Welcome -

Thank you for all you work. I lurk during a lot of the discussions and learn a lot.

Bev, It’s a huge job you have. I don’t know how to thank you enough.

Here is a partial list of this year’s books

Aaron Barlow – Rise of the Blogosphere
Daniel Brook – The Trap: Selling Out
Robert Frank – Falling Behind
Sandy Horwitt – Feingold: A New Democratic Party
Drew Westen – The Political Brain – Hosted by Jim Himes
Allan Ornstein – Class Counts
Linda Perlstein – Tested: One American School Struggles
Dan Gilgoff – The Jesus Machine
Charlie Savage – Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency
Mark Schapiro – Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products
John Dean – Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legis/Exec/Judicial Brances
Paul Krugman – The Conscience of a Liberal
Bob Harris – Who Hates Whom
Valerie Wilson Plame – Fair Game: My Life as a Spy
Mark Penn – Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes
Alex Steffen – WorldChanging: A User’s Guide to the 21st Century
Greg Anrig – The Conservatives Have No Clothes
Susan Faludi – The Terror Dream
Naomi Wolf – End of America
Dahr Jamail – Beyond the Green Zone
Todd Gitlin – The Bulldozer and the Big Tent
Naomi Klein – The Shock Doctrine
Christine Pelosi – Campaign Boot Camp
John Anderson – Follow the Money
Juan Cole – Napoleon’s Egypt
Norman Solomon – Made Love, Got War
Jon Chait – The Big Con
Bob Drogin – Curveball
Mike Hoyt – Reporting Iraq
General Wesley Clark – A Time to Lead
David Bornstein – How to Change the World: Social Entrepeneurs
Bruce Levine – Surviving America’s Depression Epidemic

I lurked for years, too.

I’d like to thank Jane, Pach and FDL for the
chance to help out.

Now – about the books.
What did you like?

She’s does an awesome jobe. Just amazing, and we could not make this successful without her.

She’s made it possible for us to do two per weekend now.

(Um, Bev, about those handcuffs. . .)

Hi Bev. Thanks for telling us about yourself and for taking the Book Salon reigns. (telling, spelling)

I think my favorite Book Salon(s) were the John Dean conversations. And I’m really looking forward to the Craig Unger chat next weekend. While we all know the outline of the stories he tells about the religious right and the neocons, he fills in all the background with fine detail and great, almost gossipy stories about the players.

Without hesitation, I can say Dahr Jamal – Behind The Green Zone and the two Naomis , Klein’s Shock Doctrine and Wolf’s End of America, were my favorite books this year.

I didn’t read John Deans book but it was great to have him back.

Bev – thanks so much for all the hard work on the Book Salon, and to Jane and Christy and Pach and all the gang.
And my favorite was, of course, the “Broken Government” Salon with John Dean.

My pleasure to jump in – or was I pushed?

John Dean was great and very generous with
his time and comments.

Ok, now each mention will elicit a “How could I forget that one?” response. Loved the Naomi’s, too. They are both brave women, knowing they are huge targets for the right, yet not backing down

Bev, thanks for all your hard work this year. Book Salon has been an unqualified success, most notably by doubling its per-week appearances!

My favorite Book Salon, for sheer perversity, was the Christine Pelosi event. Never have I read a more boring, pedantically written book. Never have I privately lamented the fate of any candidates who take Pelosi’s book to heart. And never have I had so much fun watching us try to be nice, and try not to scare someone away!

It was a hoot.

But for learning and excellence, the Naomi Klein Salon was the best.

PS What are the odds of having Mr Olbermann on again, this time to discuss his new Special Comments book, which drops, I think, this week?

man, I missed so many because of work but I loved nami kline, I loved valery wilson, I loved john dean, I loved wesley clark

I would love to see thom harman come here and pimp his books…I am pretty sure he’d jump at the oportunity and it would really help the site since his radio station is amazing and I’m sure he’d talk about his appearance here before the date…and his appearance would help him and his broadcast as much as whatever book he wanted to pimp

Thank you so much for all you have done there behind the scenes.
It’s great for you to step out from behind the curtain and take a well deserved bow.
Valerie’s was far and away my fave but folks here already know that.

(blushing)

Oh, yes, Dahr. I’ve subscribed to his newsletter and re-read his book since.

I neglecteed to let you know how much your work is appreciated too, I didn’t even know what your name was but I sure appreciated what you’ve done for my intelectual growth

Actually I’m awaiting a response from him.

If people want to contact him through his MSNBC address to encourage him, who am I to get in the way?

