Sat - December 3, 2005

A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes


finished 11/ 24 ............ non-fiction - history ................. rating 9

Figes makes the point that the Russian Revolution was a failure of the People, not the Marxist theorists or the revolutionaries or the capitalist system but the people of Russia themselves. He provides an incredible amount of information to back that up and yet, I somehow feel that to view it that way is blaming the victims and racially or culturally biased, in a sense.

Anyway, the book rather arbitrarily deals with the time period between 1893 (serious economic difficulties) and 1924 (Lenin's death) and that certainly plays into his basic theme, it focuses on far more than the revolutionaries and Marxism and far less than the whole history of bloody Tsars. The book also uses biographical sketches of people who illustrate Figes' point by being close to peasants or rejecting them.

He also uses more literary references than most historians (well, naturally, who wrote "Natasha's Dance"?). Doing that also lends credibility to the idea of the failure being due to a flaw in the people, because the intellectuals had a love-hate relationship with the peasants; they loved the idea and hated the reality.

So yes, Figes does make his point very clear and I certainly learned a lot about Russian history regarding the revolution (especially the aftermath) but I'm sure that there are other interpretations.

Posted at 07:47 PM    

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman


finished 11/24 .............. contemp non-fiction / business .............. rating 6

I thought it was written like a series of columns for a non-business newspaper or magazine. The first chapter was attention getting in giving the reader some tid-bits and anecdotes regarding the impact of technology on globalization and a personal touch for many readers who wonder if their job will be the next to be outsourced. Friedman likes to drop names implying that he is on a first name basis with the powers that be in these areas and therefore on the cutting edge of the future.   

I sound like I'm dissing the book because it's so easy to do! But inside this amalgam of chatty, "next big thing," style and mentality I found some interesting factoids. Do they all add up to what Freidman calls the "flattening" of the world? Hmmmmmmmmmm 

Posted at 07:27 PM    

Wed - November 23, 2005

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Deathbed version)


finished 11/17................... 19th cent. US poetry - Americana .................. rating 9

I read the whole thing, the "Death Bed" edition and, imo, Whitman's attitude or personality (or whatever) changes significantly in the course of the book (the course of a life, really).

In the first half of the book (almost exactly), up through "Not the Pilot" in "Drum Taps" he's very exuberant, young, nationalistic (in a sense), as you say and as is befitting a young man in a young country. But then with "Year That Trembled and Reel'd Beneath Me" about 3/4 of the way through "Drum Taps" he changes.

Year that trembled and reel’d beneath me!
Your summer wind was warm enough—yet the air I breathed froze me;
A thick gloom fell through the sunshine and darken’d me;
Must I change my triumphant songs? said I to myself;
Must I indeed learn to chant the cold dirges of the baffled?
And sullen hymns of defeat?

The section "Memories of President Lincoln" is really very sad:

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.



And then in the next section, "By Blue Ontario's Shore" Whitman seems more mature somehow:
(in Section 12)
What is this you bring my America?
Is it uniform with my country?
Is it not something that has been better told or done before?
Have you not imported this or the spirit of it in some ship?
Is it not a mere tale? a rhyme? a prettiness? - Is the good old cause
in it?


Then he gets older and the poetry is more mellow, I think, more contemplative, finally, with "Good-bye My Fancy" he's in his 70s and he really sounds tired.

Of course, through it all I sense the innate optimism of Whitman, his love for all people and his nation and nature. But I think that the changes give a real sense of trueness to the book. This is what Walt Whitman's life really was.

Posted at 05:41 PM    

Sat - October 29, 2005

Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks


finished 10/27 ........ non-fiction / WWII spys ............. rating 5 (mixed)

This is the story of the master coder at the SOE in Britain and how he developed the poetry codes and the one-time-pad for letter transmission. THese were written on silk for ease of transport. The first 75% of the book sounds hugely egotistical and like the "big boys" didn't know what they were doing but the young and brash Leo Marks (author) did. The last 25% is the very touching story of how spies lost their lives. This is a great book for WWII fans but if you don't know much about the SOE or coding or spies then I'd start elsewhere.

Posted at 11:03 AM    

Sun - October 2, 2005

The End of Faith by Sam Harris


finished ??? ........ rating 1 (if that)

This is a terrible, horrible book. It generalizes from the specifics that certain religions believe certain things therefore all Christians believe those things. Worse, it generalizes that because some Muslims believe that it is right to kill, all Muslims believe that. The book says stop the tolerance.

