Category Archives: politics

Drift by Rachel Maddow

Drift by Rachel MaddowDrift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow
Published by Crown, an imprint of Random House

From the publisher:

“One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1792. Neither Jefferson nor the other Found­ers could ever have envisioned the modern national security state, with its tens of thousands of “privateers”; its bloated Department of Homeland Security; its rust­ing nuclear weapons, ill-maintained and difficult to dismantle; and its strange fascination with an unproven counterinsurgency doctrine.

Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow’s Drift argues that we’ve drifted away from America’s original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we’ve arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today’s war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring the disturbing rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight our constant wars for us, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. She offers up a fresh, unsparing appraisal of Reagan’s radical presidency. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the priorities of the national security state to overpower our political discourse.

Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seri­ously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a “loud and jangly” political debate about how, when, and where to apply America’s strength and power–and who gets to make those decisions.

I honestly haven’t the first clue why I chose this book. I am only vaguely familiar with Rachel Maddow – have seen her show a couple of times and find her witty and smart, but don’t always agree with everything she says/believes – and honestly I’m not really into politics these days. But for whatever reason, the audio called to me so I answered the call and listened to it over the course of a week or so in the car. I am glad I did try the book, as it definitely made me think, but I have to admit that I’m not sure how to review it. So here’s my attempt.

So I think this book is important because it’s a view not expressed by anyone in the public, ever. Maddow sheds light on how we became a society at peace with constantly being at war and how dangerous this can be. It’s very difficult in the time of “support our troops” for someone to come out and say that we are TOO militarized as a nation but Maddow has the guts to say exactly that. She makes her case with facts and traces the history in a very concise, easy-to-understand way. I think she simplifies it a bit, probably to make the book more accessible, but either way she clearly traces how we as a country got from point A to Point B and it’s sort of scary how easily and quickly it happened.

Most people will see Drift as partisan, because Maddow spends a lot of time criticizing Reagan’s presidency and war efforts, but she doesn’t shy away from similar criticisms of Clinton and Obama, which I would say makes it very fair. This book is incredibly well-researched and Maddow does a good job defending her arguments with truth. It definitely made me think.

I would very much recommend Drift to just about everyone. There was a lot of history in the book that I was previously unfamiliar with and that I think every American should know. Believe me, I know that not everyone will agree with Maddow and that’s okay, but it’s always good to open one’s mind to another perspective and point of view.

The audiobook was excellent and I highly recommend going that route if you do choose to read this book. Maddow narrates herself and she truly delivers. Definitely a worthwhile read and listen.

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

 

In 2001, cartoonist Guy Delisle spent two months in North Korea to work on a children’s television show.  While in North Korea, Delisle had a rare opportunity to see what life is really like in this secluded, dark Communist society.  This graphic novel is Delisle’s account of what he experienced during those two months.

I’m feeling fairly lukewarm about Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea so this post will be on the shorter side.

I can’t put my finger on it, but something about this book just didn’t click for me.  I was intrigued by the fact that Delisle got into North Korea in the first place, I’m very interested in North Korea, and I love the graphic memoir concept which seems to be more and more popular these days.  And while the book was good, I just wasn’t wowed by it.

Delisle’s story was interesting, the art was well done, and I felt like I really got a feel for what he experienced while he was in North Korea.  So I think a lot of people will enjoy this one.  But for whatever reason, it fell flat for me.

Just don’t let my one little opinion stop you from picking up this book!  As so few people in the world have had the opportunity Delisle was given to get a look inside this country – the book is valuable for that alone.  While it wasn’t the right book for me, I can’t say others shouldn’t try it out.

Mini-Reviews (TSS edition)

Well another week has come and gone and not much happened for me blogging-wise.  There are a few reasons for this; primarily, my job is sucking the life out of me lately.  I have been working long hours and the days have been stressful.  I work in sales, and as anyone else who is in sales will tell you, when your team is behind on your goals it is just a nightmare.  At least the company I work for is pretty great about giving us overtime and things like that, but still – we feel the pressure, big time.  So I’ve been coming home from work exhausted every day, not feeling like doing much except read or watch TV.  The other thing going on in my life is that I’m trying to get in better shape, so I’ve been committed to hitting the gym 3-4 times a week.  I can’t say I’ve been too successful at this but I’m certainly trying.  So that takes up some of my extra time too.

