The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Hey, What Ya Reading??? A book???
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: Kd5000 on July 15, 2007, 08:59:33 pm ---I just finished a Japanese mystery set in 17th century Japan. It was called Red Chrysanthemum: A Thriller and was written by Laura Joh Rowland.
She's a good writer and definitely knows alot about Japanese history. Tokugawa Japan seems to have had alot of man to adolescent male sex based on her books! It's usually the villain who engages in this practice. I guess it was common in Tokugawa Japan.
I advise starting from the beginning as starting midway might be confusing. The major characters are the same throughout the books.
I've certainly learned alot about Japanese history from reading her books.
--- End quote ---
OK, I thought the name sounded familiar. Yes, I read about 4-5 Sano Ichiro mysteries by Rowland before I got behind and haven't caught up yet. Boy, she's written a lot since I left off.
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: shortfiction on July 15, 2007, 11:54:20 pm ---I'm reading Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power by Gerry Spence, non-fiction.
--- End quote ---
From an Amazon reader review:
"One of Spence's more worrisome themes is the parallel between Nazi Germany and the U.S. today. Goebels' primary rules were: "Never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; focus on a few simple points and repeat them over and over; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one (it only has to seem true), and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it." Spence also points out that Hitler's verbiage emphasized his being a Christian and hatred for liberals...."
Just goes to show, propaganda works regardless of who is using it.
michaelflanagansf:
--- Quote from: delalluvia link=topic=11269.msg223853#msg223853
Thanks for the recommendation of [u ---The Barbary Plague.[/u] Just my type of reading.
--- End quote ---
You bet. Another non-fiction book I found very compelling was 'Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin In America' by James Morone. It's a fascinating look at how two competing religious impulses - puritanical and social gospel - have fought in the public square. It traces the history of moral politics all the way from the colonies to the 60s.
oilgun:
Right now I'm reading:
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges.
I just started it but it's very enjoyable, comprehensive, educational and non-sensational. The author explains how the American Christian Right fits the classic definition of a Fascist movement. What's interesting is that the author is a person of faith (Presbyterian) which is a nice change because lately all I've been reading are books by Atheists, lol! Anyway, I highly recommend it to anyone who is disturbed by the growing Christian fundamentalist movement.
dot-matrix:
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann. It's an erotic tale of passions and obsessions set against the back drop of Civil War in Seventeenth Century England. It's intense expecially the homo-erotic love scenes. Whew!
After this I hope to cool down by reading the new Harry Potter.
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