Book-Reviews - Bing News

---

Book reviews: History and Humor - DAILY KOS Posted: 24 Jan 2010 01:55 PM PST A couple of 2010 paperback editions have been released of 2009 hardcovers I never got around to reviewing that are well worth a read: Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal By Kim Phillips-Fein W.W. Norton & Co.: New York Paperback, 360 pages, $16.95 Original hardcover, January 2009; Paperback, January 2010 Money quote: ... if one looks beneath the surface of the postwar years, it is clear that the "liberal consensus" on matters of political economy was never absolute. Even at its zenith, liberalism was far less secure than it appeared to be. And one of the main challenges it faced began with those few prominent business leaders who were outraged by the New Deal, which they saw as a fundamental challenge to their power and their place in American society. Their antagonism toward the economic order it created never fully abated. Rather, these impassioned, committed individuals found ways to nourish their opposition, to resist liberal institutions and ideas, and to persuade other to join in fighting back, until the liberal order began to falter and they could help to bring about the slow and pervasive revolution that would culminate in Reagan's victory in 1980. This book is about those determined few, those ordinary businessmen (and I use the word advisedly, for they were mostly men) from companies of different sizes and from various industries, who worked for more than forty years to undo the system of labor unions, federal social welfare programs, and government regulation of the economy that came into existence during and after the Great Depression of the 1930s. These were the men who supported and helped to formulate the economic agenda of the conservative movement. Author: Professor, teaches 20th century American history at New York University's Gallatin School. Has written articles for The Nation, Washington Post, The American Prospect, the London Review of Books, among others. Basic premise: From the outside, the alliance that emerged between the corporate world and the religious right, which fueled the Republican Party's most recent resurgence, has seemed like one of the most blatant cases of strange bedfellows ever. But Phillips-Fein takes a closer look and finds that the two seemingly dissimilar groups actually share a basic, rock-bottom animosity toward government; the business leaders want to be free to operate in a non-regulated, non-restricted environment, and the the religious right chafes at any restrictions on its ability to proselytize or enact its "Christian nation" agenda. Tracing the corporatists' "invisble hands" at work in the 20th century is like following clues to a mystery, a task at which the author excels. Readability/quality: Quick, easy read--almost like a broadside or pamphlet, but packs a lot of solid history into one volume. Good stuff. Who should read it: Anyone interested in: the unraveling of the New Deal and contemporary resistance to its initial enactment; the political evolution of the religious right; corporate activism, both overt and covert; current conservatism. Bonus quote: On the whole, most of the scholars who have dealt with religion and ideas have looked at the activism of conservatives as roughly analogous to that which built the civil rights and labor movements--the work of ordinary people on the ground, carefully organizing through personal contacts. This book suggests that there is something about the conservative movement which fundamentally distinguishes it from the movements of the left: the role played by business.  There have, of course, been businessmen who have given financial and political support to liberal or even left-wing causes.  But the extent of businessmen's involvement in post-war conservatism, as funders but also as activists, and the role of the workplace as a site of conflict seem to set conservatism apart from other social movements. One of the more intriguing shifts in alliance that Phillips-Fein follows down the rabbit hole and back out again is that of the suburban Southerner. Democrats were losing favor in the South due to the party's civil rights stands in the 1960s and 1970s--at exactly the same time the nation was becoming more suburban/exurban. The middle class professional class that was emerging in Dixie was educated and sophisticated enough to be uncomfortable with blatant racist jargon, and the cover that was provided by the free-market, freedom-from-regulation crowd allowed them to have their cake and eat it too. After all, they told themselves (and each other, and social scientists), it's not that they were segregationists or white supremacists when they opposed busing or affirmative action, it was because these policies "violated principles of meritocracy and private property rights," according to Phillips-Fein. Yes, we can thank the business community for helping shape the language that today, still, allows racists to believe they're not racist. I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother, and Friend to Man and Dog By Diana Joseph Berkley Trade, New York 224 pages, $15.00 Original hardcover, March 2009; Paperback, February 2010 Money quote: It had been Career Day at school, and that's what got him riled up: the future. His future. He was excited about his future. After listening to some of the speakers--an investment banker; a certified public accountant; Jacob's dad, who owns a Saturn dealership--he decided that when he goes to college he will major in business, he will specialize in purchasing and acquisitions, he will make a buttload of money, and it was all I could do to keep from putting down my foot and dashing his dreams and telling him over my dead body you're going into purchasing and acquisitions .... "So does this mean you're a Republican?" I said. "Over my dead body. Not as long as you live in my house." The boy wondered out loud if it was hypocritical when a Democrat makes her son into a political prisoner. "You're mean," he said. "And another thing," I told him. "I won't pay for you to be a business major. Not one dime." The boy said he was going to report me to Amnesty International. Author: Came out with well-received short story collection in 2003 (Happy or Otherwise), teaches creative writing in the MFA program at Minnesota State University in Mankato. Basic premise: Memoir. Some of this genre you read because the person is famous and extraordinary (Dreams from My Father)) or they relate a truly bizarre personal story (Running with Scissors: A Memoir). But the most powerful, for me, have always been those that convey ordinary lives in a way that evokes immediate recognition -- of things you've thought, done, dreamt of doing. Joseph does this beautifully, with tales of her working class childhood, questionable relationship choices, single-parenting and (yes) pet ownership. The main draw is that she's funny as hell. I mean that: Funny. As. Hell. And totally un-PC and at times quite appalling. Readability/quality: Did I say she's funny as hell? Lots of quick sketch dialogue, crazy inner thinking we all can recognize. Quick, fun and (very strangely) heartwarming. Who should read it: Moms, definitely. Dads, too. Wives, most assuredly. Husbands ... probably. Daughters and pet owners, yep. Sluts? Required reading. Bonus quote: My thirteen years of parenting this boy can be summed up in three sentiments: I adore you. What the hell do you want from me now? I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Like most pitch-perfect humor, I'm Sorry You Feel That Way contains a lot of down-to-earth truths hidden right beneath the surface. The push-pull of the drag of responsibility of parenting versus the absolute love that comes with it is probably the most prominent in the book, but the difficulty of sustaining healthy romantic relationships is another. But the least humorous, and most haunting, essay in the book is an account of the author's relationship over a decade with an alcoholic department head, who by turns was delightful, supportive, sloppy drunk, mean as hell, companionable, adoring, undermining and ultimately self-destructive. Anyone who's had to deal with important people in their lives who are in the throes of addiction will recognize this particular carousel and just how hard it is to get off of it. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

You are subscribed to email updates from Book-Reviews - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610