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jiujensu's reviews
454 reviews
Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist by Nick Salvatore
informative
slow-paced
4.0
This book will give you a new appreciation for both Debs and the American socialist movement. I did get a little bogged down with labor history because I've read so much less about that. This volume covers a lot of gound.
There have been great politicians and great speakers, but people like Debs (or Bernie Sanders)who live their beliefs and politics so earnestly are a marvel, an inspiration. They don't just tell people to vote or do the work, they are in the trenches and sent to jail, along with their fellow workers.
People from Wilson and Roosevelt to today have called socialism un-American, but Debsian socialism fit as well or better than anything else with American religion and patriotism on the political scene. One funny or disheartening thing is that they in 1920 seemed to have as hard a time as we do now advocating for the rights of workers in a conservative society. We haven't learned too much, sadly. The same divisions between radical and political factions then as now persist.
A quote during one of Debs' more frustrated moment also is fitting today (trump, biden, etc):
"The people can have anything they want. The trouble is they do not want anything. At least they vote that way on election day."
There have been great politicians and great speakers, but people like Debs (or Bernie Sanders)who live their beliefs and politics so earnestly are a marvel, an inspiration. They don't just tell people to vote or do the work, they are in the trenches and sent to jail, along with their fellow workers.
People from Wilson and Roosevelt to today have called socialism un-American, but Debsian socialism fit as well or better than anything else with American religion and patriotism on the political scene. One funny or disheartening thing is that they in 1920 seemed to have as hard a time as we do now advocating for the rights of workers in a conservative society. We haven't learned too much, sadly. The same divisions between radical and political factions then as now persist.
A quote during one of Debs' more frustrated moment also is fitting today (trump, biden, etc):
"The people can have anything they want. The trouble is they do not want anything. At least they vote that way on election day."
Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter by Carmen Aguirre
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
5.0
A lot of things are *called* revolutionary. This is literal. The very definition.
Ever since i heard her story on #TheMoth (11 min), I have wanted to read this. She's the daughter of revolutionaries (&one herself) in Chile. It's about the underground resistance after Allende during Pinochet and others.
https://themoth.org/storytellers/carmen-aguirre
US is frequently on the wrong side of history. Always supporting coups that help some horribly murderous dictator, so long as we can stop a democratically elected #socialist trying to get education &healthcare for all.
It exceeded my already high expectations. It could be the best thing i read all year, idk. Sad and inspiring and well written. So grateful she was able to write it down to share.
In her Acknowledgements:
"And my grateful thanks to all those who came before those who are fighting now and those who will continue to fight for a better future for all. I am awed, inspired and humbled by your dedication to the struggle, whether you are in the Gaza Strip, in India, in Mexico or in Bolivia, continuing to support Evo. I stand in solidarity with you."
-- Carmen Aguirre Something Fierce
#RedScare #neoliberalism #capitalism #DisasterCapitalism #ShockDoctrine
Ever since i heard her story on #TheMoth (11 min), I have wanted to read this. She's the daughter of revolutionaries (&one herself) in Chile. It's about the underground resistance after Allende during Pinochet and others.
https://themoth.org/storytellers/carmen-aguirre
US is frequently on the wrong side of history. Always supporting coups that help some horribly murderous dictator, so long as we can stop a democratically elected #socialist trying to get education &healthcare for all.
It exceeded my already high expectations. It could be the best thing i read all year, idk. Sad and inspiring and well written. So grateful she was able to write it down to share.
In her Acknowledgements:
"And my grateful thanks to all those who came before those who are fighting now and those who will continue to fight for a better future for all. I am awed, inspired and humbled by your dedication to the struggle, whether you are in the Gaza Strip, in India, in Mexico or in Bolivia, continuing to support Evo. I stand in solidarity with you."
-- Carmen Aguirre Something Fierce
#RedScare #neoliberalism #capitalism #DisasterCapitalism #ShockDoctrine
The Circle by Dave Eggers
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Pretty good book. I was reminded of Black Mirror's Arkangel, Nosedive, Entire History of you as well as 1984. We're well into this digital age, but all the fears we had at the beginning are still worth thinking over, so the book is still relevant. Reading it a decade after it was written was a bit like reading Vonnegut's Player Piano in current times, but as with that, the points are still valid.
