{"id":15711,"date":"2008-05-30T16:15:17","date_gmt":"2008-05-30T20:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/15711.html"},"modified":"2008-05-30T16:15:17","modified_gmt":"2008-05-30T20:15:17","slug":"on-the-reading-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/on-the-reading-list\/","title":{"rendered":"On the reading list…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin Drum recently wrote<\/a>, “I’ve been reading an unusually large number of current events books lately (aka ‘books that publishers send me for free’), and although there have a couple of clunkers in the lot, several of them have been very good. I’ve been remiss in not writing them up on the blog, but at the very least I feel like I ought to give them at least a brief mention.”<\/p>\n

I tend to agree with just about everything Kevin writes, but this paragraph was absolutely perfect in capturing a post I’ve been meaning to put together.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the books I’ve been reading (and enjoying) lately:<\/p>\n

* Nixonland<\/i>, by Rick Perlstein.<\/b> This is, quite simply, the must-read political book of the year. This may sound hyperbolic, but Perlstein’s book on contemporary political trends that began in the 1960s may be one of the best books on politics in a generation. Buy it.<\/p>\n

* The Court and The Cross<\/i>, by Frederick Lane.<\/b> I love reading about the Supreme Court and I love reading about the religious right. Fred has put the two together in a fascinating, well-research, persuasive text. Perhaps most importantly, Fred helps explain why these rulings matter<\/i>.<\/p>\n

* So Wrong For So Long<\/i>, by Greg Mitchell.<\/b> The subtitle for the book, “How the press, the pundits — and the president — failed on Iraq,” sums up Mitchell’s fine work quite well.<\/p>\n

* Right is Wrong<\/i>, by Arianna Huffington.<\/b> I liked this one even more than I thought I would, and not just because Arianna quoted me twice in the book. The book reads like a powerful indictment of everything wrong with the modern conservative movement.<\/p>\n

* Confessions of a Political Hitman<\/i>, by Stephen Marks.<\/b> Ever wonder what some of these Republican hatchetmen are thinking? Marks was one of those hatchetman and he writes about exactly what he was thinking. It’s painful to read, but surprisingly engaging, particularly for me, given my fascination with the New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal, which Marks was directly involved with.
\n
\n* Free Ride<\/i>, by David Brock and Paul Waldman.<\/b> I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but this book, about John McCain and the media, is extremely well written and well researched, and raises poignant observations that have a unique salience in the midst of the presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

And in the world of TV…<\/p>\n

* Recount<\/i>, by HBO.<\/b> I broke down and watched it, and as frustrating as it was to be reminded of what transpired, it was actually really good.<\/p>\n

* John Adams<\/i>, by HBO.<\/b> I missed this one the first time around, but it’s out now on DVD, and it’s absolutely worth watching. I’ve never been entirely impressed with Adams’ presidency, and tend to think he was overrated as Founding Fathers go. But what makes the miniseries so brilliant is that it’s not just about Adams; it’s a fascinating look at the personalities of the era.<\/p>\n

So, what’s on your reading list?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kevin Drum recently wrote, “I’ve been reading an unusually large number of current events books lately (aka ‘books that publishers send me for free’), and although there have a couple of clunkers in the lot, several of them have been very good. I’ve been remiss in not writing them up on the blog, but at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}