Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose. Looks like only yesterday. Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.
I was looking for a book title and came across this list of NY Times best sellers from 2006. Funny how we haven't traveled much ground in the last five years:
ReplyDelete1 The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama. (Crown, $25.) The Illinois junior senator proposes that Americans move beyond their political divisions.
2 State of Denial, by Bob Woodward. (Simon & Schuster, $30.) The third “Bush at War” volume by the longtime Washington Post reporter and editor describes a dysfunctional administration’s inept conduct of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
3 Culture Warrior, by Bill O’Reilly. (Broadway, $26.) The host of “The O’Reilly Factor” describes a culture war between traditionalists and secular-progressives.
4 The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. (Houghton Mifflin, $27.) An Oxford scientist asserts that belief in God is irrational and that religion has done great harm in the world.
5 The World Is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $30.) A columnist for The Times analyzes 21st-century economics and foreign policy.
6 War On The Middle Class, by Lou Dobbs. (Viking, $24.95.) The anchor of CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” decries the outsourcing of jobs, the decline in health care standards and the widening income gap.
7 America Alone, by Mark Steyn. (Regnery, $27.95.) A conservative columnist argues that America should spread its influence around the world.
8 Letter To A Christian Nation, by Sam Harris. (Knopf, $16.95.) The author of “The End of Faith,” responds to Christians’ arguments in defense of their beliefs.
9 The Greatest Story Ever Sold, by Frank Rich. (Penguin, $25.95.) A Times columnist attacks the Bush administration’s approach to message management.
10 Tempting Faith, by David Kuo. (Free Press, $25.) A former Bush administration official claims that religious conservatives have been corrupted and duped.
That is one scary picture!
ReplyDeleteI like the hooded super-patriot man. Some things you just can't make up!
ReplyDeleteGreat pic and title, av. If anything we seem even more polarized. I blame this in large part on the media, which loves nothing more than to cultivate divisions. Not only Fox, but the other major networks and CNN as well. We haven't moved at all from the early days of pamphleteering, presenting one-sided arguments and trying to influence Americans with the power of rhetoric, not reason.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be reading a biography of Earl Warren:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59448-928-0
A far-out meander, but this looks fascinating:
ReplyDeleteMy Perestroika
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/460755/My-Perestroika/trailers
I guess the days of posting to the NY Times are about to be limited given the pay wall that's going up. I'm torn because right now it's my home page and my main source of news. I can get articles free through the university online system, but that's somehow not the same as opening the home page and reading through the stories. $5 a week isn't much but with the economy the way it is, and my income at zero at the moment, $260 a year is a bit steep for any subscription.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, av. Will make a post for it in my Russian blog.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed a bunch of Newspapers going this way including smaller markets like The Cape Cod Times.For myself I still get the Sunday NYTimes and though it's 6.00 every time I call to complain about the price I get the next 6 months at half price as a long time subscriber.This has gone on the past two years.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to My Perestroika on my Russian blog,
ReplyDeletehttp://tolstoywarpeace.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-perestroika.html
and I've been busy updating my Vilnius blog as well,
http://vilnius-daze.blogspot.com/
They tried that "pay wall" before at NYTimes with there "select" features and it was a flop. I don't think persons are willing to pay for such services. I would think they would find plenty of advertisers to cover the cost of keeping their on-line services free.
ReplyDeleteAs a subscriber, I think you can just register for free. I would actually subscribe to the Sunday paper or the "weekender" because I miss a lot online, and used to love sitting with a real paper in hand, but I can't get the Times delivered here.
ReplyDeleteI used to be able to have the Sunday Times delivered Sunday afternoon in Bozeman before the internet which was an amazing treat, but here they don't do deliveries. So now I sit with laptop in hand.
I'll probably break down and subscribe. I hate being so far out of the loop. I don't have a smart phone, so will have to get it for my ipad which is my travel computer now.
Thought you might like the Perestroika film, Gintaras. I'm going to try to see it when it comes out -- that's the kind of quirky film we sometimes get here. (I also watched the BBC clip on the white/black swan -- the internet is a powerful educational tool!)
La Dolce Vilna - nice. We're in for a big election cycle here in 2012 and I'd love to start a blog on the villain (not vilna) Rehberg. But I have my hands full writing about the 19th century right now. I have to get this dissertation behind me first and then figure out how to get health insurance on the "free market."
ReplyDeleteI wish some enterprising Congressman would introduce a bill to strip health insurance coverage from representatives as a savings measure. I think we'd have universal coverage before you know it if they all had to go out and try to purchase it individually.
Nice series at the Times on the Triangle Fire:
ReplyDeletehttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire
The anniversary of the 1969 bed-in is a nice reminder of what it was like back then. Seems so long ago : (
ReplyDeleteNice to see the Indiana Democrats were able to squeeze some concessions out of the Republicans,
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110328/us_nm/us_indiana_legislature_4
It appears that the Madison protests were heard in Indianapolis.
There's a get out the vote effort to defeat one of the conservatives on the Wisconsin Supreme Court -- in amazing timing, the election is Tuesday! The Court will be called upon to decide the anti-union bill, so this is an important election.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested in participating (I'm taking a shift from home), here's a site:
http://www.calloutthevote.com
There's also a day of action on Monday all over the country in support of Wisconsin (and Ohio and Michigan and [your state here] ....), the day Martin Luther King was killed supporting workers:
http://www.we-r-1.org/
One of the things that gets me is that the most vociferous arguments I have over Obama are with Christian conservatives. Seems many of my old high school chums are now Bible thumpers. They seem to be against everything Obama stands for, including the foreclosure relief program the House Republicans want to ax. So much for Christian charity?
ReplyDeleteThere's something in the new Christian doctrine that says something like "and the rich shall inherit the earth."
ReplyDeletePlus, the republicans have been very good (at least in the past) of getting their economic goals attached to the conservative social message -- let's have more big government in the homes and bedrooms and doctors' offices of Americans. Fortunately, at least one of those issues -- gay rights -- seems to be trending away from the conservatives by sheer demographics.
Now if we could get those southern and western young women to stand up for their rights, the party might lose its working-class support except for the gun nuts.
What I find heartening in the meantime is that the rank-and-file union members who made the 80s possible (and we seem to be rewinding those) are figuring it out. And it's happening at the grassroots level -- doesn't have to come from Washington or national HQ.
Washington and national HQ have been so slow to react. Obama is no longer out front, but lagging far behind the events on the ground. I guess that comes with insulating himself in the WH and listening too much to his "advisers."
ReplyDeleteIt is time for the Dems to reclaim their base. They are going to have to be far more active than they have been these past two years. They acted like they felt they had until 2012, forgetting all about the midterms.
My hope for young women may already be squelched ....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2011/03/dick_cheney_fee/
I think Obama sees himself -- or at least wants to appear -- as above the fray. He's the adult in the classroom. But we need some leadership at the national level.
ReplyDeleteAs an on again, off again Democrat, I"ll be doing whatever I can in 2012 to get out the vote for one of our Senators (Tester). Not crazy about him, but the guy running against him is terrifying. I shudder at the thought of the Republicans controlling the House and the Senate next year ....
I may have posted this before, but just in case, the University of Texas has an interesting new history site: notevenpast.org.
ReplyDeleteThey are hosting HW Brand on FDR there today at 2 p.m. ET:
http://www.notevenpast.org/virtual
His bodyguards probably stood Dick up for the photo.
ReplyDeleteThought you'd like that! That was a "special treat" alright...
ReplyDelete