MysteriousFaith

Updated End-of-Year 2006 Bookshelf

State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III by Bob Woodward

As an autopsy of the Bush Administration can go, the most recent installment in Woodward’s trilogy covering the last six years, has a certain narrative value. Unlike most of the other reviews of this book, I did not feel this book included material that was wholly new or particularly insightful. When Woodward writes about the political machinations of our attempts to justify going into Iraq, or of Bush’s profound lack of curiosity about the plan or aftermath of said war, what is more interesting is how he works to make us believe he is just now discovering this aspect to Bush’s personality and leadership. I saw this book as a perfectly logical extension of his previous two, and wish those who were so stunned by its admissions had been paying more attention when it actually might have mattered.

Religion Gone Bad: the Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right by Mel White

White, the ghost biographer and writer for Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Kennedy (among other evangelical leaders), wrote a stunning autobiography about his journey to come out of the closet and acknowledge his life-long homosexuality. Since that time, White has been active in working to develop Christian communities which allow homosexuals to be both Christian and gay. His contribution is unique in large part because he does not believe the church has to be torn down in order for it to be reformed on an issue very near and dear to his heart. This most recent book is fine, but seems to revolve around much of the same material that has been coming to the market recently, dealing with the very troubling efforts on the part of evangelical Christianity to mix their personal beliefs with public moral stances.

Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden

The author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo has written a 704 page history of the November 1979 to January 1981 hostage siege of the American embassy in Tehran. The book’s quality is solid and its story-telling is light and well-written, which makes its material move quickly. Likely to go down as one of the best histories of that event, this book recalls a moment in time much of our current conflict in Iran can only be understand and resolved by recalling and understanding.

1776 by David McCullough

Popular history often looks primarily at the victors through the lens of the result, not the trauma that led to its outcome. McCullough takes the time and makes the effort to remind Americans of how easily our liberty might have gone awry were it not for the sacrifice of those who served under Washington. As modern beneficiaries of American society, it would do us well to remember that sacrifice is an essential part of any system working. That we are now so unwilling to sacrifice bodes ominously for our future.

The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq by Rory Stewart

If you want to know why Iraq is such a mess, reading Rory Stewart’s book will be a good start. What is probably most troubling about this book is that it is written by a 30-year old who calls himself a “professional traveler”, wound up in Iraq, and was appointed by the British government to fill the role as Deputy Commander in Maysan and then Nasiriyah. For everyone who thought that the governments who invaded Iraq knew more than others, and had to keep their plans to themselves for fear of educating “the enemy”, a biography like Stewart’s drops in to show that the aftermath of the war went to those who happened to be willing to drop by, rather than those best qualified to serve. The book itself is nicely written, but makes one wish to throw it against the wall at the thought of how little effort was given to how to stabilize Iraq.

The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It and How to Get It Back by Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan is a true conundrum. On one hand, his daily blog of American politics is one of the most enlightened and enjoyable presentations of the various issues confronting us today. He counts as friends some of today’s best minds, people such as Christopher Hitchens and Niall Ferguson. But for all of Andrew’s genius, he sided badly with the Bush Administration over Iraq. He now regrets this decision, but still wants to find a way to say he supports the ideas behind the war, but not the administration of the war itself. This is a tenuous line to walk, and yet has a certain respectability that needs to be extended to it as it works its way to intellectual clarity.

In a similar paradox, Andrew is a self-professed Catholic and also gay. His desire to make the church find peace with his sexuality seems to be a similarly bad place to put his trust as was the Bush Administration in general. Now woken to the ineptness of the Administration as he already was to the gay-baiting Catholic hierarchy, Andrew has focused his considerable education and talent on the question of how the modern-day conservative movement has become the theocracy-in-waiting that many see.

His analysis of this is helpful, but for me was inadequate in no small part because he wants to keep religion, its dogma and unique irrationalities, whole while it encounters modernity. Ultimately, I found his analysis less than helpful, but I recommend this book in the same vein as I do Brian McLaren’s books: while neither is intellectually satisfying to me, they both are necessary bridges if we are ever to find a version of religion which can be publicly helpful in a secular, liberal democracy.

