Don't Double Cross Me: The Spies Who Made D-Day A Success

I find espionage a fascinating topic whether in real life or in Bond films. Of course, in real life the suspense and amazement is greater because you know it isn't a game-at least, not one you want to lose. The fact that the D-Day invasion was successful is astounding given the difficulty of keeping the operation secret and the multiple close calls when the secret almost got out. There's an interesting story about the codenames for some of the beaches finding their way into a newspaper crossword puzzle several months before the invasion.

Well, Ben Macintyre's book looks very interesting to me and in the video below explains what the book is about with passion and excitement. I only hope that his book is as well written. Macintyre focuses on the work that MI-5 did to keep the operation a secret, especially by tricking the Germans into believing that the invasion would happen at Pas de Calais. The reason why they were able to deceive the Germans was because they were certain that Patton would lead the invasion and so a fictitious army of plastic tanks, planes, vehicles, and other equipment was constructed in order to make it look so. For weeks after the landing the Germans still were convinced that the real invasion was yet to come. Macintyre has written a couple of books on espionage and seems to have a knack for it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/historybookreviews/9183328/Double-Cross-by-Ben-Macintyre-review.html

Richard Brookhiser's James Madison

I have for you a great writer and an interesting subject. Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor at National Review and has written several other books on the Founders. I always enjoy watching him in an interview because he really makes history come alive for me in eye-opening ways. He talks about men who lived 200 years ago as if they're alive today.

James Madison is an interesting figure whom people don't know much about. I find it interesting to read about men who today are remembered in history but who, at the time, probably did not seem to be destined for greatness. Madison wasn't a great speaker at all but he was very intelligent and passionate about his political beliefs. He was also very shy. He is known as the Father of the Constitution but Brookhiser says he is also the Father of Politics and was the first President to have a political First Lady. Madison lead the first party with Jefferson, the Anti-Federalists. He was also one of the first English speakers to use the phrase "public opinion."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/books/review/james-madison-by-richard-brookhiser-book-review.html

Groseclose on Media Bias

Tim Groseclose's  Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind is on my hopelessly long and growing reading list. I have had the privilege of enjoying his writings on Ricochet. I can tell from his posts that he is very rigorous and diligent in his work. He believes in the science part of political science and has worked to come up with a scientific way of measuring a person's political views and the media's bias. 


If you like some interaction then you'll like this book because there is a quiz you can take that will tell you what your PQ is, which stands for political quotient. Your PQ is where you are on the political spectrum. The average American's PQ score is 50.4 and your score is higher if more liberal and lower if more conservative. For the media he gives them an SQ (slant quotient) which is structured the same way and is based on 20 media outlets that Dr. Groseclose evaluated. The New York Times and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut both have an SQ and PQ, respectively, of 74. That means the paper has the same bias as a speech Sen. Lieberman gives on the floor. His research showed that 18 out of the 20 outlets were more liberal. His approach is to look at the facts that the media mention in order to determine where their bias lies. It's not really meant to show that one station or newspaper lies while another doesn't. 

You will have noticed by now that this book is for the analytic mind, especially quantitative analysis. This book is perfect for you if you like statistics, political science, or economics. However, he does write the book, and everything else for publication, in an accessible way and even the layman can find something useful and informative about in it. 


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/12/can-math-prove-media-bias/?page=all

Ambassador Charles Hill, Fouad Ajami, and the World

I just got done watching the latest episode of UK with Fouad Ajami and Ambassador Charles Hill and my initial reaction: wow! Just wow.

That was absolutely the best discussion on foreign policy I've heard in a long time. My mind is still racing from what they've said. For enhanced visual effect they should have had a map of the world on the table-or a globe-because it was as if you were looking at the world i one glance and seeing how it all worked. A few thoughts I wanted to share:

I was struck by the connection between our foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan and the turmoil in other parts of the Middle East, namely Syria at the moment. Ajami sends it home when he says that it's not the tide of war that is receding (Obama's comment) but the tide of American power.

We had an opportunity to do something about Syria when Turkey's F-4 was shot down but there was no guidance from Washington. Again Ajami puts it pointedly when he describes an Erdogan stuck not knowing what to do because he wasn't getting any signals from Obama, much less a phone call.

