I did not like reading Fear by Bob Woodward, and I suspect that no one else has either. I can’t say that I learned anything new about the Trump presidency—though my worst fears were confirmed. Trump is not smart. He is not thoughtful. He has no human emotions beyond greed and contempt. Trump is lazy and vengeful. The only *facts* Trump knows are the ones he makes up in his head. Trump’s administration are frankly more evil than Trump himself. Despite their belief that they are “protecting” the […]
The Hour Calls For Optimism
I personally feel that everyone would be better off if they’ve read some Naomi Klein. Before recommending this book, however, I would start with her acclaimed 2007 book The Shock Doctrine. Read that first, and then read No Is Not Enough. It basically points out how Trump uses tactics laid out in The Shock Doctrine to achieve his agenda, and what that agenda really is. I haven’t read Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury yet, but from what I have heard it makes Trump and his […]
A war, depression, and a sociopath. And three other books not about the 2016 election.
64. Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll (5 stars) The Pacific Crucible examines the naval war in the Pacific theater of WWII from Pearl Harbor to Midway, and traces its origins back to the naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan’s seminal book, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. This is the first in a nonfiction trilogy about the Pacific theater of WWII. The second, The Conquering Tide, was published in 2015. I think it’s a fairly stellar book about […]
Now for something different: A sort of a follow-up
With this paper, Professor Kathrine Cramer revisits the rural groups she originally interviewed for her 2016 book The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. These included various morning “coffee klatches” gathering at local gas stations in small Wisconsin towns with populations ranging from 600-2000. The groups were made up of men who were either retired, unemployed or employed. One central-west group was made up of a women’s lunch group made up of employed and retired women. The interviews were conducted […]