"Um, what circle are we in now?"
100 Ways America is Screwing up the World
John Tirman
Harper Perennial
Over the past week or so, a number of you oh-so-loyal blog readers have sent me notes asking why I haven't posted anything recently. Well, the answer, dear friends, is that I took a bit of a journey. With American foreign-policy guru John Tirman at my side, I descended into the nine circles of Hell and got up close and personal with the darker side of America, her politics and her people.
100 Ways is a serious and sometimes tongue-in-cheek look at how the United States has negatively impacted the rest of the world. Issues discussed are wide-ranging -- from climate change to Billary -- and it is obvious that despite his centre-left views, Tirman has given each of his topics much attention and thought.
To be candid, I struggled through portions of this book -- not because it wasn't interesting, but because it was depressing. The examination of genocide was particularly hard. How could I have been unaware of the slaughter of nearly a half million Filipinos in the early part of the 20th century? Where was that in my history books? Closer to home, where was the acknowledgement that the white settlers of North America wiped out nearly 85% of all indigenous tribes? That's eight to ten million people -- as Tirman states "a slow motion genocide but a very thorough one." How can that not upset me? Big Pharma (way number 36) might suggest Prozac, but that would only treat the symptom.
Like Dante with the Divine Comedy (I can't believe I'm actually making a comparison here, but it does seem to be an underlying theme in this blog,) Tirman tries to end on an optimistic note and proposes a top-ten list of what America does right. I'm not sure it's enough to convince me that the elephant isn't evil, but it at least left me with a more positive vibe. Tirman (not the book) gets 4/5 stars.
100 Ways is a serious and sometimes tongue-in-cheek look at how the United States has negatively impacted the rest of the world. Issues discussed are wide-ranging -- from climate change to Billary -- and it is obvious that despite his centre-left views, Tirman has given each of his topics much attention and thought.
To be candid, I struggled through portions of this book -- not because it wasn't interesting, but because it was depressing. The examination of genocide was particularly hard. How could I have been unaware of the slaughter of nearly a half million Filipinos in the early part of the 20th century? Where was that in my history books? Closer to home, where was the acknowledgement that the white settlers of North America wiped out nearly 85% of all indigenous tribes? That's eight to ten million people -- as Tirman states "a slow motion genocide but a very thorough one." How can that not upset me? Big Pharma (way number 36) might suggest Prozac, but that would only treat the symptom.
Like Dante with the Divine Comedy (I can't believe I'm actually making a comparison here, but it does seem to be an underlying theme in this blog,) Tirman tries to end on an optimistic note and proposes a top-ten list of what America does right. I'm not sure it's enough to convince me that the elephant isn't evil, but it at least left me with a more positive vibe. Tirman (not the book) gets 4/5 stars.
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