What Are You Reading In 2017?

[Science Friction]

[ATTACH]62720[/ATTACH]

 

Love it !!!! (Not exactly a shocker, I know)

[Getslow]

Love it !!!! (Not exactly a shocker, I know)

 

I've read a boatload of science fiction in my time and yet somehow I just missed this one. I've never read it. About 100 pages in and I love every word.

[Randy Parker]

"Morgan's Regiment Account" by Basil Duke. I am hunting for a copy of "The Buckners of Virginia" by Crozier. Very rare, one with the account about the Battle of Augusta and the other about settlement of Augusta Kentucky.

 

Interesting.

[Sportsaholic Mamaw]

Interesting.

 

Correction, "The History of Morgan's Calvary" by Basil Duke, the battle of Augusta Kentucky. I have about 10 printed pages that describe the battle of Augusta. Very interesting.

I am hunting for a copy of "The Buckner's of Virginia" by William Armstrong Crozier. Very rare, about the settlement of Augusta, Kentucky and other prominent families of Virginia.

If you are interested about this particular battle at Augusta and want to discuss it, the museum in Brooksville is open every Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

[mcpapa]

[Randy Parker]

 

I loved that trilogy.

[mcpapa]

[Randy Parker]

[Randy Parker]

[ATTACH]62761[/ATTACH]

 

This was excellent. Debut novel by this author & I highly recommend it.

[gchs_uk9]

[Getslow]

[ATTACH]62602[/ATTACH]

 

I'd be curious to hear what you think of that when you finish it.

 

Finally able to finish it this afternoon.

 

It was a fascinating piece of journalism and philosophy that Arendt wove together. It made me want to dive into more of her work.

 

To begin, it's easy to understand the firestorm it caused when it was first published in 1962. Using the word "banality" in the title to describe a Nazi war criminal was probably enough on its own to send people into a rage.

 

But that's what it was. The depths of the horror that Eichmann helped unleash in Europe during those years is really only understood through whatever correspondence of his activities could be recovered before it was destroyed as the Allies closed in, and it paints the picture not of a raving demon, but as a decidedly inglorious desk clerk.

 

Getting beyond her day-by-day analysis of the trial court, the book is a penetrating look into how the individual functions in a totalitarian state. He was an organizer. A middle manager who coordinated trains to move people from one place to another... by where he moved them to... he knew precisely what he was doing and organized it with as much precision and efficiency as he was capable.

 

What I did not really know much about -- and what part of the book examines -- are the Jewish groups that seemed to take part in their own demise. As she says early on, without the help of local Jewish leaders to create lists of families, the addresses, and other vital information, the Nazis could have made life very hard for Jews across Europe and even killed a great many, but they never could have liquidated a full third of European Jewry in just a few years.

 

That, to Arendt, is the essence of totalitarianism. Once people were stripped of their humanity and made pieces in a vast machine, the Nazis could proceed as they liked and would not only face limited resistance, but actually be aided by people thinking they were actually doing something to help themselves.

 

I've never read anything quite like it and I don't really want to type out more on my phone, but it's a remarkable book and this books deserves all the praise it has received in the fullness of history.

Edited July 16, 2017 by Getslow

[newarkcatholicfan]

[MJAlltheWay24]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]62801[/ATTACH]

 

I love the movie. The book better?

[Getslow]

[gchs_uk9]

I love the movie. The book better?

 

I've actually never seen the movie. Book was very good (was on the bottom shelf at our public library). I plan to watch the movie now.