I was struck by Ambassador Hill when he said that isolationist/anti-war rhetoric is not reading public opinion but feeding it. It is not leadership. The American people need to know the state of global affairs as discussed by these men and make an informed decision. It is up to the President or candidate to make that case.

The last thing I realized is that Obama is not so invulnerable on foreign policy as I fear I may have allowed. After watching this interview and looking at the world through a strategic lens there is no reason why Romney can't effectively challenge Obama on foreign policy.

My hope is that what was said makes it from their lips to Romney's ears. I think this is probably one of the best episodes of UK I've seen because of how relevant and insightful it is.

Michael Totten Goes To The Fatima Gate

I came across this interview that I first saw awhile back and it was one of those nice trips back in time with a video I forgot I enjoyed. Michael Totten seems like an interesting man and a unique journalist because of his talents and his personality. He seems to fit the stereotype of a foreign correspondent but says he's not the adrenaline junkie that some of his colleagues are. His time in the middle east gives depth and uniqueness to what he has to say and write. He knows what he's talking about. It's not an academic matter to him-it's real life.

His book The Road to Fatima Gate is an account of the events in Lebanon in the 2005-06 time period that involved the rise of Hezbollah and the proxy war between Iran and Israel. Given the events of the "Arab Spring" I think that anyone who has paid more attention to the region will find the book interesting since Lebanon was a predecessor to the revolutions that took place in other countries. Below is a link to the first part, of 5 parts, of the interview and, if you have 40 minutes available, a link to the entire interview.

Reviews:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/06/08/on_the_road_to_fatima_gate_110128.html

http://damianpenny.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/book-review-the-road-to-fatima-gate-by-michael-j-totten/

O'Reilly On Killing Lincoln

Most people think of Bill O'Reilly as the host of the primetime program The O'Reilly Factor but he does know a lot about history-much more than people recognize. He's written books on other topics but this is the first I've seen in recent years on history. I haven't read the book but it's on my "to-read list." O'Reilly knows how to cater to a broad audience and so I expect his book to be one that is accessible for the layman. He writes in a narrative style which I am coming to appreciate more and more. I think if you want to make history interesting there has to be some kind of a narrative. 

I think O'Reilly's most controversial claim is that Lincoln is the greatest president-before even Washington. He makes a legitimate case for him, pointing out that Washington's major successes came as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Well, that will start a debate that can go for hours into the night. In this interview with Glenn Beck, another history buff, you will learn a lot of interesting things about Lincoln and that period time. 

The Birth of Modern Chicago

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Luigi Zingales On Crony Capitalism

Luigi Zingales is the first crusader from Italy who is actually doing some good for the world. His book A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity is another in the defense of free enterprise. He rightly points out the difference between being pro markets and pro business, which too many people confuse. Over the last few years the idea of free markets has come under much assault from those who are outright against and from many others who have doubts in the wake of the recent financial crisis. It seems like this year, in particular, is seeing an intense debate over this topic with many books being published over the last few weeks on months. It could also be because we are in an election year and so more people are discussing it.

Many comparisons have been drawn between our future and what is going on in Greece due to the large amount of spending. But Zingales draws a comparison with his home country of Italy where there is rampant cronyism and corruption. Maybe our problem is that we are somewhere between Greece and Italy.

The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan

On March 30, 1981 Ronald Reagan made history: by staying alive. He is the only serving President to have survived an assassination attempt. For such an historic event very little has been written and Del Quentin Wilber's Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan is the only account of what happened that day. Needless to say, if we had lost Reagan that day the world may be drastically different today. The Cold War and the Soviet Union may have still been with us.

Everything about the book and its story is interrelated and unanticipated. The book started out as a story about a bribery scandal involving Ethiopian taxi drivers in Washington. Wilber was working a tip he received that the FBI was investigating the matter. In the field office the chief agent pulled a gun in a bag from a desk drawer and showed it to Wilber. It was the gun that John Hinckley, Jr. used to shoot Reagan and others that day. When you read the book you'll see how, for decades, people and events were woven together until they arrive at this unique time and place in history.



The book was very well written and Wilber stays focused on what matters. He never drifts off onto meaningless tangents. I also appreciate that the book didn’t turn into an opportunity to take pot shots at Reagan or opine on political issues. While he does provide us with a charming portrait of Reagan you do not have to be a fan of his or even a conservative to read this book. Wilber does a great job of writing about why Reagan matters today without getting bogged down in political debates about his policies or his legacy. And with the stories he tells of Reagan in the early part of the book it is hard not to find him a charming and impressive figure. They endear the reader to the President and set him up to be hoping for him to get well even though it is no surprise how the story ends.