Anyway, I figured a cure for getting so behind on reviewing is throwing a bunch of mini-reviews out there.  Besides knocking them off my list, I will feel better knowing that I got to tell you about all these great books I’ve been reading!  Because for the most part, they really have been great. :)

Bermudez First, I read The Bermudez Triangle for the GLBT challenge and also just because I’d been meaning to try Maureen Johnson for awhile now.  This young adult novel is about three best friends – Nina, Avery, and Mel – and when Nina goes away to college prep camp one summer, Mel and Avery fall in love.  That’s the premise, but it’s about so much more than that.  It’s about friendship, and crushes, and first love, and figuring out who you are, and navigating the treacherousness that is high school while being different, and so much more.  This novel was extremely refreshing.  The relationship between Avery and Mel was full of issues, just like any other relationship, and while some of the issues had to do with their being gay in a straight world, many of them did not.  Much of what happened was typical stuff that happens when teens find their first love.  The friendships between Mel, Avery, and Nina were about as authentic as possible, and it’s clear that Maureen Johnson really gets teens.  She so accurately portrayed real teens without being too angsty and/or annoying, and although this was my first Johnson it will definitely not be my last.  I really loved this one – YA fans, this is a must-read.

Next we have There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene.  This is a nonfiction read about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, specifically about one woman,Haregewoin Teferra, who in Ethiopia has taken in dozens of AIDS orphans and created a sort of orphanage for these children.  The book is part memoir, as Greene herself had adopted two AIDS orphans before meeting Teferra, part political and social history of AIDS in Africa, and part journalistic investigation of Haregewoin’s life and what she’s done for kids in Ethiopia.  For me, this format worked extremely well.  I learned a lot about the AIDS pandemic and for that reason alone, I highly recommend the book.  But also, Haregewoin’s story is remarkable – she is an amazing person with this incredible gift for selflessness, for taking in those who have no other opportunity or chance at life, and for turning their lives around, and it is inspiring to read her story.  I really can’t recommend this one more enthusiastically – it is a must-read for lovers of nonfiction, for lovers of learning, and for those of you who deeply care about some of the more important world issues.  Although I must warn you, it will make you want to adopt an AIDS orphan – I definitely had visions of adoption dancing in my head after finishing the book.

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell is a compilation of many of the pieces he wrote for the New Yorker and it is very typical Gladwell.  He writes about the obscure, mundane stuff that people normally don’t think twice about, yet he makes it interesting.  I listened to this one and as I’ve said before, Gladwell could read me the phone book and I’d be happy.  There’s just something about his narration that I adore.  Having said that, I found this to be the weakest of his four books simply because there wasn’t a core theme tying everything together.  I more enjoyed his other three books, where he was trying to make a larger point which ties everything together.  This one was just more random, and although I enjoyed many of the pieces, others bored me.  So, okay book, but as usual for Gladwell and me, great listening experience. :)

Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen was one I got on impulse, downloaded to my iPod, and began listening immediately.  This novel is about Van and Linny, Vietnamese-American sisters whose parents emigrated from Vietnam just before Van’s birth.  This is a character-driven novel at its best.  The book is not full of action, of plot twists, nothing like that.  Rather, it is about the relationships between the sisters, their parents, their significant others, and their heritage.  While both Linny and Van believe themselves to be regular American girls, free of their parents’ ties to Vietnam, over the course of the novel they realize their heritage is more important to them than they may have believed. Short Girls is an extremely accomplished novel, and I enjoyed every minute I spent with Van and Linny.  I absolutely recommend picking it up.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick was a recommendation from Eva, and what a fantastic recommendation she gave.  I’d never read a book about North Korea, and probably because the country is so closed, I knew little about it before reading this.  Of course I knew the basics, but Nothing to Envy really gets in there and exposes the hidden realities of what life is really like in this isolated place.  Demick actually spent time in North Korea, but the meat of the book is taken from conversations and interviews she had with several people who defected and now life in South Korea.  I don’t know what else to say about this one except that it is fascinating and eye-opening, tragic and heartbreaking, yet it is a must-read.  I feel like a more educated, knowledgeable person having read it.

