It is essential to the American myth that North America was wilderness when the European colonists began to arrive. Sure, there were people, but they weren’t ‘civilized’ and therefore didn’t count; they could be brushed aside.
Charles C. Mann’s 1491 [amazon] and its sequel 1493 [amazon] oppose that myth. He can only hint at the complexity of the politics of the era but it’s overwhelming. Of course it is, it’s people doing the things people do.
Warning: War, death, violence
I just finished reading Mark Bowden’s Huế, 1968. Since it’s history, I won’t warn you of any spoilers.
Ursula Le Guin has a blog. Did you know that? I didn’t. [le guin]
About 20 years ago I decided to collect 1st editions and hardbound versions of the books that have been memorable or important to me. That was how I learned a cool bibliophilic thing: most of us like things from our own time, and they’re not rare or antique books yet.
I’m not a fannish type, but I wrote a fan-letter once – to George MacDonald Fraser, Author, the isle of Man, UK. And I got back a charmingly gracious reply, too. I have read nearly everything Mark Twain wrote, and a measurable percentage of Voltaire but Fraser is the only one of my favorite authors I can claim to have completely read.
Stanislaw Lem wrote some very witty and unusual science fiction. If you haven’t read Tales Of Pirx The Pilot [amazon] or Memoirs Found In A Bathtub [amazon] you might enjoy them if you like quirky and thoughtful fiction.
Tales of Pirx The Pilot has one of the most memorable scenes in science fiction: Pirx, an astronaut in a space mishap, has to spend a prolonged period in his space suit – and discovers that there is a fly in his helmet.
Edward Bernays was the foremost proponent of “public relations” (which encompasses marketing, political propaganda, and other means of manipulating society) – an interesting character, who seemed almost as if he wanted to set himself up as a target for conspiracy theories.
This book is one of the first that I added to my list of recommended reading, for very good reasons. [list]
Content Warning: Torture, War Crimes, Medical Malpractice
A month ago I stumbled over the fact that Dr James Mitchell had written a book. So I bought a copy.
Timothy Garton Ash writes us a book about reviewing the Stasi – the East German secret police – file on himself. [amazon]