Worst book salon guests Penn & Pelosier /s.. with a hat tip to Clark because they wouldn’t answer fair questions.

Krugman (I think) says all politics is driven by economics. I’d love to see Paul Hawkins and Amory Lovins come discuss their new book Natural Capitalism.

I started to do a post and it got messed up.

to recap:

Thanks for the greart work, Bev.

Loved Valerie Plame. Not Wes Clark. Like stuff on The Law and Labor issues.
Don’t like eggheaded authors so much as down to earth ones.

I thought Suzanne was missing handcuffs the other night.

I second the motion for Amory Lovins.

Many thanks to Bev for all of her hard work — she is one more person who is helping to fix this crazy world we live in.

Are people interested in any other subjects? Music? Pop culture? Motherhood and parenting issues? Anything?

Chime in.

And John Dean, too.

Worst book salon guests Penn…

Yes, but it was not unexpected to see him turn-tail and scram in less than an hour.
Come into the Lake, better bring your game. Scoping out territory for Hillary won’t cut it here.

Do you have any suggestions for new books, authors for this
upcoming year?

Any ideas for Book Salon?

Maybe cooking, healthy eating, etc?

Sports. Good idea to have some people on that arten’t, like, newsy.

Ah, if we had not lost Halberstam.

Well, I tried to ask fair questions. Not my fault he wouldn’t answer when I got stat geeky with him.

as I mentioned, I would love to see thom hartman here

Just not the fucking Yankees.

Neal Sheehan would be good.

get art rust jr here to do some of his sports books, he is clearly entertaining

Just a thought. Not sayin’ it’s a good one. But it’s a thought. Ever consider to every now and then get someone from the other side in for a knock-down, drag-ut ? Or does FDL not want that? I mean, I can understand not wanting to give a platform to a black hat. they have enough of ‘em.

Yankees, Giants, Knicks, Rangers.

I was thinking the same thing

I know progressive authors would jump at the oportunity to speak on a civilized concervative blog because we believe our case, I think there might be a concervative that believe their case and come here

we would be nice…promise

KO can do sports, too.

Should the Book Salons be edgier?
I believe they are very honest conversations now.

Also, Phil Beidler

http://www.as.ua.edu/english/0…..dler_p.htm

American Wars, American Peace: Notes from a Son of the Empire. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Late Thoughts on an Old War: The Legacy of Vietnam. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2004.

In what sense “edgier”? I think they should be polite. I’m always on my best behavior and it’s a good change.

Pach, being an old lady with young children, I would love to see parenting issues discussed. Our world has changed considerably since I was young, and even though “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” (imagine I have figured out how to insert the proper accents grave and egue) there is plenty of uncharted territory to discuss.

Also agree, Hartmann and Olbermann (Germann?) would be fine additions to the schedule

done!

off topic but please to consider the following

DES MOINES, Iowa — John Edwards has clawed his way into contention to win Iowa’s caucuses on Thursday in the first vote for the Democratic presidential nomination, gaining strength even as rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have lost ground, according to a new McClatchy-MSNBC poll.
Link Search: Ask, Technorati, Sphere, Google, and IceRocket

from here

the lake is a powerful place, we might be able to help him win with a little bit of a roots project, maybe he even wants to stop by and have a chat

I thought the entire series was great! The most stimulating for me was Bornstein, and the most dissatisfying was Levine. (Maybe there’s a proximity effect, as I remember those two most vivdly.)

As far as suggested topic areas, I would love to see more sports (e.g., Michael Lewis would be awesome), more hardcore legal/judicial analysis, more history, and more real science (much more rigorous than Schapiro and Levine).

I would be more than happy to do the leg work to identify suitable books/authors in these areas, if the powers-that-be think it would be a good idea to expand into those areas.

Not bein’ a wise guy here… Are there any civilized conservative blogs ? I’m serious.

depends what you mean by edgier, I don’t want us to loose our civility that’s for sure but I sure wouldn’t mind having a legitimate alternative point of view

I have said time and again, progressives are very closely aligned to real concervatives

but concervatives don’t know that

hey bevW, have you thought about thom harman?

How about Jared Diamond, to talk about his book Collapse?

(Can’t get this to work as an embedded link, but you should be able to copy it into the address bar):

http://www.amazon.com/Collapse…..0670033375

They should be very polite, but also very rigorous. I think the balance has been pretty reasonable.

If by “edgier” yopu mean having edgy authors who are not afraid to trash a commentor, that’s be great. Most of us can handle it. Bring ‘em on.

