Read this: recently read books on political theory and current events

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Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom".

Sooo highly recommended.
 

sonyablue

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The Big Short - really good so far. It explains some of the more convoluted financial instruments that helped bring on the current economic crisis in a way that non-finance people can understand. Lots of "they did what!?!?!" moments.
 

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Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Change, by Jonah Goldberg. It's a historical piece about American liberalism's roots in European fascism.
 

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Finally finished The Missing Peace. This is really a must for anyone who wants to understand the history of Israeli/Palestinian negotiations and dynamics in any depth. Ross, obviously, has his own biases, and I disagreed with him at some points, but the book is really good and actually pretty easy to read.
 

Tiberium Tleilaxu

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Last thing I read of this sort was George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia and Road to Wigan Pier. I've put together a wish list on amazon with a lot of historical political books to delve into, but nothing I can afford these days. I would also recommend by Viktor Suvorov: The Liberators, Inside the Soviet Army, and Inside Soviet Military Intelligence. They're assessments of the USSR by a Soviet intelligence officer who defected to Britain in the 1980s. Very interesting, and puts to bed all this intellectually and factually vacant thinking in the west about the way the USSR functioned, which informs understandings of why it collapsed very well.


Speaking of which, can anyone recommend any good, historically and politically important books? Yes there's a lot of the business lessons ones there, which might seem odd, I quite liked the ones of the series I have and would recommend them. (I have Leading by Example, Managing Conflict, Communicating Clearly and Motivating People, of that series.)

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Change, by Jonah Goldberg. It's a historical piece about American liberalism's roots in European fascism.
That's been recommended to me before (by dubious characters), but given a brief scan of the synopsis and reviews I found the whole premise ridiculous. It's got to be one of these sorts of awful books written that tend to top the New York Times best-seller lists to try and legitimise a populist, slanderous and mentally inferior assessment of modern politics.

Americans are almost entirely classical ("libertarian"/"conservative") or progressive ("liberals"/"socialists"/"progressives") liberals. The arguments used by both sides are exactly the same as the evolution of liberalism in 1800s Britain.

The definition of "liberal" and "conservative" into black and white terms is a thing of degeneracy. For an American to say "I'm a conservative, they are liberals" is to ignore the definition of conservatism being a struggle between the monarchy and landed gentry of the 1700s. Where is their monarch, eh? Exactly; they are not conservatives.

Every time someone honestly harks on about their conservative ideology, or how the liberals are the enemy, I keep being reminded of Saudi clerics, or Hitler saying that the Nazis were there to defend Christianity from the vile Jewish liberal press and media. Not a pinch of hyperbole in that statement, that's literally what those sorts of people have said. And of course the inverse statement is just as inept.
 
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robeiae

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Currently, I'm working my way through Debt The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber.

So far, it's fascinating. His destruction--very early on--of the myth of barter economies (as predating other types) is friggin' awesome. I do believe this will be a new fav.

Graeber, btw, is a big time anarchist. Those of you who know my posting history may seem puzzled that I'm praising this book. Fret not...all will be revealed. :D
 

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I'm deeply puzzled, Rob - and that one's next on my own list, too.

Currently reading Rachel Maddow's Drift - which is smart and funny and even-handed, so far.
 

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Don't know if this is the right place to ask (thought about PMing a bunch of people) but:

Any one have any suggestions for a book that covers basic political parties/affiliations/philosophies--like, the whole gammit of them, past and present--but without any opinions as to whether they are "good" or "bad"? Just the facts and views of each. Almost like the equivalent of a textbook full of Wikipedia info. Only not Wikipedia (no offense, Wiki).

So I can understand, for example, socialism. Or Marxism. Or anarchism. How and when it started, how it has changed, what it basically means today. In one book. That I can lift. :D
 

robeiae

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Don't know if this is the right place to ask (thought about PMing a bunch of people) but:

Any one have any suggestions for a book that covers basic political parties/affiliations/philosophies--like, the whole gammit of them, past and present--but without any opinions as to whether they are "good" or "bad"? Just the facts and views of each. Almost like the equivalent of a textbook full of Wikipedia info. Only not Wikipedia (no offense, Wiki).

So I can understand, for example, socialism. Or Marxism. Or anarchism. How and when it started, how it has changed, what it basically means today. In one book. That I can lift. :D

Well, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is much better than Wiki. Look up ideologies there.

Book wise, there's Skinner's two-volume set: The Foundations of Modern Political Thought.

Then maybe From Socrates to Sartre, a good overview of basic Western philosophical traditions, including the political.
 

Chrissy

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Thanks, rob. Excellent! I will check these out. Literally, since tommorrow is library day. :)
 

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Whether they intended to help with the "Final Solution" or not, the fact that their technology helped make it the most efficient attempt at extermination in history isn't really a question AFAIK.

The invention of gunpowder technology also helped the Nazis, but I'm pretty sure the Chinese didn't intend that. So I don't understand your point.

caw
 

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Been thumbing through Rachel Bronson's Thicker Than Oil: America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia recently. So far it's been a good (and comical, to a degree) book involving two countries that, in all honestly, really shouldn't have anything to do with one another.
I'm planning on starting R.K. Ramazani's Revolutionary Iran: Challenge and Response in the Middle East, which is outstanding from what I've heard.
 

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Homicide by Martin Daly and Margo Wilson.

It's one of those books that teach the fundamentals necessary to understand politics and current events.
It uses evolutionary psychology to explain why males are so violent. History is basically the tale of male violence.

I would also recommend The Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph Tainter.

I've read three books listed on here.

Guns Germs and Steel I would definitely recommend it provides the best explanation as to why different areas of the world have different levels of development.

Economics in One Lesson is really good and really short. Ron Paul recommends it.

I didn't really learn anything from War is a Racket. It's just self evident.
 

Michael Wolfe

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The Prince by Machiavelli. A classic that's short (only about 100 pages) and easy to read. I found that Machiavelli is thoroughly enjoyable even when I thought he was wrong, which makes it easy to recommend.
 

Xelebes

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Still plugging away on Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century. I got it back in April or so, fetching one of the last copies in the city. Made it halfway and still reading. The analysis of true longterm trends is fascinating, something that is hard to find in books on economics.
 

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McCay Coppin's book "The Wilderness" about the GOP candidates positioning themselves between 2012 and early 2015 was very interesting and insightful. You can see what motivated the current candidates (including some who dropped out) and how they positioned themselves to get into the race. Everything that happened between then and now has impacted how the race looks today. Good writing and apparently good sources.
 

kcummings

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Americans are almost entirely classical ("libertarian"/"conservative") or progressive ("liberals"/"socialists"/"progressives") liberals. The arguments used by both sides are exactly the same as the evolution of liberalism in 1800s Britain.

Not really. You are onto something in that freedoms like speech, due process, most of what was spelled out in the Bill of Rights, etc, are classical liberal values. But you still see a stark contrast within the American "conservative" movement, say between Donald Trump, who wants to ban Muslims, and Marco Rubio, who helped write a bill to reform immigration and allow illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship. Trump's side is in no way classically liberal. They hate a lot of those ideas of tolerance, individual rights, rights for people of all races. They want an authoritarian strongman in power. Call it "far-right", "nativist", "neo-Nazi", or whatever you want, but it's not classically liberal.