Author Archive
“The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World,” by John Perkins(2007, Penguin Group, 365 pages, paperback, $15)
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If you had a hard time relating to Michelle Obama’s modesty with regard to American accomplishments, this book may surprise you.
In this tome, you get a crystal-clear peek at how rapaciously U.S. corporations have exploited and abused peoples and resources on every continent of the planet — except Antarctica and Europe.
Here’s a story told to Perkins by someone claiming to be “jackal” (a CIA-sponsored mercenary) named “Brett”:
“I walked into El Presidente’s office two days after he was elected and congratulated him.
“He sat behind that big desk grinning at me like the Cheshire Cat.
“I stuck my left hand into my jacket pocket and said, ‘Mr. President, in here I got a couple hundred million dollars for you and your family, if you play the game — you know, be kind to my friends who run the oil companies, treat your Uncle Sam good.’ Then I stepped closer, reached my right hand into the other pocket, bent down next to his face, and whispered,’ In here I got a gun and a bullet with your name on it — in case you decide to keep your campaign promises.’
”Indiana Jones and the White Witch,” by Martin CaidinBantam Books (paperback, 1994, 329 pages).Those of you who saw my review (which you can see HERE) of a previous installment in this series of adventures based on the George Lucas-Steven Spielberg movies may remember that my standards aren’t very high.
I don’t ask for much.
Just don’t bore me.
This one failed on that score.
Btw, these paperbacks were reissued this spring to capitalize on the latest movie.
“The Great Derangement:
A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, & Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire,”By Matt Taibbi(Spiegel & Grau, New York, $24, hardback, 270 pages)
This book has some real gems of insight — wisdom, even.
Check this one out, for example:
“When the government sees its people as the enemy, sooner or later that feeling gets to be mutual. And that’s when the real weirdness begins.” (P.132)
Unfortunately, such valid points are scattered thinly — and with considerably more verbiage — through 270 pages of smarmy, self-righteous, arrogance trying to masquerade as humor.
Don’t get me wrong, I did laugh at some of this.
”The Age of American Unreason”By Susan Jacoby
2008, Pantheon, $26
Hardback, 356 pages
My first encounter with the term “intellectual history” came within the past three years.
I was searching through the online faculty directories at area universities, trying to determine the specialties of various history professors, so I could get their expert opinions on a wide array of current events and places — from Appalachian poverty to Zambian politics, as it were.
I looked at Rhodes College’s Web page for Prof. Lynn Zastoupil. Under “Areas of Expertise,” it listed “European Intellectual History.”
“Cool,” I thought. “That would be a fun area to work in. Imagine researching, writing and teaching that all day.”
I have an uncanny ability to find the least remunerative fields fascinating and fun. The newspaper business, for example.
A century ago, I’d have been jumping into the buggy whip and horse-drawn wagon business with a great deal of enthusiasm.
So, Susan Jacoby’s latest book provides an unwelcome, sobering two-by-four upside the head for anyone who might think that the life of the mind is something the American public is ready to embrace on a large scale — after seven years under a president who can’t properly pronounce the word “nuclear.”
”Shinjuku Shark”By Arimasa Osawa
Translated by Andrew Clare
Vertical Inc.
Paperback, $14.95
285 pages
Both my kids have taken four years of Japanese under “Irigashi Sensei” at White Station High School, and I sincerely hoped I would like this book, the first English translation of a series of police procedurals that are extremely popular in Japan.
I do like the characters and the story, but the translation has serious problems.
The Shinjuku Shark is the nickname of the book’s hero, Samejima, a rogue, loner cop who won’t kowtow to his go-long-to-get-along superiors in the Japanese police hierarchy.
He has a beautiful rock singer girlfriend, Sho, who seems to be poised to launch into stardom.
The plot involves a gay, sadistic maker of illegal firearms and a mysterious serial killer who targets young police officers.
“Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates”
By Martin Caidin
First published December 1993, Bantam reissue April 2008
Paperback, $6.99
311 pages
Just in time for this week’s release of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” Bantam has reissued a series of adventure novels based on the George Lucas movie character.