If Diamond would be willing, I agree that Collapse would make a great book salon.

FDL is looking at Tom’s books.

I really don’t know, all we hear about are the neo fascists, aren’t there real concevative blogs out there that don’t repeat the talking points as if they are marionettes?

YAY!!!!

man, I LOVE this man, a more passionate, articulate constitutional scholar you will find nowhere

Don’t know. Anybody?

Marionettes don’t talk. YOu must mean dummies ;~)

Anybody got an email address for Keith?

kolbermann@msnbc.com bounces back now.

There are sites like Positive Liberty (www.positiveliberty.com) that attract a lot of principled conservatives, but I don’t know how well they would like being labeled a Conservative Blog.

It’s Thom Hartmann

when the applet opens paste in your link, then hit enter

then with your cursor on the response box, just go back four characters so you are inbetween the html / arrow

One of the things we need when we have authors is good blog style writers to introduce the works.

So, if you have a subject area expertise and like to read, and if you feel comfortable writing in a blog medium (it’s very unlike other media), then send us an email along with subject areas that might interest you.

Who knows: you might end up hosting a Book Salon someday.

well then, what I meant to say was “principled” republican.

I would love to see some of them here that’s for sure

The Volokh Conspiracy law blog has some very intelligent conservative bloggers.

One of the “selling points” I use to authors who have never
blogged before (there were a lot) – is that:
Firedoglake is one of the most influential and most quoted progressive blogs,
hosts a weekly Book Salon. Featuring carefully selected titles of interest to the blog’s loyal and highly engaged community, the Book Salon promotes titles through a two week discussion and reinforces this promotion with an ad linking to the book’s Amazon.com page.

The FDL audience is the reason we get good authors to come to the Lake.

i wouldn’t particularly want to see sports. nor would i want authors known to trash the commentors. civilized conservatives could be ok, but i’d prefer to have authors who are progressives and books that educate us. would enjoy seeing environmental books and health related books and prefer that the majority of salons be like they have been.

thanks for asking us and for the awesome job you’ve done in 2007!

but marionettes is so much more the pejorative

We’re smart. we eally are. Well informed. If they don’t wanna come, fuck ‘em, I say.

Dinner time, Gotta run. Bev, great job and thanks to everyone involved.

Keep up the great work

At the risk of speaking a bit of heresy, I wouldn’t mind an occasional fiction author along the lines of Lawrence Block, Tony Hillerman, Sue Grafton, Robert Parker or such. Mystery detective or Sci-fi/fantasy types who have created re-curring characters or universes.

But that’s just me.

I can’t type, but…………..

someone mentioned this last night or earlier today on these threads and it looks very interesting:

The Secret History of the War on Cancer by Devra Davis.

I’d like there to be a pre-Book Salon thread, in which we could warm up the discussion before the author arrives. That would allow us to have smart, concise, foolly-speel-cheeked questions ready and waiting.

How about Al Gore?

Has Jeremy Scahill been a guest? I would love more updates on his Blackwater work. Or Greg Palast?

man, we wouldn’t let him leave

i never buy books but read PDFs if they available.

I usual enjoy the book salon discussions

What about William R. Gibson and any of his dystopian novels? He has a blog on which he has mentioned that his latest work of fiction, Spook Country, was unbelievably paralleled by current US events.

I mostly lurk here at FDL but among the book salons that I read, two that I especially remember were the ones by Mike Farrell and Valerie Plame Wilson. They have all been fascinating.

Dakine — Tony Hillerman’s a lifelong liberal Democrat and a neat guy in general. He’d love it here!

One of the good outcomes from the Book Salon has been the
surprise and thanks from the first time author-bloggers and
experienced authors. They all said they had a good time and
had fun. Some have asked if they could stay later with you.

Guess they will come to the internet again.

I’d like there to be a pre-Book Salon thread, in which we could warm up the discussion before the author arrives. That would allow us to have smart, concise, foolly-speel-cheeked questions ready and waiting.

i’ve been thinking it’d be nice to read the host’s intro 10-15 minutes before the author actually came on. To be able to absorb it and follow whatever links there are before we’re engaging with the author.

Barbara Kingsolver!!

BevW thank you for introducing yourself and for all the work you have done to make the Book Salons so remarkable. In addition to the favorites already mentioned, Elizabeth de la Vega was terrific. For future ideas, I would find more books about impeachment, imperialism and the history of Afghanistan to be instructive.

How could I forget? Mike Farrell was a wonderful guest.

xebecs and greenwarrior, those are both excellent suggestions. Second them.