Last, I picked up Nothing but Ghosts by Beth Kephart because of the huge success it had around the blogs last year.  This novel is told from the point of view of high school student Katie D’Amore, who lives alone with her dad in their big house ever since her mother passed away last year.  The book is about Katie’s attempts to put her life back to normal since her mom’s passing, but also about a mystery she is trying to solve at her summer job working at a local estate.  The book is multi-layered and written beautifully.  Katie comes across as a completely authentic teen dealing with the loss of her mother, and yet there is so much more to Katie than grief.  She is a complex personality and much growth happens to her throughout the course of the novel.  I really enjoyed this one; it was a quick read but the writing was lush and beautiful and the characters were fully realized.  I now understand why people love Beth Kephart so much!

Well there you have it.  I’m caught up on much of my review backlog.  I still have three more to review, but those will all get their own posts, and I’m really hoping to finish another book today.  We might hit the beach later which is sure to give me some reading time in the hour’s drive there and back.

What are you up to today?  What are you reading this weekend?

Everything is Broken by Emma Larkin

Title:  Everything is Broken:  A Tale of Catastrophe in Burma
Author:  Emma Larkin
Release date:  April 29, 2010
Publisher:  The Penguin Press HC
Pages:  288
Genre:  Nonfiction, Current events
Source:  Publisher, TLC Book Tours

Cyclone Nygris made landfall in Burma on May 2, 2008, and the devastation that it caused cannot be put into words.  The official death toll was 138,300, yet experts believe that the number is actually much higher than was reported by the Burmese government.  Emma Larkin, a journalist who had spent time secretly reporting in Burma in the past, managed to secure a visa for herself shortly after the cyclone hit, and arrived ready to help those in need while chronicling the destruction the cyclone left behind. Everything is Broken is Larkin’s account of the events in Burma before and after the cyclone, and in it she reveals details about the complex military dictatorship that rules this country, and the bizarre, horrifying ways the regime in Burma responded to the cyclone and its effects on their country and its people.

Before reading Everything is Broken, I knew next to nothing about the country of Burma.  I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t even recall hearing about Cyclone Nygris when it happened.  Which is why it was a good thing for me to have the opportunity to read this book – I learned a lot, and it made me sad that I was not aware of any of this before.

Everything is Broken is not a book one can really enjoy reading.  In fact, I read it with a mixture of fascination, shock, and horror.  The complete havoc that the cyclone inflicted upon the people of Burma is something I cannot wrap my brain around.  And the fact that the Burmese regime refused to accept any outside help for its citizens quite frankly made me sick to my stomach.  Reading about how people had lost their entire families, homes, businesses, everything, and yet the government literally did nothing to help, well there are just no words to describe the feelings it brought forth in me.

But I do think the book was written very well – that is, Larkin took this country that most people know little about, and this event that was brushed over in the national media, and illuminated everything for the reader.  She brought it to life for me, she made me understand the hardships these people had faced and will continue to face in the coming years, and she made me understand what is so heartbreaking about it all.  It was clear that Larkin knew the country of Burma well, and that she has a deep love and admiration for its people.

In addition to her reporting about the cyclone, Larkin spends a portion in the middle of the book explaining the history of Burma’s government, telling the reader a bit about the regime and about the atrocities committed by it over the years.  She fully admits that it is difficult to gain access to any real information about the government, so what she reports is the truth as best as she was able to get it.  After reading Everything is Broken, I plan to read Larkin’s first book, Finding George Orwell in Burma, which is more about the history of the country than about one specific event.

