BOOK CLUB: Nominations for April Book

[CrispyQ]

We'll take noms through Februray 20th or so.


NOMINATION OF BOOKS
Each person has one nomination. Please remember, if you nominate a book, you are committing to driving the discussion of that book if it becomes the selected title.

You can second as many books as you like. The "seconding" of the books is important because there are only 10 spots on the poll, so the "seconds" will often determine which books actually get on the poll.

Book Club Guidelines:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=209x3044

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DON'T FORGET TO HELP OUT DU!
Part of your Amazon.com purchase will go to DU if you buy through this link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/104-3444144-6171150

[terrya]

1. "The Assassins Gate" by George Packer

[CrispyQ]

3. Amazon link here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374299633/qid=1137447217/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5792740-7358366?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

[CrispyQ]

2. Kick for more noms.

[CrispyQ]

4. "The Republican War on Science" by Chris Mooney

I'm nominating this book again. I haven't read it but would like to & I think the topic matter is important.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465046754/qid=1139971173/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-5792740-7358366?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

snip...

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Does the Bush administration ignore or deny mainstream research to please its conservative base? Have business groups and certain religious lobbies helped it do so? Does Bush-era treatment of scientists differ from that of Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Reagan? Has a Republican Congress passed laws designed to disable clean air and water efforts, and has it dismantled safeguards, such as the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, meant to give legislators unbiased advice? Mooney's passionate, thoroughly researched volume answers these questions with an urgent "yes." . . .

[catbert836]

5. See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terror

by Robert Baer

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140004684X/ref=pd_ys_nr_b_fb_12/103-7790203-9102263?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155

The movie "Syriana" was loosely based on this. I haven't read it yet, but it looks like a real eye-opener.

[MoonRiver]

6. A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn

I'm reading it right now, and what an eye opener. One thing I've learned after reading only about one fifth of the book, is that the oligarchic mentality has permeated America from day one. The rich have always wanted to control our political agenda, and for the most part, have.

[CrispyQ]

8. Hi MyPetRock.

Zinn's book was last August's title. Here is the discussion. Feel free to add your comments.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=209x2197

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin by Larry Beinhart

Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin
Larry Beinhart

In "Fog Facts" Larry Beinhart argues that America's perception of reality has been distorted. The author explains that while the country should be focusing on the 2000 election, President Bush's war record or the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the media or as he calls it the "Soft Machine" has the world's attention on the happenings of Hollywood. This event was hosted by Coliseum Books in New York City.

Larry Beinhart is the author of "Wag the Dog" and "The Librarian." His work has appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Newsday and the Miami Herald.

Publisher: Nation Books


From Amazon Reviews...

None Dare Call It Treason, September 29, 2005
Reviewer: Ben Mack (Nacirema) - See all my reviews

Is our current administration intentionally lying? Yes. Fog Facts is about key data evaporating into obscurity. Fog Facts is NOT a Right or Left wing propaganda book. This is an anti-propaganda book.

Professor Douglas Rushkoff recently published that the best way to help the masses see the Truth is to speak plainly. Game on. Beinhart has filled this bill.

In Wag The Dog Beinhart taught me more about propaganda than I had learned from multiple other texts. Fog Facts reveals the path that lead to our modern state of mass delusion. So long as most Americans keep seeing "the other side" as responsible for corruption, our current media system is secure. The greatest trick our media has pulled is the illusion of the two-party system. Both sides are ignoring fundamental lies and unprecedented changes to our constitution. The two-sides is two-faces of the same machine. When humans are two-faced we don't trust them.

Harry Blackstone used to walk a live elephant on stage and nobody would see him do that. It appeared as magic. Beinhart explains how crucial facts are lead on to the main stage of mass media without anybody seeming to notice. Presto, the world has changed. Media is not the magic by misdirection I was envisioning, it is a mass willingness to suspend disbelief.

Thank you Larry for helping me better understand the mechanism. However, I don't think you have gone far enough. Heads of media should be fired for misrepresenting the facts. Those that forged data should be charged with treason. Those that ordered the data be forged should be charged with crimes against humanity. But, as you point out, they changed the courts to preclude this possibility.

If this book disappears without debate, it will simply be one more bit of evidence to show the fix is in.

[CrispyQ]

9. This sounds really good!

And I second it!

Thanks for your nomination!

[CrispyQ]

10. One or two more days to nominate a title for April,

then we'll poll.

[unhappycamper]

11. Polling has ended

by request of CrispyQGirl.