That would probably be enough — 15 to 30 minutes. However, I was thinking of something earlier in the day, or the day before — perhaps in parallel (during the same time slot) with a regularly scheduled post.

Jim Wallis. Two of his recent books were God’s Politics and The Soul of Politics. We’ve allowed the right to co-opt religion and I think it’s a mistake. I realize there are a lot of virulently anti-religious FDL’rs, but maybe having someone who doesn’t just preach, but actually works for social justice would be good.

I’m only a baseball fan, but seriously, when Olbermann was local sportscaster here in LA, I watched him just for his shining intelligence and signature snark. I’d be here no matter what he wanted to discuss.

I think he has also won awards for his fairly accurate portrayal of life in and around the reservations.

I remember him when I lived in Wilmington / San Pedro CA – on a
sailboat. Keith was the one everyone watched.

Jim Wallis. Two of his recent books were God’s Politics and The Soul of Politics. We’ve allowed the right to co-opt religion and I think it’s a mistake. I realize there are a lot of virulently anti-religious FDL’rs, but maybe having someone who doesn’t just preach, but actually works for social justice would be good.

Carmen – I have been reading FDL since June 05, and commenting since May of 06. And your suggestion that there are “virulently anti-religious” here is not in my experience. I know a lot of folks here that cringe when God and public Policy intersect, and especially when dogmatic interests trump those of secular governance.
I for one would welcome Mr. Wallis to Book Salon.

As an atheist FDLer, one subject I don’t understand, but need to, is how religious people think and what they expect out of their political life. Good books on religion & politics would be welcomed by me.

Thanks for your effective work. my favorites same as above–the naomis, dean, plame.
Agreed, i’d like to see Diamond on Collapse or one of his other books, even the earlier 3rd chimpanzee. how about Lynn Margulis? E O Wilson, maybe. how about Wendall Berry? Donna Haraway! i’m reading an interesting book right now by Maryanne Wolf, Proust and the Squid: the story of science and the reading brain (good overview, runs from history of writing systems to child development).
i also agree i’d like to see some literary work — William Gibson is a great idea. how about Marilynne Robinson?! or how about this. . . let someone stand in for Victor Hugo or Dickens or. . . it would be great fun.
please, no sports, no cooking, no cheezy self-helps. . .and despite one of the comments above, bring on the really wonderful, complex writers, thinkers.
we’ll go mad if we have to look without relief at the minute-by-minute polls and idiotic repub commentators for the next year.
thanks so much.

(formerly known as Ga; when the system changed it would not accept a two-letter name.)

well said. i’m not virulently anti-religious either. nor am i even anti-religious. on the contrary. i am anti the antics of our current administration and its minions who have used their religion in service of class warfare and the destruction of our country. amen.

eCAHN, imho, religious people and non-religious people (atheist or agnostic or spiritual-but-not-religious) want much the same things for vastly different reasons: Justice, Peace, Hope, however those are manifest and however they are otherwise described. YMMV.

Newtonusr, I’m not engaged on every post, but there have been a number in the past 2 weeks, mainly when Romney and Huckabee have been the subject that the anti-religious comments have been made. My experience of FDL is one of intelligence and tolerance generally, but I’m just saying there is a wide variety of religious beliefs here, and I would hate to have a guest disrespected. Again, let me say, that FDL and the moderators do an amazing job of keeping things civilized.

Try Buddhism without Beliefs
by Stephen Batchelor

In this wonderful, concise introduction, Batchelor has captured the essence of the Buddha’s teachings . By going directly to the source and peeling away the accumulated dogma of various traditions, he makes Buddhism relevant for our time. He shows how, despite the Buddha’s wishes, over time Buddhism became a religion and an institution unto itself. Of course, rigid doctrinaire thinkers like Bob Thurman will see red when they read Batchelor’s simple wisdom, which eliminates the need for hocus-pocus and a priestly class. Batchelor even questions the need for belief in karma and reincarnation, long accepted as essential Buddhist beliefs.

Batchelor presents his ideas in simple, but not simplistic, prose, with easy-to-grasp examples. His credentials as a Buddhist and a scholar are beyond reproach, and while others may disagree, no one can question his seriousness and authority. Unlike self-styled gurus and flim-flam artists like “Lama Surya Das” (Jeffrey Miller), Batchelor is not interested in self-aggrandizement; merely in conveying his ideas.

Wendell Barry, another great choice. He was an early proponent of the concept “Think Globally, Act Locally”.

I hope you FDL has a chance to host Robert Parry.

