MysteriousFaith

Q2 2007 Bookshelf

About Face: A History of America’s Curious Relationship With China, From Nixon to Clinton by James Mann

Few realize the role the Cold War played in the normalization of relations between China and the US. The belief that China was an invaluable asset against which the Soviet Union could be pitted, with that country’s limited resources spread even more thinly due to a percolating threat from China, was one of the pivotal motivations of Nixon and Kissinger’s first trip to Beijing. China’s Communist leaders, even its evil Mao, were accommodated in ways other European or South American Communists were not. Such an approach has continued to this day, and most egregiously after Tiananmen, by US Presidents unwilling to upset the apple-cart of China’s increasing importance to the US’ own economic interests. This duality was justified along a number of lines, none of which made more sense than the role economic necessity played in our maintaining a positive relationship about China’s intentions. Mann’s book eloquently and intimately illuminates the policy machinations US Administrations went through during the years from Nixon to Clinton. It is, perhaps, the single most important book on US-Sino diplomacy that I have thus far read. Highly recommended.

The Dark Side of Camelot by Seymour Hersh

Being in the mood for some good-old muckraking, I picked up Hersh’s polemic book on JFK and his time in the White House. Hersh’s reporting first came to our attention when he exposed the Mai Lai Massacre, and his reporting on the Iraq War is among the best we have. This book portrays a side to JFK’s personality – his addiction to sex, his compulsion to gamble in geo-political matters – which ultimately jeopardized the Presidency. We remember JFK as a fallen hero, but Hersh wants to remind us that he had a much darker aspect to his life, and was not wholly trustworthy as a man or as a leader.

Living the Truth: Transform Your Life Through the Power of Insight and Honesty by Keith Ablow, MD

Ablow was a guest author at a dinner party I recently attended, and I found his comments sufficiently interesting that I picked up his book. The book was compelling for me, in no small part because Ablow believes that we must confront our past, and the fictions which surround our portrayal of it, and embrace what actually happened to us if we are to ever grow. The book’s exercises are quite helpful, if at times painful. I had done much of the work to “own” my pain, and the part of the book which helped me the most was thinking about what centers me, and where I most find true happiness.

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens

It’s Hitchens at his polemic best, and in a world full of loud-mouthed religious zealots, he can be a lot of fun. While some of the arguments are tired and one-dimensional (even if problematic for religious adherents), the ultimate book is interesting and a very good introduction to classic agnostic and atheist argumentation. My full-length review of Hitchens’ newest book, his much awaited tome on religion, can be read here.

Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power is Transforming the World by Joshua Kurlantzick

China is managing to expand its role with international affairs through an emphasis on soft power, a concept Joseph Nye first coined in the mid 1990s. My review of this new book, an application of Nye’s concept to China’s ascendancy, has been published at Asia Times and can be read here.

In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Chaos by Richard Lloyd Parry

Parry’s book is a masterful retelling of the horrors of Indonesia from 1997-1999. This period of time culminated in the UN involving itself in East Timor, during which time approximately 200,000 civilians lost their lives at the hands of the Suharto-led regime. As a journalist covering the country, Parry saw and recorded a savagery that our species would like to think lies safely in our collective past; but even the horrors of cannibalism and shamanistic magical rites find their way back into the present with surprising ease, which Parry saw first hand.

I found these words a particularly damning commentary on China’s current situation, and what could happen if their economic growth ever halts, giving people pause to reflect on the social freedoms they do not enjoy:

“Indonesia’s political and intellectual poverty, the repressive security apparatus – these were accepted because, economically, Suharto was a hero. However unhappy Indonesians were with their leader, there was not doubt that, under him, most of them had become better off. Political scientists call this ‘performance legitimacy’, and one of them formulated what he called ‘Suharto’s Law’: as long as people feel themselves getting richer, they will tolerate a stunted society. The question is what happens when they start to feel poor again.” (pg. 122)

Sacred Causes: the Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror by Michael Burleigh

Burleigh, who stands with a very select group as one of the best contemporary historians on the Third Reich, has written two volumes on the interaction of religion and politics, of which Sacred Causes is the more recent. Burleigh advocates a reappraisal of the role religion played in the devastation of 20th century Europe, in particular an emphasis of the good it did which is often overlooked. In particular, Burleigh wants us to see that the Catholic Church spoke in earnest on the question of Nazism and its more troubling anti-Semitic roots. Whether Burleigh is a direct apologist for Catholicism in general, or in his study of Nazi Germany has come to feel that the Church has been maligned by its detractors is outside my knowledge. At times when his book goes outside of Nazi Germany, the reader is left with a sometimes swarmy feeling that Burleigh is energetically working to absolve the Church of any complicity; in this his distinction between the laity and the leadership are not always fully drawn, which makes it easy to argue that “the Church” did or did not do something, when a broader exploration of who was behind these events might make complicity more obvious.

