(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Nonfiction Views: Hey books! Help me dispel this gloom I'm feeling, plus the week's new nonfiction [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-26 A bit of a doldrums in the publishing world this week. Publishers have put out their Fall lists in anticipation of holiday sales, and are focused on pushing out reprints of books that take off. Come January, the Spring publishing season will get under way. I’m in a bit of a doldrums myself, still reeling from the election a mere three weeks ago. It seems like an eternity, and I am having trouble believing we can get through this incoming administration. Trump’s remarkably rapid announcement of top officials he intends to nominate seems to affirm every greatest fear about his intentions. This week’s announcement that he will avoid paying any price for his criminal and traitorous actions was very depressing. My passion to fight against the worst he has to offer remains intact, but I can’t deny that it is hard to keep from feeling dispirited. Trump and the crew around him seem prepped to grift to their heart’s desire while taking a wrecking ball to the country, the world and its ordinary citizens. Yes, even if he has escaped justice for now, I know that he will be judged harshly by history (if there is anyone still writing history.) Yes, I’ve read plenty of reassuring articles about the obstacles he still faces in enacting his plans. The logistics, expense and legal obstacles to his deportation plans are huge, businesses are already lobbying to him to ratchet back his tariffs and decimation of the workforce, institutional obstacles remain in place to a speedy rollback of many regulations. I know all that, and I know I’ve lived through conservative administrations in the past that ended up only achieving incremental changes. But still...this is Trump, a man with zero respect for the country and its government. This feels like the culmination of ninety years of conservative fighting to undo the advances made in this country from the New Deal, the civil rights movement, the expansion of protective regulations and the expansion of the social safety net. Republicans have fought tooth and nail against these advances, but now it feels like those decades of incremental erosion of our advances has reached a breaking point. The Republican Party has steadily shed its members who still believe in the country, replacing them with a majority of radical right-wingers and Christian nationalists. Their steady appointment of judges when they had the power has increasingly consolidated that branch of the government into an arm that will back their radical plans. And now we have Trump at the head of it, intent on dismantling the institutional guardrails that kept him in check during his first administration. I’m angry. I’m angry at their hateful, selfish drive to undo all the gains of the past decades. We’ve already seen erosion in the health and life expectancy in this country over recent decades, thanks in part to Republicans undermining and under-funding the policies that led to those improvements. I’m angry at the anti-science attitude being given such prominence in Trump’s nominees. It seems a large portion of the population has developed amnesia about what life was like in 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic. I sure as hell haven’t forgotten. I remember the fear, the hardship, the loss of that time. I still remember the deaths. A friend of mine just lost her father this week to Covid-related illness; it is still with us. Yes, perhaps it can be termed endemic rather than a pandemic now; after all, the flu still kills plenty of people each year. But it is still new and mutating and dangerous, and now we face the horrifying possibility of a new pandemic arising with the bird flu, bringing a new round of horror. And what are we getting to guide us through this potential peril? Trump and RFK, Jr. I’m angry about the future as we deal with climate change. It is already a hard task to make the global changes necessary to have any hope of meeting the challenges, but now we face an administration that will not only halt any progress but want to take us backward. Time is running out. I fear for the future, for the world our future generations will face. I remember as a kid in the early 1960s sitting in front of the black and white TV watching coverage of Alan Shepherd’s first manned space flight and John Glenn’s three orbits of the Earth. By the end of the decade, we had landed on the moon. But the Republican politicians of today, when faced with a vital scientific challenge of developing clean energy, are just “Nah, too hard, too expensive, no need, not necessary.” I’m angry about economic hardship that people will face as greed and stupidity take even greater control of the economy. One book I’m currently reading is The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World, by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, published in October. Borders draw one map of the world; money draws another. A journalist’s riveting account exposes a parallel universe that has become a haven for the rich and powerful. A globe shows the world we think we know: neatly delineated sovereign nations that grant or restrict their citizens’ rights. Beneath, above, and tucked inside their borders, however, another universe has been engineered into existence. It consists of thousands of extraterritorial zones that operate largely autonomously, and increasingly for the benefit of the wealthiest individuals and corporations. The people who have no loyalty or love of country have taken power. They seek simply to further their corruption and wealth, and to lock down any ability of ordinary people to oppose them. Well, thanks for letting me rant. I’m still gearing up for the struggle, and I’m still grateful that I have books to teach me, entertain me, comfort me and strengthen me. So, what are we all reading? Bonus: Gift link to an interesting article by Joel Grey in the New York Times, comparing today to the world of the musical Cabaret, which debuted 58 years ago: I Starred in ‘Cabaret.’ We Need to Heed Its Warning. "We have indeed seen this show before, and I fear we do know how it ends. It’s understandable to want to retreat, to find solace where we can, but we cannot afford to look away." At my Literate Lizard Online Bookstore, my holiday promotion is up and running, 12 categories of books with twelve books each, all discounted 20% through December 31st. In addition, I will be running a site-wide Black Friday Weekend sale November 29th through December 2nd (coupon code SAVE20), so if you’d like to get some holiday book buying in, and give me a little support as well, here’s your chance! THIS WEEK’S NOTABLE NEW NONFICTION Freedom: Memoirs 1954 – 2021, by Angela Merkel . It is still killing me we are not weeks away from the inauguration of our first woman president; that the United States remains so misogynist that it would choose an ignorant, traitorous sex offender sociopath over a capable strong woman as president. Great timing for the arrival of Merkel’s memoir. For sixteen years, Angela Merkel was Chancellor of Germany and at the forefront of European and international politics. In her memoir, she looks back on her life in two German states—East Germany until 1990, and reunified Germany thereafter. How did she, coming from the East, rise to the top of the Christian Democratic Union to become the first woman to hold the office of chancellor? And how did she then become one of the most powerful heads of government in the Western world? What guided her? In Freedom, Angela Merkel recounts daily life in the chancellor’s office as well as the dramatic days and nights when she made far-reaching decisions in Berlin, Brussels, and beyond. She traces the long lines of change in international cooperation and reveals the pressure politicians face when seeking solutions to complex problems in a globalized world. Here, she takes us behind the scenes of international politics, demonstrating both the importance of personal conversations and, crucially, their limits. . It is still killing me we are not weeks away from the inauguration of our first woman president; that the United States remains so misogynist that it would choose an ignorant, traitorous sex offender sociopath over a capable strong woman as president. Great timing for the arrival of Merkel’s memoir. The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America, by Stephanie Gorton . In the 1910s, as the birth control movement was born, two leaders emerged: Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett. While Sanger would go on to found Planned Parenthood, Dennett’s name has largely faded from public knowledge. Each held a radically different vision for what reproductive autonomy and birth control access should look like in America. Few are aware of the fierce personal and political rivalry that played out between Sanger and Dennett over decades—a battle that had a profound impact on the lives of American women. Meticulously researched and vividly drawn, The Icon and the Idealist reveals how and why these two women came to activism, the origins of the clash between them, and the ways in which their missteps and breakthroughs have reverberated across American society for generations. “Stephanie Gorton recounts the complex, often infuriating, history of the movement to legalize birth control through the rivalry between its two greatest advocates. The Icon and the Idealist is a fascinating portrait of ambition and idealism, politics and passion, and a shocking reminder of just how far some men will go to keep women ignorant and powerless over their own bodies.” — Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age . In the 1910s, as the birth control movement was born, two leaders emerged: Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett. While Sanger would go on to found Planned Parenthood, Dennett’s name has largely faded from public knowledge. Each held a radically different vision for what reproductive autonomy and birth control access should look like in America. Few are aware of the fierce personal and political rivalry that played out between Sanger and Dennett over decades—a battle that had a profound impact on the lives of American women. Meticulously researched and vividly drawn, The Icon and the Idealist reveals how and why these two women came to activism, the origins of the clash between them, and the ways in which their missteps and breakthroughs have reverberated across American society for generations. The Icon and the Idealist Four Against the West: The True Saga of a Frontier Family That Reshaped the Nation—and Created a Legend, by Joe Pappalardo . Roy Bean was an American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Texas, who called himself "The Only Law West of the Pecos". He and his three brothers set out from Kentucky in the mid 1840s, heading into the American frontier to find their fortunes. Their