The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West by Niall Ferguson

Worthy of all the praise and accolades it has and will continue to receive, Ferguson’s book focuses on three factors which he believes were the predominant characteristic of the twentieth century. Respectively these were ethnic conflict, economic volatility, and empires in decline. His analysis follows the trajectory of most of his earlier work, which argues that empire – or as his British colloquialisms would call it – colonialism – had benefit both to the powers that be and the natives as well. This is not to say that he speaks of every native people in degrading terms, but that the rightly points to the civil societies many colonial powers left behind them. If Ferguson’s is right about the three primary characteristics of conflict, the next 100 years are going to be ugly.

Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement by Lauren Sandler

This book has a very interesting perspective: an atheist Jew looks to experience the evangelical Christian youth-movement in order to see exactly what they teach, how they function, and what their appeal is. Always gracious, the book is meant to be read and understood by secularists as a challenge to the parallel social institutions and activities through which non-religious families put their children. It has a certain Jesus Camp feel to it, although at a purely literary level.

For someone raised within these very institutions (or ones actually more extreme), I was not shocked by anything I read and would go further to remind people such as Sandler that the evangelical movement will always have pale shadows of the real thing. Secular America has the actual shopping mall – Christian America has churches designed to remind people they are at the mall. Secular America has actual coffeehouses where people get together as groups of freethinkers – Christian America has church coffeehouses in an attempt to draw unsuspecting people into its own web of activity. Secular America is forgetting that its continued advancement into modernity will be the ultimate prophylactic against fundamentalism. If secularism is to continue to thrive, the responsibility that goes with this needs to be as fully examined as the analysis of Christian movements.

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens

Very few people will pick this book up to read as its very title is extremely offensive. And this is precisely the response that Hitchens wants: he wants you to encounter Mother Teresa in her actual form, not her idealized sainthood, and see her for what she actually did and how she actually conducted her affairs. That she took money from criminals who gave her money that was not theirs to give, and refused to give it back even when contacted by the district attorney handling the case, is only one example of the sense of morality Hitchens wants us to examine. The more troubling and deeper question Hitchens wants people to think about is why Teresa emphasized suffering as its own good, when options for easing pain or healing existed. Suffering as a good is advocated by almost every stream of theistic thinking because suffering must be accommodated within the logic of a benevolent creator; Teresa took this to its logical conclusion and allowed people who could have been helped to suffer, believing what was good for the goose (Jesus) is good for the gander (humanity).

The Haier Way: the Making of a Chinese Business Leader and a Global Brand by Jeannie J. Yi and Shawn X. Ye

Haier is one of the preeminent examples of Chinese businesses which have embraced globalization on their own terms, expanding into export markets with sales, distribution and manufacturing capabilities. This particular book needed some fine tuning to capture the challenges facing Haier as it expands over the next five years.

The China Ready Company by Steven H. Ganster and Kent D. Kedl

I wish I had discovered this book about five years ago. Its authors, owners of the Shanghai-based consulting company Technomic Asia, have developed a needs assessment protocol which walks manufacturers evaluating an expansion into China through the pros and cons to the decision. A very worthwhile read for company leaders who are wrestling with the decision.

Mao: the Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Holliday

This book bothered me as I read it, and has continued to bother me. The analysis is thoughtful and in-depth, but its subject matter is morbid. How can a country like China fall into the hands of a murderous tyrant like Mao? Chang and Holliday wrote an absolutely stunning biography of a truly evil man.

The Third Reich in Power by Richard J. Evans

This book is the second in a planned series of three written by Richard Evans on the topic of how the Third Reich came to and managed its time in power. This particular volume emphasizes how the administrative skills of Hitler’s regime played out in the average lives of those it governed. As with any discussion on Germany during this period of time, the ease with which a country can embrace fascism is profoundly troubling.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

Perkins was formerly one of the lead economists at a consulting firm he believed was working with other countries’ governments to modernize their infrastructure and, in doing so, extend debt which would benefit US banks and US firms. While not an ignoble task, many times these exchanges are weighted to align governments which would otherwise pursue autonomy from the US government. Perkins finally had, post 9/11, an attack of his conscience and elected to leave his past employment and write about his experiences in large part because he believed the instability manifested by the events of 9/11 had, in part, inequities in global relationships at their base. While perhaps an immodest explanation of what caused that calamitous day, Perkins does shed light on how institutions like the IMF work to benefit US interests, and not the lives of the poor and yet-developing nations. On this point, his work is prescient.

Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America by Cass Sunstein

Cass Sunstein is one of my favorite contemporary political and legal writers. His book Why Societies Need Dissent remains the best explanation (although he never suggests this was his point) of religious behavior; an understanding of social cascades will forever limit one’s ability to believe that what another says about a religious experience should have evidentiary value. However, this was in no way the topic of this book. In this book, Sunstein focuses on how extreme right-wing courts are gradually taking the court backwards and advocates a more moderate means of interpreting the Constitution and thereby dealing with some of the complex issues facing the modern-day judiciary. Highly recommended.

Integral Spirituality: a Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern & PostModern World by Ken Wilber

The word “spirituality” gets overused by people who dislike religion but want to pursue activities which foster internal transcendence. Wilber embraces this, but advances an important set of distinctions which emphasize an empowered spirituality unique to his AQAL model. A good addition to his body of work, as this focuses specifically on spiritual development along with the other aspects of his “lines and levels” development model.

Up From Eden: a Transpersonal View of Human Evolution by Ken Wilber

This book may be my absolute favorite from 2006. It is one of Wilber’s older works, but is an absolute essential to anyone wanting to understand his thought process. Wilber looks at evolution’s story and shows how our psychological and sociological development has impacted our spiritual development as human beings have evolved. Of particular importance is his treatment of the myth that older ages were less violent and hence, that we come from a past to which we should seek to return. Among his criticisms of post-modernity, this particular aspect is most devastating.

The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture by Matt Ridley

Ridley steps into the age-old “nature versus nurture” debate and shows that, as wisdom would suggest, both are right in part and, probably more importantly, that genes do not play the pre-determinist role many people assume. Ridley’s writing manages to balance between being scientific and being narrative. The book’s indirect handling of evolution is also much appreciated and necessary for the topic he is writing about.

1917: Russia’s Year of Revolution by Roy Bainton

This book follows the stories of a number of average Russians who experienced the Leninist revolution in 1917. The book is particularly helpful in its treatment of the many opportunities another competing ideology other than Marxist-Leninism had to capture the hearts and minds of the Russian people.

The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought, How They Can Be Won by Peter Navarro

My full review of Navarro’s book can be read at Asia Times here.

The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer

Packer’s contribution to the debate over the war in Iraq is unique. He manages to pull together the run-up to the war by interviewing the thinkers who believed it was a good idea (people as diverse as Hitchens and Kanan Makiya), and then following the story as Iraq dissolved into the quagmire it now is. That he does this without being mean-spirited is no small thing, and his book is the better for it. I would strongly recommend this particular book as a resource for understanding what happened to justify, plan, execute and follow-up on our invasion of Iraq.

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: the Rise of Feminism, Science and Art from the Cults of Europe by Thomas Cahill

Cahill’s Hinges of History series, a more popular attempt at a comprehensive history best compared to Will and Ariel Durant’s The Story of Civilization series, added this volume to its series in 2006. While not my favorite, this has less to do with its writing than its topic. Cahill does a good job at painting a balanced picture of the good and the inept that arose from the interplay between culture and church in the Middle Ages.

In China’s Shadow: the Crisis of American Entrepreneuriship by Reed Hundt

Hopefully, I will have more on this book in a published book review coming in the near future. Stay tuned for an update on this.

American Mania: When More is Not Enough by Peter C. Whybrow, M.D.

This book bothered me deeply. It is a searing indictment of the American culture, but manages to accomplish this without an appeal to the traditional navel-gazing about how much “we” have that “they” do not. Rather than falling into this trap, Whybrow argues that our pursuit of more is indicative of the fundamental underpinnings of the free market coming unglued. He relies heavily on Adam Smith’s cautions about the nature of market forces to be balanced against society’s shared goals, and argues that this interplay is no longer healthy. What troubles me most is that I sense the fundamentals (deficits, public and private debt, unfunded entitlements, R&D investment, etc) are weakening at precisely the same time as are the intangibles (missing vision, working harder to stay put, insecurity, etc.). This could be the perfect storm that might make the Great Depression look mild in comparison.