When I closed Everything is Broken for the last time, I was left feeling unsettled.  Larkin is not able to provide any answers or solutions to the immense difficulties that Burmese citizens face on a daily basis.  It is difficult to read a nonfiction book and not feel some sense of hope at the end.  But my feelings upon completion of the book are nothing compared to the terrifying and heartbreaking lives the people of Burma are resigned to.  For that, I am grateful I read this book because I needed to know more about this country and what its people have been through.  Emma Larkin did an outstanding job illuminating this country for me, and I highly recommend reading Everything is Broken to learn about Burma for yourself.

Sisterhood, Interrupted by Deborah Siegel

Title:  Sisterhood, Interrupted:  From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild
Author:  Deborah Siegel
Release date:  June 12, 2007
Publisher:  Palgrave Macmillan
Pages:  240
Genre:  Nonfiction, feminism
Source:  Personal copy

With Sisterhood, Interrupted Deborah Siegel brings the reader through all three waves of the feminist movement, highlighting which issues were most focused on and what was important in each one.  Her focus is on the conflicts that sprung up throughout the movement, and how infighting has affected the movement.  She traces back to the early feminists to illustrate how today’s conflicts are not so different from the ones the very first feminists dealt with.  Last, she explains how contemporary feminists can and should learn from those who came before them, and helps young women come to a more clear understanding of what feminism means to them as individuals.

I found Sisterhood, Interrupted to be a pretty concise and easy to follow history of the feminist movement.  While the focus was on infighting, Siegel really gave a nice background on the major players in the movement and what their stances are/were on some of the most important issues to the movement.  I think Siegel was trying to give someone like me, a young feminist not super involved in the movement, a good idea of my predecessors and some knowledge on the movement in general – and she definitely did that.

I appreciated that the focus of the book was on conflicts within the movement because that’s an aspect of feminism that I don’t know too much about.  What was great about Siegel’s approach to this was that she gave a very clear picture of some of these problems while not blaming any one person or group and not taking sides.  It was really a historian’s approach to writing about this subject.  It helped me to get a firmer grasp on my own thoughts and feelings on some of these wedges within the movement, to figure out my place in everything.  And although I’m not involved in the feminist movement, per se, I do consider myself a feminist so it is definitely important for me to understand my core beliefs about the major issues within the feminist movement.

Sisterhood, Interrupted is a solid look at the history of feminism in the United States and a thoughtful examination of the issues within the movement.  I would say this book is a must-read for any young feminist.

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The Complete Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi
October 30, 2007
Pantheon
352 pages
Graphic Memoir
Persepolis is the story of Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming–both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom–Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.

I had heard SO many good things about both Persepolis I and II, and for some reason I kept putting off reading them, so when I found this book at my library I finally just bit the bullet and took it home.  I was definitely nervous about reading it – first of all, I have very little experience with graphic novels, and secondly, I was very aware of my high expectations for the book based on all the positive reviews it’s garnered recently.  I shouldn’t have worried, though, because The Complete Persepolis was overall very enjoyable for me.

I say overall because I have to admit that there was one thing about the book that bugged me – the writing was SO tiny!  I’m glad that this wasn’t my first graphic novel, because I think I would have become frustrated with the genre if it was.  I had a difficult time sometimes reading everything that was written, and I think the black and white pictures also worked against my eyes – they were trying to take in so much, and some of it was really hard to see!

Besides that minor complaint, I thought the book was pretty awesome.  It was a highly educational experience for me – I really have no knowledge of this period of Iran’s history (well, I don’t have much knowledge of Iran, period), and to see these events through Marjane’s eyes (with her explaining the history all along) was captivating.  I also was interested in the history for a personal reason – one of my uncles (by marriage) was born in Iran and didn’t come to the U.S. until he was twenty-two.  In fact, I don’t know his exact age but I think he came here at about the same time The Complete Persepolis takes place (late 1970′s, early 1980′s).  My uncle has a lot to say about his dissatisfaction with his native country’s history, but I never truly knew the facts of that history.  Reading the book made me realize how ignorant I am about the history and culture of one person in my life who is very important to me.  It also made me want to learn even more about Iran’s history.