The book felt like three biographies to me: one for Reagan, Parr, and Hinckley. Reagan's was endearing, Parr's inspiring, and Hinckley's ominous. I did get annoyed a bit when reading about Hinckley. I felt like he was the villain and I didn't care to know much about his life but it did show how random the threat to the President's life can be. Parr's connection with Reagan though is much more interesting. Ever since he was nine years old, when he saw The Code of the Secret Service starring Reagan, he wanted to become an agent. How amazing it must have been for him to be protecting the President all those years later, much less the fact that Reagan was elected.

As you get to the day of the shooting the suspense picks up. It’s not because Wilber is increasing the pace  of the narrative but because he is writing like a newspaperman who is recounting the events but with no limit on the number of words. Not only is the narrative very good but it is also quite informative. He gives you a behind the scenes look at how officials prepared for that day and then responded to the tragedy. One thing Wilber highlights is that Reagan was in much worse shape than anyone had known. Although the President walked into the emergency room on his own he took a bullet that ended up an inch from his heart and they had to put him down to operate. There was a potential vacuum in leadership as top administration officials were trying to decide whether to have Vice President Bush take over and how to make that transition happen according to the 25th Amendment. 

Once I picked up the book I kept reading it everyday and was pulled along by the suspense and interest brought out by great writing. It is such an amazing story and eye-opening story and you’ll enjoy reading it. This book is a page-turner. I would recommend it to anyone.


http://rawhidedown.com/

Painting With Words

I had read the book on John Adams and the accompanying HBO series after it came out on DVD. It was the first time I had read the book before seeing the film. No surprise that the book was better but it also was able to give a full picture of Adams' life. David McCullough does an amazing job of putting you into the shoes of Adams and his wife when you read the letters they wrote to each other. The same is true of his letters with Thomas Jefferson in the latter part of his life. McCullough talks about that in his book and how he gets into the mind of his subjects. He tries to retrace their steps, which is not difficult to do since he lives on the very ground they walked. He also understands why history is so remarkable and appealing and his books bring it to life. If you know someone who thinks history is boring then they need to read one of McCulloughs books.

And The Beat Goes On

John McWhorter is a linguist by trade and his career as a writer of books on current issues was unexpected. His first major book (the first one I'd heard of at least) was Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America. He was interested in issues regarding race and it became a second career. He brings an interesting perspective in that he is not a conservative but nevertheless goes against the grain of the conventional wisdom of black intellectual circles. In particular, his aforementioned book talks about disturbing trends in black culture that contribute more towards the deprivation of blacks today than institutional racism. He explains and tackles the rampant and popular victimology of many blacks.

In All about the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can't Save Black America McWhorter again challenges popular sentiments by debunking the fantasy that hip-hop is this deeply intellectual art form that will drive major changes in society. He doesn't do with disdain either since he points out that he enjoys the music. It's just that he doesn't make more out of it than what's there.

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-all-about-the-beat/

A critical review:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-book19-2008jun19,0,3026167.story

Christianity & Capitalism

I'm going to go back a few years to a book by Jay W. Richards entitled, Money, Greed and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution and not the Problem. Jay is a clear writer, thinker, and speaker and has a humble, charming demeanor. He explains, persuasively, that Christianity and capitalism are not at odds with each other. In the book are several myths which he debunks about capitalism and then shows how it actually accords with Biblical teachings on economics. Jay himself has made a philosophical journey from socialism to being for free enterprise and he talks about how his views changed. I think this makes the book very relevant to the layman and shows that it's not a high-brow, stuffy book on abstract concepts but something that is very concrete and real. I particularly learned a lot from his chapter dealing with free trade and fair trade.

Here is a review and a talk he gave at AEI in Washington, D.C.:

http://blog.acton.org/archives/10317-review-money-greed-and-god.html

Roll Call Reed

Thomas B. Reed is a little known figure but his legacy is still seen today. He was a Speaker of the House of Representatives during the post Civil War era and made significant changes to the institution. We often hear complaints about the gov't in deadlock today but the House at that time would make the current Congress look like workaholics. He was a tall, imposing man at 6' 2" and 300 lbs but he used his wit to get his way. Nicknamed "Czar Reed" he bluntly disregarded the rules in order to get more legislation through the chamber. He was so successful that they called the 51st Congress the "billion-dollar Congress." He had the size of Taft and the wit of Churchill.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576312150786321850.html

"Peace, peace," they say...

