We did this type of open thread a few years ago. Many of us here love to read, and may have missed a book or two that would be helpful to our common interests. Also, movies come out too quickly for many of us to see most of them. Were any of them worth the time and money?
Anyone interested in sharing? Here’s the place to do it!
I just read a great history of Prohibition titled “Last Call:the Rise and Fall of Prohibition” by Daniel Okrent. It gives details on the campaign for prohibition, the way the law was written – if you owned liquor before the Volstead Act was passed, you could keep it, for example – and the important work of Americans Against the Prohibition Amendment, led by John J Raskob.
And for Young Adult capitalist science fiction
Phillies “Mistress of the Waves”
Corelli Barnett Pride and Fall (4 volumes, UK over past two centuries)
Shirer The Fall of the Third Republic, especially the pre-WW2 part
The Rise and Fall of the Dutch Republic
Why Nations Fail
David Potter the Impending Crisis (US in 1845-1860)
I just thought of another one that might interest people here. It’s the latest book by Erik Larson, who wrote two of my favorite books, Devil in the White City and Isaac’s Storm. His books are true and well-researched, but he tells the stories so that they read like novels.
The latest book is called Dead Wake, and it’s about the sinking of the Lusitania. It describes war as it was at the time of the sinking (1915), and exhibits how little human lives are valued during war times.
Great fun, but an example of what I like to call psuedo-fiction. It’s spinning an entertaining story based on snippets of reality and cultural memes, and presented as “truth” or an “investigation” for entertainment’s sake.
I enjoy the genre, but don’t confuse it for actual history, any more than the Blair Witch Project was a real documentary.
Shivany,
I’ve caught a few episodes of “Hunting Hitler” too. It’s an interesting show, but it does suffer from some of the same flaws as most “reality TV” programs.
For example, it goes far enough out of its way to manufacture “cliffhangers,” and makes enough more more of this or that piece of alleged evidence, such that the way the show flows tends to call its own premise into question.
My own guess is that IF Hitler had survived and escaped to Argentina, there to be guarded and taken care of by e.g. ODESSA, that when he did die, at least one of the high-ranking Nazis who we know to have similarly escaped (e.g. Otto Skorzeny) would have made big bank on the story (or, perhaps, have turned him in BEFORE he died as part of a pardon/asylum deal with the US.
But I could be wrong. And the show is great fun.
I have been enjoying the series on the History Channel, “Hunting for Hitler”. The premise is that he did not die in his bunker as everyone thought and he was able to make his way south to Argentina. For history buffs and us armchair detectives, it is quite fascinating.
I have studied many things about Hitler and always suspected that he was not the type of person who would just shoot himself. He always had a plan B and C.
For the Libertarians in the group, might I suggest the following books all written by John McAfee:
* Beyond The Siddhis: Supernatural Powers and the Sutras of Patanjali
* The Secret of the Yamas: A Spiritual Guide to Yoga
* Into the Heart of Truth: The Spirit of Relational Yoga
* The Fabric Of Self: Meditations on Vanity and Love
They are older, circa 2001. You can still find copies on Amazon, most of them used I suspect. They were written during his Yoga days. They give a fascinating insight into who John was at the time. He wrote them while he ran his own Yoga retreat. Anyone was invited to come stay and being true to the philosophy of Yoga, no one was charged any money for being there. I have found “The Fabric of Self” to be quite enlightening when I need a little something extra to get me going through my day.
I also find myself re-reading some of my favorite authors to see if their words still hold true today. My favorite being Anais Nin. She inspires me with her prose and colorful way of describing the world she has found herself in.
Anything written by George Gissing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gissing
He was a great Naturalist (as opposed to Romantic) English novelist of the late 1800s. George Orwell was a big fan of Gissing’s work.
Gissing’s constant theme was money — how the quest for it, possession of it, of the lack of it affected people’s lives, and relations between the sexes. Whether they were able to marry. The choices they made in a marriage partner. Etc.
His novels are also full of great psychological insights. Whenever I read a Gissing novel, there are so many passages I want to underline because they’re still relevant today.
http://www.tvguide.com/movies/bent/132472/
Is history about to repeat itself?
I’ll start. I like non-fiction, and ran across a book called “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, which I found to be utterly fascinating. She was a poor black woman who died of cancer at a young age. Before she died, however, some cells were taken from her body which became very important in medicine and in research. Her family found out about this years after fortunes were made, none of it going to her heirs.
Many interesting ethical questions are posed in this book, and I found it to be am amazing read. Here’s the Wikipedia article about it:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immortal_Life_of_Henrietta_Lacks