Being anti-religious is quite different from being anti-Mormon or anti-fundamentalist.

How about Howard Zinn? He would be fabulous, too.

But many religious people seem to want some sort of intergration, rather than compartmentalization, between their formal religious beliefs and their politics. That’s what I’m interested in learning about.

yes, howard zinn.

Teddy – I just Dugg your post, “Lunch at the Drake Diner with Rudi“. Led to a great discussion!

Suggestions: Barnett Rubin, Noam Chomsky, Arundhoti Roy, Robert Fisk, Sebastian Junger, Khaled Hosseini, Tom Robbins.

This is probably the best book I read in 07
Empire’s Workshop—Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism by Greg Grandin, 286 pages; excellent book about how Latin America was the wet test for what W is doing in the Middle East

Now that sounds very interesting.

Also Jonathan Alter and Tamim Ansary.

I’m interested in the intersection between religion & U.S. politics. Since there aren’t many Buddhists in the U.S., the book you suggest, while it sounds interesting, is not what I was talking about.

Yeah, talk about history repeating itself. Pretty amazing stuff, especially for me. I’m a history moron (except for books I’ve read on particular history subjects in the last decade). And even though I lived through all the U.S. proxy wars in Latin America, I was too busy with work & childrearing to really know what was going on. Grandin even points out how the Rs marshaled the Christian fundamentalists to infiltrate the countries in a nonmilitary way.

Thanks Bev for all you are doing. Great work!

For best book salon, I would have to vote for John Dean, who answered every single question.

Tho having Olbermann on was amazing too. I think we got around to talking about his book eventually.

eCAHN, this was written a long time ago, but Elmer Gantry will tell you all you need to know about it. Sinclair Lewis wordy and dense, lots of people just can’t get past that, but he is spot-on in this case.

It Can’t Happen Here is also worth reading.

And thank you, Bev, for sharing something about yourself with us today. It’s always fascinating to learn about fellow ‘pups in their pre-Lake days. Thanks!

(Yes, I know it is a cheap shot and there are people of faith who aren’t like that, but that is exactly how I feel about the leaders of the evangelical movement and the sheep who follow them)

This sort of history is one of the reasons I role my eyes when people say they want their country back. (Sorry – this is going a little off topic.)

FDL is a great place to be.
I don’t recommend having to wrangle inmates as
a training aid.

Bev, Thank you for you good work. I enjoyed the salon featuring Valerie Plame’s book. After following all the legal and political machinations surrounding her story at FDL, it was very interesting to hear from her.

I’d like that too.

May I ask for my favorite author?
Eliot Pattison

How about some people from across the bay that write at this site.
http://www.tikkun.org/
jo6pac

Got 120 more pages to go on It Can’t Happen Here (determined to finish it in 07, for the record!) & Elmer Gantry’s on the list. Was looking for something more subtle though. Don’t think most people are taken in quite as much as EG portrays, though I intend to check out Osteen’s “church” when I visit my Houston friend this summer. I think Wallis’s book might be the ticket.

i suggested diamond’s collapse last time we were asked for suggestions… maybe that wasn’t considered an appropriate choice? if so, it would help to know what the criteria are… thanks to everyone who makes the book salon happen.

The book salon is a tremendous opportunity to chat with some great authors.

Suggestions I wish you’d take:

Jeffery Toobin: The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

Martin Garbus: The Next 25 Years: The New Supreme Court and What It Means to Americans

Linda Greenhouse: Becoming Justice Blackmun

Cass R. Sunstein
Karl N. Llewellyn Dist. Service Prof. of Jurisprudence, University of Chicago The Law School:

Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right-Wing Courts Are Wrong for America

Are Judges Political? An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Judiciary

The Vote: Bush, Gore, and the Supreme Court

Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge

Republic.com

Designing Democracy: What Constitutions Do

Behavioral Law and Economics (Cambridge Series on Judgement and Decision Making)
____________________

Ted Gup Nation of Secrets and The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives of CIA Operatives

Robert O’Harrow Jr. No Place to Hide

Tim Weiner Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

T. Christian Miller Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq

I know–I know what some of you want to snark about but

Maureen Dowd: Bushworld and Are Men Necessary?

Frederick A.O. Schwartz Jr. and Axix Z Huk: Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror

Ron Susskind: The One Percent Doctrine

The Price of Loyalty

Eric Alterman and Mark W. Green: How George W. (Mis)Leads America

Ron Vise: The Google Story

Still, the parallels between the movement in the 20’s and now are uncanny. Craig Unger talks some about its history in Fall of the House of Bush. Plus ca change…

for best guest for book salon, john dean wins hands down. but no one should feel slighted by coming in second to him. the guy was amazing, going through and answering every question with thoughtful indepth answer. what a gem of a guy dean is.

