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Category Archives: Politics and Civic Interest
They Thought They Were Free
They Thought they Were Free: the Germans, 1933-1945346 pages© 1955 Milton Mayer How could ordinary, decent people abide the Nazis for the span of twelve years — to allow a baby born at the NSDAP’s seizure of power to practically … Continue reading
Seeing like a State
Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed© 1999 James Scott464 pages Seeing like a State scrutinizes the organizational approach of state governments and other large institutions from the … Continue reading
Thank You For Smoking
Thank You for Smoking© 1994 Christopher Buckley272 pages Nick Naylor may be one of the most hated men in America, because his job is to serve as the legal guardian and advocate of Big Tobacco –and he is very, very … Continue reading
Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews
Tagged humor, politics, Politics-CivicInterest
2 Comments
Fighting Traffic
Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City© 2008 Peter Norton396 pages Stroll into the middle of any American city today, and provided you are not in Detroit, odds are better than not you will be … Continue reading
Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews
Tagged automobiles, cities, economics, history, law, politics, Politics-CivicInterest, social change, social history, transportation
3 Comments
The Small Mart Revolution
The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition© 2007 Michael Shuman285 pages Independence has long ceased to be the American credo, supplanted by another: efficiency. Throughout the 20th century, small businesses supporting towns and families were devoured … Continue reading
Common Sense
Common Sense© 1776 Tom Paine After the battles of Lexington and Concord that scotched any idea of peaceful reconciliation between Britain and its former colonies, but before the Declaration of Independence that stared the colonies on their march toward united … Continue reading
The American Tory
The American Tory© 1972 ed. Morten Borden, Penn Borden 141 pages American colonists yearning for independence from Britain called themselves Patriots, not in opposition against the not-yet-arrived royal army, but to set their cause against that of the Loyalists. Not … Continue reading
Power, Inc
Power, Inc: the Epic Rivalry between Government and Big Business© 2013 David Rothkopf448 pages Historians of western civilization are used to viewing its late medieval and early modern period through the lens of a church versus state battle; the … Continue reading
Global Weirdness
Global Weirdness: Severe Storms, Deadly Heat Waves, Relentless Drought, Rising Seas, and the Weather of the Future© 2013 Climate Central224 pages Global Weirdness is a climate briefing for the civic body; short, well-organized, and to the … Continue reading
Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, science
Tagged civic awareness, climate change, Politics-CivicInterest, science
2 Comments
Anthem
Anthem© 1938 Ayn Rand128 pages In a dark future, the triumph of collectivism has created a global society deteriorating to near-medieval conditions. Man is utterly broken by the state, dominated by institutions from birth onward. Raised in cohorts in government … Continue reading
