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Posted by on Mar 16, 2014 in Blog, Politics | 4 comments

Isolationism Redefined

 

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Global conflicts don’t unfold in black and white anymore.  They never did.  The world is an increasingly indistinguishable shade of grey.  It sure seemed we were on the right side back during World War II.  The same can be said of the Cold War, too.  But since then, American hegemony hasn’t changed much, while many parts of the world have morphed into a vast landscape without borders, tariffs, and restrictions. 

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Posted by on Aug 16, 2013 in Blog, Book Reviews, Politics | 0 comments

Why Mao Tse-tung Still Matters

 

mao-the-untold-story

 

I’m attracted to historical biographies.  Perhaps it’s an inherent sense of curiosity combined with the obligation to spend at least some measure of time reading the works of dedicated authors who in rare instances spent not merely years, but decades conducting extensive research and ultimately giving new life to people and subjects we thought we already knew well, but may have misunderstood.

Such is definitely the case with one of my favorite books, The Power Broker:  Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winner for non-fiction. 

Such is also the case for any of the four other Robert A. Caro books on Lyndon B. Johnson, clearly the most thorough research and writing exercise ever conducted on a U.S President by one man.  Such is also the case with John Adams by David McCullough, arguably our most noted historian.  I could go on and on.

Such is also the case with “Mao:  The Untold Story,” written by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. 

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