That would be great, to have some of the Tikkun people on.

Bev I’m just flying by today, but didn’t want to miss a chance to thank you for all your hard work. The book salons are one of my special weekly pleasures, and I so appreciate a chance to laud and applaud you directly. Looking forward to 2008’s meetings! Thanks ever so much.

Bev, thanks so much for all the work you do coordinating Book Salon for us. It really is such a relief for all of us to have a central place for coordination on this — and you do such a fantastic job at it, too.

I loved the John Anderson chat because he’s such a hoot (and not just because I hosted that one), the John Dean one because he is so gracious about answering questions thoroughly, and the Mike Farrell one as well — he was great. Both Naomi’s were fantastic chatting in the comments as well. I do think that comfort with themselves and with online communities made all of those chats so much better for it.

FWIW, John Dean told me in Chicago that our Book Salon was his favorite thing that he did on his book tour/promotion for that book. He loved interacting with all of our readers, and he reads here regularly to keep up with all of you. Thought you guys would like to know that…

lahoma and I go with John Dean and Paul Krugman as two of our faves. We also wouldn’t mind seeing Arianna back here.

As to “edgier”? That all depends on what is meant by edgier.

Mike Farrell was simply swell, and if anyone hasn’t read Just Call Me Mike, please do.

And has been mentioned above, we’d love to have Chomsky here.

As an atheist myself, they are actually working for understanding among all peoples, something I find rare among religion.
jo6pac

The Book Salon is interesting and fun when I have time, Thanks for all the hard work.

Am about 50 pages into Dana Milbanks new book “Homo Politicus.” So far he is not being kind to Repugs and is very snarky. It’s fun to read and some of you might enjoy it. He might be one to have on the salon since we could all find things to disagree about with him.

Bev — I just picked the following up to read and it looks wonderful. We might take a peek at it: Three Cups Of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations…One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I’ll let you know when I finally finish reading it what I think.

Yes, Mr. Farrell was good. We would welcome ghim back anytime.

I like the forgotten subjects or a popular subject with a unique slant. Jared Diamond and similar writers. I also would like to see greater diversity and some controversal writers like Randall Robinson. Also, writers who take on the challenge of informing us about parts of the world so close to us but with little attention. An example is Haiti under Aristide and the coup. Bart Jones has written “Hugo” on Hugo Chavez from an intresting perspective.

I don’t know if he has written any books, but we wouldn’t mind seeing Sean Penn here.

It’s been my pleasure to assist FDL with the Book Salon.

I’ll make note of all the suggestions and will discuss them
with Jane and Pach. They are all good suggestions and
will give me some new authors to schedule.

I’d like to thank all the Hosts who put in the extra effort for
the Book Salons and kept them interesting with their comments.

Also, I’d like to thank the behind-the-scenes crew who keep
FDL up and moving forward.

Thanks for the suggestions and have a Happy New Year!!

i would like to second Ron Suskind and 1% Solution,
and second the Tikkun.com people. Bev, thank you so much, am assiduously going thru the stack i bought – now am half way thru Tragic Legacy.

Yes mmore books on Latin America, as it has been the test case for going global with R (and D fot that matter) foreign policy. Haiti in particular has shown the pattern for over a century.

And speaking of actors, George Clooney might be good. So would Susan Sarrandon and Tim Robbins.

***standing ovation for Bev***

some suggestions… (in addition to diamond’s collapse – which i really hope will be considered)

chalmers johnson – blowback trilogy
robert jay lifton – Superpower Syndrome: America’s Apocalyptic Confrontation With the World
robert pape – Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.
starhawk – webs of power
philip zimbardo – the lucifer effect
elizabeth kolbert – field notes from a catastrophe
ian lustick – trapped in the war on terror
michael albert – parecon

I suppose what I am suggesting is than in addition to a book salon we have an actors salon.

Should the Book Salons be edgier?
I believe they are very honest conversations now.

not sure what you mean by edgier – book topic? our questions? the author’s answers?

Brava! Brava! Brava!

Do you think Dan Rather would come here?

Only if it’s much, much less kiss ass than that guy who does Inside the Actor’s Studio. I was watching the other day, and if he were any further up Johnny Depp’s ass, he’d have tasted the hair gel… (And I say that as someone who regularly watches the show. What can I say, I love that questionnaire at the end.)

