No Property in Man – Slavery and antislavery at the Nation’s Founding by Sean Wilentz

This book’s focus is on how the framers of the Constitution went to great lengths not to use the word slave or slavery in the textual language and avoid implying in any way that the Constitution endorsed the concept of humans as property. It then explores how the vagaries of that language spawned different interpretations of the Constitutional and how that played out over the next 70 plus years culminating in the civil war.

Ancient Worlds – A Global History of Antiquity by Michael Scott

I found this one especially interesting because it explores the ancient kingdoms and empires in the Mediterranean, central Asia, and China, but from the perspective of how they interacted, interconnected, and influenced each other. Most histories I have studied tend to deal with one empire. Its context within the broader world order of the time was only dealt with in a peripheral way.

House of Trump House of Putin by Craig Unger

First, I will say the author presents no smoking gun. However, the circumstantial evidence he presents is so compelling it is hard to even imagine that Trump as well as his father were not involved with the Russian mob and massive associated money laundering operations. The author identifies 59 Russian mobsters, oligarchs, and associated Russian Government actors involved in cash purchases of Trump real estate and other suspicious interaction with Trump himself.

The book was particularly enlightening to me. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s I was in Russia several times trying to create telecom partnerships and joint ventures. One of the companies we were courting actually expressed interest in buying a minority interest in our company as part of a deal. Thankfully we never could come to terms. But that company, Gasprom, the author says was controlled at the time by the Russian mob and used to launder money.

God is a Question, Not an Answer – William Irwin

This book does not reflect an effort on the part of the author to prove there is no God. It is really a philosophical treatise on the subject. The author casts himself an “honest atheist”. By that he means that while he does not believe in God he admits that regardless he still sometimes has doubts.

His objective seems to be to shake the confidence of people on both sides of the issue. He argues that doubt is a virtue. He advances the idea that doubt is an integral part of the human condition as it relates to God and faith. He says every person has doubts from time to time if they are honest with themselves. He also thinks that doubt is a place where both people of faith and those who have no faith can find common ground in finding ways to show mutual respect and live in peace with each other.

Team of Vipers – My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House by Cliff Sims

I did not learn much about the Trump Administration that I did not already know or suspect. The author does shine much more light though on the internal cut throat behavior of the White House staffers, how they attack and back-stab each other to get ahead, and the level to which they will go to pander to Trump.

The most striking revelation for me was the author’s reverence for Trump, almost as a messiah. He relates how much he believes in virtually everything the President was doing or trying to do. The especially sad part of that is that Sims claims to be an evangelical Christian yet was by his own admission one of the vipers he writes about. I can’t even imagine a sincere Christian who seriously follows the teaching of Jesus and also cares about our country behaving as he admits he did. Of course I know I am prejudice here!

Fantasyland – How America Went Haywire by Kurt Andersen

This book explores the migration to, the settlement of, and the maturing of our liberal American Democracy. Essentially the author makes the case that the original migrants who came to the American continent were mostly religious and social misfits in European society, trouble makers, or people hoping to find gold in the new world, get rich quickly, and go home.

Vintage sexual tensions and nylon stockings. He argues that once these early migrants arrived they quickly discovered that there wasn’t any gold and they could not get along with each other, especially as it related to religious doctrine. Various groups splintered from the original Puritan religious dogma, spread out in the country, and started their own communities with their own interpretation of truth and reality.

The author follows that “reality” thread through the 500 years that Europeans have inhabited America. He claims that the American sense of reality is fundamentally different from and much more radical than any European country. It is an interesting read.

Following are the books I have been reading since I last posted to the list:

58)  How the Other Half Banks: Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threat to Democracy – Mehrsa Baradaran

The central theme of this book is that nearly half of the American population has been deprived of access to financial services at a fair price because of deregulation of the banking industry. The author presents the case that commercial banks have abandoned the poor and working classes. Their banking needs, which  are mostly for small loans and simple financial services, have been left to loan sharks; those institutions with little banking competition can and do charge exorbitant interest rates, often at annual rates of a few thousand percent. The author promotes the idea of reinstitution of postal banking in the US.

59)  At the Existentialist Cafe – Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails – Sarah Bakewell

The author explores existentialism and phenomenalism through the eyes of Simone de Beauvior, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty ,and other philosophers from the 1920s through the ‘70s. She presents these individuals’ philosophical thinking and influences as well as inconsistencies within the context of their personal lives and relationships with each other.

60)  Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism – Anne Case & Angus Deaton

The authors raise the alarm about a decline in life expectance among white Americans and contrast that with the rates in people of color as well as the experience of other developed countries. They demonstrate through statistical analysis that alcohol, drugs, and suicide are a major source of the declining life expectancy among white Americans between 45 and 54. While loss of jobs security seems to be a key part of the problem the authors present the broader US version of capitalism as a major culprit. The US healthcare system, especially, appears to exacerbate a sense of hopelessness many white Americans feel toward their lives, economic stability, and future.

