Now Reading:
As with many of us, I do not read as much as I would like to, want to, or
need to. I have all the usual excuses but the fact is that few activities are as
satisfying as reading. Here are the books that I am now reading or have read over
the past few months. I hope you find this helpful.
I'll try to keep this page current but don't be surprised to find it a bit
out of date. For most of these books, I have placed a link to
Amazon.COM, the on-line bookstore; click on the link to
go to Amazon. COM where you can read more about the book and order it if you wish.
My favorite Bible.
This page was last edited on
February 02, 2010
Now Reading
The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, by
Andrew J. Bacevich.
The Snopes Trilogy -- The Hamlet, The Town, The Mansion, by William
Faulkner.
Flags in the Dust, by William Faulkner.
Recently Read
The following are books that I have read in the past few months.
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot,
by
Naomi Wolf. Somewhat hysterical but worth reading. Dial down her
screaming a few degrees and you'll hit the truth
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America,
by Chris Hedges. Again, a bit over the top -- but not much.
The Assault on Reason,
by Al Gore. Superb.
A
Crack in the Edge of the World: The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906,
by Simon Winchester. Tedious. This book would have made a great
magazine article. As a book it went on and on and on and on and . . .
I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots, by Susan
Straight. Set primarily in a tiny Gullah-speaking village in South
Carolina, Straight's elegant coming-of-age novel--a BOMC selection in cloth--is
as monumental as the tall, taciturn woman whose life it traces. An excellent
book.
Thy Kingdom Come: How The Religious Right Distorts the Faith and
Threatens America: An Evangelical's Lament,
by Randall Balmer.
Now and then an important book is published. Sometimes the importance of
the book is recognized when it hits the street. At other times the impact
of the book is not recognized for some time. Let's hope the importance of
this book is recognized immediately. I have purchased several copies of
this book and mailed them to my Congressional representatives. For much of
American history, evangelicalism was aligned with progressive political causes.
Nineteenth-century evangelicals fought for the abolition of slavery, universal
suffrage, and public education. But contemporary conservative activists have
defaulted on this majestic legacy, embracing instead an agenda virtually
indistinguishable from the Republican Party platform. Abortion, gay marriage,
intelligent design--the Religious Right is fighting, and winning, some of the
most important political battles of the twenty-first century. How has
evangelical Christianity become so entrenched in partisan politics?
Randall Balmer is both an evangelical Christian and a historian of American
religion. Struggling to reconcile the contemporary state of evangelical faith in
America with its proud tradition of progressivism, Balmer has headed to the
frontlines of some of the most powerful and controversial organizations tied to
the Religious Right. With a skillful combination of grassroots organization,
ideological conviction, and media savvy, the leaders of the movement have
mobilized millions of American evangelical Christians behind George W. Bush's
hard-right political agenda.
The Untidy Pilgrim, by Eugene Walter. Walter is a
Mobile, Alabama, native who spent a lot of time in Italy before returning home
to Mobile. He was an associate of Pat Conroy; Walter died in 1998.
There is an annual writers' festival in Mobile in his honor. Also reading
Milking the Moon by Eugene Walter.
To Dance with the White Dog, by Terry Kay. The
main character in this novel is an 81-year-old man whose wife dies. After
her death, he finds (or, is found by) a white dog. For the longest time,
only he can see the dog -- his children and friends begin to doubt his sanity
because they can't see the dog. This is a fine story and a great book.
A Century Of War : Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order,
by William Eghdahl. This is an IMPORTANT book and you need to read
it. When the British and U.S. navies shifted from coal-fired ships to oil
burners, access to oil became a primary strategic motivator. Soon
thereafter, the economies of Western Europe and the U. S. became totally
dependent on access to oil. As the 20th Century progressed, the economies
of the rest of the world followed suite. We are now captive to (1) the
nations who control the world's oil and (2) the need to access that oil.
This is NOT a pretty book. But we are not in a pretty dilemma.
Several years ago I read Pat Conroy's book
The Water is Wide. As a newly-minted teacher, Conroy was
assigned to teach in a poor, isolated black community on Dafuskie Island, one of
the inhabited barrier islands off the coast of South Carolina. The
original inhabitants of Dafuskie -- descendants of Gulla slaves -- have been
replaced by millionaires and their MacMansions. Conroy was fired after one
year because of his unorthodox -- and successful -- teaching methods. This
book was made into the movie Conrack starring John Voigt as Conroy. Later,
I read Conroy's
The Great Santini -- based on life with his abusive Marine fighter
pilot father -- and
The Lords of Discipline, based on his four years at The
Citadel -- I then saw the movies made of these two books. In mid-May 2006,
my wife purchased a copy of
The Pat Conroy Cookbook and after reading that, I read the rest of
Conroy's works: Beach
Music,
The Prince of Tides, and
My Losing Season. His first book --
The Boo -- was a tribute to a member of The Citadel staff, a gruff
but lovable old lieutenant colonel -- I'm trying to track down this book so I
can finish all of Conroy's published works.