Posted at 12:24 AM    

The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand


finished 9/05 ........... rating..... 8.5

Exceptional look at post Civil War cultural and intellectual history of the US with the focus on Pragmatism and the pragmatists, William James, Oliver Wendall Holmes, John Dewey and Charles Peirce.

I read this a few years ago and it got a much higher rating then, a 10! But that didn't quite hold up for a second reading.

Posted at 12:17 AM    

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown


finished 9/05 ......... rating 9

Ground breaking work on Native American history. This is the story of the battles of the west, the treaties signed and broken. Incredible. It's told from the side of the Indian. Period. The author was a white man who was very involved with Native issues, knew Native culture. Is it a history book? Not really. It's more of a "this is our side" book. But these polemics are necessary to open the eyes of those who try to write objective or reasoned history.

Posted at 12:16 AM    

Sat - July 23, 2005

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond


finished 7/24 ......... general non-fiction ......... rating 9.5

The author of the acclaimed Guns, Germs and Steel tells us why some societies succeed while others, Norse in Greenland, Mayan Indians, Easter Island, nativies and more, fail. And there are societies which, in many ways, are failing today, Rwanda, China, and perhaps the entire world?
The best part about this book is the organization. I knew a lot of the material in the book, but it was a clutter in my head. Diamond gave all this information (overload) structure and value. It's an amazing book! My only criticism is that Diamond sometimes includes too much oversimplified material.

Posted at 02:01 PM    

Fri - July 22, 2005

Love and War in Afghanistan by Alex Klaits and Gulchin Gulmamadova-Klaits


finished 7/23............ general non-fiction ........... rating 8

This is a compilation of stories of people who live in Afghanistan, the authors are an Afghani woman and her Peace Corps American husband. They conducted interviews with survivors of the Soviet, Muhajadeen, Taliban and War-lord episodes of Afghanistan life. They tell tales of horror in a truly believable way very convincing from the women waiting for their men and being unable to support themselves to the Taliban member, the Communist worker and the small boys and girls. It tells of how they survived and even found love (usually). Because this is from their own mouths and through the translation of Islamic it is not colored by Western notions of "arranged marriages" and "freedom fighters." There is very little about the US in this book, they weren't involved directly but rather supplying the muhajadeen with money and arms.

Posted at 04:33 PM    

Sun - July 10, 2005

What's the Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank


finished 7/4/05.............. non-fiction politics .............. rating 7.5

Ever since the election of 2004, Democrats have wondered what happened to Kansas. Frank purports to tell them (us). Christian sentiments have taken over the voting booths sending big business to the legislatures. The more nervous and unhappy the Republicans of Kansas become, the more right wing they go. This is weird because Kansas has a history of radical left wing, populist sentiments ever since the Civil War. Frank goes into the history and the current affairs, he explores the religion and the issues that matter to Kansans today. Frank writes in a humorous but informative manner. It's a pretty fun read but a bit repetitious.

Posted at 01:54 PM    

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad


finished 6/22 ............. non-fiction ................ rating 7

I very much liked this book although it's riddled with biases and prejudice. That's okay, the author is pretty straightforward about it. This is the story of the daily life of a bookseller and his family in Kabul, Afghanistan. The author lived with the family of "Sultan Khan" for 2003 and wrote about it like it was. It goes from remembering the Russian war through the Taliban to today with more war. There is a certain focus on the plight of the women having to marry and wear the burka and pretty much stay in hiding. But the fate of the sons is also discussed and with father as the dominant male, making all decisions, their lives are not much better. Their names have been changed.


It's supposedly a true story but it reads like a novel with character and plot development, some suspense and a lot of dialogue. The author herself never appears in the book. After it was published, the real "Bookseller" traveled to Norway to protest the book's effect on the reputation of his family. His identity had been obvious to those who knew him. The question arises, then, did Seirstad "use" the Khan's family for her own purposes?



This is translated from Norwegian. It's supposedly the best selling Norwegian book of all time.

Posted at 12:19 PM    

Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin


finished 6/22 .......... non-fiction biography ........... rating 9.5

Excellent and charming biography of the world famous diarist. I knew next to nothing about Samuel Pepys when I started this book and it piqued my interest so that I looked up a lot more about him and even tried to read an online version of his diaries. Tomalin's style and her knowledge of Pepys and his work keep the reader engrossed for hours. Don't let the cover deter you, it's not as difficult as it looks.