He does work successfully to show that secularism had a very dark side, and that it erred by attempting to replace the practice and symbols of religion it became that which it most despised. This particular portion of this book is ideologically powerful – when he enumerates how Marxism tore down state-sponsored religion in favor of what ultimately became another religion, albeit of secular form. In this he is particularly right, even if the underlying motivation for secularism is unexplored in his analysis. As his book ends, the attempt to pull together the clash of religion and politics in the world of 9/11 largely fails. Perhaps this is because his training as a historian requires more time to digest on events which are still too young and unformed against the broader tapestry of society – events still unfolding whose ultimate significance we now do not fully appreciate. On the whole, this is a profoundly challenging book, but it is at times opaquely dense and unnecessarily meandering – in desperate need of an edit in my opinion. A very good review of the book was done by the NY Times and can be read here.

Mississippi Sissy by Kevin Sessums

An evocative story of a young man growing up in the deep south, discovering that his differences were what made him special, and were not to be feared. It takes courage to write a memoir like this, but such courage is probably to be expected from someone who lived the stories in the first place.

Blackwater: the Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill

While at a Congressional hearing earlier this year, I found it quite interesting to hear the issue of mercenaries raised when discussing the future challenges of the US Military. Scahill’s book illustrates how this is happening with Blackwater, a group of mercenaries the US government is using heavily in Iraq. His analysis at times leaves one a bit frustrated, feeling that he is over-reaching in his analysis when it should be sufficient to explore the policy problems of a well funded mercenary force which is not accountable to the same standards and systems as a military force.

Everyman by Philip Roth

This is a book about endings, undoubtedly because the author is pondering his own; how much stays the same (a man’s desire and willingness to err again in the same ways that have caused him pain before) and what changes (the frailty of age is Roth’s constant companion). In exploring how his everyman’s life draws to a close, he evokes the inevitable set of questions on how we should live. Powerful, poignant and inevitably dark.

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo

This book is the modern incarnation of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE), done in 1971 to attempt and determine how the interaction of prisoner guards and prisoners develop. The two week experiment, which took place under supervision of Professor Zimbardo and other members of the Stanford staff, quickly degenerated into such a terrible situation that the experiment had to be shut down in less than a week. What Zimbardo learned was multi-faceted, but not least of which is that the adage “a bad apple spoils the whole bunch” is largely mistaken; most of the time it is the construction of a bad bushel which leads to abuse. This is a powerful criticism which Zimbardo ably applies to the abuse at Abu Ghraib. It is also a lesson in what happens to any system of authority without the proper checks and balances; in many ways, largely unintended, Zimbardo’s SPE experiment also sheds light on when political and religious institutions become evil – when they sacrifice standards of accountability and rationality in the interests of perpetuating their base of power. A powerful and moving book well worth reading now.

Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris

This was my selection for mind candy on our trip to Istanbul. The book is not any where as good as the first two by Harris; he seems focused on giving us an explanation of Hannibal’s origins which, while we appreciate, once complete adds little else to the story and does not rise to the level of suspense of his previous novels. Interestingly, Harris does seem to be throwing his ring in the hat with the opinion that even the greatest of evils comes from sources all too man-made and consequently, understandable and perhaps even preventable.

The Opportunity: America’s Moment to Alter History’s Course by Richard N. Haass

I tip my hat to Haass’ guarded optimism: he sees the potential (and only that – not the inevitability as some like Friedman at times dance around) for the current confusing geopolitical climate the world finds itself in to be constructively impacted were the US to focus on incorporating international means of governance, re-imagined concepts of sovereignty and diplomacy. I agree with Haass as to the opportunity, but do not believe our leadership is rising to the occasion he sees.

