duke ponick

A Timely Civics Lesson from 400 Years Ago

Revisado: 12-07-19

Shakespeare's depictions and analyses of the pursuit and exercise of absolute political power by psychologically damaged or unstable characters are combined in a meaningful and convincing way in this latest book by an authoritative Shakespeare scholar. The characters act out their warped inner fantasies and delusions in characteristic thuggish, capricious, and sometimes clownish ways. A recurring feature in the plays are the number and type of the characters who aid an abet the mad pursuit and exercise of uncontrolled political power. The panoply of Shakespeare's plays dealing with the subject are here: King Henry VI, Richard III, Macbeth, King Lear, The Winter's Tale, Coriolanus, and Julius Caesar. Jack Cade's demagogic pursuit of power in Henry VI and the class manipulation in Coriolanus are barely distinguishable from politics in the here and now. The book has the added virtue of well documented quotes to the plays to make its points. It is worthwhile to buy the book to read and also listen to the audiobook in my opinion.

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The Conflict in the Constitution Personified

Revisado: 02-19-19

Another first-rate book by H.W. Brands. The conflicts built into the Constitution are embodied in the lives, words and deeds of three dominant political leaders in the run up to the Civil War who are scarcely remembered in the transitory world of electronic news and daily soundbites. The historical themes of this period are underpinned with the kind of granular detail that sustains interest in his story of this period when the country transitioned from a Federal Republic to an American Nation; from States and Territories into a Nation. The lurking irony in Brands' book is that we are now in a period where a nation is transitioning into conflicting regions and various interest groups under the banner of the same Constitution, as amended. A similar process, but in reverse. The heirs of John Calhoun are reviving his spirit. There are no known heirs of Webster or Clay.

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Shakespeare and His Works Turned Inside Out

Revisado: 01-25-19

This book takes as given that William Shakespeare, of Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England was a real person and that he was the same person who conceived, wrote, revised, or collaborated with other identifiable persons with respect to the plays and literature within the Shakespeare canon. It deals in a credible way with the social and literary and political contexts of the period and their impacts on his works. It is not a superficial, glossy or pietistic treatment of the works or the man. It is the difference seeing a finished suit of clothes as outwardly put-on display versus turning it inside out to see how the suit was made and of what materials and who took part in the sewing. It dead point blank with the fact that only 18 of the 36 plays in the canon were in a public printed form before the First Folio of 1623 and that some of them appeared in markedly different versions sat different times at least 5 of the last 10 plays were acknowledged collaborations or revised by others. The morphology of the scripts and the reasons for them is a useful contribution to the ongoing controversy of the dating of the plays in practical terms. This is a 1989 book and does not deal with computer linguistics and attribution studies. The only downside to the audiobook is the performance. To my ear much to affected and at times unintelligible. I bought the hard cover book to read to help with those issues.

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Thanks Hitler: The Failure of the Nazi State

Revisado: 11-25-18

Thanks Hitler is a quote from a photo of a graffiti scrawl on one of the columns of his destroyed Chancellery. Its message is equivocal. Does it blame Hitler and his hardcore coterie of Nazi true believer gangsters for forcing or beguiling them along the path of death and destruction and incalculable inhumanity? Victims or dupes? The Nazi terror apparatus was certainly very powerful as the author notes but it was never numerically large in relation to a population of 8o million. The Nazi Party ran the State which in turn operated the institutions of government, including the military. The fake Nazi propaganda of the time was disseminated thru radio and large circulation media and ranting Hitler speeches. All controlled by a small % of the population. Why did the overwhelming majority go along with the megalomania of a fake charismatic leader then? Why the acceptance or acquiescence of the majority in being accomplices in mass killings. An answer lies in the numerous diaries and interviews of ordinary people reviewed by the author. A recurring theme is that they just "wanted to make Germany great again" as urged by their leader. And they were willing to follow someone who falsely claimed to have found the way, whatever it took. regardless of outcome. Sad.

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Sale of New Fermenting Wine in Old Cracked Bottles

Revisado: 10-16-18

At least as brilliant as Vol. 1 of the Trilogy. I suggest you listen to the last of the Section of March Into The East ( IV) beginning at around 31:37 on the audio and pages 705-712 in the book (I like reading the book at the same time I am listening to get a better grasp of it.) It won't spoil the narrative. It will quickly give you the hateful results of a megalomaniac's tactics in duping the public with crackpot, bigoted and dangerous ideas packaged in old bunting and hatreds and the corollary social control through incessant propaganda. rallies, surveillance, incarceration and violence.You have to listen to the whole book to get a sense of how people simply resigned and inured themselves to the lack of humanity and brutality urged by the Great One in this period. (1933-39). The narration improved in this Volume to my ears.

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Making Germany Great Again: The Stated Nazi Slogan

Revisado: 09-04-18

The most authoritative book documenting a charismatic leader with fierce egotism bent on achieving political and economic power Nihilism at his core. Manipulation of the mass media with a populist message of restoring an often imaginary past with emphasis on racial values as opposed to civic values. Surrounded by a small group of sycophants, crackpots and thugs who enable and gratify his every whim and caprice. Use of the institutions of a democracy to try to destroy democracy in the pursuit and maintenance of power although his party never obtained more than 44% of the popular vote in a free election. Mass spectacles and ranting speeches were a staple of his campaign and early years in office as well as intimidation and elimination of even the ones closest to him. He frequently visited his retreats to plot policy and invite foreign leaders there to flatter or intimidate them. He was a teetotaler but became intoxicated on his own power and perceived magnificence. Certainly, this can never happen again in a democracy because we have learned our lesson, or have we? At least this first in a series of books by Richard J. Evans teaches us the lesson. I have bought the others on the strength of this book.

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An antidote to the poisoning of Polk's presidency

Revisado: 01-25-16

If you could sum up A Country of Vast Designs in three words, what would they be?

Geopolitics writ large.

What did you like best about this story?

A balanced, well-documented account of the Polk presidency and the forces that shaped it. Drawn in substantial part from Polk's somewhat obsessive and often self-serving diary, contemporary news accounts, and voluminous public papers and private correspondence, it affords a better insight into the tugs and pulls of the controversies surrounding his presidency. Most historians have found it obligatory to revile the 11th President whose major policies all received Congressional approval, Including "Polk's War"with Mexico.Americans generally have never been bashful about accepting the advantages of this war that turned us into a 2 ocean nation The book makes it clear why we can't lay all that at the door of Polk alone.

Which scene was your favorite?

The one showing how The Treaty of 1848 was negotiated by an envoy who had been recalled and was presumably without full authority to do so.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The strength of a weak man

Any additional comments?

A very good book to listen to if you are interested in the nuts and bolts of historical events rather than partisan interpretation

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Piety with no grit.

Revisado: 06-02-15

What disappointed you about Samuel Adams?

Overly pious capsule of a firebrand of the Revolution. Very little meat on the sanctified bones of a true patriot.Very nearly dehumanizes him.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Andrew Jackson biography.

What didn’t you like about Paul Boehmer’s performance?

Reminded me of a boring Sunday School teacher.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Samuel Adams?

The long letter passages which also suffered from the performance.

Any additional comments?

Sam was a great man of his time. He was obviously a man of faith but knew how to make our Revolution by unholy means. There is not enough of the rascal in this book to round out the picture of one of the two men in the colonies the bloody king wanted to hang above all others.

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