I hate the main character but her insistence and single mindedness really prompt the reader to think of all the problems with social media and so much of our own lives being digital. A lot is fiction, but enough is familiar to make one claustrophobic.
Also, I'm Gen X, i watched the world change over to digital - i still can't decide if all this is a net positive. I'll be thinking about these things till i die. The theme doesn't get old.
A little warning on fat phobia - maybe it was to make a point about another terrible attribute of Mae, but it seemed a bit much. Also autistic was used as something like a slur i think. These things bothered me.
I hate the main character but her insistence and single mindedness really prompt the reader to think of all the problems with social media and so much of our own lives being digital. A lot is fiction, but enough is familiar to make one claustrophobic.
Also, I'm Gen X, i watched the world change over to digital - i still can't decide if all this is a net positive. I'll be thinking about these things till i die. The theme doesn't get old.
A little warning on fat phobia - maybe it was to make a point about another terrible attribute of Mae, but it seemed a bit much. Also autistic was used as something like a slur i think. These things bothered me.
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North by Blair Braverman
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I read this more quickly than most things. Literally couldn't stop reading. Adventure, travel, dogs, quirky people. Perfection. It was also like the TV show Life Below Zero about life in the Arctic, but with the added and necessary critique of the toxic masculinity often associated with the people that are attracted to going north with an air of superiority and living in the cold away from city comforts.
Most compelling is the idea presented that the danger of arctic survival is preferable (one consents to the activity/risk and nature has no agenda, doesn't desire power) to living in the violence that comes from the patriarchal racist capitalist systems (rather than a system that values all people equally).
I'm going to bring up #jiujitsu here, if i may. I'll put a quarter in the jar. I wonder if that's why some of us women are drawn to #bjj. I have heard that women who have endured trauma are likely to turn to #selfdefense classes or jiu-jitsu. This is simulated violence in a controlled setting. There are risks there and we are fully accepting/consenting - unlike the risks in daily life like walking at night, saying no to a man, flirting, not flirting, etc. There are tons of other reasons for practicing jiu-jitsu, but i felt a familiar thread in this book.
Most compelling is the idea presented that the danger of arctic survival is preferable (one consents to the activity/risk and nature has no agenda, doesn't desire power) to living in the violence that comes from the patriarchal racist capitalist systems (rather than a system that values all people equally).
I'm going to bring up #jiujitsu here, if i may. I'll put a quarter in the jar. I wonder if that's why some of us women are drawn to #bjj. I have heard that women who have endured trauma are likely to turn to #selfdefense classes or jiu-jitsu. This is simulated violence in a controlled setting. There are risks there and we are fully accepting/consenting - unlike the risks in daily life like walking at night, saying no to a man, flirting, not flirting, etc. There are tons of other reasons for practicing jiu-jitsu, but i felt a familiar thread in this book.
Reporter: A Memoir by Seymour M. Hersh
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I've long admired his reporting and always wanted to read about how he did what he did. Maybe his story has the usual hallmarks of white male success - not wealthy, but racism and sexism helped a great deal.
Aside from that, it has those romantic old newsroom stories about cub reporters, teletype, running in the rain to get the story in, secret sources he convinces to talk, etc. My Lai, CIA involvement with Allende coup and tracking anti-war protesters to unpopular stories about US crimes in Iraq and elsewhere. He seems the last of a certain kind of reporter that holds power to account. I hope I'm wrong about that.
It ends with a chapter on the time period in which I became acquainted with his work:
"I watched over the next years as the American media, overwhelmed by twenty-four-hour news, would increasingly rely in a crisis on the immediate claims of a White House and a politically compliant intelligence community. Skepticism, the instinct that drives much investigative reporting, would diminish even more after Barack Obama, full of hope and promise, took office in early 2009."
This quote was exactly the landscape around the invasion of Iraq in 2002. I wanted to see/read rigorous questioning of those in charge for what seemed like murder, vengeance and massive abuses of power - proof to back up all the official accusations - careful consideration of the massive slaughter.
Except for Hersh and Democracy Now, I couldn't find any good investigation or a remote desire to get to the truth of the matter, whatever it was, wherever it led.
The early 2000s. I was in my 20s and having one of those pivotal reassessments. I had to reorient as though i could feel the literal ground shift under my feet - what I'd been taught and felt sure i knew about America's goodness and promise and the murder and torture and lies i saw when i asked the questions i needed answered.