Back in April Jay Nordlinger writes an article in National Review in which he talks about how abused and slippery the term 'peace' really is and why it is so hard to define. The challenge is even more difficult for those who have to decide who is advancing peace and therefore worthy of the Nobel every year.

Nordlinger gives us a fascinating tour through the history of the prize and the ups and downs related to the people that have been chosen and, in one year I believe, not chosen. It's probably a topic that you don't know much about even though the prize is ubiquitous. Jay has a way of making things interesting too so it will be worth your while. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-nordlinger/nobel-prize-history_b_1386005.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpVykTULagY

The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday

Watching the SEALs do what they do is a source of great motivation for me to overcome hurdles and endure any challenge. They're subjected to such grueling tests and come out on the other side successful. They get the toughest assignments and they carry them out under intense circumstances and with professionalism. Quitting is not in their vocabulary and it is not something they're familiar with. You figure it out and push on no matter what.

Marcus Luttrell's story is a profile in courage, sacrifice, and service. He wrote his first book, Lone Survivor, about his combat service in his Afghanistan and the harrowing story about his rescue when his unit got into some trouble. He was awarded the Navy Cross and returned to Iraq after he recuperated from his wounds. He served for a few months in the Al Anbar Province before he injured himself again and had to come back home for good.

A Winter Of Discontent

I just bought Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory today and I'm hopeful it will be as good as the previous books that Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen have written on the Civil War, WWII, and now the Revolutionary War. Their previous book was To Try Men's Souls and it was an account of weeks leading up to the Christmas morning attack on the Hessian camp in 1776. There the army and the entire cause of revolution was meeting its first major challenge in the harsh winter months and their commitment was being tested.

The winter at Valley Forge was a similarly trying time for Washington and the army. Baron von Steuben shows up and turns the ragtag boys into professional soldiers. He is responsible for the military's traditions for instilling discipline and professionalism into its new recruits. After the war he also became the first Inspector General for the U.S. Army. He said that when he gave orders to his soldiers in Prussia that they would execute it without question. With his American soldiers, though, he found himself spending time explaining what he wanted them to do and why. That's a telling insight into American culture.

Here are a couple of reviews for the book which are a bit mixed:

http://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/valley-forge/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/02/AR2010110205357.html

Why Does Margaret Thatcher Still Matter Today?

I recently finished Claire Berlinski's There Is No Alternative and it was the most interesting biography I've read for a few reasons. Claire writes this biography based on talking to the people who worked with her in government and even those who did battle with her from the other side of the dispatch box. She also knows how to focus in on what matters and so I felt like I was in good hands. It's like that friend who is a great storyteller and knows how to keep you in suspense along the way. Being a novel writer before this book, it helped having a little of the feel of a novel unfolding at certain points and made it interesting.

Claire argues that Thatcher matters today because she was able to perceive the significance of what was going on at that moment in time and she knew how to seize the opportunity to great effect. This short clip is a better explanation, in her words, of what the book is really about. I think it captures the essence of her argument.

They Eat Puppies, Don't They?

Christopher Buckley is one of those people who gets me laughing before he even starts in with his mischievous humor. He is one of the best satirists in the country and a great writer, and apparently has the gift of unintentional clairvoyance. A few of his books have turned out to anticipate real people and events occurring in culture and politics. This Nostradamus-like man seems to force life to imitate art. Here he discusses his latest book, They Eat Puppies, Don't They?

Wilber On Reagan's Near Assassination

This is a snippet from C-SPAN's BookTV in which Del Quentin Wilber explains how he got the idea to write the book. It's an interesting story involving the handgun sitting in an evidence bag in drawer of an FBI office. It was a story that was supposed to be about corruption involving Ethiopian taxi cab drivers and turned into a story about the day Reagan was shot.

Wilber Explains The Origins of His Book

Reagan's Near Miss With Destiny

This week I started in on a new book, Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, by Del Quentin Wilber, and I am loving the book already. No surprise there, since I'm a big fan of the Gipper. Wilber writes about the day when Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. in the early weeks of his first term.

