Category: government

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

On By Rick McIn books, governmentLeave a comment

Erik Larson is a non-fiction author.

I loved The Devil in the White City (2003), his book on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Larson’s 2020 book sounded interesting too.  So I borrowed Splendid and the Vile from the library.

It’s a new look at Churchill as war Prime Minister from the point of view of his family and friends.   His 18-year-old daughter, for example, partying in London during the Blitz.

About 43,000 civilians were killed in Nazi bombings.  But they stayed the course.  Not many in London wanted to surrender.

Interesting anecdotes are included.   Rudolf Hess flying to Scotland, for example.

I was intrigued by the story of Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt‘s closest advisor on foreign policy during World War II.

One of the architects of the New Deal, Hopkins also supervised the $50 billion Lend Lease program of military aid to the Allies.

In fact, you could argue that Hopkins was essential is starting to bring the USA into the war.

After Churchill himself, I enjoyed most stories of Lord Beaverbrook, William Maxwell Aitken, Churchill’s friend and frenemy.   What a life!

The Splendid and the Vile

A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. …

For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.

Churchill was not at all perfect. Yet he was the perfect choice for wartime Prime Minister facing impossible odds.

He would have been excellent, for example, at handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.”  His many eccentricities were an advantage.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

On By Rick McIn books, ethics, government, human rightsLeave a comment

Brit Bennett can write.

She studied at Stanford, University of Michigan, and Oxford.

The Vanishing Half was #1 on the New York Times best-seller list June 2020.

But I read it as recommended for privileged white people trying to better understand the African American experience.

#BlackLivesMatter

Spanning nearly half a century, from the 1940s to the 1990s, the novel focuses on twin sisters, Desiree and Stella Vignes, who were raised in Mallard, Louisiana, a (fictional) small town conceived of by their great-great-great grandfather — after being freed by the father who once owned him — as an exclusive place for light-skinned blacks like him.

“In Mallard, nobody married dark,” Bennett writes starkly.

Over time, its prejudices deepened as its population became lighter and lighter, “like a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream.” The twins, with their “creamy skin, hazel eyes, wavy hair,” would have delighted the town’s founder.

Yet fair skin did not save their father, whose vicious lynching by a gang of white men marks the girls irrevocably.

Nor did it save their mother from an impoverished existence cleaning for rich white people in a neighboring town, and it won’t save the twins from an equally constricted life if they stay in Mallard.

We learn in the first few pages that at 16, Desiree and Stella ran off to New Orleans, two hours away, but “after a year, the twins scattered, their lives splitting as evenly as their shared egg.

Stella became white and Desiree married the darkest man she could find.” …

‘The Vanishing Half’ Counts The Terrible Costs Of Bigotry And Secrecy

The Order by Daniel Silva

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Book published July 14, 2020.

The new novel featuring legendary Israeli spy master Gabriel Allon is as good as any of the past 19 thrillers.

Silva was raised as a Catholic. Converted to Judaism, the religion of his wife.

This one takes place in the few short days between the funeral of a Pope. And the conclave to elect the next.

A shadowy Catholic society with ties to the European far right, the Order is plotting to seize control of the papacy. And it is only the beginning. …

I learned more about the history of Antisemitism in Christianity.

Seems this book hit a nerve with Trumpers. 😀 There are all kinds of negative reviews online. I suspect most have not read the book as it had only been out a few days as they posted. 

I highly recommend The Order. The Gabriel Allon books are some of my favourites.

I only wish they’d hurry up and start filming a TV series based on the character.

Stay Safe, America

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, government, happiness, health & fitness, human rightsLeave a comment

On the 4th of July I want to send best wishes to all Americans navigating dread 2020.

So many challenges. 

American entrepreneurship is best at coming up with new business formation, survival, and growth.  Looking forward to better days.

Ken Burns on historical monuments

On By Rick McIn ethics, governmentLeave a comment

Legendary American documentary filmmaker Ken Burns said the country is “in the middle of an enormous reckoning” and endorsed the removal of statues of Confederate soldiers and the renaming of military bases.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

John Oliver on Confederate statues & memorials

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, things getting betterLeave a comment

Compromise – MOVE any controversial statue into a museum.  

Laying out the Confederacy’s rationale for seceding from the U.S.

Savannah, Georgia, March 21, 1861

Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens:

“Our new government[‘s] foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man.”

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (2017)

ALL PARENTS MATTER – Boycott Father’s Day 😀

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My buddy Dean — a father on Father’s Day — posted something I’d not considered.

According to professor David Theo Goldberg, “All Lives Matter” reflects a view of “racial dismissal, ignoring, and denial”.

On Real Time with Bill Maher, Bill Maher expressed support for use of the “Black Lives Matter” phrase, stating that “‘All Lives Matter’ implies that all lives are equally at risk, and they’re not”. …