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Quite Good

Reviewed: 04-04-24

Fascinating and well told story about, not just Erdogan, but also modern Turkish politics and identity.

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Good but showing its age

Reviewed: 08-25-20

Well told and well organized history.

Unfortunately, it does betray its age in some instances, especially when it down plays the Showa Emperor's culpability for the Pacific War.

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2 people found this helpful

Interesting read that lacks a unifying thesis

Reviewed: 05-16-20

This book offers a well researched and well presented narrative of the Warren Court's legal jurisprudence during the 1950s. I especially love the framing: a battle between the radical social libertarianism of Warren and the more reserved and incremental approach to social reform put forward by Eisenhower.

However, as entertaining as the narrative presentation may be, the book is messy in its thematic presentation. It spends much of its runtime talking about the Warren Court's civil rights jurisprudence, but at times, it will shift to lengthy digressions on Warren's decisions respecting civil liberties. Obviously, these two areas of law are interrelated, but they are not identical. And, unfortunately, the book does a poor job of unifying these disparate areas of Warren's jurisprudence into a unified theme or statement about either him or this period of U.S. legal history.

As you listen to this book, you'll be waiting for a denouement that never comes. It's a fun and informative read, but it doesn't have much to say about the ideological conflict between Warren and Eisenhower beyond the mere existence of said conflict itself.

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Richard Dawkins is no Cultural Anthropologist

Reviewed: 05-15-20

Richard Dawkins is a brilliant scholar in the field of evolutionary biology, but he is neither a sociologist nor an anthropologist.

Like Dawkins, I do not believe in God, but in spite of this, I find his ultimate thesis lacking. He characterizes religion as a kind of memetic parasite that infected humanity long ago.

Now, I think a robust debate can be had as to the role of religion, if any, in modern society, but it is a bit of a stretch to suggest religion has always been a malignant memetic parasite. And Dawkins fails to provide enough convincing evidence to support such a stretch.

Dawkins begins this audiobook by talking about a promotional poster for a TV special on religion that he had narrated. The poster featured a New York skyline with two intact Twin Towers. The poster was captioned, "Imagine a world with no Religion." This prologue Dawkins delivers betrays his ignorance.

It reflects a man who's thoughts on religion are not informed by a robust study of human history and culture, but merely half-baked observations about current events: Before jumping to the conclusion that "religion was the cause of 9-11", actual anthropologists might explore other possibilities. They might ask if the fall of the Ottoman Empire and a centuries worth of European geopolitical meddling had more to do with that unprecedented attack than an ideology that has existed in that region for 1500 years.

If I'm being honest, though, what bothers me most about Dawkins book is the thinly veiled racism. He characterizes all religions as foolish and misguided, but he makes a point to single out Islam as particularly barbaric and incompatible with modern values. Again, he never really considers whether the violence taking place within and emanating from the Middle East has less to do with Islam, and more to do with the kind intense animosity that could result from a centuries-wiorth of intercultural meddling by the Western World.

Stick to your lane, Richard. This book is embarrassing.

Narration was good, though.

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72 people found this helpful

Brilliant, though inelegant in its organization

Reviewed: 05-15-20

One of the most fascinating topics out there. This collection of essays makes a convincing and chilling argument for how capitalism, contrary to popular belief, was wholly compatible with the institution of slavery. in fact, it was more than compatible; it was complicit in the growth of American slavery throughout the antebellum period.

The book, though, doesn't stop there. it makes a further argument that our modern global capitalist economy was built on a foundation of slave labor: as the cotton that fueled the textile mills--crucial for the early days of global industrialization--were grown and picked by American slaves.

My only critique of this book is that, as a collection of individual essays, the book lacks strong connective tissue chapter to chapter. All the essays are connected by a singular theme, but that theme--the inter-relation of slavery and capitalism--is incredibly broad, and so each individual chapter can cover vastly different aspects of this theme. At times, the arrangement of the essays leads to a rather jarring shift of focus from chapter to chapter.

But, aside from this, the book is excellent and a mi
must-read.

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8 people found this helpful