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood

Seeing the Founding Fathers realistically is not particularly easy. While they were insightful, urbane, sophisticated and diverse, they were also not all particularly good fathers, husbands or color-blind humanists. On several of these counts Franklin was less than ideal. Similarly, Franklin was an admitted loyalist to the King until he became increasingly aware that the arrangement between England and the States was untenable. Wood paints a realistic picture of Franklin the man, something many would rather not attempt. With all of this being said, the Franklin that results is still bigger than life, and Wood relishes writing on such a fascinating man worthy of our respect and honor.

The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War by Martin Gilbert

The Somme was the most destructive single battle of World War I, leaving more than one million men dead. This particular battle evidenced all of the mass brutality and indiscriminate death which characterized World War I in particular. It was also a key battle for the British and Germans – the latter being sufficiently weakened by the battle as to make future military successes difficult and unnecessarily costly.

The Dream of Reason: a History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance by Anthony Gottlieb

Gottlieb’s contribution has been called the definitive compilation of Western philosophy matched only by Bertrand Russell’s The History of Western Philosophy. Gottlieb’s treatment of the men leading up to Plato, Socrates and Aristotle is particularly good. If someone is looking to be introduced to the work of the great philosophers in the western tradition, Gottlieb’s work is highly recommended.

Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life by Daniel C. Dennett

I found this book particularly dense and can not say I wholly enjoyed it. Dennett’s Breaking the Spell: Religion as Natural Phenomenon is quite good, but this particular book became very tedious for me. That is probably a commentary on me, and less Dennett, but I would add the caveat that his presentation of why Darwin matters to more than evolutionary biology is very good.

The Eye of Spirit: an Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad by Ken Wilber

In this book Wilber further develops his integral model and argues that it is one of the best responses to the world’s inability to account for the integration of various wisdom traditions, the necessity of spiritual practice, and our need to have a vision of where the world can go in terms of common purpose and goals. I found this book a bit repetitious of previous works from him, but did enjoy its review of the common trajectory of belief from within various religious traditions.

China’s Democratic Future: How it Will Happen and Where it Will Lead by Bruce Gilley

As optimists on China’s future go, Gilley is unique. He believes, and argues in this book, that China must inevitably become a democracy. His thesis has a Fukuyama-like structure to it, which is to say that it may overlook the other directions China could go if economic or political disintegration is more profound than a simple structural difficulty. All of that being said, I very much hope Gilley is right.

The Dragons of Expectation: Reality and Delusion in the Course of History by Robert Conquest

Conquest, the world’s preeminent historian on Russia from Lenin on, and the first western author to write in-depth about the level of destruction wrought in the Ukraine by Stalin’s efforts at dekulakization, stepped outside his body of work and wrote an absolutely magnificent analysis of the impact postmodernity is having on our ability to understand history. Conquest recognizes the same narcissism coloring modern liberal thinking as Ken Wilber does in his novel Boomeritis.

Two Treatises of Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration by John Locke

Locke’s contribution to contemporary life is not fully appreciated. As one of the original thinkers behind the English Enlightenment, his work set the stage for the pluralism that would take root most effectively in America. His efforts in Two Treatises of Government to separate the idea of the inborn power of monarchy from the arguments of the clerics who saw Adam as the original progenitor of power granted by the divine was necessary in his time, but may be less illuminating now. I do recommend reading his Letter Concerning Toleration for its lucid discussion of why freedom for everyone is essential.

The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels

Pagels is among the leading textual critics of the New Testament, and is also a scholar who believes that the Gnostic Gospels have something important to contribute to the understanding of how the Canonical Gospels and their portrayal of Jesus developed. People miss her point, which is not to suggest that the Gnostic Gospels are truth and the Canonical Gospels are not, but that bringing both to the table without prejudice one to the other allows us to see fairly clearly the development of a particular tradition, which is now perceived as having always been orthodox. This book is a particularly good emphasis of the years up to roughly 100 CE and what the Jewish conception of Satan and evil meant to the development of the Gospels.

The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired Into Our Genes by Dean H. Hamer

Genetic predispositions are becoming the vogue for justifying any host of particular behaviors. Hamer does not argue that belief in God as theism would hope is literally hardwired into us, but he does show how biological necessity makes a certain type of religious belief important and perhaps even necessary. This book continues to advance our understanding of religion as a natural phenomenon, even if the interplay between religious belief and genetic composition is currently not fully understood. If he is right, secular humanism will need to advocate some similar family of ideas to serve the same biological function.

