Saturday Good Reads - Sept. 4, 2021

Way, way back in the 1970s, one of our favorite television shows was the PBS Masterpiece Theater production of I, Claudius, based on the novels by Robert Graves. Derek Jacobi played the unexpected Roman emperor, and he was fantastic in the role. Sian Phillips played an absolutely evil Livia, John Hurt was Caligula, Brian Blessed was Augustus, and Patrick Stewart played Sejanus, the henchman for Tiberius. Historians looked down their noses at the novels, but Julia Sirmons at Bright Wall / Dark Room offers a reconsideration of the books and the emperor. 

Most of us might agree that leaving Afghanistan was ulti8mately the proper course of action, but most of us would also agree that the way we left – with Americans and Afghan allies left behind – was shameful. The Wall Street JournalEditorial Board labeled as dishonest the President’s final accounting of what happened, an assessment agreed upon by, surprisingly, most of the mainstream media, including CNN and the Associated Press. Sumantra Maitra at The Critic Magazine in Britain has an insightful view of what all this might mean: Afghanistan, he writes, is where ideologies, including liberalism, go to die.

 

With the velocity and quantity of information increasing every day (note I said information, not wisdom), even the internet itself is now part of “ancient” history. Tim Marcin at Mashable has nine sites that will bring you back to the old internet.

 

And author Paul Kingsnorth is continuing his series on divining the machine. You can read Part 6, The Great Wen, in which he discusses key events in 1850, the dominance of the city, and why all of this matters. 

 

More Good Reads

 

Afghanistan

 

Marine fired for criticizing military leaders resigns, says chasing stability makes ‘slave to the system’ – Bradford Betz at Fox News.

 

Letter from Washington: The America they knew – Oliver Wiseman at The Critic Magazine.

 

Everything the media will cover about Afghanistan is bound up with a rigid form of Islam – Richard Ostling at Get Religion.

 

A Poem in Honor of the 13 U.S. Servicemen Who Died in Afghanistan – Bruce Dale Wise at Society of Classical Poets.

 

British Stuff

 

The Death of the London Telephone Box – at A London Inheritance.

 

American Stuff

 

The Anti-Lee: George Henry Thomas, Southerner in Blue – Kenly Stewart at Emerging Civil War.

 

What America is – C. Bradley Thompson at The New Criterion.

 

Faith

 

Like a Child – Greg Doles at Chasing Light.

 

The Liturgy of Social Media – Tim Suffield at Nuakh.

 

First Among Equals: Why a Pastor Needs a Leader – Dave Harvey at Desiring God.

 

When Gossip is Not – Barry York at Gentle Reformation.

 

How Heaven Changes Us – Andrea Sanborn at A View of the Lake.

 

Poetry

 

Sacred – Walt Wangerin Jr. at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Neglected Gems: The Poetry of Walter De La Mare – Adam Sedia at Society of Classical Poets.

 

‘The Afghan Plight’ – Satyananda Sarangi.

 

The Prow of the House – James Matthew Wilson at Reformed Journal.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Iliad: Why the Lattimore Translation – Fred Sanders at The Scriptorium. 

 

Imaginary Kingdoms: On the Power of Literature That Speaks to Children and Adults Alike – Stephen Prickett at Literary Hub.

 

Writing as a Moral Act – David Hein at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Theme Song from Cinema Paradiso – Roy & Rosemary

Painting: This is Our Corner, oil on canvas (1872) by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912).

Saturday Good Reads - August 28, 2021

You might think it was a story from The Babylon Bee or The Onion, but a writer for New York Magazine (we’re not talking conservative media here) took a look at the major news coverage of Afghanistan and discovered that the media are biased and routinely insert editorial judgments into their news stories. My question is, where has he been for the last 20 years?

 

Philip Caputo has written numerous novels, memoirs, and non-fiction books (including one that won the Pulitzer Prize); one of his best-known works is A Rumor of War, about Vietnam. He was among the last people evacuated from Saigon by helicopter in 1975. Caputo considered Kabul in 2021 and realized it was no Saigon. It’s worse.

 

Hilma Wolitzer lost her beloved husband to COVID-19. She did what many do when they experience a tragedy and try to make sense of it – she wrote a novel about it. Wolitzer is 91.

