• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

What Are You Reading Right Now?

q


The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage, and Justice

by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon - Penguin Press - 2021 - 288pp

The extraordinary story of the women who took on the Islamic State and won.
 
Forcing myself back into reading for fun instead of stress reading for work and for research. It's like exercising. You have to get back into the swing of things.

So, what to get a bit deeper into? The historiography of the American populist movement in the 19th century!

B5v8.gif
UYX0.gif


Richard Hofstadter-The Age of Reform: From Byron to F.D.R. (1955), pages 1-130. (Just completed)

Soon to Start:

Lawrench Goodwyn-The Populist Moment: A Short HIstory of the Agrarian Revolt in America (1978)

Michael Kazin-The Populist Persuasian: An American History (Revised Edition, 2017)

Robert C. McMath, Jr.- American Populism: A Social History 1877-1898 (1993)



Soon to purchase:

Charles Postel-The Populist Vision (2007)

Walter Nugent-The Tolerant Populists: Kansas Populism and Nativism (Second Edition, 2013)

John Wicks-The Populist Revolt (orig, 1933)

C. Vann Woodward-Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel (orig, 1938)
-Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (origin, 1951)

And, yes, plans to go over into the populist's cause in the plains states during the early 20th century, followed by the evolution of it through the 1950s and 1960s.

A preliminary read suggests that, surprise, historians' analysis of populism has a lot to do with the social and/or political outlook of the historian in question, including what seems to be a lot of liberals taking potshots at Hofstadter's admittedly slim research into a need for the greater defense of the People's Party and the left-wing cause in general against whatever the right's populist variant during the time of publication.
 
Last edited:
Fiddytree said:
Forcing myself back into reading for fun instead of stress reading for work and for research. It's like exercising. You have to get back into the swing of things.

So, what to get a bit deeper into? The historiography of the American populist movement in the 19th century!

B5v8.gif
UYX0.gif


Richard Hofstadter-The Age of Reform: From Byron to F.D.R. (1955), pages 1-130. (Just completed)

Soon to Start:

Lawrench Goodwyn-The Populist Moment: A Short HIstory of the Agrarian Revolt in America (1978)

Michael Kazin-The Populist Persuasian: An American History (Revised Edition, 2017)

Robert C. McMath, Jr.- American Populism: A Social History 1877-1898 (1993)



Soon to purchase:

Charles Postel-The Populist Vision (2007)

Walter Nugent-The Tolerant Populists: Kansas Populism and Nativism (Second Edition, 2013)

John Wicks-The Populist Revolt (orig, 1933)

C. Vann Woodward-Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel (orig, 1938)
-Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (origin, 1951)

And, yes, plans to go over into the populist's cause in the plains states during the early 20th century, followed by the evolution of it through the 1950s and 1960s.

A preliminary read suggests that, surprise, historians' analysis of populism has a lot to do with the social and/or political outlook of the historian in question, including what seems to be a lot of liberals taking potshots at Hofstadter's admittedly slim research into a need for the greater defense of the People's Party and the left-wing cause in general against whatever the right's populist variant during the time of publication.
Click to expand...
I cannot believe that this is your reading for fun! I admire you greatly for making history, actually any non-fiction, your escape reading (or reading for pleasure). When I was an undergraduate (centuries ago) the books you listed above were the kinds on the reading lists for some of my history classes. (I took an interest in US History and the Progressive Era at one point). Frankly, I do not remember anything at all about things with which I once had a passing familiarity, like The Grange movement. I really do admire your continued intellectual perseverance.
 
NewfieMom said:
I cannot believe that this is your reading for fun! I admire you greatly for making history, actually any non-fiction, your escape reading (or reading for pleasure). When I was an undergraduate (centuries ago) the books you listed above were the kinds on the reading lists for some of my history classes. (I took an interest in US History and the Progressive Era at one point). Frankly, I do not remember anything at all about things with which I once had a passing familiarity, like The Grange movement. I really do admire your continued intellectual perseverance.
Click to expand...

I can't really read fiction anymore. My undergraduate experience messed me up for good and my graduate school experience only expanded that. Last one I was able to do was Dracula because it was an epistolary-style novel.

After delving quite a long time into research of disability history topics, I am going back to do some focus on political, social, and intellectual movements. I will still be doing disability stuff for decades to come, but I will be able to go back and get more exposure.

I can connect with that. When I was a child I was obsessed with trains and knew way, way, way too much about them. At some point I am going to re-learn what I lost as a child!
 
I read Tony Horowitz's Spying on the South recently and it is terrific.

www.npr.org

An Author Goes 'Spying On The South' 160 Years After Frederick Law Olmsted

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Tony Horwitz retraces the path of the famed Central Park architect — and discovers a deep cultural divide along the way.
www.npr.org www.npr.org

I also read Catherine Lacey's novel, Pew, which is weird, but short and very thought provoking. I enjoyed it too.

www.theguardian.com

Pew by Catherine Lacey review – a foreboding fable

A silent stranger of indeterminate age, gender and ethnicity holds up a mirror to the oddness and hypocrisy of a small American town
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
I finished Michael Connelly's "Lincoln Lawyer" series novel The Law of Innocence today. I like Michael Connelly and have read most of his books.
 
I’m reading Swift Walker, a biography of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, an early founder of Chicago.

interesting stuff if you like history, and a nice glimpse into the end of the French fur trade in Illinois and the subsequent massive growth of Chicago.
 
Threegoofs said:
I’m reading Swift Walker, a biography of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, an early founder of Chicago.

interesting stuff if you like history, and a nice glimpse into the end of the French fur trade in Illinois and the subsequent massive growth of Chicago.
Click to expand...
I rarely read non-fiction, as I said above, but you are reminding me of a book I read that was true, historical, and set in Chicago. Now I have to try to remember what it was. I only read is a few years ago and it was not at all what I usually read. It was more "true crime".

