the social world.
Moral Foundations define our moral “vision” in every sense of the word.
Understand Moral Foundations and you’ll never look at a political debate the same way again.
A vital book for all Jews to consider reading is President Hoover’s book about WWII. This is so because it proves beyond doubt that he was the worst president to have ever served in the oval office.
Mr. Hoover somehow forgot to mention the Jewish pogroms after WWI, despite having taken immense credit for his post-WWI work & knowledge. America’s failure to enter WWII earlier cost our country hundreds of thousands of soldiers lives & Jews millions of lives; it is a sad fact, for which Mr. Hoover actually takes credit, that unwillingness to intervene. Notwithstanding this stance on non-intervention, Mr. Hoover took pride in publicly speaking out again and again on behalf of the Fins who were a pawn in the general European struggle. Mr. Hoover deemed the promises made by France & Britain to protect Poland to have been perhaps the greatest era of them all. He leaves the Nazi persecution of non-Jewish Poles to a footnote in the back of the text, while forgetting completely the post-war Polish persecution of Jews; in his reading of history, the persecution of Germans was almost entirely due to the Soviets, while any role for Poles, who were persecuted is denied–the combined effect is to blame the Jews, despite actual persecutions, for everything bad that happened to Germans. Mr. Hoover dates the fall of France not to the failure to confront Hitler after the Rheinland occupation, but to the regime of Mr. Blum, the first Jewish leader of France.
A chapter devoted solely to the danger of communist infiltration of the US in the 1930′s makes clear Mr. Hoover’s position as respects Jews. Jewish communist fronts are listed at the end, increasing the impact on the predisposed reader of the danger that Jews posed to America. To buttress that point, Mr. Hoover lists self-confessed communists, among whom the reader would be at pains not to notice a an overabundance of Jewish names. It is very sad that Mr. Hoover had nothing to say about the fascist groups who also infiltrated America; one telling point in this respect is his condemnation of Mr. Roosevelt for pressuring the Dies committee to seek out fascists.
That Mr. Hoover’s own appeasement of Japan might have been a problem is never mentioned. When Secy Stimson advised Mr. Hoover to attack the Japanese after the Manchurian Incident, Mr. Hoover demurred, believing the Imperial Japanese would be a good buffer force against a communist menace that had never actually attacked any other country; there were communist inspired revolutionary efforts, indeed, but no Russian troops invaded Germany, France, or anywhere else.
Ultimately, however, the dishonesty of the man is shown by a persistence until 1964, the day of his death, in his assertion that all blame belonged to Roosevelt. There is no mention of anything that Mr. Roosevelt did as respects WWII that emerges as praiseworthy, despite his having played a huge role in saving the world from fascist domination.
This is not to say that Mr. Roosevelt & the US Army did not fail Jews during WWII. As Bendarsky’s tome shows, there was much to be regretted. But it should also be remembered that the cause of war was not the salvation of Jews, but the end of ceaseless, murderous territorial conquest, one of the consequences of which was the Shoah. Had Germany not conquered territory, the 600,000 Jews within its confines would very likely have found sanctuary, perhaps in the East African British colony that Mr Hoover thought might serve as a homeland; the irony of this when juxtaposed to Germany’s Mozambique idea did not appear to dissuade the editor from using it as evidence of Mr. Hoover’s true love of Jews.
In sum, the words of the worst President in US history, whose actions in part cause WWII to consume 60,000,000 lives, damn him far better than any other explication possibly could.
A recently published, fun read on Rush Limbaugh is “A Dog Named Rush Limbaugh”. For those inclined:
http://www.adognamedrushlimbaugh.com
Full of imagery, symbolism … one big metaphor.
This tale, in essence, is deep adult’s “children’s story”. As the cover asks, Blasphemy or reverence? You decide.
The paper back version of Diana Price’s book “Shakespeare’s Unorthodox Biography – New Evidence of an Authorship Problem” has just come out. It was originally published by Greenwood Press in as no. 94 in Greenwood Press’s academic series, “Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies,” making it the first book on the subject to be published in a peer-reviewed series.
Mark Rylance, Tony Award-winning actor and Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre 1995-2005 recommends the book, writing:
“This book is the most positive and balanced work ever done on a great and beautiful question: Who was William Shakespeare? Diana Price brings a disciplined and enlightened scholarship to the subject. She does not offer fanciful hypotheses. On the contrary, she reveals many of the known facts about William Shakespeare that have been previously ignored or interpreted to suit a theory. She then compares his documentary evidence to that for other writers of Shakespeare’s time. If you are sceptical, take a minute to read the appendix. If you want to know what we know about the actual William Shakespeare, this is a book to read and keep in your library as a reference. Absolutely fascinating and essential to understanding why there is an authorship question. I recommend it first, always, to anyone who asks me who Shakespeare was.”