History

One of the most engaging biographies I have ever read I knew next to nothing about Teddy Roosevelt prior to opening this book, which was recommended by a friend as the most superb example of a biography they’d encountered. I can echo this sentiment, as the prose, storytelling, and detail orientation is top-notch. Unbeknownst to me initially, this is part one of a trilogy, and I’m now committed to slogging through the entire work - part 1 ends with William McKinley’s assasination, making Teddy President of the United States at 42 years old. I’ll save most of my comments for when I’ve finished all three books, but here are a few ways in which TR stands out: ...

How Facism took over Germany, bit by bit For years, I’ve heard people compare policitians (and their policies) to Hitler and Nazism. After years of watching this pattern play out, I decided it was time for me to have some better context around what leads a country down a path towards one of these toxic “ism’s” so I can better seperate points of genuine alarm from policital pandering. This is a great read for anyone hoping to better understand group psychology, herd mentality, and failure to see the forest for the trees. ...

“the dollar, human rights and the United States of America exist in the shared imagination of billions, and no single individual can threaten their existence. If I alone were to stop believing in the dollar, in human rights, or in the United States, it wouldn’t much matter. These imagined orders are inter-subjective, so in order to change them we must simultaneously change the consciousness of billions of people, which is not easy. A change of such magnitude can be accomplished only with the help of a complex organisation, such as a political party, an ideological movement, or a religious cult. However, in order to establish such complex organisations, it’s necessary to convince many strangers to cooperate with one another. And this will happen only if these strangers believe in some shared myths. It follows that in order to change an existing imagined order, we must first believe in an alternative imagined order. ...