Interesting books, and news items about books and periodicals, particularly with respect to political and social issues. Since May, 2016, many of my larger book reviews have been put on a hosted Wordpress site; so now this blog emphasizes previews, interviews with authors, booklets, large periodical articles, and literary business issues. Note: no one pays me for these reviews; they are not "endorsements"!
Wednesday, September 07, 2016
Quick takes on new books by Putnam ("Our Kids") and Toobin ("American Heiress"); my new book review strategy ; also Gladwell
As a number of mainstream-published socially and politically
relevant non-fiction books accumulate, it is difficult for me to keep up with
them all.
On my new Wordpress media commentary blog I’ve given certain emphasis to lesser known or self-published books, and to
books (and movies) with more direct relevance to the content in my own
books. So from time to time, I’ll list a
few new mainstream books here, order them, and review them in full there later,
while bringing up the issues in a more timely manner.
I’ll mention three new books today in summary fashion.
One is “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis” by Robert
Putnam (Simon & Schuster). The New York
Times has a review by Jason De Parle here . The book makes the point that education,
rather than being a class equalizer, seems to be a class “fortifier” as the
legacy of accumulated income (and wealth) inequality accumulates within
families. I saw this sentiment among
other soldiers and the cadre back when I entered the Army in 1968 (the “too
much education” attitude). The book also
seems to bear some relation to Charles Murray’s “Coming Apart” when it comes to
views on social capital, even if the policy prescriptions are different (March
14, 2012).
A second book is “American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the
Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst” by CNN legal columnist Jeffrey
Toobin (Doubleday). Here is a review, “Comrades”, by Laura Miller in Slate. Toobin has said on CNN that today
Americans have forgotten how violence and domestic terrorism had become weapons
of the radical left in the 1970s. The
Symhionese Liberation Army intended to martial indignation and cause
expropriation and revolution, communist style, but the workability of its plan
was total fantasy, even given the way it was able to manipulate Patty Hearst,
who wound up helping pay for their crimes by prison herself. I can remember the
indignation of the “People’s Party of New Jersey” myself in 1972 when spying on
them in Newark, especially concerning unearned, inherited wealth.
I saw, at church, a flier advertising some books from the
Baptist-related Judson Press, particularly “The Spiritual Act of Raising
Children with Disabilities” by Kathleen Deyer Boulduc and a foreword by Ginny
Thornburgh. This is an approach which
“sells” today, but probably would not have in the more distant past. I get prodded (at least indirectly) on why I
wouldn’t write something like this. I
guess if I actually “did it”, it would not be for the purpose of writing a
profitable book.
The publisher was well known in faith circles when I was
growing up. Everett Goodwin, a
progressive Baptist pastor (left First Baptist in Washington DC in 1993 and
pastored for some years at Myers Park in Charlotte) authored “Down By the
Riverside: A Brief History of Baptist Faith” in 1997, with a second edition and
Study Book in 2006. He also authored
“Baptists in the Balance: The Tension Between Freedom and Responsibility
“(1997), a book that supports libertarian political ideas of individual freedom
and individual accountability. Goodwin helped pre-read 1996 drafts of my own
first “Do Ask Do Tell” book.
Update: Sept, 27
I've ordered Malcolm Gladwell's "David and Goliath: Underdog, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants" 2015), and want to note the article in the Guardian by Oliver Burkeman, "If my books seem oversimplified, maybe you shouldn't read them: There's an interesting philosophical question: why do we allow inborn genetic advantages (like more red blood cells than usual) in sports, but not doping. Gladwell looks for a principled answer. It will be interesting of Gladwell talks about ideas like "giving back", inherited wealth, or particularly "right-sizing".
Since the 1990s I have been very involved with fighting the military "don't ask don't tell" policy for gays in the military, and with First Amendment issues. Best contact is 571-334-6107 (legitimate calls; messages can be left; if not picked up retry; I don't answer when driving) Three other url's: doaskdotell.com, billboushka.com johnwboushka.com Links to my URLs are provided for legitimate content and user navigation purposes only.
My legal name is "John William Boushka" or "John W. Boushka"; my parents gave me the nickname of "Bill" based on my middle name, and this is how I am generally greeted. This is also the name for my book authorship. On the Web, you can find me as both "Bill Boushka" and "John W. Boushka"; this has been the case since the late 1990s. Sometimes I can be located as "John Boushka" without the "W." That's the identity my parents dealt me in 1943!
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