New York: The Library of America
1876 (1983)
Ideas and Quotes to Discuss:
167 “Rowland Mallet had an uncomfortable sensitive conscience…and his visits to Cecilia were rare because she and her misfortunes were often uppermost in it.”
168 “And in truth, with his means, his leisure, and his opportunities, what had he done? He had an unaffected suspicion of his uselessness.”
168 ‘What is it you mean to do in Europe?’ she asked lightly.” Rowland: “Why very much what I do here…no great harm.”
170 “[Rome]…is evidently only a sort of idealized form of loafing: a passive life in Rome, thanks to the number and the quality of one’s impressions, takes on a very respectable likeness to activity. It is still lotus-eating, only you sit down at table, and the lotuses are served up on rococo China.”
171 “I am tired of myself, my own thoughts, my own affairs, my own eternal company. True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one’s self; but the point is not only to get out—you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand.”
171 “…I spend my days groping for the latch of a closed door.”
171 “What an immense number of words…to say you want to fall in love.”
174 “…he felt the friction of existence more than was suspected….”
185 “Sculpture, to her [Roderick’s mother’s] mind, is an insidious form of immorality.”
185 “Then his mother, as she one day confessed to me, has a holy horror of a profession which consists exclusively…in making figures of people without their clothes on.”
187 “It’s a wretched business…this practical quarrel of ours with our own country, this everlasting impatience to get out of it.”
193 “It’s rather a hard fate, to live like a saint and to pass for a sinner.”
199 “Perhaps you believe in the necessary turbulence of genius….”
204 “Mrs. Hudson…looked painfully perplexed between the desire to confess the truth and the fear of being impolite.”
205 “How do you study sculpture, any how?” “By looking at models and imitating them.”
205 Mr. Striker: “An antique, as I understand it…is an image of a pagan deity, with considerable dirt sticking to it, and no arms, no nose, and no clothes.”
To be continued.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Roderick Hudson. Henry James. (1)
New York: The Library of America
1876 (1983)
Why read it? Novel. Why read any Henry James novel or story? The insightful ideas about human relationships. The wit, the cleverness, the surprise at the language. Almost like Emerson, James writes in the sentence. It’s like an evening with Oscar Wilde. The characters take their shape. They don’t move very often. They talk. But clever talk it is.
That’s why I read Roderick Hudson.
Roderick Hudson is an egotist who manipulates people. We all know the type. It’s probably one part of all our personalities. He makes no attempt to hide his self-absorption. He makes no attempt to hide his making use of other people. In telling the story, James gives the reader some not-too-sophisticated insights into the world of sculpting. And of Rome and of Florence and of Switzerland, and Northampton, Massachusetts, by contrast with the former.
Plot Summary: Wealthy, idle, Rowland Mallet befriends a young, egotistical, brilliant sculptor in Northampton, Massachusetts, America, Roderick Hudson, taking him to Rome to study antique statuary, where he creates several small works that are well received by experts in the arts. He falls in love with a beautiful young European woman who teases him, then is attracted to him, but marries a prince.
In the meantime, Rowland has fallen in love with Roderick’s fiancée, Mary Garland, with no apparent reciprocity.
Roderick has become so infatuated with Christina Light that at her invitation, he wants to follow her and her prince even though they have been married. He needs money. Rowland, who has freely given what Roderick has asked for, as his patron, feeling that this is a destructive course of action, withholds it. In the course of a long discussion, Rowland tells Roderick that he is a selfish, spoiled child, and then admits he loves Mary Garland, Roderick is surprised, and walks thoughtfully off into the Swiss Alps from which he does not return. Whether on purpose or by accident, he has fallen to his death at the height of a thunderstorm.
Rowland who has generously supported Roderick, his mother and Mary Garland, pays their passage back to Northampton, Massachusetts. When he visits Mrs. Hudson and Mary, Mrs. Hudson, who blames Rowland for Roderick’s death, will not see him, but Mary does. And Rowland waits, perhaps forever, and probably in vain, for Mary Garland to return his love.
Roderick is a spoiled brat genius. Rowland is the uncomplaining supportive patron who accepts all of Roderick’s sleights without showing any resentment. Roderick basks in the worship and adulation of his friends and uses them or disposes of them at whim. He cares only for his own feelings, never for the feelings of anyone else. Rowland, Roderick’s mother and Miss Garland think they own and control Roderick, but they don’t. They are owned and manipulated by Roderick.