I can’t think of any recent books off of the top of my head, but something on the politics in/of education would be great. I know there are several educators here on a regular basis. Gerald Bracey’s posts on HuffPo are great…maybe he has a new book out.

I agree – I would also like to see something on education.

I was a Security Electronics and Telecommunications Program Manager, for the Federal Bureau of Prisons most of the time.

BevW–I appreciate what you do for FDL and you’re interesting background.

Guess you missed at BOP:

The atrocious medical care that is a leading killer and casuses a number of epidemics and terminal chronic disease by “physicians” and “PA’s” who couldn’t practice their way out of a paper bag in the real world.

The charts reflect the most egregious neglect and deliberate indifference and ignorance imaginable if you have a medical IQ of 3.

The onpoint case law that they break is Estelle v. Gamble and its progeny, 429 U.S. 97, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976)

ESTELLE v. GAMBLE, 429 U.S. 97 (1976)

The routine hiding of legal work and briefs from Federal Defender Offices in Captain’s desk drawers (caught and documented scores of times).

BOP Wardens caught and federally indicted for stealing and embezzling.

Wardens who witnessed beatings that have caused scores of blunt abdominal trauma and critical internal bleeds (always a ratio of 6 BOPsters with weapons and one usually tiny inmate)

The day BOP was set up for a deposition in a suit and failed to show offering to settle immediately for $100 grand after beating an inmate as described above

The way BOP at DC leaves the grievances in warehouses to prevent inmates from filing 2241
and 2254 claiming they didn’t exhaust “administrative remedies in a timly fashion” (which are treated as a joke anyway)leaving their lawyers to clean up the messes

The way BOP warehouses inmates for months in administrative seg as punishment or revenge until you threaten to sue them and they move them the next day.

The way BOP will put inmates in limbo by bussing them from transfer center to transfer center breaking up their communications with family or attorneys for months.

The roach and ant infested shit inmates are fed in the transfer centers in some of your former employers facilities that could double as rat holes in South American prisons or make the set of Prison Break look like Architectural Digest.

The 3 page opinion where Judge Richard Unitary Executive Posner endorsed the BOP’s sending a young mother 2500 miles from the town where her child and family could visit for no earthly reason other than they could. This was a Seventh Circuit work of art.

Christy, I stayed up until 3 a.m. reading 3 Cups of Tea, because I couldn’t stop until I collapsed. Finished the book the following day, weeping. I have recommended that book to many many people. My mother has given out at least 10 copies herself. I HIGHLY recommend it for a book salon. It’s especially timely, given what is going on in Pakistan now.

Someday maybe we can talk……
I was glad to have my time in for mandatory retirement (fed law enforcement),
just as mandatory religious programs for inmates were coming in, and other
“changes”.

Bev, thanks for what you do. I rarely comment on book salon, but follow it with great interest. John Dean knocked me out with his insight and responsiveness.

I did read a Wallis book as the result of conversations at fdl and found it interesting, though it didn’t inspire me to read more. I’ve not experienced this site as anti-religious, but as skeptical, which seems healthy.

Bob Altemeyer would probably be interesting discussing his book, The Authoritarians. Because the book is free online, many could have the opportunity to read it in advance. It might be interesting to invite both Dean and Altemeyer to appear in a joint session as Dean apparently is an Altemeyer research admirer.

Bev, is an e-mail address for you linked anywhere here at the site? If it were, folks could drop you a note as books or opportunities come to mind.

Subjects like sports, recipes, etc are very well treated at other sites, and don’t necessarily appeal to all pups, so I am not enthused about expansion into those areas. If the topic were mid eastern food, travel or sports with an expert, my opinion would differ. (exception– anything KO wants to talk about is great with me)

You know, Viggo Mortensen is a prolific author and all around good guy.

Thanks for commenting and coming to the Lake.
My email is BevJWright@gmail.com – I welcome suggestions for new books, filling two days a week is a challenge.

I gave this book out for Christmas presents too.

I understand you may have been far removed from the action that attorneys and physicians learn about and see every day, but there are a lot of US Attorneys and AUSAs with sociopathic streaks (who would do well now in the criminally driven current Material Witness Mike Mukasey DOJ that’s running coverup/interferance for Bush with the help of Gillespie, Fielding, and Addington and a compliant OLC).

Those prisoners are in far more physical and mental danger from your BOP collegues than they are from other inmates as MSM suggests when a celebrity/or ocassional white collar defendant with the few hundred grand for quality representation makes the headlines.