The book alternates along three tracks as the story progresses. On one track is the President, Vice President Bush, the First Lady, and how the administration is settling in and taking on the reins of gov't. On another is John Hinckley Jr. and how his life is spiraling out of control. And last is Jerry Parr, the Secret Service agent who was head of Reagan's security detail and who was instrumental in saving the President's life.

The stories about Reagan, Parr, and how the Secret Service evolved over the decades between Kennedy and Reagan are fascinating to read. You read about Reagan's famous charm and his encounters with people behind the scenes. Here's one good story about Reagan and Agent Johnny Guy just after the election in California:

One afternoon, Reagan asked Guy if they could ditch the press and visit his tailor in Beverly Hills. Reagan was restless and did not like the idea of being stalked by a horde of reporters while being measured for a new suit. Guy didn’t think an “off-the-record” movement would be a problem, so he put a hat on Reagan and seated the president-elect next to him in the back of an unmarked and unarmored Secret Service sedan. Before they drove off, they stopped briefly at an encampment of reporters staking out Reagan’s house for news stories. Rolling down the window, Guy asked, “Can we get you guys some sodas or something?” No thanks, the reporters replied. As the car pulled away, Reagan laughed and clapped his hands. “That was just great,” he said. p. 32

There's a lot packed into this book about the significance of the events and the people involved that will probably preoccupy my mind long after I'm done with the book. I'll try to flesh some of that out in proper review, hopefully in a couple of weeks or so.

Here is a New York Times review that captures what the book is about:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/books/rawhide-down-the-near-assassination-of-ronald-reagan-by-del-quentin-wilber.html

America, The Last Best Hope

Dennis Prager is one of my favorite talk radio hosts and his program is one of the most valuable on the air. Still the Best Hope is his first book in 12 years and in it he explains what makes America truly exceptional. One of the themes he talks about often on his program is what he calls the American Trinity: Liberty, In God We Trust, and E. Pluribus Unum. These three principles form the basis of the American value system that Prager believes the world must adopt in order to defeat evil. I should say now that he doesn't mean to say that American culture should be exported to the rest of the world.

Prager places a high emphasis on establishing clarity on the issue rather than trying to reach agreement. He is very meticulous about defining his views and those on the opposite side of a debate on a particular issue. Regular listeners know that he goes to great lengths not to exaggerate anything although he does make generalizations wherever reasonable.

This interview on Uncommon Knowledge gives you the highlights of Dennis Prager and serves as a great introduction to him. You will know what he's about and where he's coming from on the issues.

Another Volley For Free Enterprise

It seems that 2012 is the year for making the moral case for free enterprise, for me at least. I read Arthur C. Brooks' book The Battle earlier this year and had a chance to attend a book event in San Francisco and meet him. After the last four years it is definitely the right time to be arguing for free markets. The stakes are high.

This book review I came across from RJ Moeller, whom I follow on Twitter. The book is by Rev. Robert Sirico, head of The Acton Institute, and it's called Defending the Free Market: A Moral Case for a Free Economy. Moeller's makes Sirico out to be a person who is intelligent, wise (not the same thing), and moderate. He seems like a person who actually puts his knowledge towards a productive end. This will be added to my monstrously large Nook library and I hope I can get to it soon. Enjoy,

http://valuesandcapitalism.com/dialogue/economics/rev-robert-sirico%E2%80%99s-moral-case-free-economy

Enough With The Cliches!

Jonah Goldberg is one of my favorite authors/pundits. If you don't follow news and politics much then this is the one guy you should follow. And anyone from any part of the political spectrum can have fun reading his work. He's an intellectual heavyweight but he can talk about the current issues using metaphors and images plucked from pop culture. People who are very political tend to take themselves too seriously and much of what's written and said is melodramatic. Goldberg keeps his sanity by injecting humor into his commentary. He seems to know that most people don't care about what happens in politics and he has an outsider's perspective that I appreciate.

Here he talks about his current book, Tyranny of Cliches, a book about all the platitudes that he hears from the left. He takes them apart one by one. He also talks a little about his first book, Liberal Fascism. Enjoy,

The Executive Fraternity

I haven't read this book yet but it looks very interesting. The ongoing political debates are often very partisan and meant to score political points. This book gets behind the scenes of the partisanship and gives us a glimpse of what this unique group of men share. Here is a great interview by a good friend who runs a fantastic program.