lifetimes of triumphs, tragedies, laurels and scandals will play out on the battlefields of Mexico, in shady dealings in California city halls, inside eccentric saloon courtrooms of Texas, and along the blood-soaked Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to New Mexico. They will kill men, and murder will likewise stalk them. The Beans chase their American dreams as the nation reinvents itself as a coast-to-coast powerhouse, only to be tested by the Civil War. During their saga, the brothers become soldiers, judges, husbands, guerillas, lawmen, entrepreneurs, refugees, fathers, politicians, pioneers and – in Judge Roy Bean’s case – one of the Old West’s best known but least understood scoundrels. . Gangster Hunters: How Hoover's G-men Vanquished America's Deadliest Public Enemies, by John Oller . J. Edgar Hoover was the face of the FBI. But the federal agents in the field, relentlessly chasing the most notorious gangsters of the 1930s with their own lives on the line, truly transformed the Bureau. In 1932, the FBI lacked jurisdiction over murder cases, bank robberies, and kidnappings. Relegated to the sidelines, agents spent their days at their desks. But all of that changed during the War on Crime. Hunting down infamous public enemies in tense, frequently blood-soaked shootouts, the Bureau was thrust onto the front pages for the first time. The G-men crisscrossed the United States in pursuit of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker's criminal family, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd. But the green FBI agents were always one step behind and a moment too late, the criminals evading elaborate stakeouts and dramatic ambushes. Facing mounting criticism, with bodies left in their wake, the agents had to learn to adapt. After all, more than their reputations were at stake. Through incredible primary source research, John Oller transports readers right to the most harrowing and consequential raids of the 1930s, with fast-paced action that shows the lengths both sides would go to win. . Red Hook: Brooklyn Mafia, Ground Zero, by Frank Dimatteo and Michael Benson . Long before Brooklyn was known as the world’s hippest neighborhood, it was the deadliest - the seedy, dangerous underbelly of New York City, where mobsters and gangs could commit murder and dump dead bodies without getting caught. For more than a hundred years, the Red Hook section of Brooklyn was Ground Zero for organized crime. Whoever controlled the piers controlled everything. From the infamous Irish gang known as The White Hand at the turn of the century, to the notorious Italian Gallo brothers who ran President Street—and everything else—generations later, the blood-soaked history of Red Hook is the story of American crime at its most powerful, corrupt, and coldly efficient. It's all here: the brutal mob hits, bullet storms, and backstabbings of the most colorful cutthroats to ever terrorize the streets, including the Brooklyn bar fight that gave Trump’s hero Al ‘Scarface’ Capone his scar. . Long before Brooklyn was known as the world’s hippest neighborhood, it was the deadliest - the seedy, dangerous underbelly of New York City, where mobsters and gangs could commit murder and dump dead bodies without getting caught. Naples 1343: The Unexpected Origins of the Mafia, by Amedeo Feniello . A fresh perspective on the early mafia as a means of resistance against invasion, this gripping history illustrates the previously unknown extent of these families’ power in the 14th century. The purpose of this book is not to retrace the birth of the Camorra through the traditional roads of ethnology, anthropology, sociology, or even folklore for the umpteenth time. Amedeo Feniello takes a new route through a number of previously unstudied elements and makes a unique observation: that these “families” of Naples were in power at the time of the birth of the Angevin Kingdom of Naples—one of the first European nation states. They would have been leaders of the new state, actively participating in the business of the royal family and serving as a new class of directors, officers, and bureaucrats. . A fresh perspective on the early mafia as a means of resistance against invasion, this gripping history illustrates the previously unknown extent of these families’ power in the 14th century. The purpose of this book is not to retrace the birth of the Camorra through the traditional roads of ethnology, anthropology, sociology, or even folklore for the umpteenth time. Amedeo Feniello takes a new route through a number of previously unstudied elements and makes a unique observation: that these “families” of Naples were in power at the time of the birth of the Angevin Kingdom of Naples—one of the first European nation states. They would have been leaders of the new state, actively participating in the business of the royal family and serving as a new class of directors, officers, and bureaucrats. Ira Gershwin: A Life in Words, by Michael Owen . The man behind some of the most memorable lyrics in the Great American Songbook steps from behind his brother’s shadow. The first lyricist to win the Pulitzer Prize, Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) has been hailed as one of the masters of the Great American Songbook, a period which covers songs written largely for Broadway and Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1950s. George and Ira Gershwin collaborated on a string of hit Broadway shows in the 1920s and 1930s that resulted in popular and financial