Couldn't resist this image. Can you guess what book she is reading?
Any suggestions for our next group read?
Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, not...
Isn't that the photo where she is reading Proust? Even I haven't read Proust, though someday will!
ReplyDeleteI heard the authors of this book on Bill Moyers' new show:
http://billmoyers.com/episode/on-winner-take-all-politics/
There's a podcast as well (I heard it on the radio).
Very depressing, but they make a good point. The gross economic inequality in this country was engineered politically so can be changed politically (i.e., it isn't inherent to capitalism or the economic system generally).
I just read Keynes Hayek. Not really American history but an easy read and good intro to the current economic debate. When Paul says we're all Austrians now, I now understand more fully what he means -- we protect capital, not human beings (or, as it turns out, capitalism).
Am reading Randall Kennedy's Persistence of the Color Line now. I really am enjoying it -- if enjoy is the right word.
"Ulysses"
ReplyDeleteShe makes a fortune from the photo. All I got was an A+ from my professor when I did a seminar on the book.
;)
This is how Marilyn really looked like when she was reading a book:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thisismarilyn.com/artwork/loreleilee-2009062694547-hmm_10-original.jpg
Trip, you should have worn a swimsuit ; )
ReplyDeletehahahaha ~ I would have made everybody puke!
ReplyDeleteI remember playing on one of those spin-around things she is sitting on, except that the one we used had a solid floor to stand on. It was on the beach. We rode on it and jumped off onto the sand.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping it was Tropic of Cancer.Marti I recall those as a kid also and we'd try to knock each other off as we spun.Probably lawsuit city nowdays.bosox
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Tropic-Cancer-Henry-Miller/dp/0802131786
ReplyDeleteNot my favorite but it was 40+ years ago when I read it - perhaps a rereading is in order.
Watched another of the new Bill Moyers programs -- this time caught it on PBS. I never thought the day would come that I would be liking/agreeing with David Stockman, but there he was making total sense. He has a book in the works on crony capitalism. Gretchen Morgenson was also really good.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of a series that Moyers is doing on economic inequality. You can watch or listen to them here:
http://billmoyers.com/
Youtube is my favorite website because you learn something new every day. While I post there on a daily basis, I hadn't come across this before:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/user/CCProse?feature=watch
Awesome channel!
Has anyone seen this before:
ReplyDeletehttp://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2012/01/when-did-this-become-hotter-than-this.jpg
Today's ideal Hollywood ''beauties'' are scrawny while yesteryear's beauties were full bodied. When comparing these two groups, I'm definitely on the side that thinks yesteryear's gals were far hotter.
Perhaps that is one topic we missed in our discussion of American history ~ today's idea of beauty compared to past ideas. Dunno if there is a book on the subject anywhere but that's a thought worth thinking about.
Jennifer Lopez is full bodied ; )
ReplyDeletehttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k113Rk1pevs/TZAFWG4D4OI/AAAAAAAAAS8/tZejbYD3KYI/s1600/jennifer_lopez_bikini_wallpapers.jpg
There is an entire field of study and I'm sure hundreds of books examining these kinds of questions: why women would risk near starvation so that men (and some women) will post their photos on the internet and elsewhere, and how society influences what members consider beauty -- it's called gender studies.
ReplyDeleteavrds ~ is there any book you might recommend on the subject which deals with society's historical view on beauty?
ReplyDeletesorry, Trippler. Cultural norms of "beauty" isn't an area that interests me much.
ReplyDeleteI would search on Google books and Google scholar. I'm sure you'll come up with more reading than you have time for. Gender studies is a huge area of research and interest generally. I'm sure there are lots of studies of the role of the media in shaping these views.
What I think of is the binding of women's feet or the mutilation of bodies in the name of beauty (to which you could add piercing and tattoos) -- there's a long history of this in most if not all societies. And it's not just a female issue. Men also have physical characteristics that manifest themselves in the culture. You could post something similar about the changing view of male cultural icons (although interestingly most men don't).
That's very true. I remember studying ancient Greek and Roman culture when I was in high school and college. These ancient warrior cultures spent far more time and resources in portraying their concepts of male "beauty" which often entailed the presentation of nude males with swords or weaponry in hand. These were highly distasteful to say the least.
ReplyDeleteHappily, in these modern times we have various forms of portraiture in the ideal beauty is presented in female form, wears considerably more garments, and is presented without any vestige of martialism. Dunno about anyone else, but I'll gladly view Miss Marilyn in a full body bathing suit reading "Ulysses" than a nude and armed Hercules with his sexual organ as erect as a sword menacing anyone who is near him.