Read this: recently read books on political theory and current events

Gregg

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Upstream by Alfred Regenery is a history of Conservatism the US.
Very informative, occasionally dry, but generally a good read.
 

AMCrenshaw

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Ethics of Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah.

Based largely on the work of J.S. Mill.


Hegemony or Survival
by Noam Chomsky.

Fascinating, in-depth, and challenging.

Anarchism by Daniel Guerin.

Excellent book, a good guide for the newly anarchic.

Patterns of Anarchy by Leonard I. and Lewis Perry.

Companion history text.


Marx-Engel Reader
by Friedrich Engels.

Must-have to champion or refute communism precisely.


amc
 
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skelly

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War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race
--Edwin Black

Black is the author previously of ''IBM and the Holocaust,'' a work strongly suggesting that the company, with its punch-card machines, knowingly assisted Hitler's brutalities. His ''War Against the Weak,'' apparently written with similar intent, is a muckraking book about a subject incontestably awash in muck. In the vein of the genre, it is a stew rich in facts and spiced with half-truths, exaggerations and distortions.
---The New York Times, Daniel J. Kevles, Sunday, October 5, 2003

I love reading books by people that I don't agree with. I still have a spiral notebook of notes on David Brock's Blinded by the Right.
 

semilargeintestine

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Whether they intended to help with the "Final Solution" or not, the fact that their technology helped make it the most efficient attempt at extermination in history isn't really a question AFAIK.
 

skelly

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Whether they intended to help with the "Final Solution" or not, the fact that their technology helped make it the most efficient attempt at extermination in history isn't really a question AFAIK.
Then we should stop developing all technology. Everywhere. Right now. Agreed?
 

semilargeintestine

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No. I never said that. Why do people have such trouble discussing things without resorting to ridiculous hyperbole?
 

skelly

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No. I never said that. Why do people have such trouble discussing things without resorting to ridiculous hyperbole?
I'd love to continue this discussion, but this isn't the place. Maybe it will come up in a more appropriate thread.

I assume you are a big fan of Edwin Black...or is that more ridiculous hyperbole?
 

semilargeintestine

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I'd love to continue this discussion, but this isn't the place. Maybe it will come up in a more appropriate thread.

I assume you are a big fan of Edwin Black...or is that more ridiculous hyperbole?

There's no discussion. I made a statement of fact that you apparently didn't like, and you said something ridiculous to make me look foolish. Sorry it didn't work.

As far as Edwin Black goes, I didn't even know who he was until this thread. I don't have any problem with IBM, and I have no idea whether they were "in cahoots" with the Nazis. I seriously doubt they were, but in a time where one camp was capable of murdering and cremating 20,000 Jews a day, anything is possible.
 

LaceWing

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<a href="http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14164449">Amartya Sen on justice: How to do it better | The Economist</a>
-- a review of The Idea Of Justice

[Amartya Sen's] hero is Adam Smith: not the Smith of free-market legend, but the father of political economy who grasped the force of moral constraint and the value of sociability. To encapsulate the shift in attitude that Mr Sen has sought to bring about, ethics and economics are to be seen as Smith saw them: not two subjects, but one.

Another of Sen's books to consider is Identity And Violence: The Illusion Of Destiny.
 

robeiae

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The Housing Boom and Bust by Thomas Sowell.

Pretty short, easy read. Sowell is really trying to be accessible.

He goes exactly where I knew that he would, opening with the effect of limiting land usage by government law/directive in areas that saw the biggest jump in housing prices. It's a theme he's addressed previously. And he pretty much lets everyone have it, politically, echoing my own posts here on the subject, with regard to everyone in DC wanting to take credit for increasing home ownership rates.

It's a fair assessment, imo. Not as far-reaching as it could be, but still full of good insights.
 

robeiae

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Financial Fiasco by Johan Norberg.

Far more in-depth than Sowell's book, it really looks at the processes in the mortgage and financial industry that led to the collapse. And--like Sowell's work--no one is spared blame, with regard to political parties.

Chapter 3, How to Build Financial Weapons of Mass Destruction, is the best brief--but complete--explanation of CDOs that I've seen. And he also identifies some new "villains" in this chapter...

It's not an easy read, but it's also not overly scholarly.
 

LaceWing

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http://www.mindhacks.com/

A steady stream of psychology links with telling and thoughtful commentary. The latest link of interest is to an overview of Liberation Psychology in Latin America. Many other goodies to be found on this blog. Oddities also.
 

Don

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War is a Racket, by Major General Smedley Butler. (80 pages)

With the "Great War," the "War to End All Wars" not long past, and the first glimmerings of World War II barely on the horizon, this 1935 work by a two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor was, in retrospect, eerily prescient concerning the growth of the warfare state.

Butler's perspective on warfare from the viewpoint of those in the trenches is raw and compelling. His analysis of corporate profits in wartime is damning. His solutions, while practically impossible to implement, drive home the points his narrative has made. An uncommon viewpoint forcefully presented.

Wiki has a brief summary. Available online or as a PDF download here. If you prefer the dead tree edition, Amazon has it for $9.95 as a paperback, or $7.96 in Kindle format.

Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#14,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#50 in Books > Nonfiction > Politics > International > Relations
#31 in Books > History > Military Science
#13 in Books > Nonfiction > Current Events > War & Peace
 

Don

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Rollback: Repealing Big Government by Tom Woods.

In a brief 200 pages, Tom Woods makes the case that "America is on the brink of financial collapse. Decades of political overpromising and underfunding have created a wave of debt that could swamp our already feeble economy. And the politicians’ favorite tricks—raising taxes, borrowing from foreign governments, and printing more money—will only make it worse. Only one thing might save us: Roll back the government."

Woods goes on to make his case convincingly, dissecting one government action or one piece of conventional wisdom at a time, providing the backstory to understand how and why the real issue may not be what it seems at first glance. This is a book for people who love to think outside the box.

All books are one person's opinion, of course. But with a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard, his master’s, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University, and eleven books to his credit, Woods understands the importance of documentation when swimming against the tide, and provides an additional 40 pages of footnotes buttressing those opinions.

Books about the symptoms of today's problems abound. If you're more interested in curing the disease than masking the symptoms, this book is a must-read.