At one point in the dialogue, it becomes a contest to learn how little these people say they care for each other. Everyone cares for Roderick; he cares not a tittle for anyone but Christina Light, and the rest of them go out of their way to insist that they couldn’t care less for anyone but Roderick. Rowland and Mary Garland have sacrificed everything for Roderick, who nonchalantly goes away to fall off a mountain as if in dying, he has given his final reward for all of their concern.
This novel is James’s first or second [I think Watch and Ward was his first] novel. It will be interesting to see how the focus of his novels shifts as James grows in his art. One thing I will say for Henry James in his early stages: he is fun to read, if only for the one- or two-sentence insights into life, character and relationships that he drops into his sometimes very long paragraphs.
Tomorrow: Ideas and Quotes to Discuss.
1876 (1983)
Why read it? Novel. Why read any Henry James novel or story? The insightful ideas about human relationships. The wit, the cleverness, the surprise at the language. Almost like Emerson, James writes in the sentence. It’s like an evening with Oscar Wilde. The characters take their shape. They don’t move very often. They talk. But clever talk it is.
That’s why I read Roderick Hudson.
Roderick Hudson is an egotist who manipulates people. We all know the type. It’s probably one part of all our personalities. He makes no attempt to hide his self-absorption. He makes no attempt to hide his making use of other people. In telling the story, James gives the reader some not-too-sophisticated insights into the world of sculpting. And of Rome and of Florence and of Switzerland, and Northampton, Massachusetts, by contrast with the former.
Plot Summary: Wealthy, idle, Rowland Mallet befriends a young, egotistical, brilliant sculptor in Northampton, Massachusetts, America, Roderick Hudson, taking him to Rome to study antique statuary, where he creates several small works that are well received by experts in the arts. He falls in love with a beautiful young European woman who teases him, then is attracted to him, but marries a prince.
In the meantime, Rowland has fallen in love with Roderick’s fiancée, Mary Garland, with no apparent reciprocity.
Roderick has become so infatuated with Christina Light that at her invitation, he wants to follow her and her prince even though they have been married. He needs money. Rowland, who has freely given what Roderick has asked for, as his patron, feeling that this is a destructive course of action, withholds it. In the course of a long discussion, Rowland tells Roderick that he is a selfish, spoiled child, and then admits he loves Mary Garland, Roderick is surprised, and walks thoughtfully off into the Swiss Alps from which he does not return. Whether on purpose or by accident, he has fallen to his death at the height of a thunderstorm.
Rowland who has generously supported Roderick, his mother and Mary Garland, pays their passage back to Northampton, Massachusetts. When he visits Mrs. Hudson and Mary, Mrs. Hudson, who blames Rowland for Roderick’s death, will not see him, but Mary does. And Rowland waits, perhaps forever, and probably in vain, for Mary Garland to return his love.
Roderick is a spoiled brat genius. Rowland is the uncomplaining supportive patron who accepts all of Roderick’s sleights without showing any resentment. Roderick basks in the worship and adulation of his friends and uses them or disposes of them at whim. He cares only for his own feelings, never for the feelings of anyone else. Rowland, Roderick’s mother and Miss Garland think they own and control Roderick, but they don’t. They are owned and manipulated by Roderick.
At one point in the dialogue, it becomes a contest to learn how little these people say they care for each other. Everyone cares for Roderick; he cares not a tittle for anyone but Christina Light, and the rest of them go out of their way to insist that they couldn’t care less for anyone but Roderick. Rowland and Mary Garland have sacrificed everything for Roderick, who nonchalantly goes away to fall off a mountain as if in dying, he has given his final reward for all of their concern.
This novel is James’s first or second [I think Watch and Ward was his first] novel. It will be interesting to see how the focus of his novels shifts as James grows in his art. One thing I will say for Henry James in his early stages: he is fun to read, if only for the one- or two-sentence insights into life, character and relationships that he drops into his sometimes very long paragraphs.
Tomorrow: Ideas and Quotes to Discuss.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Three Cups of Tea. Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
New York: Penguin Books
2007
Why read it? Do you think every Muslim is a potential terrorist? You need to read this book. You need to become familiar with the moderate Muslims, the Muslims who live in the mountains of Pakistan, impoverished, illiterate people who don't have any chance for an education, except an education that teaches terrorism.
