Interconnectedness

I am reading a book that contains this from the second paragraph of the prologue: "Few of us surveyed the Joe McCarthy holocaust of the early 1950s and of those there were even fewer whose understanding and insights developed beyond the dialectical materialism of orthodox Marxism.  My fellow radicals . . . . " (xiii).  Now, that should be a little clue.  I do appreciate an author who lets you know where he or she stands right off the bat.  Ayn Rand is like this, but of course, on the opposite end of the political spectrum.

Now, in this little volume, I thought there would be a dearth of things I agree with the author on.  Here's about the only point so far: " . . . today organized religion is materially solvent and spiritually bankrupt" (14).

I have found, however, many, many more points of contention. This man thinks that Moses and Paul were part of the middle class (20).  Hello?! Moses was raised in the household of Pharaoh and Paul was a rabbinic scholar, hardly the middle class in my mind.  The author must have missed that day in Talmud school (another clue).

I am also reading a book about the 14th century (see sidebar).  The section I am on now is about the various rebellions in which the French and English peasants revolted against the ruling class.  I was really amazed at all the revolutions that took place in France before the Big One, you know, the Les Miserables one: Marie Antoinette, let them eat cake! and all that.  The French have been angry for a long time, organizing themselves into revolts, albeit short-lived, without any help from community organizers or Marx.

The third book I've been lugging around has quite surprised me at how captivating it is.  Back in the 14th century, there was no journalism, only the reports of various, and at times, untrustworthy chroniclers.  While entertaining and informative, these reports were post facto.  This third book, All the President's Men, is a kind of post facto report but when one has 4 filing cabinets filled with notes (and that's just from the first 3 chapters) and documentation for each detective-type encounter, these chroniclers can be counted on to be trustworthy.

All the President's Men is a movie and I look forward to watching it, when I'm done with the book, of course!

I have seen Les Miz on stage in London; I cry almost every time I listen to the soundtrack, and my dear son informs me there will soon be a movie out on the same; hopefully I can get out of the 14th century before then! The book I mentioned first isn't a movie but we are living in a time where this book, whose author highly influenced our President and Secretary of State, is being played out before our eyes.

Guessed the book yet?