The Pat Conroy Cookbook, by Pat Conroy. Conroy is the
author of several excellent novels -- The Water is Wide, The Great Santini,
Lords of Discipline, Prince of Tides, Beach Music, and My Losing Season:
A Point Guard's Way of Knowledge. This cookbook is both a collection
of Conroy's favorite recipes and stories about the origin of the recipes and
people he met who enjoy cooking as much as he does.
The Island of the Day Before, by Umberto Eco. This is
the third book by Eco I have read. The other two
Eco books I have read are The Name of the Rose (you MUST read it) and
Foucault's Pendulum (not easy to read, tedious, but worthwhile).
Umberto Eco is Italian. He is a "medievalist" -- that is, he is completely
and thoroughly steeped in the history of the Medieval Period -- he knows the
most arcane and obscure facts of the period and he incorporates them into this
writing. The plot of Island of the Day Before is a bit strange:
In 1634, a man is shipwrecked. He floats for days on a hatch cover after
which he finds a ship tied at anchor. He climbs aboard, only to find that
this ship is empty -- the crew is gone, vanished. On board the ship are
birds and plants -- they appear to be specimens collected for return to the home
country. He starts keeping a journal in which he writes letters back home
to his fiancé' and in which he recounts his life to this point. I suggest
you go to Amazon. COM and read their plot summary. This book -- as with
the other two Eco novels I have read -- is not easy reading. I generally
read these books late at night, fortified with gin and tonic.
Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and
Arrogant Presidency, by Senator
Robert C. Byrd. In the months and years
following September 11, 2001, Senator Robert C.
Byrd viewed with dismay what he considers a "slow
unraveling of the people's liberties," a time when
dissenting voices were stilled and awesome power
swung suddenly to the president to fight a "war on
terror." From his perspective of 454 years
in the Senate, Byrd argues that for too long many
of us have passively gone along, aiding and
abetting a dangerous process.
American Alone: The neo-Conservatives and
The Global Order, by Stefan Halper
and Jonathan Clarke. Halper and Clarke
are two respected, thoughtful, reasonable
conservative scholars of foreign affairs.
This book explores how Bush's election and the
events of 9-11-2001combined to allow a small group
of radical intellectuals to seize the reins of U.
S. national security policy. This is a
serious book, it is not polemical, it has no "gotchas,"
no sound bites. It's serious and anyone who
is concerned about our national security strategy
and our relations with the rest of the world needs
to read this.
Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama Bin Laden,
Radical Islam, and the Future of America,
by Anonymous. "Anonymous" is a veteran
CIA officer with an extensive background in the
Middle East and the Islamic world. While Bin
Laden's pronouncements may sound like the
ramblings of a madman to the West. But to a
sizable population in the Muslim world, his words
resonate with history and theology. Bin
Laden does not, in spite of George Bush's claims,
"hate us for what we believe." In fact, he
hates us for what he believes we are doing to the
Muslim world -- and a lot of people are listening
to him. We should listen, too -- and that's
what "Anonymous" does in this book -- he tells us
what Bin Laden is saying.
Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror, Richard A.
Clarke. Clarke served over 20 years in various U. S. government
agencies tracking and analyzing the terrorist threat. He followed the
growth of terrorism from fringe, state-sponsored groups to the sophisticated
organization that is today's Al Qaeda. In this book, he tells what he
knows. Clarke has been denounced by the Republicans as attacking George W.
Bush. In fact, Clarke criticizes every administration for which he worked
for missing the warning signs.
American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the
House of Bush, Kevin Phillips. In his groundbreaking work
Wealth and Democracy, Phillips reveals how the wealthiest Americans are set
apart from the rules by which everyone else lives. In this book, he
describes how four generations of the Bush family have established themselves as
American royalty and used their wealth and connections to further their family
and their narrow ideology.
Had Enough? A Handbook for Fighting Back, by James Carville.
The ragin' Cajun is at it again. This is an excellent handbook for confronting
the lies, distortions, and attacks of the right.