Greg Mortenson learned the following about Muslims: The faith of the Muslims is devout. Their greatest virtue is patience in fulfilling the will of Allah. They respect the land. They believe that humans and nature are one. They oppose Western lasciviousness. They desperately want a "balanced" education for their children.
In return for their kindness to him after he arrived in Korphe, exhausted from a failed mountain climb, Greg Mortenson promised to build them a school--a school especially for girls. Schools--that's how Greg Mortenson thinks the U.S. should be responding to 9/11. Let the Muslims learn what Americans are really like as Mortenson learned about the Muslims. A military solution will not reduce or eliminate terrorism. Schools will. That is Greg's credo. He has built 53 of them in Pakistan.
The greatest lesson Mortenson learned was to understand the differences in culture between Muslim patience and American impatience. Greg wanted the school built yesterday. The mountain people had the immense patience to know that they needed a bridge first in order to transport the supplies to build the school over the river instead of one piece of material at a time, in turn, carried in a jerrybuilt box swaying over the river, which could result in the loss, not only of the materials, but also of human life.
What exactly is a "balanced" education? What is the curriculum? I guess that question comes because I am an educator who wonders how I would provide a balanced education--with my American ideals--in a radically different culture. I think the answer is crucial to mutual understanding of two different cultures. And maybe I suspect that the two cultures can never really mix. They must learn, instead, to respect each other, though their attitudes toward life are in some ways significantly different.
The book reads fast. Many incidents are fascinating--stories within stories. The time-tested formula of overcoming adversity repeats itself. One crisis finished, another begins. Enjoyed the epigraphs before each chapter, echoing ancient philosophy, usually expressing patience, the will of Allah and a oneness between humanity and nature.
For Greg Mortenson schools and universal literacy are the cure for terrorism. Mortenson believes that education will give children reasons to live rather than only to die committing terroristic attacks.
Ideas and Quotes to Discuss:
"With all respect, Sahib, you have little to teach us in strength and toughness. And we don't envy you your restless spirits. Perhaps we are happier than you. But we would like our children to go to school. Of all the things you have, learning is the one we most desire for our children." --Conversation between Sir Edmund Hillary and Urkien Sherpa, from Schoolhouse in the Clouds.
"He [Haji Ali] picked up his dog-eared, grease-spotted Koran and held it before the flames. Do you see how beautiful this Koran is? ...I can't read it.... I can't read anything. This is the greatest sadness in my life. I'll do anything so the children of my village never have to know this feeling. I'll pay any price so they have the education they deserve."
Haji Ali: "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to anything, even die."
Americans must read this book.
2007
Why read it? Do you think every Muslim is a potential terrorist? You need to read this book. You need to become familiar with the moderate Muslims, the Muslims who live in the mountains of Pakistan, impoverished, illiterate people who don't have any chance for an education, except an education that teaches terrorism.
Greg Mortenson learned the following about Muslims: The faith of the Muslims is devout. Their greatest virtue is patience in fulfilling the will of Allah. They respect the land. They believe that humans and nature are one. They oppose Western lasciviousness. They desperately want a "balanced" education for their children.
In return for their kindness to him after he arrived in Korphe, exhausted from a failed mountain climb, Greg Mortenson promised to build them a school--a school especially for girls. Schools--that's how Greg Mortenson thinks the U.S. should be responding to 9/11. Let the Muslims learn what Americans are really like as Mortenson learned about the Muslims. A military solution will not reduce or eliminate terrorism. Schools will. That is Greg's credo. He has built 53 of them in Pakistan.
The greatest lesson Mortenson learned was to understand the differences in culture between Muslim patience and American impatience. Greg wanted the school built yesterday. The mountain people had the immense patience to know that they needed a bridge first in order to transport the supplies to build the school over the river instead of one piece of material at a time, in turn, carried in a jerrybuilt box swaying over the river, which could result in the loss, not only of the materials, but also of human life.
What exactly is a "balanced" education? What is the curriculum? I guess that question comes because I am an educator who wonders how I would provide a balanced education--with my American ideals--in a radically different culture. I think the answer is crucial to mutual understanding of two different cultures. And maybe I suspect that the two cultures can never really mix. They must learn, instead, to respect each other, though their attitudes toward life are in some ways significantly different.