I got it. It was Devil the White City by Erik Larsen.
 
I’m reading Swift Walker, a biography of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, an early founder of Chicago.

interesting stuff if you like history, and a nice glimpse into the end of the French fur trade in Illinois and the subsequent massive growth of Chicago.
NewfieMom said:
I rarely read non-fiction, as I said above, but you are reminding me of a book I read that was true, historical, and set in Chicago. Now I have to try to remember what it was. I only read is a few years ago and it was not at all what I usually read. It was more "true crime".
Click to expand...
I rarely read fiction!

But I’m guessing you’re talking about ‘The Devil in the White City’ about the 1893 Worlds Fair and HH Holmes.
Excellent book.
 
Threegoofs said:
I’m reading Swift Walker, a biography of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, an early founder of Chicago.

interesting stuff if you like history, and a nice glimpse into the end of the French fur trade in Illinois and the subsequent massive growth of Chicago.

I rarely read fiction!

But I’m guessing you’re talking about ‘The Devil in the White City’ about the 1893 Worlds Fair and HH Holmes.
Excellent book.
Click to expand...
Yes, and it may have been fiction, not non-fiction. But it was based on real events, I guess.
 
j brown's body said:
I also read Catherine Lacey's novel, Pew, which is weird, but short and very thought provoking. I enjoyed it too.

www.theguardian.com

Pew by Catherine Lacey review – a foreboding fable

A silent stranger of indeterminate age, gender and ethnicity holds up a mirror to the oddness and hypocrisy of a small American town
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Click to expand...
Pew looks interesting but too frightening to me. I read the description you posted and thought immediately of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. That's not my kind of story. :)
 
battle-for-the-soul.jpg


Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump

By Edward-Isaac Dovere - Viking - 2021 - 528pp.

With unparalleled access and an insider’s command of the campaign, Battle for the Soul offers a compelling look at the policies, politics, people and the often absurd process of running for president. This fresh and timely story brings you on the trail, into the private rooms and along to eavesdrop on critical conversations. You will never see campaigns or this turning point in our history the same way again.
 
Today’s America is teetering between relativistic nihilism on the one hand and tyrannical certainty and fascism on the other. Is there a happy medium between the two?

I have discovered that there is. And one interesting philosopher to read in this regard is the late Richard Rorty. He developed a strongphilosophy called neopragmatism- in the heritage of American pragmatism of thinkers like William James and John Dewey.

“ As long as we try to project from the relative and conditioned to the absolute and unconditioned, we shall keep the pendulum swinging between dogmatism and skepticism. The only way to stop this increasingly tiresome pendulum swing is to change our conception of what philosophy is good for.”
-Richard Rorty

So some recent very eye-opening books I have read which delve into this line of thinking (highly recommend):

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 
I have started The Three Musketeers by Dumas. I am enjoying it thus far and can understand why it has retained such a lasting appeal.
 
Im starting to get into some fantasy. Currently reading The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

1623682180446.png

Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. Hailed as one of the best books of 2015 by NPR.

Also, the Lord of the Flies was never required reading in school for me, so I think I might crank that out in a afternoon here soon
 
Felis Leo said:
I have started The Three Musketeers by Dumas. I am enjoying it thus far and can understand why it has retained such a lasting appeal.
Click to expand...
Now that is an interesting choice. Tell us more as you read, please. I have not, yet, read it.
 
Reality is Not What it Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity (Carlo Rovelli)

Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity: Rovelli, Carlo, Carnell, Simon, Segre, Erica: 9780735213920: Amazon.com: Books

Buy Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders
www.amazon.com

Intent is to follow up with "The order of time", also by Rovelli




Recently finished

The Vital Question: Energy, Evolutions, and the Origins of Complex life (Nick Lane)

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Very well argued and interesting; a specific theory for how life began, about the jump to multi-cellular life, and all sorts of issues around it. Really quite interesting.
 
“Two Brothers”

Ben Elton
1623692657851.jpeg

Two brothers end up on different sides during WW II.
 
Felis Leo said:
I have started The Three Musketeers by Dumas. I am enjoying it thus far and can understand why it has retained such a lasting appeal.
Click to expand...
I might give that a try. I have read The Count of Monte Cristo at least three times and it always delivers.

Excellent reference in the “Shawshank Redemption.”

 
q


Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

By Anne Applebaum - Doubleday - 2020 - 224pp

Offers insights into what Trump's presidency really means, both here and abroad.
 
Rogue Valley said:
q


Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

By Anne Applebaum - Doubleday - 2020 - 224pp

Offers insights into what Trump's presidency really means, both here and abroad.
Click to expand...
I have seen her interviewed on television. Post any highlights!
 
9781250239273_p0_v3_s192x300.jpg


Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause

By Ty Seidule - St. Martin's Press - 2021 - 304pp


The author describes himself as a " southern gentleman", a graduate of West Point, an Army Brigadier General, and Professor Emeritus of History at West Point. As a young boy growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, the author considers himself a southerner, and lucky enough to have been born in the same southern state as his ultimate hero, General Robert E. Lee. Professor Seidule goes on to describe how he was brought up with the Confederate myth of the Lost Cause. He finds that many things, such as his hometown of Alexandria, are not what he once thought they were. He does not even once mention Critical Race Theory, but he does explain in detail how the true story of slavery in this country was hijacked during Reconstruction, and replaced with the Confederate Lost Cause myth, which today permeates American society and culture.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom