Author Archives: gordonhastings

12.04.20
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RUTH BADER GINSBURG, A LIFE

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, A Life, by Jane Sherron De Hart is an in-depth scholarly biography and an academic journey for the reader.  The book, completed a year before the justice’s death, is an intimate look at the life of RBG that quickly transforms into a study of the workings of the Supreme Court, its personalities, and of course the major cases with which RBG was intimately involved.   In many ways the book is a study of cultural change in America during RBG’s tenure on the court. 

My takeaway is that SCOTUS is anything but impartial and that all important decisions are influenced to varying degrees by the personal heritage and deeply held views of individual justices. The term “strict constructionist” is often used to rationalize deep personal beliefs, while “loose interpretation,” can work toward a more liberal view of the law.  “Social movements in dialogue with public opinion forge new understandings of the Constitution’s meaning even as contestation continues.” 

Yes, all the famous cases are here in detail.  Roe v. Wade, Bush v. Gore, Brown v. Board of Education, Lilly Ledbetter, Plessy, VMI, Violence Against Women’s Act, Partial Birth Abortion, Voting Rights Act, Citizens United and more and more and more. A total of 554 pages and hundreds of defining notes, and with De Hart’s brilliant research every single word counts.  I left these pages and cases convinced that SCOTUS is and always has been a political body. It is a human organization and does not reside in a rarified atmosphere set apart from the ever-changing values of society. Of course, you may not agree, but what a delightful discussion for your book club.

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, A life, is a wonderful personal insight into a remarkable woman and a brilliant study of exactly how the Supreme Court deliberates and decides. 

10.25.20
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Stamped FromThe Beginning/ Ibram X. Kendi

Ibram X. Kendi’s STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING, The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America leaves no stone unturned and no one escapes the continuing story of racism as it moves from the old world to the new.

Every aspect of racism is explored dating to the earliest fabrications regarding the evolution of the black race. The work traces racism from early Europe to the slave ships, the Puritanical Great Migration to America, slavery, the early abolitionist movement, the American Revolution, the U.S. Constitution, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the modern day Civil Rights Movement, the NAACP, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kendi misses no one in painting this enormous 500 page canvas. Cotton Mather (Salem Witch Trials), Thomas Jefferson, William Lloyd Garrison. W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, Lincoln, Grant, Obama, Eugene Debs, Roger Taney, Dred Scott, John Brown, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Hip Hop, Rap, and the list moves on to infinity. No one, at least by degree, escapes the racist brush.

In this day of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, the 1619 Project, Trump, STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING is an essential read to gain a broad perspective of why racism and denial continues to embroil American Society and the body politic. Kendi’s research is absolutely all encompassing.

The book is enlightening and yet frightening, but despite history the author remains hopeful. “There will come a time when Americans will realize that the only thing wrong with black people is that they think something is wrong with black people.” “There will come a time when we fight for humanity, we are fighting for ourselves.”

09.22.20
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THE GENERAL THEORY/ JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES/ A WARNING FROM 1936

The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by renowned economist John Maynard Keynes is a powerful academic work.  No easy read and in parts a real struggle.  But if you have the  time and patience and wish to dig deep into the history of the devastating income inequality that is crippling America today you will find Keynes rewarding you with some answers.   His concerns and  predictions of unbridled capitalism formed before, during and after the Great Depression hit the target’s bullseye. Keynes’  forward thinking correctly  predicted that run-away Laissez-faire capitalism, without  enlightened government intervention, would create unsustainable income inequality.  Many of the 21st Century’s leading economists believe we have arrived at that juncture.

The subject of income in-equality is deeply rooted in America’s social structure.  It will become even more so as the nation deals with racial injustice, poverty, health care, housing and global warming. The beauty of The General Theory is that it treats the subject absent of polemics.

Appropriately, The General Theory is one of Prometheus Books Great Minds Series.

Search gordonsgoodreads for other works by John Maynard Keynes

09.22.20
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BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME/ TA-NEHISI COATES

TA NEHISI COATES, BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME . A letter to an adolescent son.  Not unlike  The Soul of Black Folks by W.E.B. Dubois. ( search gordonsgoodreads).  An extraordinarily powerful book. Toni Morrison is correct, “This is required Reading.”   Think of writing this to your own son or daughter:  At the onset of the Civil War, our stolen bodies were worth four billion dollars, more than all of America industry, all of American Railroads, workshops and factories combined.

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME  could not be more relevant than in today’s discourse. The  messaging is profound, deep, touching and real.  The type of book that those who need to read it most likely will not.  Please choose yes and be enlightened.

08.19.20
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THE DEFICIT MYTH/ A MUST READ FOR THE TIME

Stephenie Kelton’s book The DEFICIT MYTH, Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy explodes the economic myths that have been dictating the U.S. economy for generations.  The title speaks for itself and I could not recommend a more timely read to understand and explore a new approach for our economy to serve the needs of this generation. Kelton’s explodes  time honored “bromides:”   “We can’t afford it, We are mortgaging our children’s future, SS will go broke,”  ” If our generation continues to use the wrong lens, we will not make the right investments at the scale and pace needed to avert ever greater social and ecological crises.”

Kelton’s Modern Monetary Theory pushes the envelope of economic thought and the book is even more appropriate during the current pandemic and economic disaster.  Kelton advances MMT as new wave problem solving that ironically has its roots in 1936 with John Maynard Keynes.  A perfect read for the time for those who are looking for answers beyond the myths of current economic thinking.

This is an A List recommendation from GGR.