The book reads fast. Many incidents are fascinating--stories within stories. The time-tested formula of overcoming adversity repeats itself. One crisis finished, another begins. Enjoyed the epigraphs before each chapter, echoing ancient philosophy, usually expressing patience, the will of Allah and a oneness between humanity and nature.
For Greg Mortenson schools and universal literacy are the cure for terrorism. Mortenson believes that education will give children reasons to live rather than only to die committing terroristic attacks.
Ideas and Quotes to Discuss:
"With all respect, Sahib, you have little to teach us in strength and toughness. And we don't envy you your restless spirits. Perhaps we are happier than you. But we would like our children to go to school. Of all the things you have, learning is the one we most desire for our children." --Conversation between Sir Edmund Hillary and Urkien Sherpa, from Schoolhouse in the Clouds.
"He [Haji Ali] picked up his dog-eared, grease-spotted Koran and held it before the flames. Do you see how beautiful this Koran is? ...I can't read it.... I can't read anything. This is the greatest sadness in my life. I'll do anything so the children of my village never have to know this feeling. I'll pay any price so they have the education they deserve."
Haji Ali: "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to anything, even die."
Americans must read this book.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Up the Organization Robert Townsend.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf
1970
Why read it? A common-sense (to me) book abut how to help organizations succeed by treating employees as people, not "personnel." Townsend's theme is getting things done through organizations. The best leader is the one who, when people are successful, they say, "We did it" and do not know they have been led. Decisions are made by one person who is in charge, but the leadership can be transferred from one person to another depending on the situation, the types of problems and the decisions that have to be made. The model for organizations is a round table. Stop using the organizational system of the Catholic Church and the Roman legions.
The author seems to stand conventional wisdom on its head. Most organizations don't change. Most organizations go on and on in the same ways, ways that eventually make the organizations no longer effective. CEOs should leave after five or six years because they become stale and ritual believers in their own cliches, even if their ideas in the beginning were revolutionary.
Ideas and quotes for discussion:
"Fear of punishment is not an effective motivator."
"The best objectives are short enough to be memorable and don't have to be written down."
"The best organizations put people in a position to grow."
"Tight budgets may constrain, but they produce creative ways to achieve results."
"You have to give up being an administrator who loves to run others and become a manager who carries water for his people so they can get on with the job."
"People don't hate work. It's as natural as rest or play. They don't have to be forced or threatened. If they commit themselves to mutual objectives, they'll drive themselves more effectively than you can drive them. But they'll commit themselves only to the extent they can see ways of satisfying their egos and development needs."
"People who are good at what they do in the field may not be good managers, a leadership position that involves a different set of skills."
"Admit mistakes openly." The author says that 2/3 of the decisions he made at Avis were mistakes.
"The greatest sin is hubris, becoming overconfident when things are going well."
Two types of meetings: information and problem-solving. End on time or earlier. One-page minutes on the same day of the meeting. Don't announce what you're going to do. Gives people time to build up their resistance. Just do it.
"A good manager doesn't try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of the people."
Keep copies of the worst letters written by employees and rewrite them. After collecting a dozen or so, talk to your employees about how you improved them. Their letters will get better.
"Ideas are good for a limited time--not forever."
Lao-Tzu: "As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate...."
1970
Why read it? A common-sense (to me) book abut how to help organizations succeed by treating employees as people, not "personnel." Townsend's theme is getting things done through organizations. The best leader is the one who, when people are successful, they say, "We did it" and do not know they have been led. Decisions are made by one person who is in charge, but the leadership can be transferred from one person to another depending on the situation, the types of problems and the decisions that have to be made. The model for organizations is a round table. Stop using the organizational system of the Catholic Church and the Roman legions.
The author seems to stand conventional wisdom on its head. Most organizations don't change. Most organizations go on and on in the same ways, ways that eventually make the organizations no longer effective. CEOs should leave after five or six years because they become stale and ritual believers in their own cliches, even if their ideas in the beginning were revolutionary.
Ideas and quotes for discussion:
"Fear of punishment is not an effective motivator."
"The best objectives are short enough to be memorable and don't have to be written down."
"The best organizations put people in a position to grow."
"Tight budgets may constrain, but they produce creative ways to achieve results."
"You have to give up being an administrator who loves to run others and become a manager who carries water for his people so they can get on with the job."