And here's a review from WaPo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-the-presidents-club-by-nancy-gibbs-and-michael-duffy/2012/04/27/gIQAgxX2lT_story_1.html

Mysteries of the Aleppo Codex

I came across an interesting book review for an interesting (I hope) book about the oldest copy of the Hebrew bible-the Aleppo Codex. It traces back to two scribes living by the Sea of Galilee in the 10th century who wanted to create a copy of the bible that would be a template for future generations. It then traveled to Jerusalem, Egypt, and finally arriving in the Syrian city of Aleppo where it stayed for 600 years. In the 1950's it makes its way back to Jerusalem but a controversy arises over how it got there. Aleppo's rabbi's contend that the codex was taken by Itzhak Ben-Zvi, who smuggled it out of Aleppo when the Jewish quarter was being plundered in riots, and given to the Israeli gov't without their permission. Ben-Zvi happens to be the second Prime Minister of Israel-an interesting aside. 

Matti Friedman, the author of The Aleppo Codex, investigates this story and also the mystery of what happened to the missing pages of the text, about 200 pages or 40% of the document.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303918204577448610210896018.html

Churchill: The Literary Minister

I've always found Churchill to be an interesting person in history. He is one big walking set of contradictions and maybe that's what I identify with in him. I do admire his literary skills and tremendous amount of writing that he published. I read his first volume of Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples and that is the way history should be written. He inserts his bias unashamedly but still remains quite fair to the people and events he records.

This review in the Wall Street Journal is for Mr. Churchill's Profession by Peter Clarke, also author or Liberty's Exiles. Clarke writes about Churchill's literary career and its significance as a source of income. There's more to learn about the book which I won't get into here, so enjoy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303360504577408463241458658.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_8

The Decline And Fall Of The West?

In How The West Was Lost, Dambisa Moyo argues that the West is at a tipping point after 50 years of poor, short-term policy decisions that have brought it to a point where there are dangerously high numbers of unskilled, unemployed workers and major structural problems in the economy and gov't. She sounds the alarm that we are on a path to severely diminished status as a second world economy. There seems to be much consensus about the problems she lays out in her book but not as much about her proposed solutions. A lot of people are uncomfortable with her suggestion that the West should adopt protectionist policies to buy time to solve these structural problems. She also says that a debt default would not hurt the U.S. as much as it would the rest of the world. From her interview on BBC HARDtalk:

And part 2:

Brooks on The Road to Freedom

A few posts down I've reviewed Brooks' previous book, The Battle. In this video he talks about his current book, The Road to Freedom. There's some overlap in material but I'd say that the current book is an elaboration of the end of The Battle. He really focuses in on the failure to defend free enterprise by making the moral case for free markets. I look forward to hearing him speak on his book when he comes to the Bay Area in California.

Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society

Thomas Sowell is one of the best writers in my opinion. He has a unique ability to take complex subjects and write about them in layman's terms. He reminds me of those great teachers I had growing up who challenged me and pushed me to my limits. You've had them too. They're the ones who get you thinking and asking questions. You realize that you've only scratched the surface and that there's more to what you thought you figured out. That's Tom Sowell.

Brooks on why he wrote The Battle

In this vignette Arthur C. Brooks talks about why he wrote his book, The Battle, and explains what the book is really about. This is the why of the book and if you feel the same way then you will probably benefit from reading it.

The Moral Case For Free Enterprise

     The recent financial crisis has set off a new battle in the culture war between free markets and big gov’t. It is a struggle to shape the nation’s identity and future. While a majority of Americans favor the free enterprise system the arguments made in its defense often fail to show why we are better off with free markets. Its proponents hinder their efforts by making arguments that are dry and technical. The moral case for free markets is not being made as frequently and eloquently as it can be and Arthur Brooks does a great job addressing this. His book makes the argument that should be a model for everyone who believes in free markets. It is optimistic and persuasive and is based on the data and not some ideological vision. Brooks’ thesis is that free markets are more popular and that it is the more positive way to live. I took away three things from this book worth remembering: a majority of Americans favor free markets; free enterprise is about the pursuit of happiness; and free enterprise is morally right.