 

William Kent Krueger has written a long-running mystery series as well as several coming-of-age novels (I’ve reviewed three of them). Writing for CrimeReads, he explains that he doesn’t consider himself a mystery or crime writer, but a storyteller.

 

More Good Reads

 

Afghanistan

 

9 Things You Should Know about the Taliban – Joe Carter at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Did WhatsApp just cost America Afghanistan? – Preston Byrne at The Critic Magazine.

 

What collapse of the Afghan gov't means for Christians and other religious minorities – Bobby Ross Jr. at Get Religion.

 

Rough statecraft: Biden’s Machiavellian moment – Patrick Porter at The Critic Magazine.

 

Poetry

 

“The Secret Garden” and “A Hawthorn Leaf” – Brian Yapko at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Writing and Literature

 

The Turning Point review – how Charles Dickens built Bleak House – Anthony Quinn at The Guardian.

 

Life and Culture

 

Considering the forthcoming metaverse – Neville Hobson.

 

Society, Change, and Covid19 – Andrew L. Gardner.

 

The last Everly brother: Don Everly’s death officially marks the day the music died – Jordan Tyldesley at The Critic Magazine.

 

Classical patricide – Victor Davis Hanson at The New Criterion.

 

Faith

 

When It Feels Like Evil is Winning – Andrea Sanborn at A View of the Lake.

 

Bearing Burdens, Being Gods – Chris Martin at Terms of Service.

 

American Stuff

 

Family Reconstruction – Katy Berman at Emerging Civil War.

 

What America Is – C. Bradley Thompson at The New Criterion.

 

Here I Am, Lord – Choir & Orchestra of St. Lillian

 Painting: Portrait of a Man Reading, oil on canvas on board (1922) by Barnett Freedman (1901-1958). 

Saturday Good Reads - August 21, 2021

A large part of my career centered on executive speechwriting. Even when I was officially doing other things, somehow, I slipped back, or was slipped back, into writing speeches.  

Most corporate speechwriters read and watch as many speeches as possible, including those by elected officials, candidates, academics, CEOs, and other leaders. And we watch many, many televised addresses by presidents. They are always good learning experiences for a speechwriter. You will inevitably be asked by colleagues and the CEO you write for, “What did you think of the President’s speech?” 

 

I retired six years ago, and I’m no longer asked that question. But I watched President Biden speak Monday for two reasons. One, because like so many other Americans, I wanted to hear the President speak to the terrible events unfolding in Afghanistan. Two, I watched as a former speechwriter. 

 

These kinds of speeches are highly stressful for the speaker; every word, every gesture, and every facial expression will be mercilessly analyzed. These speeches are also highly stressful for the speechwriter. If a speech goes well, the speaker gets the credit. If it goes badly, the speechwriter gets the blame, usually behind the scenes but sometimes publicly.

 

I listened as an American, and I listened as a speechwriter. As an American I was surprised, stunned, and dismayed by what the President said. As a speechwriter, I cringed. I physically cringed. It got so bad that I couldn’t keep looking at the television screen. I listened to the end, hoping for something else. Something else didn’t happen. I was looking for leadership; what I heard was finger pointing and blame assignment. I was left with “Yes, it’s a disaster, but it wasn’t my fault.”

 

When CEOs or a presidents face a very bad situation partially or entirely of their own making but that they regardless have responsibility for, that speech Monday is one speech you never, never give. As a speechwriter, it is one speech you never, never write. 

 

Good Reads

 

Afghanistan

 

Assabiya Wins Every Time – Lee Smith at Tablet Magazine.

 

Lightning – David Warren at Essays in Idleness.

 

Afghanistan, the Pulpit, and the Myth of Progress – Rhys Laverty at Ad Fontes.

 

The West has lost its virtue: We have abandoned the taboos that held us together – Paul Kingsnorth at UnHerd.

 

Poetry

 

Dezső Kosztolányi: Happy, Heartbroken Song – Edit Gallia at The High Window.

 

The Return of Chaos – Phil Rogers at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Arachnida Sonnets – Paul Brookes at Fevers of the Mind.

 

Federico García Lorca predicted his own death in a poem – Dan Sheehan at Literary Hub.

 

Writing and Literature

 

James Lee Burke on Organized Labor, Corporate Evils, and the Plot to Dumb Down America – David Masciotra at CrimeReads.

