Sudhir Joglekar brings the important ancient texts to life in the most delightful way for the modern (and Global North) readers! We should all know moSudhir Joglekar brings the important ancient texts to life in the most delightful way for the modern (and Global North) readers! We should all know more about each other's cultural foundational stories, and 'Adventures of the Pandav Princes' does just that in engaging, lyrical prose that keeps you turning the page. Enjoy!...more
Read this book. Now. And give it to every high school student you know!
An almost outline overview of the key developments that have brought us to wheRead this book. Now. And give it to every high school student you know!
An almost outline overview of the key developments that have brought us to where we are today in the US -- a prior democracy now ruled by corporate needs. I know this always sounds over the top to people who haven't read much about this, but unfortunately a number of laws and Supreme Court rulings have brought this about since WWII. Chomsky is a master and a true public servant. I think every American should read this, and I hope a version is created for elementary school students -- they need to learn the real history of the US, not the weird cartoon-version I was fed in public school a long time ago.
My only quibble with this book are a couple of odd design and editorial quirks. In the paperback version they use a font with odd little ties between letters. It turns out they are called 'ligatures' and they do pull at the eye! I found them distracting, taking me out of the book each time. I even tried to brush the first one off, thinking it was an eyelash or lint! The second thing, is that they chose to write 'gonna' rather than 'going' when in Chomsky's voice. This will likely become a classic, and real English is just nicer in a book like this. Chomsky is most definitely a star. Just not a rap star....more
A wonderful present for all cat people in your life! This is SO much fun. And the detail and level of this charming, beautifully illustrated and produA wonderful present for all cat people in your life! This is SO much fun. And the detail and level of this charming, beautifully illustrated and produced spoof might just have you going. ...more
I loved this book and found it indispensible reading during my visit to St. Petersburg, Russia. Pomerantsev, having been born to Russian parents but rI loved this book and found it indispensible reading during my visit to St. Petersburg, Russia. Pomerantsev, having been born to Russian parents but raised in London has both true access to Russian culture, and the perspective that growing up in western Europe affords.
For example, reading his book let me understand the myriad Russian, but American-stylised TV shows (down to the sets, music and staging) in a whole different light.
The writing is excellent and engaging. I look forward to reading more of his work....more
Hochschild brings her research and facts about the very troubling increasing political divide amongst us Americans into a sharp focus through compelliHochschild brings her research and facts about the very troubling increasing political divide amongst us Americans into a sharp focus through compelling narrative. Told through the stories of people she got to know in Louisiana, it's a page-turner -- an extra delight for a non-fiction book. She gives us many facts leading up to our widening gulf between those on the left, and the right and then dives into understanding how these differences developed and continued to grip the most powerful country on the planet -- one that can destroy all of us many times over. She shows how those on the right have moved much further over in recent decades (after all it was Nixon who started the EPA, and Ronald Reagan was the one who signed into law the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts). One part of the explanation for example, is that the right tends to 'identify up', with the wealthy they hope to become or get closer to by aligning themselves with their corporate supporting policies. The left tend to 'identify down', empathizing with those less fortunate and then want to help, whereas the right tend to see the unfortunates as people cutting in line in front of all of those who have worked decades and sacrificed, often to no avail. The promised good outcomes of the petrochemical industry in Louisiana more often than not do not materialize, but instead leave a swath of physical destruction to the land that will last centuries. And then out-lawyer any citizens who try to get compensation for what they've lost. But human hope is an amazing thing. Now how to harness it for positive change. The one thing I would have liked to know from Arlie is why the US left has moved right as well--to where the moderate right used to be....more
A must-read for everyone interested in making democracy work, and should be mandatory for all high school students living in the USA. It is short. TheA must-read for everyone interested in making democracy work, and should be mandatory for all high school students living in the USA. It is short. The writing is excellent and carries you along. It gives you the overall historical foundation for understanding how we have come to our current system of government and economics, and then explains how this functions at present.
For many of us this will be a real 'lifting of the veil' as to how the government really works, and a fact-filled (as are all of Chomsky's works of course) reminder of reality for the rest of us. What we blithely take as democracy and freedom in the US is sadly neither. This is not nutty lefty diatribe, but horrifying, deep truth.
The concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands has increased exponentially since WWII and the corporations have unspeakable power through the limitless campaign contributions guaranteed by nothing less than the US Supreme Court. Originally published in 1970, the factors and processes Professor Chomsky so adroitly (and dryly -- I don't know why I don't hear guffaws when he drops his deadpan and dead-funny lines in his talks on his YouTube channel) not only remain in play, but are even more deeply and invisibly entrenched.
My only disappointment was that Chomsky did not give explicit ideas on how to overturn the current problems that are, in addition to perpetrating inequalities and hardships across the lower 99 percent of us, but are hurtling us toward the climate change precipice because the system we have in place has no motivation to do anything else. But he has other books. Onward....more
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