07.27.20
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MY DEAR HAMILTON/GOOD READ BEFORE THE MOVIE OR SHOW

I recommend another very good “HAMILTON”  read in addition to Ron Chernow’s popular biography.  MY DEAR HAMILTON, A NOVEL OF ELIZA SCHUYLER HAMILTON by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie is an excellent work of well researched historical fiction. If you have not seen either the Broadway production or the movie HAMILTON read this novel first as a  guide through the nuances of the story line. Additionally, it is an excellent stand alone summer read offering insight not only insight into Eliza’s and Hamilton’s relationship and the Revolutionary War but also the life style of 18th century New York City and the wealthy Dutch plantations along the Hudson.

The entire cast is in the book: Eliza, Hamilton, Angelica, Washington, Burr, Lafayette, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Lauren’s, Jefferson,  King George, the Schuyler sisters and Hamilton children.  A painless, enjoyable lesson in American History.

Dray and Kamoie  also authored America’s First Daughter.

Another excellent Hamilton biography is ALEXANDER HAMILTON, A LIFE by Willard Sterne Randall.

07.07.20
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A LONG PETAL TO THE SEA/ ISABEL ALLENDE

Novelist Isabel Allende in her new book A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA takes her readers on a journey beginning with the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s and ending in her native Chile.

Refugees from Franco’s takeover of Spain crowd over the French Border seeking asylum somewhere, anywhere. Poet-diplomat Pablo Neruda becomes a non-fiction co-narrator of the novel as the ship Winnipeg transports the disposed across the globe to his native Chile.

“Life is how we tell it” and so begins the story of lives lived and lost, loves of convenience and passion, glimpses of ruling classes, military juntas, Allende, Pinochet, escape to Venezuela and a return to the petal of the sea.

I have enjoyed Allende’s Daughter of Fortune, Island Beneath the Sea and The Japanese Lover.  A LONG PETEL OF THE SEA is no exception. (Search this blog.) Wherever you may find yourself this summer, Allende’s new book or any of the aforementioned will be good company.

 

 

07.03.20
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THE PRICE OF PEACE/THE LIFE OF JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES/ TIMELY!

Zachary Carter’s  THE PRICE OF PEACE, MONEY, DEMOCRACY AND THE LIFE OF JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES  Is  a timely biography of the world’s most famous economist.  The Keynesian economic philosophy, so prominent in the 20th Century, strikes a relevant chord in today’s economic disarray. The book strikes at the heart of income inequality, an inegalitarian society, racism, and the damage to  American by the economic control of nearly all wealth the top ten percent.

THE PRICE OF PEACE tracks the life of Keynes and the Keynes philosophy from the lead up to WWI through  the Great Depression, the New Deal and WWII.  Carter makes every word in every paragraph count. The book is for those seeking a serious look at Keynes’ brilliant insights and yes, not always popular solutions.  Current events in America suggest that  ” Keynesian Economics” has stood the test of time and may be more relevant that ever.” If you believe that systemic change is needed in the polemic and the economic structure in the United States, you will find support and comfort on these pages. i

“Keynesianism in this purest, simplest form is not so much a school of economic thought as a spirit of radical optimism, unjustified by most of human history and extremely difficult to conjure up, preciously when it is most needed.

Put the work into this book. You will be richly rewarded.

07.03.20
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SAVING THE MEDIA/ PRINT/RADIO/TELEVISION/ WHAT’S NEXT? A REVOLUTION?

Economist Julia Cage in her book Saving the Media  offers critical insight into the closing of hundreds of newspapers in both large American cities and small communities.  The sum total of the decrease in local news coverage has created a void in political and civic accountability in America and around the world. ” In the United States the decline in the number of journalists employed by the daily press began in 1990, when there were 57,000 daily journalists as compared with 38,000 today. Both the 2008 financial crisis and the Internet have much to do with the decline. The impact of the Internet has greatly reduced print media advertising. It has also impacted to a somewhat lesser degree both radio and television. The result has been cost saving dramatic  reductions of journalists across the spectrum.

Cage’s book is a consolidated read. It is filled with thoughtful analysis of the impact that reduced news coverage is having on the body politic and the very existence of the democratic process.  Not to be left on a cliff, Cage offers potential creative and far sighted options for journalism. ” What must be recognized is that the news media provide a public good, just as universities and other contributors to the knowledge economy of the twenty-first century do. For that reason they deserve special treatment by the government.” Cage brilliantly advocates for a new form of non-profit organization for the news media!

I highly recommend this French Economist’s insight into the future of journalism worldwide.   She has worked closely with Tom Piketty, the famous French Economist who has researched and written extensively on income inequality. Search overviews  of his two most recent books here at gordonsgoodreads.

 

 

05.19.20
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CAPITAL AND IDEOLOGY IN A PANDEMIC WORLD

The Coronavirus Pandemic, among many other great issues, has laid bare the deep divisions in America caused by income inequality. It is clear that those at the bottom of the economic spectrum, for a variety of reasons  including access to health care, are suffering the most. So what does this have to do with economics?  A great  deal.

Capital and Ideology, the new volume by economist Thomas Piketty traces the history of income inequality from ancient eras to modern day America, Europe and Asia.  Not an easy read, the 1000 plus pages of narrative and graphs define in depth all aspects of inequality and its impact upon the human condition. Piketty’s  historical research is impeccable.  Will the persistent growth of income inequality change society forever?  Will it  create a modern day aristocracy passing wealth from one generation to the next,  permanently dividing the economic class structure in all of the world’s democracies. The research places America at particular risk with 75% of all wealth already controlled by the 10% wealthiest.  Piketty clearly demonstrates his belief that this  ratio of income distribution is not sustainable.

Capital and Ideology is a sequel to Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century which lays the groundwork for his new book.  ( search gordonsgoodreads.com)