Another book Ms Gessen did NOT HAVE to read

[Robert Mahnke]

Are you really giving Gessen a hard time for what she said about the Wolff
book? Do you think it was well written?

And for a less favorable view of Democracy in Chains, see
http://bostonreview.net/class-inequality/henry-farrell-steven-m-teles-when-politics-drives-scholarship
.

In the interest of transparency, I have not read either the Wolff or
Maclean books, but I have read enough of Gessen, Farrell and Teles to have
respect for their work.

On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 12:35 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> I will trumpet another book, mentioned on THIS list already, that I know
> the so-smart Ms Gessen LOVES, not disses.
>
> When she won the National Book Award last November, she said when getting
> up to accept the award that she had no
> words prepared because she was "rooting for another book".
>
> That book wa*s DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS by Nancy Maclean, *a work of profound
> historical originality and some of the deepest truths about influences on
> the American polity
> and the whole world; influences who are this book [Bannon] and who are in
> this book [Mercers; Koch] ..*and a book to use to fight with and act
> with,*
> which some of us are doing.......
>
> So, in this way it was the unofficial runner-up book for the NBA and a
> book you should read at least once, I say,-- twice, taking notes is
> better--before you read *Fire & Fury , *I would suggest if asked.
>
> On Tue, Jan 16, 2018 at 11:22 AM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I guess Gessen has also read it. But then, she had to.
>>
>> I think that ... book is destined to be a bestseller for psychological
>> reasons. In your country. I hope it bombs here.
>>
>> 2018-01-16 17:13 GMT+01:00 Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> Well, the opening recreation of the meeting between Bannon and Ailes WAS
>>> quite funny.
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 16, 2018 at 8:10 AM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Oh yes, sometimes I'm capable of irony, too.
>>>>
>>>> Of course you know that I was referring to that other ... book:
>>>>
>>>> "The President of the United States is a deranged liar who surrounds
>>>> himself with sycophants. He is also functionally illiterate and
>>>> intellectually unsound. He is manifestly unfit for the job
>>>> <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/the-increasing-unfitness-of-donald-trump>.
>>>> Who knew? Everybody did.
>>>>
>>>> So why has a poorly written book containing this information, padded
>>>> with much tedious detail, become an overnight sensation, a runaway
>>>> best-seller, and the topic of every other political column, podcast, and
>>>> dinner conversation? It seems we are in bigger trouble with reality
>>>> perception than we might have realized."
>>>>
>>>> https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/fire-and-fury-
>>>> is-a-book-all-too-worthy-of-the-president
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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