61)  This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality – Peter Pomerantsev

The author explores the disinformation age and how autocrats have learned to manipulate the electorate; through social media they have become expert at blurring factuality and creating alternate realities. Such behavior confuses and misleads people into believing conspiracy theories and engage in destructive political activities. If you are confident that truth and democracy will ultimately win over lies and dictatorship this book is not for you. 

62)  This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom – Martin Hagglund

In the first part of his book the author conducts a comprehensive philosophical discussion of the concept of a finite secular life versus religious ideas of eternal life; he endorses and his arguments support the secular view as the only realistic one. In the second part he advances a strong philosophical argument that a capitalist economic model is exploitative of the people and undemocratic; he promotes “Democratic Socialism” as a superior model of economic fairness, freedom, and justice.

63)  Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World – Lesley M.M. Blume

The author discusses the US military’s unanticipated severity of radiation poisoning from use of the atomic bomb on the Japanese citizens of Hiroshima and its effort to cover up the truth. The central theme is how a journalist, John Hersey, was able to get the facts, publish the results, and change Americans’ attitude about the bomb.

64)  Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power – Brooke Baldwin

The author was until the end of April a senior news anchor at CNN. She resigned her position to promote women’s equality and empowerment full time. The central theme of her new book is how women can and are making progress in “a man’s world” when they support each other and work together rather than compete with each other. This should be required reading for every woman who wants more from life than to be a stay-at-home housewife. Of course that’s from a dad whose kids are mostly girls.

65)  Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop – Lee Drutman

The author makes the case for how a two party political system with clear and strong ideological differences is not compatible with the structure of America’s constitutional democracy. He argues with convincing statistical evidence how throughout most of our political history until the 1990s the US effectively had four parties: Conservative Republicans, Liberal Republicans, Conservative Democrats, and Liberal Democrats. Mr. Drutman shows that starting in the ‘90s the liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats effectively disappeared, leaving extreme ideological partisanship with an associated breakdown in governance.

66)  How to Avoid a Climate Disaster – Bill Gates

The author provides an educational and persuasive tome on the reality of the dangers to humanity of climate change caused by carbon pollution. He identifies what the major sources of carbon pollution are and what is needed to combat them. He also indicates what tools we already have to fight that pollution and what breakthroughs we need to push if we want to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

I am beginning to feel signs that I may be coming out of the ever deepening funk I have been feeling over the past four years. I don’t suddenly see sunshine everywhere. And after the chaos of the 2020 election and its aftermath I still fear for the future of our democracy. Nevertheless, with our new President’s efforts to recover a measure of our national sanity I am beginning to see some hope that over time America’s democratic experiment may survive.

Meanwhile over the past few months, to protect my own sanity I have shifted much of my personal literary focus toward history, philosophy, and recreational reading; to the extent that I read it I lump religion into the philosophy category.  I also decided not to write long commentaries on what I read anymore; going forward I just plan to identify the books I read with a very brief sentence or two on the central theme of the work. And I won’t report on fiction or other recreational reading. With that, following are the books I have finished since November:

51)  The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare : how Churchill’s secret warriors set Europe ablaze and gave birth to modern black ops – Damien Lewis

This book is the true story of the World War II exploits of members of the British SOE and SAS as they fought a hit and run guerrilla war against the Nazis. The characters are all the real people with a central focus on Anders Lassen, a Dane with a personal score to settle with the Nazi’s for overrunning his country.

52)  The Last Train From Hiroshima – Charles Pellegrino

This book documents the experiences of people who were residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki before, during, and after the atomic bombs were dropped on those two Japanese cities. It is well researched with scores of eye witness accounts.

53)  Churchill’s Shadow Raiders – Damien Lewis

This is the true story of a World War II behind the lines operation to capture Germany’s secret RADAR technology in an effort to find ways to defeat it.

54)  South To Freedom – Alice L. Baumgartner

This is the historical account of the slaves who chose to escape south to Mexico instead of going north to free states or to Canada. It is a little known or researched part of our history. This book describes why they chose that course and its associated results.

55)  The Bible With and Without Jesus:  How Jews and Christians read the same stories differently – Amy-Jill Levin and Marc Zvi Brettler

This is the study of how the meaning of the stories in the Jewish Talmud (Christians’ Old Testament) have evolved over the centuries from what the original writers probably meant. It especially focuses on how Christians and Jews interpret those scriptures differently today.