success and spawned a long string of songs that have become classics. Owen offers fascinating glimpses of their creative process, drawing on Ira’s diaries and other contemporary sources, as well as the close relationship between the two brothers. Hollywood soon beckons and the brothers head west to California to work in the movie business. Greater fame and fortune seem right around the corner. George Gershwin died in a Los Angeles hospital in July 1937. He was only 38 years old. His death marked a stark dividing line in Ira’s life, and from that point on much of his time and energy was devoted to the management of his brother’s estate and the care of his legacy. Accustomed to living in his brother’s shadow, it now threatened to overwhelm him. He worked to balance all the administrative tasks with a new series of collaborations with composers like Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, Harry Warren, and Harold Arlen. . The man behind some of the most memorable lyrics in the Great American Songbook steps from behind his brother’s shadow. Memories of Distant Mountains: Illustrated Notebooks, 2009-2022, by Orhan Pamuk . For many years, Nobel Prizewinner Orhan Pamuk kept a record of his daily thoughts and observations, entering them in small notebooks and illustrating them with his own paintings. This book combines those notebooks into one volume. He writes about his travels around the world, his family, his writing process, and his complex relationship with his home country of Turkey. He charts the seeds of his novels and the things that inspired his characters and the plots of his stories. Intertwined in his writings are the vibrant paintings of the landscapes that surround and inspire him. A beautiful object in its own right, in Memories of Distant Mountains readers can explore Pamuk's intoxicating inner world and can have a fascinating, intimate encounter with the art, culture, and charged political currents that have shaped one of literature’s most important voices. Carl Perkins: The King of Rockabilly, by Jeff Apter . He was the King of Rockabilly, and one of rock and roll’s true pioneers. A groundbreaking guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Carl Perkins inspired countless musicians in country, rock, and pop music. His influence is enormous. As Paul McCartney said, “If there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles.” Now acclaimed music writer Jeff Apter recounts Carl Perkins’s remarkable life story—the triumphs, tragedies, and career highlights that include some of the most pivotal moments in music history. Born in Tennessee to poor sharecroppers, Carl grew up listening to gospel and country music, learned blues guitar from a fellow field hand, and started writing songs at age fourteen. He plied his trade in rough and rowdy honky-tonks, performing with his brothers before beginning his recording career at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis. It was there that Carl became a member of the fabled “Million Dollar Quartet,” alongside Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. In 1955, he wrote and recorded “Blue Suede Shoes,” the first record by a Sun artist to sell over a million copies. But then a fateful car crash stalled his career, one of many tragedies in Carl’s life. Over the following decades, Presley, Cash, and countless other artists, from the Beatles, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, performed and recorded his songs and became Carl’s friends, collaborators, and champions. . The Meaning of Beer: How Our Pursuit of the Perfect Pint Built the World, by Jonny Garrett. Since its creation thirteen thousand years ago, our love of beer has shaped everything from religious ceremonies to advertising, and architecture to bioengineering. The people who built the pyramids were paid in ale; the first fridge was built for beer, not food; bacteria was discovered while investigating sour beer; Germany's beer halls hosted Hitler's rise to power; and brewer's yeast may yet be the answer to climate change. In The Meaning of Beer, award-winning beer writer Jonny Garrett tells the stories of these incredible human moments and inventions, taking readers to some of the best-known beer destinations in the world--Munich and Oktoberfest, Carlsberg Brewery's historic laboratory, St. Louis and the home of Budweiser--as well as those lesser known, from a five-thousand-year-old brewery in the Egyptian desert to Arctic Svalbard, home to the world's most northerly pub. All book links in this diary are to my online bookstore The Literate Lizard. If you already have a favorite indie bookstore, please keep supporting them, but If you’re able to throw a little business my way, that would be truly appreciated. I would love to be considered ‘The Official Bookstore of Daily Kos.’ Use the coupon code DAILYKOS for 15% off your order, in gratitude for your support (an ever-changing smattering of new releases are already discounted 20% each week). I’m busily adding new content every day, and will have lots more dedicated subject pages and curated booklists as it grows. I want it to be full of book-lined rabbit holes to lose yourself in (and maybe throw some of those books into a shopping cart as well.) We also partner Libro.fm for audiobooks. Libro.fm is similar to Amazon’s Audible, with a la carte audiobooks, or a $14.99 monthly membership which includes the audiobook of your choice and 20% off subsequent purchases during the month. 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