House of Bush House of Saud, by Craig Unger. How is it that on
September 13, 2001 -- two days after 9-11, when all air traffic in the U. S. was
grounded -- that a private jet was allowed to fly across the U.S. and leave our
airspace with 140 Saudi citizens on board, including members of Osama bin
Laden's family? Nearly all the 9-11 hijackers were Saudi citizens yet the
ruling family of Saudi Arabia continues to receive preferential treatment from
the U. S. government. The answer may lie in the largely hidden
relationship between two immensely wealthy and powerful families -- the Bush
family of Connecticut and Texas and the Saud family of Saudi Arabia. Read
all about it here.
The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics,
by Ted
Halstead and Michael Lind.
This is a revolutionary book that every
citizen needs to read. Lind and Halstead argue that "Our nation's politics
are dominated by two feuding dinosaurs that have outlived the world in which
they involved." The authors describe the three revolutions that have
occurred in the U.S. and then detail how conditions now demand a fourth
revolution. Read this book and its companion,
The Real State of the
Union.
Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror, by Richard
Clarke. Clarke is a career member of the federal Senior Executive
Service who started his career in 1973 as an analyst of nuclear weapons and
European security issues in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In May
998 President Clinton appointed him as the first National Coordinator for
Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism. In his book, he
traces the development of the terrorist threat to the U. S. and our reaction to
the threat from the Reagan administration until March 2003. This is an
important book.
The Real State of the Union, edited by Ted Halstead, President, New
America Foundation. This book is a collection of 32 thoughtful, reasoned
essays by talented and capable people. The essays address every facet of
life in America today. Taking its title from the President's annual speech
to Congress, the book starts by pointing out that the Presidential "State of the
Union" message has gone from being a real assessment of the state of the union
to being an hour-long photo-op -- and both parties are guilty of trivializing
the SOTU speech. The book's tone is set in the second essay by Ted
Halstead in which he points out that there have been three major "social
contracts" in our history -- and a fourth may be in the making. This essay
alone is worth the price of the book. These essays do not bash right or
left, do not call anyone names, and are not partisan. You really need to
read this book -- it is important.
Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush,
and,
Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America. Both
books are written by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose -- Texas journalists who are
long-time writers about the Texas political scene and who know G. W. Bush all
too well. Shrub was written before Bush was selected President,
Bushwhacked looks at his record after two years as President. Too bad
the national press ignored Bush's record in Texas before the 2000 election --
Bush is now doing to the entire nation what he did to Texas -- and it's ugly.
The
Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century, by Paul
Krugman. Every thinking American needs to read this book -- which probably means it
will be read by only a few. At the beginning of the 21st century, the most advanced
nation in history is under the control of the most radically reactionary forces in our
history. This nation has been hijacked by a rightwing mob that rejects the
legitimacy of everything the U.S. stands for -- and they are getting away with it because
the press is afraid to take them on.
The
Lies of George W. Bush, by David Corn. The title says it all.
Problem is, this book is only 324 pages long and to catalog all the lies by G. W.
Bushitter would take ten times that many pages -- thus, the book only lists the really big
lies.
Big
Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth,
Joe Conason. Title says it all. Again, there is not enough paper and ink in
the world to document the lies of the "right" - Rush Limbaugh, Anne
Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Tom Delay, George W. Bush, American Spectator, Michael
Savage, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Dinesh D'Souza, Richard Mellon Scaife, and on
and on and on -- lie piled upon lie until the Big Lie becomes the Truth.
Mystic
River, by Dennis Lehane. Excellent. Could not put it down.
This is a dark story. Clint Eastwood has directed a movie based on the book
-- hope the movie is as good as the book.
Under
the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer. Have not started on this
one yet.
Blinded
by the Right, by David Brock. Brock was one of the big stars in
the far right wing of the Republican party. He wrote the book that destroyed -- or
attempted to destroy -- Anita Hill. Brock was a favorite of the right and was in the
midst of much of what really was a "vast rightwing conspiracy" to trash the
Clinton administration. Then he saw the light. Read this book.
Living
History, by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Well, okay. I read it
and found it interesting -- but disappointing. This is obviously a political book.
Now, when anyone asks her about anything in her husband's administration, she can
say "Read my book." I would have preferred that she spent less time
chatting about life in the White House and spent more time describing her own political
beliefs.
Will
You Miss Me When I'm Gone: The Carter Family and their Legacy in American
Music, by Mark Zwonitzer. Excellent work; recommend this book.
The Carter Family is widely recognized as the founding family of American country
music. Living in SW Virginia, the family was surrounded by a musical heritage that
drew heavily on British ballads. Discovered by RCA producer Ralph Speer in the
historic 1927 Bristol (TN-VA) recording sessions, the Carter Family was an still is the
first family of country music.