To Change China: Western Advisers in China by Jonathan D. Spence

Since my job seeks to project my opinions into China on both a business and governmental level, this book is particular important because it tracks the successes and failures of people who have sought to impact China’s leadership since the 17th century. The role of the Catholic Church in China is very good and particularly interesting.

China Shakes the World: a Titan’s Rise and Troubled Future – and the Challenge for America by James Kynge

Kynge’s book follows much of the spate of recent books on China – how China’s environmental, legal, political, and religious development is impacting the world. He manages to avoid being hyperbolic, but, on balance, I continue to find these books somewhat repetitious and long for a treatment on political development that has something more than criticism to offer China.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

A number of reviewers from prestigious newspapers, periodicals and journals have already commented on what they see as the merits and missteps of Dawkins’ book; however, many of them have not wrestled with several of the critical insights in his work. To resort to the ambiguous but doubtlessly effective (at least as measured by persuading people not to be bothered with Dawkins) charge that his analysis is angry, is to be unwilling to meet Dawkins on the grounds of his arguments. It should be said that, in the interests of fairness, Dawkins is surprisingly willing not to resort to similar vagaries. While a portion of his book does deal with fundamentalism and its various confused pulpiteers such as Dobson, Falwell and their ilk, this is only a small section of his book. That he is willing to bear the responsibility for pointing out what these people actually believe, their hopes for reshaping American culture, and how their beliefs impact hard science should not mean that we relegate Dawkins to the same heap of exasperation we do fundamentalists. My full review of Dawkins’ book can be read here.

The Iraq Study Group Report: the Way Forward – A New Approach by James A. Baker, III and Lee H. Hamilton, et. al.

My thoughts on this report can be read in a short essay here.

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

This book is graphic in its quasi-fictional portrayal of the life of a young man who is dropped off by his troubled mother at her psychiatrist’s home to have the doctor raise the boy because the mother is not fit to. Very quickly we wonder exactly how bad she must have been as the house Burroughs describes goes far beyond eccentricity into the well established world of toxicity. Regardless, the book is a stunning accomplishment. I laughed, cried and was shocked – one wonders if Burroughs own life is the muse to his writing, how much torment can his life experience before he burns himself out at the hands of ever-increasing torment?

Next by Michael Crichton

Crichton is losing his way as an author; the cleverness of Jurassic Park and the psychological psychosis blended with futuristic tale in Sphere makes his recent work seem a shadow of what it once was. While his most recent book has its moments, on balance it is not gripping, is less than clever, and is sufficiently scattered in its plot lines which, combined with an inefficient tension it seeks to create between what is believable and what is technology’s stretch, leaves the reader unfulfilled. That a talking parrot is a main character in the book makes one wonder if Crichton had Pirates of the Caribbean playing on DVD while outlining this book.

As with Crichton’s last two books, he is working to put science in its proper place, and his efforts are much appreciated. His narrative introduction on the issues of law and the advancing field of genetics are helpful to those unfamiliar with the questions this interplay is creating. Readers should take note that Crichton is very, very pro-science and pro-modernity, but he believes that certain governmental and market forces are corrupting the traditional heritage of science which should be done for the public good. Crichton puts much of the blame on the interplay between science, politics, funding opportunities and the media. On this he is profoundly right. Whether this makes for great fiction is another story.

The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth by Benjamin M. Friedman

This book is uplifting in its promise that economic growth is an integral part of a nation’s moral development, but damning in its indictment of the US economy and how the US government (led most recently by President Bush’s economic planning – or lack thereof – but having its roots farther back than this administration) is handicapping the country’s collective future.

Friedman has four recommendations, but doubts whether we have the political will to carry them out: “(1) Economize on government spending apart from programs for the retired elderly. (2) Raise Taxes. (3) Restructure Social Security and Medicare. (4) Increase what America saves, so that the country can finance both the adequate capital formation and a chronic government deficit.” (pg. 414)

Many of the recommendations Reed Hundt makes in dealing with the changes the US must make to meet the competitive threat China represents have to do with a national health care plan, an essential component to allowing people to have the freedom to pursue new entrepreneurial ventures. If Hundt is right and this would be a critical reform, the US will not have the money to make the required changes, and the cycle of economic malaise may only intensify.

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• December 29, 2006

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