(320 pages)
Book club selection (via Lon; session held (via Zoom) April 18, 2021).
Interesting; provoked a very good discussion; but I didn't like the book itself. This fellow comes across as another unthinking member of the herd of reactionaries that formed in the wake of DJT's 2016 election - book written too soon thereafter to permit recovery or perspective. (I'm not a Trump voter, but can make the minimal mental effort required to think about why the guy attracted a lot of votes - not happening in this book!)
Here were my conversation ntoes:
great book if you're looking for a display of the mindset of blue checkmark Twitter - otherwise meh.
The discussion of Julius Caesar/Trump in the park - earnestly asserting the play was "not satiric" - genuine LOL. Closes the book with same tortured apologia.
on the day after DJT's election - oh no, we woke up to a divided nation! (what if HRC had won? clearly assumes no division!)
Seemingly without a trace of recognition, goes on (after discovering a divided country in Nov 2016) to describe in detail situations where the country could easily be considered far more divided.
• We had an actual Civil War
• 19th century New York - talk about immigrant stress - the numbers are astonishing - and it was Catholics, Jews, Irish, Eastern Europeans yuck
• Talk about income inequality - far worse in those days
the idea that reading the Bible and Shakespeare is essential to getting more out of art and literature - this book underscores - (Lincoln/Booth chapter, at least)
but this poor guy . . . jamming every word choice and analysis into Orthodox SJW Theology.
Ch 1 - Julius Caesar - authoritarianism very much in the eye of the beholder!
Ch 2 - Othello - I the author am more woke than JQA!
Ch 3 - Romeo & Juliet (U.S. Grant) - gee a military guy cross-dressing as a woman was questioned in those days - those narrow-minded white males, feeling threatened, I'm more woke than them.
Ch 4 - NYC Astor battles. more interesting in terms of 19th century NY; unfortunately tried to convert it into a modern income inequality/class war tale
Ch 5 - Booth, Lincoln - interesting to think that Shakespeare influence may in large part result from nothing else on most bookshelves (Bible; Milton; Plutarch). this was the most interesting of the chapters - not trying to make a social justice point.
Ch 6 - Caliban - back to SJW cant, this time immigration. Smug descriptions of 19th century views; vague "inclusive" language - how would you like immigration to be handled? Open borders? If not - what rules (and how to not be "racist" if use country boundaries in setting numbers)?
Ch - Taming of the Shrew - huh?
Ch - Romeo & Juliet, Harvey W - huh?