Posted at 11:48 AM    

The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong


finished 6/20 ............ nonfiction - memoir ............... rating 7.5

Interesting memoir of a former nun who is now a top notch expert on religion. Karen Armstrong had many difficulties along the way, she didn't belong in the convent, he PhD thesis was rejected, she was found to be anorexic and she was "released" from her job as a teacher when it was discovered that she had epilepsy. Nevertheless, Armstrong is a prolific, popular and informative writer on matters of religion, particularly Islam.

Posted at 11:38 AM    

Paris 1919 by Margaret Macmillan


finished 6/18 .......... non-fiction / history ........rating 9

Excellent narrative of the intrigues of Paris during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson, Clemanceau and Lloyd George are vividly described. The complexities of Eastern Europe are clarified. The book is considered revisionist because Macmillan hypothesizes that it was the execution of the Treaty's provisions rather than the
Treaty itself that was flawed and led to WWII. I'm not sure she proved that but there was a lot of interesting material en route.

Posted at 11:34 AM    

Sat - June 11, 2005

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxian


finished 5/30 ........... memoir ........... rating 7

This was the very interesting memoir of a Chinese ballet master who defects to the US at the age of 19?

Posted at 06:30 PM    

Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee


finishd 4/?..... Fiction / South Africa- Australia .......... rating 7.5

Is this a novel? Elizabeth Costello like Coetzee, is an aging but widely renowned and highly respected author who travels and gives lectures, etc. She's from Australia which is where Coetzee lives now. They are both strict vegetarians with strong concerns for animal
rights, equating meat-eating with horrendous violence. They are kind of prickly people, curmudgeonly and brisk. Is Elizabeth becoming more concerned for her privacy? Coetzee is very, very private although not a recluse.

As Elizabeth travels through this novel she gives lectures on several subjects in different places. The point of the book may be that the ideas are not important because they seem to matter less and less. The last chapters are wonderful but overall the book was a bit of a chore.



Posted at 05:32 PM    

The Reformation by Diarmaid MacCullough


finished 5/28 ................ European History ................ rating 10

In this thorough examination of the Reformation, MacCullough explores the ideas
he says drove the Reformation. This book is not in any way concerned
with other motivating factors. Freudian and Marxist approaches are
not really considered until the last chapter and then barely
mentioned. MacCullough is convinced that the Reformation was about
ideas and that although those ideas were from the theologians they
affected the common people, the rulers, the outcasts and others,
everyone who lived in Europe at the time and, ultimately, everyone
who lives in the world today. I can certainly see where Marxist
theory fits here, but that's not MacCullough's point and there's more
to life than Marxist theory. (g)


pg, xx, xxii (these page are excellent)

Recent research on the Latin Church before the
upheaval was that
it was not as corrupt and ineffective as Protestants
have intended
to portray it, and that it generally satisfied the
spiritual needs of
the medieval people.
That recovered perspective only serves to emphasize
the importance of the ideas the reformers put forward. They
were not attacking a moribund Church that was an easy target,
ripe for change; but despite this, their message
could still seize
the imaginations of enough people to overcome the power and
success of the old church structures. Ideas mattered
profoundly;
they had an independent power of their own, and they could be
corrosive and destructive.


So, what were these ideas?

After his "enlightenment," due to some Scriptural passages (Romans),
and also following a reform impasse within the Catholic Church,
Martin Luther, a Northern European scholar and theologian was
outraged that the Catholic Church should be, essentially, selling
salvation through the very profitable indulgences. Luther wanted
this and several other *major* issues to be discussed openly, so he
posted his "Ninety-five Theses"
<http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html >

on the Castle Church door at Wittenburg in 1517. These Theses were
the original ideas behind the Reformation.

Luther's main points, from the Theses and his other works, were

1. The grace of God through Jesus Christ is the only way to
salvation. Neither works nor payments could
do it.

2. All man can do is have faith. He is a fallen being,
unsalvageable by his own devices.

3. There is no intermediary between God and Man. Papal
authority was a threat to Christianity. (Luther
wanted a "papal council" at first. This became impossible
and he became ore anti-papal.)

4. There are only two holy sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist.

5. The Eucharist is not a matter of Transubstantiation, a
change in the essence of the bread and wine.
Rather the bread and wine are joined by the body and blood
of Christ. We have to accept this on faith.

