Mike's Recent Reads
I obviously read this as some kind of guilt trip- trying to make up for all the books on political theory that I never got around to reading when I was allegedly a real student of politics. Any day now I shall turn up in Lancaster and try to resit my Political Theory 101 exam incognito.
For the uninitiated, Paine's work was written as a response to Edmund Burke's conservative treatise Reflections on the Revolution in France, and whilst it gets a little dewy eyed about the prospects of real democracy in post-revolutionnary France and the United States, many of its ideas resonate today, He is scathing of the House of Lords, which only now, over 200 years after the book was written is finally losing its hereditary element, and belittles the monarchy with some withering putdowns-"Monarchy always appears to be a silly contemptible thing. I compare it to something kept behind a curtain, about which there is a great deal of bustle and fuss,and a wonderful air of seeming solemnity;but when, by an accident, the curtain happens to be opened, and the company see what it is, they burst into laughter."
There's lots of theory about the inherent ights of man and the need for populations to actively grant to governments through constitutions, the right to rule, whilst sovereignty rests with The People. However it has to be said that The People do not seem to really be interested as they're too glued to Pop Idol. Celia seems to be interested, though.
Click here for the text of Rights of Man
At 1050 pages, the account of the last few months of the life of Gary Gilmore is not exactly something that can be flicked through, or even read on a flight to Australia, but it certainly is worth the effort.
Gilmore was the first American to be executed after a nine-year gap in the USA following a supreme court ruling. After two brutal murders, Gilmore tries to waive all his rights to appeal against his death sentence when faced with the prospect of a life on Death Row. Gilmore is then propelled into a media circus and a legal maelstrom as public defenders, interest groups and Gilmore's relatives try to seek stays and commute the sentence. The resulting battle between Gilmore's professed right to "die with dignity" against the interests of the state does make a gripping read.
The narrarative is part literary, part documentary, part verbatim transcript of Gilmore's life and almost seems to act as a reverse of Crime & Punishment with this particular Raskolnikoff becoming ever more Napoleonic and indeed Socratic about his sentence rather than the commission of the crime itself.?
Click here for more info on Gilmore
Well, I guess that the above might be something of an unfair epithet, as many of the views in the following are so widespread.I forget the details of many of them but they're great reads.
The New Rulers of the World- John Pilger
includes a fascinating chapters on Indonesia, Iraq, Kosovo and the aboriginal situation in Australia.
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy-Greg Palast
- the first chapter on the Florida Presidential fiasco
of 2000 shows how thousands were illegally kept off the voters' list and the whole book is pretty frightening.
Stupid White Men - Michael Moore
Covers lots of the anti-corporate crime areas you'd expect from Moore and more about ?Bush. Great book, but I saw him once in his one-man show,and unfortunately, it stank..www.michael.moore.com
Fast Food Nation- Eric Schlosser
I gave up McDonalds after reading this, although sadly I have since given in to the evil Sausage & Egg Muffins. How sad.
Dreaming War- Gore Vidal & Power & Terror- Noam Chomsky
"Everyone's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: Stop participating in it." Discuss
In a previous mortal coil, not so long ago cast off, I was an Enquiry Officer for the Corporation of London, and someday I have to say, there will not be a great book written about the many empty stores, car parking spaces and partly occupied offices given Empty Rate Relief under Section 44A of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, that I inspected during my years there.
Peter Ackroyd's book, however, is a gargantuan wonder of a portrait of the city, showing astonishing knowledge and research, in just about every facet of the life of the metropolis. Thankfully it does not follow a chronological path, as different themes of the social, commercial, political , literary and personal gently segue from chapter to chapter.
If I have a criticism, I would have to say that
Walthamstow is only mentioned once! How can this be?
Click here for reviews on Amazon.com.