 

Performative: How the meaning of a word became corrupted – Wilfred McClay at The Hedgehog Review.

 

'Grendel' at 50: How John Gardner’s Finest Novel Undermines His Ideas About Moral Fiction – Andrew DeYoung at Literary Hub.

 

Meeting Solzhenitsyn: Reflections on Tolkien – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Life and Culture

 

The Take Trap: A 75mph opinion in a 45mph zone – Samuel James at Insights.

 

Bored of the Rings – Alexander Larman at The Critic Magazine. 

 

In Praise of White Men: These men will do what others won't – Jack Cashill at The American Spectator.

 

Faith

 

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Biblical Earthquake – Aaron Earls at Lifeway Research.

 

Cornel West on Why the Left Needs Jesus – Emma Green at The Atlantic.

 

The Broken Church Light – Doug Eaton at The Fight of Faith.

 

Don’t Feel Sorry for or Fear for Your Kids; Raise Them up to Walk in Faith – Alex Cravens at Eternal Perspectives Ministries.

 

How Difficult Was the Book of Revelation’s Journey into the Canon? – Michael Kruger at Canon Fodder.

 

Me Before You – All I Want

Painting: Young Lady Reading, oil on canvas (1878) by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). 

Zia Haider Rahman’s “In the Light of What We Know”

Some novels are meant to be read slowly, not only to enjoy the story but to savor it, and understand it, as if to read too quickly will mean the loss of something vital. Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See was a book like that. So is Zia Haider Rahman’s In The Light of What We Know. Other than two things – the use of the word “light” in the titles and both being published in 2014 – the two books are vastly different. But they are both great stories, wonderful stories.

In the Light of What We Know may defy a one-sentence description of what it’s about. It is the story of a man in his 30s named Zafar, born in Bangladesh and whose family settles in London. The story is told by his (never named in the story) friend of the same age, who comes from a distinguished Pakistani family and who was raised by his academic parents in settings like Princeton and Oxford. The two friends attended Oxford at the same time, and their friendship extends across their professional careers in finance/law (Zafar) and finance (the narrator).

The story extends across time – the creation of Bangladesh, Sept. 11, the financial meltdown of 2008, the invasion of Afghanistan by U.S.-led forces, the growth of financial markets in the 1990s. It extends cross their personal lives – their relationships with their parents, the narrator’s failing marriage, Britain’s class structure, and Zafar’s long running relationship with a young British woman from well beyond his own class. It also extends across their identities – who they are, where they come from, the displacement felt by expats in a foreign culture. And it extends into academics, and specifically the realm of mathematics and the sciences.

A significant thing about the novel is how Rahman wraps all of these story extensions together, so closely interweaving them that the personal becomes the geopolitical becomes the historical and the cultural. I read the story as closely as I did because I wanted to miss nothing. And I read it with the understanding that my eyes are Western, and “everything seen by the West is seen through the West.”

Zia Haider Rahman

This interweaving of the story lines is also about identity, and what kind of personal identity we can have in the kind of world we live in. The fact that the narrator remains unnamed, and that we only know Zafar by that one name alone, keeps raising this question of identity. Underscoring this is how Zafar is the child of a rape by a Pakistani soldier during the war for independence in Bangladesh, he’s not raised by his mother, he moves to a foreign culture (Britain), and by sheer merit alone rises from a lower-class immigrant upbringing into the British educational stratosphere. After a stint on Wall Street, he goes to Harvard law school.

What happens in Afghanistan will turn out to be pivotal, not only for the overall movement of the story but for Zafar’s personal life as well. It may be difficult for any Westerner to read how this part of the story develops, but it is full of surprises and shows us a part of who we are.

Some of the story of Zafar is drawn from Rahman’s own life. Rahman was born in rural Bangladesh, raised in Britain, and educated in Britain, Germany, and the United States. He’s worked as an investment banker (and thus in the book we get an explanation of the subprime mortgage meltdown of 2008) and as both a corporate and human rights attorney. This novel is  Rahman’s first, and it won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Britain’s oldest literary award.

In the Light of What We Know is a sobering story, a marvelous story, a story that makes one confront who he or she is and how we incompletely understand our world.

Photograph of Kabul, Afghanistan (2011) by Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Fahey via the U.S. Navy and Wikipedia.