I came across five of them in what could be called the “slush pile” of books considered inauspicious candidates for reviewing in TheShelfLifeBlog.com.
I’d had my fill of reviewing books outside my reading “comfort zone,” and wanted something I was pretty sure to enjoy — at least not to actively dislike.
My modest expectations were not disappointed by this book by an accomplished British aviator whose earlier novel, “Cyborg,” was developed into the “Six Million Dollar Man” and “Bionic Woman” TV series.
“Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement”
By Scott Ritter
Nation Books 2007, Paperback, $13.95174 pages.
Although it may not seem likely, if you simply look at our career choices, the author and I have much in common, so take this review with a large grain of salt — perhaps enough to dehydrate several white-tailed deer.
It’s true that he’s a former United Nations weapons inspector and well-respected expert in all things military, which in the United States perhaps ranks at the top in terms of popularity and respect among American citizens.
And I am now and have always been just a journalist, a job which Americans often rank below lawyer and used-car salesman in terms of popularity and respect.
But in support of my argument that we might have been separated at birth, I submit the following:
He’s an Air Force brat, as am I.
He’s an ex-jock, as I was in high school.
He’s a committed, principled individual who believes in pursuing both peace and justice, and I think it’s fair to say that I share those qualities.
And I think it’s fair to say we’re both thoroughly disappointed with the state of our nation.
The following is a transcript of a wide-ranging interview I conducted Wednesday with Scott Ritter, the former United Nations weapons instructor and vocal opponent of the war in Iraq.His most recent book is “Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement,” (2007, Nation Books), a copy of which sat on the table at Quetzal as we talked. Also present were Jacob Flowers, executive director of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, George Grider, the center’s board chairman, and Dr. Jose Davila, a Christian Brothers University mechanical engineering associate professor who also happens to sit on the center’s board.Ritter was in town to speak at CBU on Thursday on the topic, “U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East: Iraq Occupation and Target Iran.”Q: How did you get into this position of being a person who’s anti-war, being an officer in the Marine Corps, going from that to being antiwar? It seems to me that there would be some epiphany involved, and I wanted to see what that would be for you.
A: “I don’t know that there’s an epiphany. I like to define myself more as pro-integrity and pro-America, and I don’t think the two should be inherently separate. I think that anybody who has spent time in the military or who has been into war has an appreciation for the reality that war is. Anybody even who has spent time in the military and hasn’t been to war understands through the preparations for war what is entailed by going into war, and I think it would be a sick individual indeed who would embrace this and cherish this. War is about the killing of people and the destroying of property. So, I don’t see any inherent contradiction between being a professional Marine, sworn to uphold and defend the constitution, trained to do that which is necessary in its defense, being against war.
“The Sukoku Puzzle Murders:A Puzzle Lady Mystery,”
By Parnell Hall
St. Martin’s Minotaur
Hardback, $23.95
308 pages
I can stomach the occasional cozy/comedy mystery, but this ninth Puzzle Lady mystery was definitely not my cup of tea.
This series is about a merry divorcee named Cora Felton, who maintains a public persona as a composer and solver of the wordgames many of us find delightfully aggravating — or vice versa, whatever.
The McGuffin, though, is that Cora finds herself at a loss for words whenever confronted by a crossword. It’s her niece, Sherry, who solves and composes them, with Cora serving as the charmingly deceptive face of the operation.
“American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America”By Chris HedgesCopyright 2006Free Press
Paperback, $14
274 pages
The sentence that’s key to understanding this Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter’s book appears on the last page of the new paperback edition, which is actually part of an interview of the author that appeared Jan. 8, 2007, in Salon.com:
“I don’t know how much it’s apparent, but it’s an angry book.”
That it is.
But it’s not particularly informative about the link between the Christian Right and the “fascist shift” described in Naomi Wolf’s “The End of America” (see my review here).
The vast majority of Hedges’ book describes the various ways in which pillars of the Christian Right condemn the left, the independent woman, the homosexual, the Muslim — and exploit the poor, the female, the old and the non-white.
In this, Hedges is, ahem, preaching to the choir, I think.
