Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

#549
Title: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Author: John Perkins
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Year: 2004
250 pages

A sweeping, chilling assertion that governments manipulate the prospects and economies of other countries in order to control their governments. It seems to me that there isn't a lot of dispute about this, as even a cursory look at a book like Bananas!: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World attests. Neither is there any question that governments engage in covert activities that interrupt and replace local politics and societies for the economic benefit of the stronger nation, vide King Leopold's Ghost or Chief of Station, Congo, to cite a couple of dovetailing books I've read recently. What may be in question is the extent to which corporations are knowingly complicit, and the veracity of Perkins's account as a memoir. I'm less concerned with or interested in the accuracy of the purported autobiography, and more curious why there has been such widespread condemnation of the underlying, generally accepted and documented premise: Governments and their economic vassals and/or masters collaborate to put other governments in thrall to the dominant government's political and economic interests. This just isn't news. Therefore, read this with the books above and with the excellent and uncontroversial How to Lie With Statistics in order to focus your reflection on what benefits you might passively receive while your government pursues its ends in the world, and to what extent you examine or accept assertions about dictators, communists, and the like.

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)

#548
Title: City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Year: 2008
453 pages

More angsty than its predecessor. At many points the plot advances solely because the emo adolescent protagonists are too sunk in ruminative contemplation of their own experiences and therefore can't seem to attend to clues, signs, warnings, or even actual in-the-moment danger. Psychologically, Jace is too opaque for me to really believe in or identify with, so his actions don't always make sense. In this volume it becomes clear that the quest is to collect objects of power. Another theme is Clary and Jace's self-discovery, here primarily expressed as revelations about their unique characteristics. The Clave starts looking a little more sectarian and dingy here, which increases the reader's identification with Valentine and his goals, if not his methods. I will not conduct a psychoanalytic textual study to explore why the bad guy/fallen angel is named "Valentine."

The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation

#547
Title: The Inferno of Dante:  A New Verse Translation
Author: Dante Alighieri & Robert Pinsky
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Year: 1997
355 pages

The Inferno for Dummies: A Verse Review

Some Italians I hate are dead. Yay.
Also, in hell. God rocks without a doubt.
Dead Virgil saved me when I lost my way,

Protected me from liars, sodomites,
And held bass-ackward simonists at bay,
As well as minotaurs and heads that bite.

The damned expound, are cleaved; they stink and shout.
At length, we scaled corrupted Satan's bits.
My foes are damned, while I have clambered out.

In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale

#546
Title: In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale
Author: Amitav Ghosh
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 1994
 400 pages

Ghosh, a then-young Indian living in Egypt while conducting research on the Indian slave of a Jewish master, interweaves the story of his own experiences with those of the slave that can be known or inferred, placing both in historical and cultural context. Because some of his experiences parallel his subject's, particularly cultural isolation, Ghosh is able to convey the poignancy, and sometimes disgust, of being a stranger in a strange land. Though the blending of the two stories doesn't quite jell, it's still a very interesting and moving memoir.

The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History

#545
Title: The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History
Author: John Ortved
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Year: 2009
352 pages

Reasonably bland and somewhat free of content that would be unfamiliar to a Simpsons fan interested in the show's internecine squabbles. I was hoping for more about the show's creative process; while there is some of that, much of the book (primarily presented in interview soundbites) consisted of ad hominem gossip. This dish is incomplete given that most of the key players aren't represented except in quotes from others' previously-published articles and magazine fluff. Further detracting from the book's pleasure are the author's sections, where he pronounces and opines a great deal about motives and the show without any particular evidence. I can interject statements about my favorite episodes, too. That's called "blogging."

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror & Heroism in Colonial Africa

#544
Title: King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror & Heroism in Colonial Africa
Author: Adam Hochschild
Publisher: Mariner
Year: 1999
384 pages

This compelling and horrific book provides a description (or at times, exposé) of Belgian colonization and exploitation of Congo. The documentation appears to be careful, which does not detract from the drama of the narrative. Unfortunately, the atrocities and complicity described are not uncommon or isolated. Critiques of development projects often highlight similar issues. For the fictional analogue, dystopian science fiction about slavery will suffice, as will Heart of Darkness.

Finding George Orwell in Burma

#543
Title: Finding George Orwell in Burma
Author: Emma Larkin
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2006
204 pages

Larkin describes how his time in Burma influenced Orwell and contributed to his novels, most obviously Burmese Days but also Animal Farm and 1984. However, this is not her point. Rather, she reverses the equation to use Orwell's life and writings as an organizing principle for describing Burma/Myanmar. The pseudonymous journalist Larkin is essentially under cover as a tourist in order to evade detection by Burma's military government. The resulting book is part-literary criticism, part-travelogue, part-history. The tone of the narrative is engaging and the strands are generally interwoven effectively.

Having recently read a number of solo travelers' tales of wandering about in problematic territory, and having spent time as a woman traveling in other parts of Southeast Asia, I find noteworthy the absence of any comments about flirtation, sexual harassment, or even considerations of personal danger when traveling with unknown and sometimes-hostile men. This introduces the question of whether "Larkin" is indeed female.