The written words of the exponentially increasing Bush Congress after they’ve spent a little time in your old system will be most illuminating. You’ll see some Congressmen who wish the hell they had read the bills they voted on, and I could be specific.

The so-called “drug statutes” have increased litigation, exponentially flooding primarily the staff lawyers (and about 18% of the time, the law clerks) in the various federal appellate courts), increased the per curiams that tell you nothing about the quality of the staff lawyer making them happen or most importantly the legal reasoning if any or supporting authority for denying the chance for written opinions. They’re one sentence cop-outs and an Eight Circuit Judge Arnold bravely tried to eliminate them before his knee-jerk collegues jerked the opinion en banc quickly a few years ago.

After enactment of the AEDPA,(Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996) pushed by Jamie Gorelick and Reno DOJ the slacker who helped run the 911 Commission into the ground by obfuscating and steering away from DOJ failures by contrast, both the filing rate and thenumber of habeas corpus petitions filed by State inmates increased.

Any appellate judge (federal or state) will tell you quickly that drug sentencing guidelines and code sections have diluted the quality of opinions their law clerks write for them to sign, but that’s obvious.

The irrational sentencing guidelines and over zealous A.U.S.A.’s who scream for a pound of flesh and blood and would piss in their pants if locked in the bathroom for half an hour are compelling reasons for the scenario above.

Pete write me at BevJWright@gmail.com

I second, third and so on John Dean, the only other one I can remember is Valerie Plame.
Would LOVE Barbara Kingsolver, for just her overwhelmingly kind attitude toward all life, thoroughly drenched with realistic approaches.

I will. I have a number of books to suggest–and you often can’t be there when the authors show locally. If you live in the D.C. or NYC area, you have more of a chance to see authors locally. C-Span helps:

C-Span Booknotes and C-Span Book TV help.

Sinclair Lewis was a great period author.

Anyone who enjoys secret agent/spy potboiler type novels will love the “World’s End” series of 11 Sinclair wartime novels starring the character Lanny Budd, that take place during the 1930s and 1940s. The third novel in the series, “Dragon’s Teeth”, won the 1943 Pulitzer prize.

One you start with one of them, I promise it will become an addiction until you finish all of them.

Agreed.

He loved interacting with all of our readers, and he reads here regularly to keep up with all of you.

That is great to know. Dean is a true American patriot. He should be an inspiration to every “conservative” who senses that something is very, very wrong with what their leaders are doing and saying, but doesn’t quite know how to deal with it.

Yeah, Chomsky. He wouldn’t mind “edgier”.

That is a fascinating idea! In that regard, it would be great to have some real print journalists–even if it is not to discuss books–do salons, such as Charlie Savage of the Boston Globe. We have been so deadened to the power of real journalism by the pathetic stenographic shitheels that populate the vast majority of mainstream bylines, that it would be invigorating to engage with some real journalists.

It’s interesting that you would mention Charlie Savage.

http://firedoglake.com/2007/09…..ie-savage/

I’m a fan of Hillerman too.

How about someone who writes on the Intelligent Design / Evolution debate?

Kingsolver another good recommendation.

Have been to many of the Book Salons here at FDL, and enjoyed them thoroughly. The ones that were my favorites were the authors who appeared to take the opportunity of dialogue with readers and progressives very seriously yet eagerly — John Dean being a foremost exemplar. Paul Krugman was a blast as well. Both Naomis Wolf and Klein were much needed, timely. There were other authors who were great, but frankly, there was a wealth of riches here, cannot recall all of them without a complete list to point to more names as outstanding.

One author I would love to see here is Joan Didion; members of New York Review of Books this past year would have received a small bound essay, “Fixed Ideas: America since 9.11″ with a forward by Frank Rich. Between this piece and her essay reviewing multiple books about Dick Cheney, I believe she has a sold grasp on the mindset that has gripped this country in such a toxic fashion; I would love to know whether she believes that a kind of fog of grief allowed us as a people to enter some sort of magical thinking, not unlike that she has suffered through herself in grief, but somehow different because it was manipulated rather than allowed to progress its natural course. Does she have some feel for how we should emerge from this, being both an observer and participant of the human condition, and a writer who documents the same?

Thanks for all your work, Bev. And thanks as always to Jane for this Book Salon platform, now imitated by others but never equaled.

Yeah, I think you can kick out reincarnation and karma and still remain true to Buddha’s teachings. I don’t think it’s necessary, but if they’re getting in the way I’m reasonably sure he wouldn’t have objected. Metaphysical musings weren’t important to him.