While I found Satrapi’s story to be a great learning experience, I also found the book highly entertaining and very accessible.  Satrapi writes so candidly, so casually and at times hysterically that the reader can’t help but understand her and sympathize with everything she’s been through.  Also, she wrote the book in such a way that really made me want to be friends with her – she was seriously hilarious at so many points throughout the book, yet still so dead serious about the events that took place.  Really, the way she crafted her story was just lovely, and I pretty much loved every minute of reading it.

I definitely recommend this one.  Even though I had a rough time with the physical act of reading the book, The Complete Persepolis was more than worth the strain it put on my eyes.  If you enjoy or want to try graphic novels, or like history, or like memoirs, read this book!

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The Good Women of China by Xinran

Title:  The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices

Author:  Xinran

Published:  October 8, 2002

Page Count:  256

Genre:  Nonfiction

My Rating:  4/5

For eight groundbreaking years, Xinran hosted a radio program in China during which she invited women to call in and talk about themselves. Broadcast every evening, Words on the Night Breeze became famous throughout the country for its unflinching portrayal of what it meant to be a woman in modern China. Centuries of obedience to their fathers, husbands and sons, followed by years of fear under Communism, had made women terrified of talking openly about their feelings. Xinran won their trust and, through her compassion and ability to listen, became the first woman to hear their true stories.

This unforgettable book is the story of how Xinran negotiated the minefield of restrictions imposed on Chinese journalists to reach out to women across the country. Through the vivid intimacy of her writing, these women confide in the reader, sharing their deepest secrets. Whether they are the privileged wives of party leaders or peasants in a forgotten corner of the countryside, they tell of almost inconceivable suffering: forced marriages, sexual abuse, separation of parents from their children, extreme poverty. But they also talk about love — about how, despite cruelty, despite politics, the urge to nurture and cherish remains. Their stories changed Xinran’s understanding of China forever. Her book will reveal the lives of Chinese women to the West as never before.

The Good Women of China is truly a remarkable book.  What Xinran has done is given a voice to so many women who were unable to use their own voices to tell their stories.  The women Xinran heard from had so many differing experiences, but they all shared the common theme of being oppressed, of having no say in their own lives, and of suffering throughout so much of their lives.  This was an incredibly difficult book for me to read, knowing that what I was reading had actually happened to somebody.  Yet, although it was a difficult read, this book is an important one.  These women experienced more suffering and heartache in their lives than most of us will ever experience (and many of them experienced it in their childhoods or teen years!), and their stories deserve to be heard.

So, I’m glad I read The Good Women of China.  There’s not much else I want to say about this book, honestly, just because I truly appreciated reading it but would rather refrain from any more summaries.  I’d really recommend reading this one – Xinran has done something very important with this book, and it deserves to be noticed.

Review: The Secret Keeper

Title:  The Secret Keeper

Author:  Paul Harris

Published:  April 2, 2009

Page Count:  336

Genres:  Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller

My Rating:  4/5

Four years ago, British journalist Danny Kellerman was given the opportunity of a lifetime: covering the political crisis in Sierra Leone as a war correspondent. While in Freetown he begins a passionate love affair with a beautiful American woman named Maria Tirado, who helps run an orphanage for ex-child soldiers. But Danny can’t shake the feeling that Maria is hiding something from him, and as the crisis escalates, Danny has no choice but to leave; he boards a helicopter out of Freetown and never turns back….

Until four years later, when, with a new relationship and a new life in London, Danny receives a mysterious, urgent letter from Maria. She’s in trouble and needs Danny’s help. But the letter is dated three weeks earlier, and it’s already too late. Danny learns that Maria was murdered in a roadside robbery.

Haunted and heartbroken, Danny leaves London and returns to Freetown. Although there is now peace in Sierra Leone, corruption is rampant and every promising lead is a dead end. But with the help of old friends and contacts, Danny uncovers a string of secrets that sheds a shocking light on the woman he thought he knew—and reveals a hidden truth that could destroy those in power. Trapped in the heart of a dangerous nation where he can trust no one, Danny is forced to choose between his journalistic integrity and the devastating consequences of speaking the truth. 