Portrait
of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed, by Patricia Cornwell.
My wife is a big Cornwell fan -- I have read only this one of her books. Her
writing is detailed and can be slow at times but there is no mistaking that every word is
carefully researched. This book is amazing, both in its subject matter and in its
revelation of how a writer does research.
Lies
and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, by Al Franken. Franken has done
us all a service by exposing some of the lies of the radical right and their mouthpieces
-- O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Coulter, Bush, Cheney, and the like. Franken is a comedian
and that fact hurts this book -- he spends too much time being funny and that bites into
his topic. Still, he says what needs to be said about these radical rightwingers who
have made The Big Lie tactic their own.
Made
in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics,
by Michael Lind. Lind is a former conservative who saw the light. Disgusted at
the hate and venom he experienced daily as an insider in the conservative circles of
William F. Buckley and other luminaries of the far right, Lind had a conversion and now
writes, warning us of the serious threat from present-day Republican conservatism to our
way of life. In this book, he details how Southern militarism and racism, Southern
elite economics that focuses on primitive commodity production, and Southern Protestant
fundamentalism combined to capture Washington, DC -- and to threaten the American middle
class.
The
City and The Stars, by Arthur C. Clarke. This book often comes as
two books in one volume, the second being Clarke's The Sands of Mars. I am
not a big science fiction fan, having read very little of the genre. The City
and The Stars is philosophy and spirituality wrapped around a "science
fiction" plot. Read it.
Islam:
A Short History, by Karen Armstrong. The author has written
extensively on the world's religions, principally on Christianity. She was a nun for
seven years and her insights from that experience show through in all her writing.
Read this book -- it is important that we understand Islam.
Undaunted
Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West,
by Stephen Ambrose. 2003 marks the 200th anniversary of the start of the Lewis and
Clark Expedition to explore up the Missouri River, across the Rockies, and to the Pacific
following Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France. Ambrose does
his usual good job of making history live.
If
the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They Would Have Given Us Candidates, by
Jim Hightower. This book should be read along with Hightower's other book, There's
Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Lines and Dead Armadillos.
Hightower is a give-'em-hell populist whose most famous line is "We don't need a
third political party, hell, we need a second party!"
Up
From Conservatism, by Michael Lind. Lind describes his conversion
from a rising star in the Republican rightwing conservative movement. He then lays
out why present-day Republican rightwing "conservatism" -- which is not
conservative at all -- is bad for America.
Bush
at War, by Bob Woodward. Woodward wrote this book in the wake of
the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US. Using interviews with
principals, sources, and his extensive knowledge of Washington, he describes the processes
and deliberations that led the Bush administration to declare war on terrorism.
Ghosts
of Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine, by Jochen
Hemmleb, Larry Johnson, and Eric Simonson. In the early 1920's, British expeditions
tried several times to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The last attempt, in June
1924, was led by George Leigh Mallory accompanied by his climbing companion Andrew Comyn
Irvine. On the morning of June 6, 1924, the two of them crawled out of their tent
and headed for the summit. Two days later, another member of the climbing team saw
two lone figures high on Everest's northeast ridge, in his words, "going strong for
the top." They were never heard from again. In 1999 an international
expedition set out to find out what happened to Mallory and Irvine. Read the book to
see what they discovered.
A
People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. Zinn's book
should be required reading in high school senior and college US history classes; he
provides a well-researched and documented alternative to the usual heroic stories of our
history.
Too
Close To Call, by Jeffrey Toobin. The story of the 2000
Presidential election.
Nickel
and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenriech.
Few people realize that millions of Americans work full-time and yet are still in
poverty. Why? Maybe you should try to live on $5 to $8 an hour. That's
what the author did.
Fast
Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, by Eric
Schlosser. I purchased this book after hearing the author on NPR. While
reading this book, I realized why I bypass chain restaurants and fast food in favor of
Mom-and-Pop restaurants -- at least, until fast food drives Mom and Pop out of business.
The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict; by Mitchell Bard.
The title says it all. This book is not an attempt at scholarly examination of the
Middle East -- but it's definitely worth reading. You will come away from this book
understanding that there likely is no comprehensive Mid East peace settlement possible,
ever.
John
Adams; by David McCullough. Excellent, scholarly work. I'm
reading it -- slowly -- it's worth reading but it's more than I ever wanted to know about
Adams.
Truman;
by David McCullough. Similar to his work on Adams; this book won the Pulitzer.
