For that reason and others, I love the idea of classics. Thirty years ago I read “1984″ and “Farenheit 451″ in preparation for a freshman college course. It would be great to read these and Federalist papers.

Thanks for the tip on a free blog with an Amazon gift link. Creative.

Lastly, I would like to suggest “They Thought They Were Free” by Milton Mayer. I read exercept of this Hitler history and found the simiilarities to BushCo chilling.

This is from Book Magazine’s review, as filched from the Barnes & Noble page:

Book Magazine
Brandon Sladder is an aged and somewhat respected political commentator and columnist who is advised by George Bush at a Washington, D.C. power party to set down his life into a memoir. This biting, comic novel is the fortunate and formidable result. In quick strokes, Frank deftly creates a journalist so blind to his own arrogance and horrid nature that he never seems to notice the trail of used-up people and ruined lives he leaves in his wake. Like a vampire of the press, Sladder sabotages his father’s job in pursuit of a dubious story within the first twenty pages of the book. Betraying everyone foolish enough to have trusted him, he enters the world of D.C. punditry in the early 1960s and never leaves. Before long, he has become the kind of name-dropping windbag who, as one character tells it, “thinks it’s better to express an opinion than actually to have one.”

I’m thinking of rereading it with Joe Klein in mind, since the first time around, it was hard to get a vision of a chubby George Will out of my mind.

Derrick is very accessable via email.He lives in your neck of the woods too Jane.Google him and send him an email,he’s a really interesting guy.I think Chelsea Green has published many of his books,they may have info on him on their site.

These books by Derrick would fit into a few political discussions,IMO:

Welcome to the Machine(with George Draffan)which is about the lengths government and businesses will go to use technology to monitor damned near everything we do.

Strangely Like War; The Global Assault on Forests(also with George Draffan)about the hideous destruction and dirty dealings within the forestry industry,including some organizations/agencies supposedly protecting the environment.It’s not just the forestry industry at work here either.Some of the quotes from industry execs made my blood run cold.

Railroads and Clearcuts(also written with Draffan,I believe there is a railroadsandclearcuts.com or something too)which is about the robber baron era of American history,which has connections to today’s playing field.

Derrick’s a bit of an anarchist,lol,but if nothing else,I find his writing very interesting,he’s not reckless or batshit crazy.He’s also been involved in lawsuits to try and stop environmental destruction,those perspectives might be helpful to liberal politics as part of the big picture.

I also like Derrick’s Walking on Water for anyone who likes to write,it’s pretty intense.It’s about his experiences teaching writing classes at both a college and a supermax prison.

Jensen is deserving of wider recognition,IMHO,he’s an amazing writer and a really stand up guy.

I hope someone sees this and checks out this author,if for no other reason than the quality and writing style.And the resulting conversations his work brings up are good ones,even if they ain’t all pretty.

And big props to Glenn on the impending success of his book.And all with no think tank funding,heh.I can hear the collective wingnut blood pressure rising right now.I think I’ll buy two and give one to the library down the street since I have a little b-day money coming.

re: the book club, it would be nice to pull in some older books whose topics are re-emerging in importance: Gore’s “Earth in the Balance” (which scared me to death when I read it years ago), or “The Imperial Presidency” by Arthur Schlessinger, or even some old classic works like Charles Dickens (he focused on the lives of the poor in a system that was every-man-for-himself and debtors were punished as criminals), or Sinclair Lewis’s “Elmer Gantry.”

Just a thought as a way to mix things up. You might want to consider a light book or two as well. If you haven’t read “The Columnist” by Jeffery Frank, I think most would find it both hilarious and a bit too on the mark. David Sedaris recommended it at a reading he gave in October, 2004, and he’s right: it’s funny, an easy and engaging read, and a little creepy all at once. It only took me an afternoon, and might cleanse the mental palette a bit between all the documentation of national destruction.