"People don't hate work. It's as natural as rest or play. They don't have to be forced or threatened. If they commit themselves to mutual objectives, they'll drive themselves more effectively than you can drive them. But they'll commit themselves only to the extent they can see ways of satisfying their egos and development needs."
"People who are good at what they do in the field may not be good managers, a leadership position that involves a different set of skills."
"Admit mistakes openly." The author says that 2/3 of the decisions he made at Avis were mistakes.
"The greatest sin is hubris, becoming overconfident when things are going well."
Two types of meetings: information and problem-solving. End on time or earlier. One-page minutes on the same day of the meeting. Don't announce what you're going to do. Gives people time to build up their resistance. Just do it.
"A good manager doesn't try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of the people."
Keep copies of the worst letters written by employees and rewrite them. After collecting a dozen or so, talk to your employees about how you improved them. Their letters will get better.
"Ideas are good for a limited time--not forever."
Lao-Tzu: "As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate...."
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Under the Banner of Heaven. Jon Krakauer.
New York: Anchor Books
2004
Why read it? A study in extremism. While this book is primarily about Mormon fundamentalists (read, believers in polygamy, which mainstream Mormons do not accept today), it is also a history of Mormonism. Hard to believe that people would be credulous enough to accept Joseph Smith's account of the Angel Moroni and the golden plates which he translated from Egyptian hieroglyphics by means of magic glasses and a magic stone.
While Krakauer's book suggests some reasons for the appeal of Mormonism--the close relationship with God, the expectation of the Second Coming of Christ, the clear statement of what is good and what is evil, the desire to submit to authority, thus removing the uncertainty and discomfort of having to make individual decisions--I still fail to understand why people are attracted to the religion. And they are. Along with Islam, Mormonism is one of the fastest growing world religions. Like Islam's Koran, Mormon scripture purports to be the actual word of God.
Religions take the characteristics of their founders and, in the case of the Mormons, Joseph Smith gave to his followers a belief in personal revelations from God and a culture of violence.
Some Quotes and Ideas to Discuss:
John Taylor, Jan. 4, 1889: "God is greater than the United States, and when the government conflicts with heaven, we will be ranged under the banner of heaven and against the government. I defy the United States; I will obey God."
Judge Bullock: "In my twelve years as a judge, I have never presided over a trial of such a cruel, heinous, pointless and senseless a crime as the murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty. Nor have I seen an accused who had so little remorse of feeling." [God told him to do it.]
"Faith-based violence was present long before Osama bin Laden, and it will be with us long after his demise."
"In any human endeavor, some fraction of its practitioners will be motivated to pursue that activity with such concentrated focus and unalloyed passion that it will consume them utterly. One has to look no further than individuals who feel compelled to devote their lives to becoming concert pianists say, or climbing Mount Everest. For some, the province of the extreme holds an allure that's irresistible."
"Extreme and bizarre religious ideas are so commonplace in American history that it is difficult to speak of them as 'fringe'...."
"...sermons frequently stress the need for total submission. 'I want to tell you that the greatest freedom you can enjoy is in obedience.... Perfect obedience produces perfect faith.' "
"David Leavitt doesn't consider Green's plural marriages a matter of religious freedom or a harmless sexual relationship between consenting adults. Leavitt views Green as a pedophile, plain and simple. 'He preyed on little girls who, from the cradle, knew no other life but polygamy.... He robbed them of their childhood.... They are victims of pedophiles.' "
"What goes on in our homes here is nobody's business," asserts Sam Roundy, Colorado City's polygamous police chief. "We're not infringing on anybody. Don't we have the right to practice our religion?"
"But polygamy is a crime in all fifty states as well as in Canada, and police officers are sworn to uphold the law."
"Mormonism is a patriarchal religion, rooted firmly in the traditions of the Old Testament. Dissent isn't tolerated. Questioning the edicts of religious authorities is viewed as a subversive act that undermines faith. When the prophet speaks, the debate is over."
"As for Brian David Mitchell, in the days following his arrest [for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart] he steadfastly insisted that he had done nothing wrong, arguing that forcing a fourteen-year-old girl into polygamous bondage was not a criminal act because it was a 'call from God.' "
"I do not believe that zealots are mentally ill, per se. A zealot is simply someone who has an extreme, fervently held belief and is willing to go to great lengths to impose those beliefs, act on those beliefs. I guess my actual point...is the existence of an extreme religious, personal or political belief system is not, per se, an indication of mental illness."