I know he's probably got massive faults and represents the good old boys club that i hope dies off and never returns, but he was a huge figure i saw with courage, integrity and answers at the time i was becoming more aware and processing things and needed someone out there to tell the truth.
Aside from that, it has those romantic old newsroom stories about cub reporters, teletype, running in the rain to get the story in, secret sources he convinces to talk, etc. My Lai, CIA involvement with Allende coup and tracking anti-war protesters to unpopular stories about US crimes in Iraq and elsewhere. He seems the last of a certain kind of reporter that holds power to account. I hope I'm wrong about that.
It ends with a chapter on the time period in which I became acquainted with his work:
"I watched over the next years as the American media, overwhelmed by twenty-four-hour news, would increasingly rely in a crisis on the immediate claims of a White House and a politically compliant intelligence community. Skepticism, the instinct that drives much investigative reporting, would diminish even more after Barack Obama, full of hope and promise, took office in early 2009."
This quote was exactly the landscape around the invasion of Iraq in 2002. I wanted to see/read rigorous questioning of those in charge for what seemed like murder, vengeance and massive abuses of power - proof to back up all the official accusations - careful consideration of the massive slaughter.
Except for Hersh and Democracy Now, I couldn't find any good investigation or a remote desire to get to the truth of the matter, whatever it was, wherever it led.
The early 2000s. I was in my 20s and having one of those pivotal reassessments. I had to reorient as though i could feel the literal ground shift under my feet - what I'd been taught and felt sure i knew about America's goodness and promise and the murder and torture and lies i saw when i asked the questions i needed answered.
I know he's probably got massive faults and represents the good old boys club that i hope dies off and never returns, but he was a huge figure i saw with courage, integrity and answers at the time i was becoming more aware and processing things and needed someone out there to tell the truth.
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Short and direct explanation of prison abolition. Prisons don't solve the problems or repair harm, they only add to it. Angels Davis will encourage you to imagine a different, more positive way (and stop the demand for a one to one substitution).
I love and agree wholeheartedly with her emphasis on this point:
"Alternatives that fail to address racism, male dominance, homophobia, class bias, and other structures of domination will not, in the final analysis, will not decrease decarceration and will not advance thre goal of abolition."
I love and agree wholeheartedly with her emphasis on this point:
"Alternatives that fail to address racism, male dominance, homophobia, class bias, and other structures of domination will not, in the final analysis, will not decrease decarceration and will not advance thre goal of abolition."
Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew
emotional
funny
fast-paced
3.5
A little about her career, a lot about her loves, and a touchibg story of being reunited with her daughter she gave up for adoption 20 years earlier.
The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Such a great book. This is one I'd recommend to men who want to support women. Even the ones who feel weird about saying feminism.
It's sort of rapid fire feminism, as the book is only 6 hours, but it covers a lot of ground. She breaks down everything from Grumpy Cat and the use of slurs to how men can really help women to how societies should be for helping each other, not denying rights (refugees, abortion, etc). As she said: “It costs you nothing to err on the side of “care”.
A quote about how men can help, the realization of what is required:
One of my podcasting friends told me that he does stick up for women in challenging situations, like testosterone-soaked comedy greenrooms, for instance, but complained, “I get mocked for it!” Yes, I know you do. Welcome. Getting yelled at and made fun of is where many of us live all the time. Speaking up costs us friends, jobs, credibility, and invisible opportunities we’ll never even know enough about to regret.
It's sort of rapid fire feminism, as the book is only 6 hours, but it covers a lot of ground. She breaks down everything from Grumpy Cat and the use of slurs to how men can really help women to how societies should be for helping each other, not denying rights (refugees, abortion, etc). As she said: “It costs you nothing to err on the side of “care”.
A quote about how men can help, the realization of what is required:
One of my podcasting friends told me that he does stick up for women in challenging situations, like testosterone-soaked comedy greenrooms, for instance, but complained, “I get mocked for it!” Yes, I know you do. Welcome. Getting yelled at and made fun of is where many of us live all the time. Speaking up costs us friends, jobs, credibility, and invisible opportunities we’ll never even know enough about to regret.
Already Enough: A Path to Self-Acceptance by Lisa Olivera
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Idk. Self help. *sigh*