            We’re all capitalists now! Brooks makes a great start by pointing out that free enterprise is the preferred option for the majority of Americans. He demonstrates that whether its taxes, markets, the role of gov’t, etc. studies consistently show that 70% of Americans favor free markets. Alexis de Tocqueville noticed that enterprise is part of our national DNA almost two hundred years ago when he wrote Democracy in America. He noticed two exceptional qualities in Americans: their dogged pursuit of their own interests; and their tendency to organize themselves for community service. The 30% are opposed to free enterprise and prefer gov’t solutions. They are made up of leaders and followers. The leaders are the intellectuals, academics, and entertainers, the intellectual upper class. They are the five percent, which means that a majority of them are not in the demonized one percent OWS protestors do not like very much. They find support among Blacks and Hispanics who are more likely to trust the gov’t to solve problems. Among young people between 18 and 34 a majority have a positive view of socialism. This match-up makes for an intense battle of ideas, especially as there are now more outlets to transmit a variety of viewpoints.

            Brooks sets himself apart in his chapter on free enterprise and the pursuit of happiness because he uses aspirational themes that are necessary for making the moral case. He points out that the battle for free markets is about our ability to pursue happiness. Brooks’ research on this subject has shown that the key to happiness is earned success. It is the ability to create value honestly by working for it rather than having it handed to you. People who believe they have earned their success, however they define it, are more likely to report being happy than those who have not. In the 1996 General Social Survey 45 percent of adults said they feel “completely successful” or “very successful” in their work. Among this group 39 percent said they were happy and 20 percent of those who said they were “somewhat successful” or less so said they were happy. In another survey in which respondents were asked if they agreed with the statement that they were responsible for their own success those who agreed/strongly agreed spent 25 percent less time feeling sad than those who disagreed/disagreed strongly. The differences in happiness levels cannot be accounted for by differences in income, education, age, sex, race, religion, politics, and family status. If you control for all those factors by looking at two people who share these traits then you will still see that the one who feels successful will be twice as likely to report feeling very happy about his life. Studies also show that all lottery winners report the same level of happiness, or worse, they had before they won the lottery within months. In fact, they were less happy about simple pleasures (spending time with friends) and new pleasures made possible by their new wealth. A University of Michigan study in 2001 showed that going on welfare increases the likelihood of a person feeling inconsolably sad by 16 percent. Other studies show that welfare recipients are unhappier than equally poor people who do not receive welfare benefits.  This foray into the weeds is meant to drive home the point that the key to human flourishing is not money but earned success in life. On the other side of that coin is the equally important fact that inequality does not make people unhappy. In this context free enterprise is important because it enables us to pursue happiness in life by giving us the opportunity to earn our own success. This transitions smoothly into the moral argument for free enterprise that Brooks makes in the last chapter.

            Lincoln said, “I don’t believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich…So while we do not propose any war upon capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else.” The ultimate goal of the 30 percent coalition is to achieve an equality of outcomes because they believe that equality makes for a fair society in which everyone is better off. Fairness is the euphemism they use to justify income redistribution. It is a moral issue for them and Brooks adamantly warns us not to cede the moral ground to the 30 percent. He offers a competing definition of fairness based on a system that rewards honest hard work and excellence. It is a concept we all understand and live by. This system rewards both the rich and poor and it is not a zero-sum game. The equality that matters is equality of opportunity and not results. Just imagine what sports would be like if all the runners always finished at the same time. Everyone has different goals and priorities and beliefs about what is success and it is absurd to think that everyone will be happier if we all had the same level of wealth. By challenging these presumptions of the 30 percent we can start to push back their control of the moral ground and offer a compelling alternative to greater gov’t intervention into our lives.

            I found myself nodding in agreement as I made my way through the book because Brooks connected the dots that I had seen. The point of free enterprise is not to avoid gov’t intervention wherever possible. The goal is human flourishing and that can only be achieved when people are free to pursue happiness. As we saw, happiness is not the result of having greater wealth but of having earned your success by doing honest work. I would add that it is about having the freedom to pursue the virtuous, good life. It is why so many originally came here and it is why people from around the world continue to risk their lives to come to the U.S. That’s what free markets are about and we should always remember that the stakes are high.