2004
Why read it? A study in extremism. While this book is primarily about Mormon fundamentalists (read, believers in polygamy, which mainstream Mormons do not accept today), it is also a history of Mormonism. Hard to believe that people would be credulous enough to accept Joseph Smith's account of the Angel Moroni and the golden plates which he translated from Egyptian hieroglyphics by means of magic glasses and a magic stone.
While Krakauer's book suggests some reasons for the appeal of Mormonism--the close relationship with God, the expectation of the Second Coming of Christ, the clear statement of what is good and what is evil, the desire to submit to authority, thus removing the uncertainty and discomfort of having to make individual decisions--I still fail to understand why people are attracted to the religion. And they are. Along with Islam, Mormonism is one of the fastest growing world religions. Like Islam's Koran, Mormon scripture purports to be the actual word of God.
Religions take the characteristics of their founders and, in the case of the Mormons, Joseph Smith gave to his followers a belief in personal revelations from God and a culture of violence.
Some Quotes and Ideas to Discuss:
John Taylor, Jan. 4, 1889: "God is greater than the United States, and when the government conflicts with heaven, we will be ranged under the banner of heaven and against the government. I defy the United States; I will obey God."
Judge Bullock: "In my twelve years as a judge, I have never presided over a trial of such a cruel, heinous, pointless and senseless a crime as the murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty. Nor have I seen an accused who had so little remorse of feeling." [God told him to do it.]
"Faith-based violence was present long before Osama bin Laden, and it will be with us long after his demise."
"In any human endeavor, some fraction of its practitioners will be motivated to pursue that activity with such concentrated focus and unalloyed passion that it will consume them utterly. One has to look no further than individuals who feel compelled to devote their lives to becoming concert pianists say, or climbing Mount Everest. For some, the province of the extreme holds an allure that's irresistible."
"Extreme and bizarre religious ideas are so commonplace in American history that it is difficult to speak of them as 'fringe'...."
"...sermons frequently stress the need for total submission. 'I want to tell you that the greatest freedom you can enjoy is in obedience.... Perfect obedience produces perfect faith.' "
"David Leavitt doesn't consider Green's plural marriages a matter of religious freedom or a harmless sexual relationship between consenting adults. Leavitt views Green as a pedophile, plain and simple. 'He preyed on little girls who, from the cradle, knew no other life but polygamy.... He robbed them of their childhood.... They are victims of pedophiles.' "
"What goes on in our homes here is nobody's business," asserts Sam Roundy, Colorado City's polygamous police chief. "We're not infringing on anybody. Don't we have the right to practice our religion?"
"But polygamy is a crime in all fifty states as well as in Canada, and police officers are sworn to uphold the law."
"Mormonism is a patriarchal religion, rooted firmly in the traditions of the Old Testament. Dissent isn't tolerated. Questioning the edicts of religious authorities is viewed as a subversive act that undermines faith. When the prophet speaks, the debate is over."
"As for Brian David Mitchell, in the days following his arrest [for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart] he steadfastly insisted that he had done nothing wrong, arguing that forcing a fourteen-year-old girl into polygamous bondage was not a criminal act because it was a 'call from God.' "
"I do not believe that zealots are mentally ill, per se. A zealot is simply someone who has an extreme, fervently held belief and is willing to go to great lengths to impose those beliefs, act on those beliefs. I guess my actual point...is the existence of an extreme religious, personal or political belief system is not, per se, an indication of mental illness."
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Harry S. Truman by Margaret Truman.
New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc.
1973
Why read it? Some of the highlight events of Truman's Presidency were his sudden assumption to the Presidency, negotiations with Churchill and Stalin, the dropping of the atomic bomb, the shift from a war-time to a peace-time economy, the Marshall Plan, the Berlin blockade, Palestine, the Korean War and the dismissal of MacArthur. While these facts are carefully documented in his own memoirs, Margaret Truman, his daughter, shows the human side of the President, his feelings under the pressure of events during his Presidency. She also provides a good summary of the events and the principal people involved in them. She shows his sense of humor, his pride in his family, and his knowledge of history that often served to guide his actions.
She shows the man behind the scenes, because Harry S. Truman never said in public what he was really feeling. And as a politician, he expended a lot of emotion on people who disagreed with him and who double crossed him on issues he cared greatly about.