6. The Eucharist does not redeem us from our sins. Only God
can do that.

7. Good works naturally follow faith.

8. The Bible should be available to all people in their own
vernacular. (This created some interesting
translations)

9. Predestination, Since God has all fore-knowledge,
"free-will" does not exist.

10. The idea of two-kingdoms, the civil and the heavenly.
The princes rule the civil and the church rules
the religious.


The people, commoners, nobility and clergy, of the northern
provinces of the Holy Roman Empire rather appreciated all that and
John Calvin and others took it further and began their hunt for the
correct theology and then for the perfect community based on that
theology. Their ideas included:

1. Priests should marry. (for a variety of reasons and
Luther agreed with this one)

2. The Eucharist is symbolic for an oath and of the
community of faithful.

3. Baptism is for adults. (Anabaptists)

4. Art and icons are "graven images" (including those of
Mary) and "graven images" are forbidden by a
commandment from God.

5. The Bible is the only source of knowledge.

6. Salvation is predestined and for the elect only

7. Predestination is evil (a few radicals)

8. development of social control within the two-kingdoms theory

9. toleration (local importance in some places)

10. * all of these ideas and more became extreme in the
hands of the radicals.

These ideas were arranged and sorted and forced into dogmatic
"creeds" or Confessions of Faith see:
<http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/confes.htm > (scroll down for links
to all sorts of confessions of faith from the Nicene and Apostle's
(700 AD) to the New Hampshire (1833). This "confessionalization"
shows that reform was not ever going to work to reunite the church.
The fighting was bitter because the stakes were high. Not only were
the construction of the "correct" theology and church structure on
the line, but the souls of all Europe (or the world for that matter)
were at stake.

MacCullough includes quite a lot about the profound impact of the
printing press and other "modern" ideas like the ideas of the
scientists and the renaissance humanists. Fears of the millennium
(1600) and the Ottoman Turks are also discussed. And the Catholic
changes are described, too, although they were "too little, too
late" to prevent the Reformation (they wouldn't have anyway):

1. A single catechism to educate clergy and parishioners

2. Papal authority continued (no councils considered,
bishop's authority was ambiguous)

3. Agreement on the sacraments and many, many more items of faith.

4. Latin services and language (this created a unity in the
community of Catholics with a shared
language and service and other details of religion. One area
was the same as another in most respects.)

5. New or rejuvenated religious organizations (Jesuits,
Capuchin friars, Ursula)

6. Reformation of Manners (scrutiny of sex lives,
witchcraft, - confessional)

7. Church building a priority complete with icons, relics and saints

8. Education of clergy and parishioners using catechism and
printed matter

9, Suppression of indexed books and material (Inquisition)

10. end the sale of indulgences and church offices (corruption)

************

The remainder of the book concerns the spread and development of
these ideas throughout the continent and then the world. Each area
or country was a bit different but the clergy was "usually" at the
forefront of spreading the word. Printed material was also vital,
especially in France and England. The civil authorities and the
nobility were usually converted and they simply dictated to the
commoners what the local religion would be. The Treaty of Augsburg
guaranteed that members of the other religion (Lutheran or Catholic)
could freely leave for a tolerant place. The Reformations of Great
Britain, Poland and Transylvania were quite individual with England
sticking close to Catholic tradition without so much secular power,
and Poland and Transylvania trying toleration.

Close to two hundred years of warfare resulted from these Reformation
ideas in collision with the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic
Church, which provided their own ideas in the Counter-Reformation.
Catholics fought Protestants who were fighting other Protestants
while the Lutherans seemed to find a safety from the Catholics
middle ground (courtesy of the Treaty of Augsburg), while
antagonizing the Protestants. But it was never very safe for anyone.
Meanwhile, America, great bastion of contemporary Protestantism, was
being settled by immigrants from all the participants, Puritans,
Catholics, Calvinists, Anglicans and others made their ways to the
colonies where they found that they had to tolerate each other or die.

Northern Europe became generally Protestant, Southern Europe
remained Catholic and it was Central Europe that was torn with war.
It is estimated that perhaps 40% of Central Europe's population was
killed due to the Thirty Years war which began with the 2nd
Defenestration of Prague in 1618 and ended with the Peace of
Westphalia which took place equally, in two different cities.

Such was the bitterness when the combatants had fought
themselves to a standstill, they could not bring themselves
to negotiate together. (pg 469)

Religion, religious zeal, and religious hatred were
at the heart
of the outbreak of war in 1618 and both sides believed that
they could effectively eliminate those who took a different
view of the Christian message. (pg 470-471)

At the end of the war it was apparent that the Holy Roman Empire was
not going to become a really viable state. It was also apparent that
crusades don't work. The religious wars continued into the 18th
century but they were fundamentally changed with the realization
that the opponents could sit down with each other and work out a
settlement.