I’m not really one to read books classified as “thrillers”, although I always make exceptions to my “genres I don’t like” rules for books that sound intriguing for some other reason.  The Secret Keeper was one of those books – when I was asked by the author to review it, I was interested by the premise, and I figured that since I didn’t know much about Sierra Leone, I would hopefully learn something in the process of being entertained.  I’m very happy that I did decide to accept this one, because The Secret Keeper ended up being very good, it grabbed me from the beginning and did not let go.

The book is, I suppose, technically a thriller-type novel but it’s truly a lot more than just that.  The writing is excellent; Harris is a journalist by profession after all and this really comes across in the feel and flow of the novel.  Not only is the reader kept in suspense throughout the novel, but there’s a much deeper feel to the book than typically found in other thriller/mystery books I’ve read.  Of course, the fact that the majority of the book takes place in a country I knew little to nothing about was great too.  Sierra Leone is, sadly, a place I have not studied at all, and while I’d heard of the region and knew there had been trouble there for years I hadn’t took it upon myself to learn any of the details.  So it was great to see this historical fiction type element in the novel.  And since Harris himself was a correspondent in Sierra Leone, I’m confident that the book’s representation of the area is pretty accurate.

One thing that could have been improved upon is the relationships between Danny and Maria, and also Danny and Rachel (his current girlfriend when he goes back to Sierra Leone to search for Maria).  I didn’t feel like I got to understand either of these relationships enough to care about either woman.  I was still interested to find out what happened with Maria because the novel was written so well, but I could have cared even more if I had a better emotional connection with her and Danny’s relationship.  Same with Rachel – I didn’t get to know her at all, so I really didn’t care either way about what happened to their relationship.  I wanted to care, it’s just that I wasn’t emotionally invested enough to.

Overall, The Secret Keeper is a very good book that will keep you on your toes throughout.  If you are interested in recent African history or world politics, the book will be especially up your alley, but it’s generally a great read and I think most people will enjoy the suspense of the book no matter what your interests.  Thanks to the author for sending me a copy for review!

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Review: God’s Politics

Title:  God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It

Author:  Jim Wallis

Published:  January 11, 2005

Page Count:  416

Genres:  Nonfiction, Politics, Religion

My Rating:  3.5/5

Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside?

While the Right in America has hijacked the language of faith to prop up its political agenda—an agenda not all people of faith support—the Left hasn’t done much better, largely ignoring faith and continually separating moral discourse and personal ethics from public policy. While the Right argues that God’s way is their way, the Left pursues an unrealistic separation of religious values from morally grounded political leadership. The consequence is a false choice between ideological religion and soulless politics.

The effect of this dilemma was made clear in the 2004 presidential election. The Democrats’ miscalculations have left them despairing and searching for a way forward. It has become clear that someone must challenge the Republicans’ claim that they speak for God, or that they hold a monopoly on moral values in the nation’s public life. Wallis argues that America’s separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. In fact, the very survival of America’s social fabric depends on such values and vision to shape our politics—a dependence the nation’s founders recognized.

God’s Politics offers a clarion call to make both our religious communities and our government more accountable to key values of the prophetic religious tradition—that is, make them pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-equality, pro-consistent ethic of life (beyond single issue voting), and pro-family (without making scapegoats of single mothers or gays and lesbians). Our biblical faith and religious traditions simply do not allow us as a nation to continue to ignore the poor and marginalized, deny racial justice, tolerate the ravages of war, or turn away from the human rights of those made in the image of God. These are the values of love and justice, reconciliation, and community that Jesus taught and that are at the core of what many of us believe, Christian or not. In the tradition of prophets such as Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, and Desmond Tutu, Wallis inspires us to hold our political leaders and policies accountable by integrating our deepest moral convictions into our nation’s public life.

I’ve been meaning to read God’s Politics for what seems like forever so when I saw it on audio at the library I knew I had to get on it right away.  I’m glad that I did, because the book was everything I was expecting and something I really needed to hear at the time of my listening to it.