56)  Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man – Emmanuel Acho

This is an effort to help white people understand the black perspective and how to initiate respectful dialogue with black people to foster more understanding and mutual respect.

57)  The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Re-made the Constitution – Eric Foner

The author focuses on the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment and how they fundamentally changed the relationship of citizens to their national government; he further discusses how in the following 4 or 5 decades the Supreme Court systematically dismantled the impact of those amendments.

Which Country Has the Best Health Care – Ezekiel J. Emanuel

Ezekiel Emanuel is an American oncologist, bioethicist and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is the current Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy.

Dr, Emanuel sets out to profile the healthcare systems in 11 wealthy developed countries in an effort to identify the best, or at least where excellence exists. His assessment includes the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. He evaluates each system on 22 different dimensions in 5 categories: Coverage; Financing; Payment; Delivery; Pharmacy Prices. The information is presented in substantial detail including graphical representations. And he discusses the challenges each country is going to face in the coming decade.

Once the author presented the individual analysis of each country’s system he then compared the systems with each other. He makes the point the each system has its strengths but also has its weaknesses. He chooses not to identify the best country because all have challenges. So he identifies those countries he calls “top tier”; they include Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Taiwan. He also identifies the “best performing countries” in each of his 22 dimensions as well as those that are “notably poor performers”. Sadly, the US is identified as one of the poor performers in 12 of the 22 dimensions.

Finally, the author identifies 6 lessons for improving the US healthcare system, They are:

• Ensure universal coverage with auto-enrollment and larger subsidies;

• Cover children at no additional cost to their parents and families;

• Simplify the American health care system;

• Emphasize and increase the reimbursement for primary care;

• Adopt and implement best practices for the care of patients with chronic and mental health conditions;

• The United States needs to join the rest of the world in regulating drug prices.

I found this book vastly more authoritative and in depth on healthcare than I am qualified to address. Generally though I was pleased to find that it is mostly in agreement with a piece that I wrote some time ago on the subject of the US healthcare system. If you want to read what I wrote you can find it on my blog in the category “My Credo”.

Rise of the Warrior Cop – Radley Balko

Radley Balko is an American journalist, author, blogger, and lecturer who writes about criminal justice, the drug war, and civil liberties. Balko has written other books on these same subjects. The central theme of this volume is a close look at the rapid militarization of domestic law enforcement agencies and its associated dangers to civil rights and freedom.

The author points out that American revolutionaries toward the end of the colonial period in America saw soldiers in the streets as bringing conflict and tyranny. As a result, from its founding our country has worked to keep the military out of domestic law enforcement. However, he traces the history of domestic law enforcement over the past several decades and how police forces have begun to resemble and behave like military ground assault troops.

Mr. Balko says the consequences of this transition has been dire: a citizen’s home is no longer a sanctuary; the Castle Doctrine is substantially dead for all intents and purposes. Today the Fourth Amendment is being ignored by law enforcement and has been gutted by conservative court decisions upholding abusive behavior by police. With this increased militarization police have been conditioned to see the citizens they are sworn to serve as the enemy.

The author demonstrates that today’s armed police forces are a far cry from peace officers of earlier decades walking the beat in local neighborhoods where they knew the people and were a part of the community. The unrest of the 1960s gave rise to the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team concept where a unit of officers were specially trained to handle violent criminal situations – bank robbers, hostage takers, snipers, and rioters. Then with Nixon’s War on Drugs followed by Reagan’s War on Poverty, and the post 9/11 security state, police powers were gradually expanded and empowered, always at the expense of civil liberties.

Federal grants to acquire military grade weapons as well as military training for local police forces have helped the number of SWAT teams to explode nationwide. Suddenly every city of 25,000 or more had to have a SWAT team. But there wasn’t enough violent crime to fight. Also as part of the War on Drugs the federal government initiated a policy of confiscating property in drug raids and then sharing the proceeds with participating local law enforcement agencies. That prompted local SWAT teams to shift their aggressive fear inducing tactics to serving arrest or search warrants on non-violent drug users, local poker games, and other non-violent but technically illegal activities. They typically use their aggressive tactics during the night dressed as assault troops with little regard for individual citizens’ rights. In most cases their tactics are unwarranted and the warrants could be better executed in the daytime with other safer non-confrontational approaches. Further because of inadequate investigation up front the error rate of raiding the wrong house is very high. While the author says we are not yet a police state, or close to it, the trend in policing is clearly going in the wrong direction.

The author sites multiple cases of abuse of power, mistakes, unnecessary deaths and destruction to prove his point. This is a sobering look at where we are in domestic policing. I think this book is worthwhile reading for every American. We should be alert for and recognize the signs of police abuse of power. When we see or suspect it we must challenge our elected leader to exercise more control and accountability in aggressive police tactics.