A Woman in Charge by Carl Bernstein

Bernstein’s biography of Hillary Clinton is very good, managing to audit the artificial candor from her autobiography while successfully presenting her in a holistic sense. Bernstein’s Clinton is complex, a combination of ego founded in genuine desire to do good for others, traditional in her religious and personal morality, but a strident advocate for the rights others find egregiously left-leaning. Bernstein’s handling of Bill Clinton’s marital infidelity is the Clinton relationship at its lowest, and hence its most illustrative: Hillary may be deeply wounded, but she believes in what the two of them have built together (including her daughter, whom they both cherish), and the political capital she gains at large and within her relationship with Bill were enough to sustain her. She is a calculating personality who is prone to secrecy and fighting when a bit more grace and strength (as opposed to recalcitrance) would have prevented much of the animus she generates. Her penchant for sequestering information when openness would otherwise remedy the tension of a moment is on par with that of Cheney (which is not a good thing in my opinion). A well recommended as a biography of Hillary and, for those interested, the difference in styles between Bernstein and Woodward; Bernstein’s work is more analytical and less flashy, and consequently can explore foundations and futures more adeptly than can Woodward.

Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut

Unquestionably my favorite Vonnegut novel thus far into my admittedly short-term appreciation of his work, Jailbird is an eloquent if somewhat dark exploration of the American psyche, which all of Vonnegut’s work suggests is uniquely damaged, perhaps more out of kilter than the average society’s, a bit of self-loathing no doubt at play here. The idea of life’s ebb and flow, of its ups and downs, loss and gain, love and utility, are all interspersed throughout the book. It is a book absent redemption and as a result has the tenor of some of our greatest philosophers who, believing they saw the world as it was and always would be, embraced the madness of human existence. Quandary and purposelessness, the result being an emasculated morality, is always at the core of Vonnegut’s work, and Jailbird is no exception.

The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler

I have been spending a good bit of time in DC this year, and have become quite intrigued at the social and power dynamics in the city. Every metropolitan area has its own vibe (none of which I am sufficiently adept at to be considered sophisticated): New Yorkers can be picked out by a knowing eye at a moment’s glance even when dropped into another big city like Chicago. Similarly, the DC personality is an odd amalgamation of profound insecurity, peculiarity, and egos larger than anywhere else in the world (its one of the few places in the world where it is not considered odd to refer to others as “the governed” over after-work drinks). Human frailties abound in such artificial environments, and an insecure human sexuality is latent throughout the city with relationships between staff and interns and powerful people and those who work with them. Cutler’s book is about this, from someone who loves sex and who thinks writing about it in detail is necessary to tell the whole story. Having said that, the book is graphic in its portrayal of the numerous conquests Cutler’s character has with friends and paid company. But if one can get beyond this and read her story, which is ultimately about change, growth and understanding artificiality, the book is more than a tawdry delight.

The Atheist’s Bible: An Illustrious Collection of Irreverant Thoughts (Joan Konner et. al.)

I grew up with someone who said they fell asleep every night with their Bible open, reading the Proverbs so this was the last thing on their mind before they went to sleep. I have taken this lesson, and now go to sleep every night watching Baywatch. Needless to say, I sleep like a baby, but my wife does not. In any case, this pithy little collection of agnostic and atheist thinkers (it would better be described as a compilation of freethinkers, but atheism is moving product at the moment), is a nice little collection of proverbs in their own right. Two favorites of mine:

“The reason there are so many opinions is that no one knows the Truth.” - Joan Konner

“Indeed, speaking generally, religion is the chef d’oeuvre of training, namely training the ability to think … There is no absurdity, however palpable, which cannot be firmly implanted in the minds of all, if only one begins to inculcate it before the early age of six by constantly repeating it to them with an air of great solemnity. For the training of man, like that of animals, is completely successful only at an early age.” - Arthur Schopenhauer

Bouchon by Thomas Keller

Keller is considered the premier chef in North America, his French Laundry believed to be the best restaurant in the country. Next to it, he has built another restaurant called Bouchon, which models his favorite parts of French Bistro cooking. The book on his restaurant is part cookbook (although reader beware he assumes you know something of proportions as not all restaurants are complete), and part luxurious reminiscence on the experience of classic French fare.

previous post: Turkey 2007
next post: Support the Home Team!

• Posted in Bookshelf
• no comments
• Trackback
• July 1, 2007

• Bookmark on del.icio.us
• Bookmark on Digg

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website