The theme of the book is this questions:  How would our policies and political decisions change if we kept what God wants in the center of our minds?  Regardless of religious affiliation, most Americans believe in some sort of God with similar values attached to that belief.  The respect for human life, belief in helping “the least of us”, love for the environment, belief in the equality of all people, etc. are just some of the values that most Americans can agree on.  And Wallis points out that many of our policies (both on the Left and the Right) do not support most of these values.  Wallis argues that if we asked ourselves the simple question,  “what would Jesus do?”, we would be doing things much differently.

Several examples of what we might do differently – Jesus would want Americans to be MUCH more mindful of the poor than we currently are.  Jesus would not agree with our current war in Iraq.  Jesus would not agree with the death penalty.  Jesus would be upset and horrified with the lack of racial justice that exists in this country in the twenty-first century.

What I liked about God’s Politics is that it really made me think.  In no way do I agree with Wallis’s political convictions on every issue, but I did think about some of these issues from a slightly different point of view.  For example, Wallis doesn’t believe in abortion, and I am strongly pro-choice.  Yet Wallis made it clear that he doesn’t agree with the way the “pro-life” (I’m accustomed to calling the movement “anti-choice”, but the typical term used is “pro-life”) movement gets their point across and he knows that there’s a better way to both prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions.  Preventing unwanted pregnancies and reducing the overall number of abortions (as long as women don’t want those abortions) is definitely something I can get on board with.

There is a lot more about this book I could discuss, but I’ll just leave it up to all of you to read it and tell me what you think.  I think God’s Politics is a must-read for anyone who follows and loves God (any God, but the book is pretty Christian-centric to be completely honest).  Those of you who have an interest in politics will especially like the book.

Review: Obama: The Historic Journey

obama journeyTitle:  Obama: The Historic Journey (Young Reader’s Edition)

Author:  The New York Times

Published:  February 16, 2009

Page Count:  96

Genres:  Nonfiction, Politics, Middle Grade (ages 9-12)

My Rating:  4/5

Obama: The Historic Journey brings readers the extraordinary story of Barack Obama’s voyage from childhood through his inauguration as the 44th president of the United States of America.  His election marked an unprecedented step forward in American history, shattering racial barriers and forever altering the political landscape.  No other news source has better captured his story than The  New York Times, America’s premier newspaper and the winner of 96 Pulitzer Prizes for journalism.

With an astounding array of visual imagery, along with in-depth reporting that has been specially adapted for young readers, this beautifully produced volume gives children a comprehensive portrait of the man whose inspiring message has touched people the world over.  Children will be fascinated by “the skinny kid with the funny name” who rose to become America’s first African-American president.

I was thrilled when I was selected to be part of the tour for this book.  I love the idea of giving a primer on Obama to children to help them understand how he rose to the presidency and become such a respected and inspiring man.  I had high expectations for the book and overall it did not disappoint.

One aspect of the book that I enjoyed was the many beautiful color photos throughout.  The addition of the pictures really helps illustrate for children who Obama is and how he grew up, got into politics, and became President.  There are also many pictures of Obama’s wife and daughters, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha, which is nice for children to get a whole picture of the Obama family.

The book is written in a clear  and conscice style that I think children ages9-12 will have no problem following.  There are some political terms that may be a little beyond some kids’ knowledge, but that can be easily fixed by parents reading the book with their kids to explain some of the more complicated concepts to them.  Conversely, I felt that the book glossed over a few aspects of the political process that I would have liked to see more detail on.  An extra 10-20 pages for slightly more in-depth explanations would have really added to the overall experience for children – to give them a little  more background on the process of actually becoming president.  That being said, the details overall were sufficient and I think most kids will enjoy reading about how Obama became President of the United States.

Since  I do not have any children of my own, I’d love to give my gently used copy of Obama: The Historical Journey to one of my readers with children in the targeted age group for this book (age 9-12). All you have to do to win is leave me a comment letting me know why your kid(s) would enjoy this book.  I will draw a winner one week from tonight (Memorial Day).