I have no doubt that Harry S. Truman is one of the five or six great presidents in American history. Any person in a leadership role can learn much about leadership in a democratic organization by studying the leadership principles of Harry S. Truman as revealed in his own memoirs and this biography by his daughter. I was struck again and again by how often the principles of Truman and JFK were similar and suspect that Truman's apparent dislike of JFK was rooted in the differences between Truman's blue-collar background and self education and JFK's Ivy League education and affluent background. In fact, Truman had said about Adlai Stevenson, when talk turned to who should be Truman's successor, "I don't believe the people of the United States are ready for an Ivy Leaguer." I don't know how much JFK modeled his presidency on Truman's, but their leadership styles resembled each other a great deal.
For example, Truman and Kennedy clearly thought through the purposes for their decisions and explained those purposes. They were both plain speaking, saying directly what they thought. They could both be patient and negotiate tirelessly with their antagonists. They both had to deal with the deadening thinking of the "permanent government," the State Department, etc. Both were undermined by the members of that "permanent government." They both believed in educating the public about their decisions.
They both recognized the limitations of the power of the presidency.
Ideas and Quotes for Discussion
HST: "On that trip coming home I ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was a terrible decision. But I made it. And I made it to save 250,000 boys from the United States and I'd make it again under similar circumstances. It stopped the Jap War."
"Admiral Leahy...pointed out that in the bloody Okinawa campaign just ending, American losses (41,700) had been 35% of the attacking force. The Japanese still had an estimated 5,000 planes ready for kamikaze assaults. There were an estimated 2,000,000 troops in the Japanese home islands. Facing the Americans in Kyushu would be seventeen well-equipped battle-ready divisions."
"On both Kyushu and Honshu [islands in Mainland Japan], Japan's soldiers would, if their performance on Okinawa was any indication, fight with total fanaticism to defend their sacred home soil. Based on this assumption, General George C. Marshall predicted total American dead on land and sea might reach 500,000 men."
HST: "I believe in the brotherhood of man, not merely the brotherhood of white men but the brotherhood of all men before the law.... In giving the Negro the rights which are theirs we are only acting in accord with our ideals of a true democracy."
"HST's image was that of the average man. But 'average' did not mean mediocrity."
HST on his Cabinet: "I told the Cabinet members the story about President Lincoln--when he was discussing the Proclamation--every member of his cabinet opposed him in making the Proclamation. He put the question up to the whole Cabinet and they voted no. That is very well the President said. I vote yes. That is the way I intend to run this [his Cabinet]."
HST: "Even though Soviet leaders profess to believe that the conflict between capitalism and communism is irreconcilable, and must eventually be resolved by the triumph of the latter, it is our hope that they will change their mind and work out with us a fair and equitable settlement when they realize we are too strong to be beaten and too determined to be firghtened."
HST on the difference between communism and democracy: "Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters. Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity...to govern himself with reason and justice."
HST: "A President may dismiss the abuse of scoundrels, but to be denounced by honest men, honestly outraged, is a test of greatness that none but the strongest men survive."
"Most important was not failure, but the way HST handled it."
1973
Why read it? Some of the highlight events of Truman's Presidency were his sudden assumption to the Presidency, negotiations with Churchill and Stalin, the dropping of the atomic bomb, the shift from a war-time to a peace-time economy, the Marshall Plan, the Berlin blockade, Palestine, the Korean War and the dismissal of MacArthur. While these facts are carefully documented in his own memoirs, Margaret Truman, his daughter, shows the human side of the President, his feelings under the pressure of events during his Presidency. She also provides a good summary of the events and the principal people involved in them. She shows his sense of humor, his pride in his family, and his knowledge of history that often served to guide his actions.
She shows the man behind the scenes, because Harry S. Truman never said in public what he was really feeling. And as a politician, he expended a lot of emotion on people who disagreed with him and who double crossed him on issues he cared greatly about.
I have no doubt that Harry S. Truman is one of the five or six great presidents in American history. Any person in a leadership role can learn much about leadership in a democratic organization by studying the leadership principles of Harry S. Truman as revealed in his own memoirs and this biography by his daughter. I was struck again and again by how often the principles of Truman and JFK were similar and suspect that Truman's apparent dislike of JFK was rooted in the differences between Truman's blue-collar background and self education and JFK's Ivy League education and affluent background. In fact, Truman had said about Adlai Stevenson, when talk turned to who should be Truman's successor, "I don't believe the people of the United States are ready for an Ivy Leaguer." I don't know how much JFK modeled his presidency on Truman's, but their leadership styles resembled each other a great deal.
