Another aggression from WSJ contributors

Review section Sept. 27, onWilliams James by Joseph Epstein.

"It's a pity James wasn't alive to demolish the callow arguments of the atheist school of Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens & Co."

What a puerile argument from otherwise a reasoned article. This kind of needless agression always turns up in those Conservatives' articles.

Nil admirari

Nil admirari prope res est una, Numici,
Solaque quae possit facere et servare beatum.

1. Horace, “Epistulae” (1,6,1)

Wicked Woolf

"My real delight in reviewing is to say nasty things."

Virginia Woolf

John Foster Dulles praises Hitler

"One who from humble beginnings, and despite the handicap of alien nationality, had attained the unquestioned leadership of a great nation."

John J. McCloy recalled that Dulles spent much of the 1930s rationalizing the Hitler movement. Foster's younger brother Allen Dulles was more astute in that regard.

Famous clients of Le Sphinx

Le Sphinx was an elegant brothel in Montparnasse.


Famous clients included;


Lawrence Durrell, Hemingway, Proust, Henry Miller,
Bogart, Grant, Dietrich, Picasso, Alberto Giacometti,
Prince of Wales(later Edward VIII), Allen Dulles(this precious info is culled from Stephen Kinzer's bio of the two Dulles bros. I'm reading right now lol), and that martinet Walter Bedell Smith!

Flaubert says

"Great achievements always require fanaticism"

Gustave Flaubert

Gwendolen Harleth

Finished book 1 of Daniel Deronda and am wondering why Eliot chose the male character as the title: love this Gwendolen character, I'm not sure Deronda could be much more interesting than her.

So Romola Garai played Harleth : wonder how she acts in the movie.

Reading 3 novels

The Red and the black(Beyle), Blood Meridian(McCarthy), Daniel Deronda(Evans).

But can I finish even one lol.

Still learning French

A Concise history of France is a bit dry, not for the faint of heart lol: strong focus on socio-economic factor is one of the book's characteristics.

Interesting that Simon Schama's Citizens is not on the bibliography. Tackett is, so put his book

http://www.amazon.com/When-King-Flight-Timothy-Tackett/dp/0674016424/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409939226&sr=8-1&keywords=tackett+when+king

on hold.

Anyway just started the 19th century section, and high time, since I also borrowed Stendhal:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Red-Black-Modern-Library/dp/0679601627/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409892137&sr=8-2&keywords=stendhal+modern+library

Scott-Moncrieff(famous for Proust) version is a bit old, but they say it's closest to Stendhal's French(I do have other versions), so looking forward to it.

Allez!

Nature and Ecology books

Got a bit tired of reading all those histories including political ones, so got sidetracked recently lol.




Finished Charles Mann's excellent book on pre Columbian America,


1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus


Also read the portion on Polar Bears from


Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America


And also on the Deep Sea,


Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves


Now on to


The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change






                                

Policy makers

I'm now a bit hooked in eminent political advisers;


Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet

Henry Kissinger and the American Century

After finishing those, should attack;

Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House

The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War

How about

The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made

on  Averell Harriman, Dean Acheson, George Kennan, Robert Lovett, John McCloy, and Charles Bohlen?

But I've already read
George F. Kennan: An American Life by Gaddis..

Modern Library Chronicles

Enjoyed reading this series, most are about 200 pages, a light read; except for Frank Kermode's Shakespeare one(that is not an introductory book by any means), pretty informative for novices in respective areas;


The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cumings


The Age of Napoleon by Alistair Horne


The Balkans: A Short History by Mark Mazower


Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History by Margaret MacMillan


Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory


The Age of Shakespeare


There are plenty more but for now, read those thus far.

Jeremi Suri's weird notion on the correlation of democracy and Facism

Started reading Jeremi Suri's Henry Kissinger some time ago,

and frankly am uncomfortable with his assumption that the democracy was at fault for all the horrors of the 20th century, especially on Fascism and Nazism.


He cites various authors, such as Arendt, Freud, Adorno, Steiner, Kennedy, Mazower, Spengler..and of course Kissinger.  And argues that authoritative regime was 'less violent' and stable, etc..a quintessential Realpolitik approach?


Maybe the assumption that Kissinger 'thought' like that could be plausible, but I'm not sure democracy itself should be blamed.  Difference between Germany and England/France/USA..isn't that a more rational approach?


Can't but think that UW(Wisconsin) has notable conservative historians like Stanley Payne..interesting he didn't quote him, when Payne is an authority on Fascism.