The Path To Manhood

I bought Bill Bennett’s TheBook of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood at the beginning of the year when I resolved to read 12 books, one for each year. Well, 3 months later I’m 300 pages into this 900 page behemoth, but I’m enjoying it. Those of you who listen to his show or have heard him speak know jovial and optimistic he is-a true happy warrior. His books are always interesting and inspiring.

He looks at man at war, work, play, in the polis, and with women and children. In war men exhibit the virtue of “sacrificing one’s self for liberty, happiness, and the state.” In productive labor he finds what’s necessary for the good life. In leisure men still exercise perseverance and determination but through activities that bring pleasure. In each of these sections Bennett takes examples from a variety of sources including poetry, novels, biographies, stories he heard on his radio show, and even the Bible. The anecdotes explore the multi-faceted nature of the different categories of life and provide a unique lesson in each story.

Bennett is a philosopher who believes in the importance of virtue and you can sense that from his writing. Manhood is nothing without virtue. There is nothing inevitable about becoming a man. It is more than just being a male. It is a moral pursuit in which you build character in every part of life. A man recognizes his responsibilities and lives up to his obligations, pursues excellence in everything he does, stands up for what is right, protects the defenseless, loves his family and country, and sets an example, among other things. You’ll find yourself simultaneously aware of what you lack and inspired to develop the character traits that are put on display in the book.

There isn’t a man for whom this book wouldn’t be informative and inspiring. Young men, in particular, need to read this book so that they know that these qualities of manhood are not quaint notions of a bygone era. They are relevant for today, especially in these postmodern times full of indifference and cynicism. I believe we've been getting an important lesson in what a difference it makes what kind of men we have leading our country and if more men pursuing the kind of virtue Bennett writes about then there is reason to hope for the future of our nation. 

English: The Illegitimate Language

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English
by John McWhorter

John McWhorter has been one of those unique authors whose books I can buy without knowing anything in advance and I know I will enjoy it. He can take a dry topic like linguistics and make it interesting and entertaining. He does not have the pretentious, stuffy writing style that is common among professors and intellectuals. McWhorter really understands the layman and writes his books with that in mind.

In Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue McWhorter is giving us an important part of the history of English that has not been told by the scholars, much less known by the average English speaker. He presents a contrast between the Grand Old History and the untold story of the English language. The former is the traditional story of the development of Old English into Modern English in which the language takes on massive amounts of new words in three successive waves, first with the Vikings, then the Normans, and finally with Latin. It is a story about words and where they came from: etymology. And that is McWhorter’s beef (French word) with the story. He is a linguist and linguists do not spend time focusing on etymology because they are more interested in how those words are put together, that is, syntax, or grammar. That is where the untold story of English begins.  

The thesis of the book is that English has lost a lot of grammar given how languages tend to change over time. English grammar is, simply, weird. The real story is about what other people who do not speak English did to the language. It was “battered by Vikings and bastardized by Celts” (p. 18). McWhorter says that most scholars treat the similarities between English and languages such as Welsh and Cornish as a coincidence and he sets out to prove otherwise. He also wants to dispel myths about the nature of the language and how we use it, “properly” and “improperly.”

Without giving a book report I want to give a broad summary of how he develops his argument. Chapter one is about the Welsh nature of English grammar, especially the “meaningless do.” My favorite part of the book is the section where he explains why we have the word “do” and how odd it is compared to other languages. He also talks about the “-ing fetish” that Celtic languages share with English. The message in chapter two is that “the notion that people are always slipping up in using their native English is fiction” (p. 59). Chapter three is about how the Vikings made English an easier language to learn and why it is difficult for English speakers to learn European languages. In chapter four McWhorter debunks the myth that we can gain insight into a particular group’s culture by looking at its grammar. The most intriguing chapter was the fifth and last and in it he puts forward a hypothesis that Proto-Germanic (the root language of the Germanic languages, including English) may have had some contact with a Semitic-speaking group, the Phoenicians in particular. He provides some evidence and an argument that they were capable of making it all the way around the Iberian Peninsula and up to Germany. It was a very thought-provoking and interesting way to end the book.

By the end of the book you do understand that English has a very interesting story about where it came from and how it became the language we recognize today. McWhorter wants to understand that English developed, like most others, as foreigners made their contributions by speaking the language in their own way. Thus, we should not be so rigid about grammar as a body of rules that has remained unchanged for a long time. After reading this book you will not think about English the same way ever again.