Excellent web-presentation of the Thirty Years War:
<http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Sparta/5414/ >


Some favorite lines from the book:

pg xx
"One conclusion to be drawn from the accumulation of recent research
on the Latin Church before the upheaval was that it was not as
corrupt and ineffective as Protestants have tended to portray it.,
and that it generally satisfied the spiritual needs of late medieval
people."

pg 55
"The fear that this Islamic aggression engendered in Europe was an
essential background tot he Reformation, convincing many on both
sides that God's anger was poised to strike own the Christian world
and so making it all the more essential to please God by affirming
the right form of Christian belief against other Christians."


pg 80
"If there is any one explanation why the Latin West experienced a
Reformation and the Greek-speaking lands to the east did not, it lies
in this experience of listening to a new voice in the New Testament."
(translation process from Hebrew to Greek to Latin)


pg 108:

"The Reformation inwardly considered, was just the ultimate triumph
of Augustine's doctrine of grace over Augustine's doctrine of the
Church." (source B.B. Warfield, "Calvin and Augustine")


pg 152
"The realm of faith needs freedom, but the realm of temporal order
needs coercion and rules. True Christians can know clearly where the
boundaries lay, but there are very few true Christians, so they ought
to submit to worldly powers."

pg 184
"It is worth noting that in 1531 the future of the Reformation seemed
to be in the hands of a city council. Various princes of the empire
had now openly declared for the reforming cause, but still not a
single sovereign monarch had done so. "

pg 527
"If Britain has a role to play in modern world politics, it may be to
interpret the pervasive and exuberantly assertive (some might say
strident) culture of Protestant religion in the United States to a
Europe that has begun to forget what the Reformation meant."


pg 682
"The Reformation arguments were in large part about how human beings
best approached this love of God and whether anything in human
behavior and actions could influence God into saving them from
eternal despair."



Bekah




Posted at 05:26 PM    

Mon - March 28, 2005

And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts


Finished 3/23 ......... non-fiction - history? current events ....... rating 9

First published in 1987, this is the story of the spread of the AIDS epidemic from its inception to 1985. It's told from multiple perspectives It seems dated in some ways today but I think that helps to accurately capture the spirit and essence of the times. There is a wealth of information here on the science and politics involved as well as the human stories and statistics. They're all interwoven to give a detective story feel to the book.

Posted at 06:38 AM    

Sat - March 19, 2005

Hitler 1890-1936: Hubris by Ian Kershaw


finished 3/7/05 .......... non-fiction-biography ............ rating 10

Was Hitler a total anomaly and as such, we can disregard him? Did Germany make Hitler or did Hitler make fascist Germany?

According to Kershaw the answer on all counts is yes. Germany made Hitler but without Hitler, there would never have been a Holocaust. We cannot disregard him.

This book is "a history of his power--how he came to get it, what its character was, how he exercised it, why he was allowed to expand it ..., why resistance to it was so feeble,"

Because of this focus, Kershaw focuses quite a bit on the culture and history of Germany itself.

Kershaw is a very good writer. He's clear and the text flows. But he's not brief or concise in any way and his themes get lost in the detail.

Posted at 09:08 PM    

Sat - February 19, 2005

Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin


finished 2/19 ........... non-fiction, memoir ............... rating ?

This was a far better book than I expected. It was a reading group selection and there were several people who were quite enthusiastic about it. I thought.... yeah?

But Temple Grandin is an autistic PhD who has specialized in developing cattle chutes and so forth. She describes in pretty good detail and in a very interesting way what it's like to live in her skin. She is obviously of the type that is able to integrate pretty well into society, not all autistic people can. The social skills are lacking. She adresses that and so much more. She talks about her childhood, dating and her work which seems to be the love of her life. She also talks about brain development, the humane treatment of cattle and spiritual matters. She talks about what the readers would be interested in if they could ask her questions.


Posted at 10:29 PM    

Wed - February 2, 2005

Unveiling Kate Chopin by Emily Toth


finished 2/2/05 ................... biography / literary criticism ........... rating 8

biography of Kate Chopin - more analytical

Posted at 05:08 PM    

Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux


finished 1/25/05 .............. travelogue ............. rating 7

a travelogue of Africa from South Egypt to South Africa along the Eastern interior. It was a return trip and Theroux compared. He definitely has his own opinion of things.

Posted at 05:07 PM    

Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography by Per Seyersted


more later

good examination of the life of Chopin. This one was written early on and includes more info than some more current and more heavily analytical ones.

Posted at 05:06 PM    

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