First Class Passengers on a Sinking Ship: Elite Politics and the Decline of Great Powers-Richard Lachmann London: Verso, 2020) In the first half if it analyses the previous world hegemonies, the Spanish Hapsburg Empire (roughly 1500-1620), The French under the Bourbon’s and Napoleon(1630s-1763, and again 1791-1815), The Netherlands in their Golden Age (roughly 1590-1700), and the British Empire(1650-1914). In each of these examples he analyses elite dynamics within each polity and how they helped and hindered each nations rise and eventual decline in hegemonic power. The second half of the the book which I am just getting to, takes this analysis and applies it to the contemporary United States (starting in about 1960 or so). He’s an academic so much of the work is spent debating other academics which is pretty par for the course, but I am enjoying it so far and am curious to see where he goes with it.
¡No Pasarán! :Matt Christmans Spanish Civil War: Chapo’s Matt Christman published his first book last year months after a debilitating stroke and the birth of his daughter, and his analysis over the past year and a half has been sorely missed. His recently published book finishing up his Spanish Civil War series is small comfort but comfort still, as it brings his piercing analysis and trademark humor to one of the most fought over and romanticized pieces of historical real-estate. Matt’s analysis of this period of history rests on his belief that changing the world towards a utopian horizon IS possible and that episodes such as the Spanish Civil War show a possibility of a unrealized past and future. Highly recommend.
The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire-Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin( London: Verso, 2012 ). Be warned, if the internal deliberations of central bankers and the U.S. Treasury Department officials is not your cup then skip this one . However, if this kind of thing is to your liking then I highly encourage this one. Incredibly informative, it offers a detailed history and analysis on how the American system works and has worked over the past 200 years. The meat of the book is the sections dealing with the middle part of the 20th century. In which the authors articulate a history in which there is much more continuity between the New Deal and Neoliberal eras of American governance than is generally thought of. Would recommend.
The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster. Jonathan Katz (New York: St. Martin Griffins, 2014) A work of firsthand reporting from the only American journalist who was in Port-a-Prince when the 2010 earthquake struck, Katz’ work is part journalism, part history, part firsthand travelogue from Hell, it gives a firsthand, on the ground report of Haiti before during and after the tragic natural disaster. His work focuses on the failure of the huge outpouring of international aid to meaningfully change of the lives of ordinary Haitians in the aftermath of the quake. I won’t spoil it all but the villains in this story include the International aid regime, the NGO-industrial complex, Haitian history, the Clintons and neoliberalism, among others. All of this is even before we get to the introduction of cholera by UN forces sent to help and the coverup the UN attempted in denying their complicity. A well written, well researched work of nonfiction.
Lincoln in the Bardo- George Saunders (New York: Random House, 2017) This was the first Saunders book I read and the first work of fiction I had read in a while. The historical tie in probably helped. I’ve since read some of his short stories which I’ve come to prefer. Overall this seems more like an exercise in form rather than content. His experimentation with narration is interesting and difficult to describe.
Doppelgänger: A Trip into the Mirror World-Naomi Klein (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2023). Naomi Klein’s exploration of contemporary politics through the metaphor of the doppelgänger, the deformed, refracted, cloned version of the self that nonetheless contains an recognizable element. She correctly analysis how in so many ways the current political groupings mirror each other. Specifically in the mutually reinforcing social media generated media silos that amply groupthink and antagonism towards anyone outside the tribe. Even much of the language is similar. No Klein is not sayin that she agrees with Wolf’s new politics or that there are not substantive differences between the two sides, its just that so much of contemporary discourse is generated by the same conditions and a similar process of socialization. This is then refracted through our funhouse mirror social media politics. My only critique is that while Klein gives a succinct analysis of the current moment, like much of contemporary left analysis is frustratingly slim on solutions to the current deadlocked dilemma, other than of course “be excellent to one each other.”
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime & Dreams Deferred-Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (New York: Bold Type Books, 2021) This book had the misfortune to be released after the backlash to I guess we still have to call “wokeness” had set in. If it had been released in 2016-2020 it would have done gangbusters, alas, it is not to be. Not to say its not interesting at parts of that Prescod is a bad writer, its just…..it has that grating social justice style that has come to define so much liberal cultural output in the post-BLM era. Which, is not to say that the struggles she describes aren’t real or true….it’s just hard to feel to bad for a Harvard PhD tenured professor with multiple awards and now a bestseller. Maybe thats just me, but particle physics is just not an interesting enough field for me to slog through for the rest of the reward, could be for others though.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Until next time.