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 […]
How to Bring Peace to Political Discourse in 2017
In The Three Languages of Politics, MIT-educated libertarian Dr. Kling observes that Americans are becoming more and more polarized politically and socially, and that demonization of those who disagree is common. Rather than talking with each other, we are talking past each other. We do this because our primary concerns are often certainty, proving our role in our own political tribe, and downplaying the legitimacy of other positions. We are closing minds instead of opening them. Kling argues that to improve discourse, our goal should […]
I’m Not Going to be Your Monkey.
I read books on my tablet while I walk my dog in the morning. He’s old, a slow walker, likes to sniff thoroughly, and will often take a rest in other people’s yards. I wasn’t far in to the oral history of The Daily Show when, for a changed, I was the one who had to stop. I stopped to laugh. It probably wasn’t the laugh they were expecting, but that’s life in Trump’s America. Various writers, producers and correspondents were reminiscing about how the 2000 […]
This is No Time for Timidity
I read this book because I was promised an entire chapter devoted to s***-talking Ted Cruz, and Al Franken, Giant of the Senate did not disappoint. Really. I added this book to my library requests within 5 minutes of reading online that Al Franken hates Ted Cruz and spent a chapter in his newest book detailing exactly why. Ted Cruz’s response was to complain that Sen. Franken was using him to get more liberals to read his book. Guess what, Ted? It worked. In all […]
How Do We Get the Power to the People?
Best for: People looking for some insight how the U.S. got where it is, and some ideas for what we need to do to change that. In a nutshell: The inequality in this country is harming us, and the powerful (in Government, in Business, in Banking) are so focused on the idea of meritocracy that they can’t see that it isn’t working. Line that sticks with me: “In reality our meritocracy has failed not because it’s too meritocratic, but because in practice, it isn’t very […]
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