“If you want to know America–if you want to see it for what it was and what it is–you need to look at Indian history and at the Indian present.” “It has always bothered me that the very idea of paying attention to or knowing Indian history is tinged with the soft compassion of the do-gooder, as a kind of voluntary public service.” David Treuer in The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Both of these quotes are from the epilogue of this very good book. Can… Read More »Do-Gooders
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer If you care about fairness and justice this is a disturbing book. It is also a book about hope. The Native Americans were totally defeated by 1900 their number were down to about 300,000 people. Now 120 years later there are over 3 million Native Americans and they have lots of success stories. The book includes a very good short history of the Native American experience. It is eye opening. That story about deliberately spreading smallpox did… Read More »Worth Reading
In a bookstores your mind can go window shopping. Adapted from Jonah Goldberg co founder of The Dispatch and a brilliant wordsmith. Photo is from a Powell’s Bookstore Postcard.
“The people are wiser than their rulers.” General Douglas McArthur This is a combination post. President Zelensky meets an Inukshuk with an embedded quote from Douglas McArthur in multiple colors. Two of my old favorites with my new skill set. The quote is from Judgement at Toyko by Gary Bass Book club reading.
Querulous Adjective: Disagreeable complaining, perhaps petulant or whining. Example: “It really is hard to complain without sounding querulous.” Photo shows the Native American section in a very nice small bookstore in Healdsburg, CA. It is between Mythology and Home Improvement. Probably random but could be ironic or offensive.
“I’ll look it up in the encyclopedia.” A common phrase from about 1911 until about 2000. Now the encyclopedia has been replaced by Google and the phrase sounds archaic. I call the smart phone the Knows Everything Machine. Photo is of my historic encyclopedia. It is from 1914. At home growing up in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s we had the Encyclopedia Americana. My parents bought it on the installment plan. I remember spending hours reading arcane articles.
“It is easy to be wise in hindsight.” Simon Winchester in Knowing What We Know This is an interesting book that is certain to inform a great discussion of the declining importance of knowledge in society. AI (Artificial Intelligence) will compound this. The industrial revolution did the same thing to the importance of strength and we didn’t just survive we thrived. I predict the same again.
Extraordinary, Ordinary People By Condoleezza Rice If you want to understand nuances of the black experience in America read this book. Put aside your politics and your preconceptions and immerse yourself in a story of what it was like raising a black girl in Bull Conner’s Birmingham, Alabama. In the book she explains why she is a Republican and why she favors affirmative action and much more. But it is mostly a tribute to her parents and their selfless efforts to raise a wonderful daughter… Read More »Inspiration
There is a feeling, often expressed, that we live in particularly tumultuous times. I often politely ask when we were not in “tumultuous times.” My argument is that “presentism” ie giving more weight to the present than the past makes the current situation seem far more important than it really is. I often explain it as the “car window” effect. If you look out the side window of a moving car things appear to be moving very fast, but if you look out the front… Read More »Reconstruction
“It is better to will the good than to know the truth.” Petrarch 1304-1374 Known by some as the first humanist and others as the prime mover of the Renaissance. I was introduced to him in The Renaissance by Paul Johnson.