It's important because Truman was the post-war president who was responsible for
enacting a lot of Roosevelt policies that were pushed aside by WW II, and, because Truman
was the individual who started moving the Democratic Party away from being the party of
Southern Jim Crow racism and toward being the party that would pass the Civil Rights Act
of 1964.
A Simple Plan, by Scott Smith. This
book was made into a movie starring Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, and Bridget Fonda.
Never Cry Wolf, by Farley Mowat.
Published in 1963, this book still should be read for its insights into how we share the
earth with other creatures.
The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje.
I have not seen the movie made from this book. The book is dark and the first
half is difficult reading but it's worth the effort.
The Last Picture Show, by Larry McMurtry.
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy
Toole.
The Infinite Plan, by Isabel
Allende. I have read several of her works over the past year and highly recommend
Isabel Allende. She writes superbly and weaves a good tale.
The
Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver.
Eva
Luna, by Isabell Allende
The
Stories of Eva Luna, by Isabell Allende.
The
Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Thomas Friedman. An
important book; Friedman explains globalization and its meanings for us all -- scary in
places -- just like globalization.
Pleasures
and Regrets, by Marcel Proust.
The
Virtues of Aging, by Jimmy Carter.
The
Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914 - 1991, by Eric
Hobsbawm.
The Supreme Identity, by Alan Watts. This is
difficult reading. Watts was an Anglican priest who left the Church to pursue
Eastern philosophies, religions, and spiritual pursuits. He is regarded as the best
"explainer" of Eastern spiritualism to Westerners. In this book, he
presents the idea of the Supreme Identity -- God to westerners -- and leads the reader to
a discussion of how one can become one with the Supreme Identity. Watts
is one of the most significant and controversial spiritual teachers of our time. The
book is out of print; you may be able to find a used copy through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble,
or a used book store.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William
Shirer.
Fair and
Tender Ladies, by Lee Smith.
Foucault's
Pendulum, by Humberto Eco.
A Distant
Mirror, by Barbara Tuchman.
The Name of
the Rose, by Humberto Eco.
River of
Earth, by James Still.
The
Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, by Julia
Cameron.
Transforming
the Appalachian Countryside, by Ronald l. Lewis. The subtitle to this book
is Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia 1880 - 1920.
Why People
Believe Weird Things, by Michael Shermer.
Fighting Back
in Appalachia: Traditions of Resistance and Change, edited by Stephen L.
Fisher.
Blue Ridge
2020: An Owner's Manual, by Steve Nash.
Angela's
Ashes, by Frank McCourt
The Murrow
Boys, by Stanley Cloud and Lynn Olsen
The Dancing Wu
Li Masters, by Gary Zukav
Bastard Out of
Carolina, and Skin: Talking
About Sex, Class, and Literature, by Dorothy Allison
For The
Time Being, by Annie Dillard
Undaunted
Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West,
by Stephen E. Ambrose
In
Retrospect, by Robert S. McNamara
Gathering
Storm: America's Militia Threat, by Morris Dees with James Corcoran
Pedagogy
of the Oppressed, by Paulo Friere
Snow
Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson. Recommend you read this one. It
is superb.
Citizen
Soldiers, by Stephen E. Ambrose
Slouching
Toward Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline, by Robert H.
Bork
Calendar: Humanity's Epic Struggle to
Determine a True and Accurate Year
Comrades, Avenge Us.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt.
Everest Disaster
The Professor and the Madman
The
Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest, by Anatoli Boukreev
House of
Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III
Meditations
From a Moveable Chair, by Andre Dubus (father of Andre Dubus III)
My favorite Bible:
Zondervan; New International Version; study Bible, leather-bound,
with thumb-indexed pages.
Also -- read the "Cotton Patch Gospels" by Reverend Clarence
Jordan. Both a Biblical scholar and a prophetic man of action,
Clarence Jordan lived out the New Testament in the soil of rural Georgia. A
visionary during the struggle for the civil rights of all God's children, he
founded an inter-racial community called Koinonia. On this farm, folks
worked side-by-side to make a living, following Jesus - a radical concept fifty
years ago. They experienced a great deal of opposition, even from those who
followed the same Lord. This community still exists,
Koinonia Partners,
even though the visionary who started it died unexpectedly on October 29, 1969,
at the age of fifty-seven. Amazon.com sells the various Cotton Patch
Gospels.
For more on the Cotton Patch Gospels, check out this website:
http://rockhay.tripod.com/cottonpatch/index.htm
How about sending me an e-mail
with your current or favorite readings. Thank you !!
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