Just started this. Writing style is a little dry, and (at least the first part) is more a collection of snapshots than a coherent overview, but I'm enjoying it so far. And I think the second part will have more interesting and useful lessons.
His podcast Wind of Change (did the CIA write metal band The Scorpions anthem Wind of Change in order to help bring down the Soviet Union Y/N?) Is really well reported and VERY funny. PRK is one of my favorite journalists.
American Nations by Colin Woodard and Loaded by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz are two of my all time favorites. Notable mention The Warmth of other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.
It's weird to read this book and recognize stuff I saw on SA and the early internet that came to life IRL the past ten years. There's tid bits I forgot about but reading this I remember and shudder.
Actually you know what, retracting this one but keeping the Rothchild's book. This book is interesting for looking at internet culture history and how the alt-right used it to get a food hold in real life, but looking at your comments on other books I feel I did you a disservice recommending it.
A history about the Rothschild family, how they rose to prominence, and the conspiracy theories about them, also ties into a lot of conspiracy theories and how eventually they always seem to come back to blaming everything on jews over the centuries.
Also, it's very good! And kind of bonkers. Like... life in the Pinochet era Chilean underground from the point of view of an early teen girl... whoa. I know what I was like at 14yo and wow...
Forgotten War by Henry Reynolds, about how the colonisation of Australia was significantly more violent than what is normally taught, and that it should be thought of as a war as the Indigenous Australians violently resisted for over 100 years.
Battle Cry of Freedom. The pre-war section really got me thinking about how the more the institution of slavery became threatened by progress, the more cult-like and extreme in their beliefs the beneficiaries of the institution became. Many parallels today watching people lose it over stuff like DEI
Gregory Lampe's biography of Frederick Douglass gives a really cool account of how the New England abolitionist lecturing circuit worked in the 1840s. A good deal of it is an analysis of Douglass's rhetorical style.
I confess I’m reading this right smack now. But I’ve read it before & will read it again (and likely again). You’ve probly read it. But, for those who haven’t, this is like a real life autobiography/labor hx version of Kerouac books
INVENTING THE RENAISSANCE by Ada Palmer is brilliant, and I'm not even a huge renaissance fan. It's v much about the imperialism of historiography but it's explained in an extremely accessible way w/o ever being condescending.
I just recently finished The Storm Before the Storm, The Fifth Risk, and The Demon of Unrest. All were really good. Currently reading Nexus by Yuval Noah Harai which is about the history of communication networks.
Best I've read in a while is "The Power Broker" last year by Robert Caro. Its a lot but its incredible and @99pi.org has a great fun podcast to go along with it. Robert Caro is a national treasure and they did him justice.
Comments
Before that, William Dalrymple's Last of the Moghuls
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/a-house-in-the-mountains-caroline-moorehead?variant=40827306803234
https://claremulley.com/books/agent-zo/
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/575441/native-nations-by-kathleen-duval/
i just started this one!
https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/4dcfab8b-7a72-45bd-8098-5053cb8dd17c
It was ok, he clearly knew or wrote it to be turned into the Netflix documentary it became
‘s book from last year 👀
It's weird to read this book and recognize stuff I saw on SA and the early internet that came to life IRL the past ten years. There's tid bits I forgot about but reading this I remember and shudder.
A history about the Rothschild family, how they rose to prominence, and the conspiracy theories about them, also ties into a lot of conspiracy theories and how eventually they always seem to come back to blaming everything on jews over the centuries.
Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter_ by
Carmen Aguirre is a hell of a read.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/something-fierce-memoirs-of-a-revolutionary-daughter-carmen-aguirre/9135558?ean=9780345813824&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2N2_BhCAARIsAK4pEkUalFqOYSXasrZh0d6VA4MrQxyjWTBOytpBPdQoHLWbVZTYvIabccwaApUVEALw_wcB
(This librarian thinks Mr. Bezos has plenty of money already while lovely indie sellers like Honest Dog Books in Bayfield WI do not.)
very good first 100 pages
(PS - Hi Kim! I was on the ship with you in August. We didn’t chat much. I was sick most of the time. But your work is amazing.)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42281807-just-another-nigger
https://litwinbooks.com/books/in-solidarity/
https://bookshop.org/p/books/dark-tide-the-great-boston-molasses-flood-of-1919-stephen-puleo/9019147
Humans: A Monstrous History by Surekha Davies
Strike by Sarah E Bond
https://bookshop.org/p/books/bloodlands-europe-between-hitler-and-stalin-timothy-snyder/17331799?ean=9781541600065&next=t
https://bookshop.org/p/books/save-our-souls-the-true-story-of-a-castaway-family-treachery-and-murder-matthew-pearl/21543338?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACfld41V22NvrYJXm84D4n2UivZwB&gclid=CjwKCAjw--K_BhB5EiwAuwYoytH_56UCpM34FEdfe5s6lf_gEBkOhjMF1NtZBDzj6rAMDS2iIN7XgxoCwtsQAvD_BwE
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125937631-material-world?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=hvVPjrHnRH&rank=2
October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China Mieville
Very good.
Best I've read in a while is "The Power Broker" last year by Robert Caro. Its a lot but its incredible and @99pi.org has a great fun podcast to go along with it. Robert Caro is a national treasure and they did him justice.
Here’s an interview with the author: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21534416/free-state-project-new-hampshire-libertarians-matthew-hongoltz-hetling
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/vincent-bevins/the-jakarta-method/9781541724013/
compelling and very well written, but I wouldn't exactly call it enjoyable considering... y'know
Bottoms up and the devil laughs