For example, Truman and Kennedy clearly thought through the purposes for their decisions and explained those purposes. They were both plain speaking, saying directly what they thought. They could both be patient and negotiate tirelessly with their antagonists. They both had to deal with the deadening thinking of the "permanent government," the State Department, etc. Both were undermined by the members of that "permanent government." They both believed in educating the public about their decisions.
They both recognized the limitations of the power of the presidency.
Ideas and Quotes for Discussion
HST: "On that trip coming home I ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was a terrible decision. But I made it. And I made it to save 250,000 boys from the United States and I'd make it again under similar circumstances. It stopped the Jap War."
"Admiral Leahy...pointed out that in the bloody Okinawa campaign just ending, American losses (41,700) had been 35% of the attacking force. The Japanese still had an estimated 5,000 planes ready for kamikaze assaults. There were an estimated 2,000,000 troops in the Japanese home islands. Facing the Americans in Kyushu would be seventeen well-equipped battle-ready divisions."
"On both Kyushu and Honshu [islands in Mainland Japan], Japan's soldiers would, if their performance on Okinawa was any indication, fight with total fanaticism to defend their sacred home soil. Based on this assumption, General George C. Marshall predicted total American dead on land and sea might reach 500,000 men."
HST: "I believe in the brotherhood of man, not merely the brotherhood of white men but the brotherhood of all men before the law.... In giving the Negro the rights which are theirs we are only acting in accord with our ideals of a true democracy."
"HST's image was that of the average man. But 'average' did not mean mediocrity."
HST on his Cabinet: "I told the Cabinet members the story about President Lincoln--when he was discussing the Proclamation--every member of his cabinet opposed him in making the Proclamation. He put the question up to the whole Cabinet and they voted no. That is very well the President said. I vote yes. That is the way I intend to run this [his Cabinet]."
HST: "Even though Soviet leaders profess to believe that the conflict between capitalism and communism is irreconcilable, and must eventually be resolved by the triumph of the latter, it is our hope that they will change their mind and work out with us a fair and equitable settlement when they realize we are too strong to be beaten and too determined to be firghtened."
HST on the difference between communism and democracy: "Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters. Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity...to govern himself with reason and justice."
HST: "A President may dismiss the abuse of scoundrels, but to be denounced by honest men, honestly outraged, is a test of greatness that none but the strongest men survive."
"Most important was not failure, but the way HST handled it."
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Uncommon Wisdom of JFK. Eds. Bill Adler and Tom Folsom.
New York: Rugged Land, LLC
2003
Why read it? John Kennedy was a prolific reader. He thought deeply about government and life. He fully appreciated that America was a model for free societies. If America failed, society based on freedom would also fail. He appreciated the transience of life and was fully conscious that the effects of a World War III could obliterate the earth. They were the times in which he lived and governed.
Ideas and Quotes for Discussion
"If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help."
"A man does what he must--in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures--and that is the basis of all human morality."
"Every man is an enigma."
"If we fail, then freedom fails."
"What we do in this country, the kind of society we build, that will tell whether freedom will be sustained around the world."
"The great trouble with American politics today is that we talk in slogans."
"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life."
"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate."
"All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime. But let us begin."
"The mere absence of war is not peace."
"Total war makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air force in the the Second World War."
"Freedom is not merely a word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for advancing the welfare of man."
"I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit."
2003
Why read it? John Kennedy was a prolific reader. He thought deeply about government and life. He fully appreciated that America was a model for free societies. If America failed, society based on freedom would also fail. He appreciated the transience of life and was fully conscious that the effects of a World War III could obliterate the earth. They were the times in which he lived and governed.
Ideas and Quotes for Discussion
"If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help."
"A man does what he must--in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures--and that is the basis of all human morality."
"Every man is an enigma."
"If we fail, then freedom fails."
"What we do in this country, the kind of society we build, that will tell whether freedom will be sustained around the world."
"The great trouble with American politics today is that we talk in slogans."
"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life."
"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate."
"All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime. But let us begin."
"The mere absence of war is not peace."
"Total war makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air force in the the Second World War."
"Freedom is not merely a word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for advancing the welfare of man."
"I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit."
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