119. In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History - Mitch Landrieu

The blog is back!

I heard Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, speak on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah about his book shortly before it was going to be released.  He shared a really honest and revealing perspective of his controversial decision to remove several prominent Confederate statues, and I immediately bought the book online. 

I hadn't realized that Mayor Landrieu had initiated the conversation about removing the statues well before the national conversation started (which was mostly after the massacre in Charleston).  I appreciated Mayor Landrieu's acknowledgement of his ignorance in trying to understand the pain behind Confederate images for black folks.  He admitted that he grew up seeing these monuments and other Confederate images every day, and didn't think much about them.  He only was forced to consider them when he asked his good friend, Wynton Marsalis, to come back and perform for the City's tricentennial.  Marsalis conditioned his acceptance on Landrieu considering removing the statue of Robert E. Lee.

Landrieu did a deep dive into learning the history of the Confederate monuments and understood that they were constructed to send a specific message to African Americans more than they were to ever serve as a memorial to those who were killed in the war.  Marsalis asked Landrieu why he thought so many black folks left NOLA (Louis Armstrong left there, and even refused to be buried there).  Landrieu soon realized that "they are not of our age, nor of our making, and they deserve no prominence in our city."  He also realized that he had the best chance at making the removal happen, because he was a white mayor toward the end of his second term (this was around 2015). 

I remember hearing about the removal of the statues in the news, but I had no idea about all of the violence and drama leading up to the removal.  White supremacist groups surfaced.  The city had contracted with a company to effectuate the actual removal, and the owner of that company pulled out after he started receiving death threats and his sports car was set on fire while parked in his company's driveway.  The FBI had to get involved in the planning and preparation, SWAT teams were staked out the days the removal happened, and the employees of the contractors involved wore bullet proof vests and face masks, covered the logos on their company’s trucks, and removed their license plates.  The statues came down in May of 2017. 

A significant part of this book was about Hurricane Katrina, and those stories were really sobering. Landrieu was honest, even where it wasn't pretty.  It was striking to read stories about sites in NOLA that I had just visited over Memorial Day weekend a few months ago.  The Hyatt Regency, where I stayed, was ground zero for coordinating emergency operations, because it was just across the street from the Superdome, which of course was serving as an emergency shelter for thousands of people, and behind City Hall, which was flooded.  Clergy from Alabama set up a grill outside of Harrah's Casino to cook food for people who were taking shelter at the Superdome. 

Overall, this book was a fantastic read. I have to admit that the first third or so moved slowly for me (a bit of the history of Louisiana and New Orleans, setting the framework for the story of NOLA politics, etc.), but it was important for context.  I wish I'd finished reading it before my trip to NOLA, but now I have a better understanding and perspective of the city for the next time I go back!

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118. The Next Big Story: My Journey Through The Land of Possibilities - Soledad O'Brien

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I'm a huge CNN junkie - so naturally I had to read the autobiography of one of my favorite anchors (I woke up to her on American Morning every morning when I was in law school). I also had to get it autographed when she was doing a book signing at the CNN Center!

Soledad (I can call her that - she told me when I met her :) ) shares her life story - from growing up in an all-white town in Long Island as the daughter of a white man from Australia and a black woman from Cuba - to her discovery of her true calling to become a journalist - to her amazing stories from working at CNN, including her Black in America and Latino in America documentaries.

One of the stories that stood on the most to me was when she was discussing with Rev. Jesse Jackson how CNN needed more black anchors. He started ranting and saying that there were no black anchors on the network at all. Soledad interrupts him to remind him that she's the anchor of American Morning (which he knew - he had been a guest on the show!). "He looks me in the eye and reaches his fingers over to tap a spot of skin on my right hand. He shakes his head. 'You don't count,' he says." Apparently she spoke to him later and found out that he honestly didn't know that she was black. Her point was poignant: "That is how precise the game of race is played in our country, that we are so easily reduced to our skin tone. That even someone as prominent in African-American society as Reverend Jackson has one box to check for black and one for white. No one gets to be in between."

Soledad's stories from New Orleans after Katrina and from Haiti after the earthquake brought tears to my eyes. I love one point she made about Haiti: "It is almost as if the Americans are responding to a disaster in this nearby foreign country as a way of making up for Katrina. The land is peopled up by another group of black folks crying out for help. There is something about this that feels a bit redemptive, like folks who just took matters into their own hands and collectively screamed: We care."

My only complaint is the writing style - I loved the writing styles of journalists like Malcolm Gladwell and Anderson Cooper, but I found her style to be a bit choppy.  But overall - a great book.  

114. CNN: The Inside Story - Hank Whittemore

The fact that I read this book - about the history of CNN - proves that I'm a CNN addict! (I found it at a used bookstore in Marietta for 50 cents. It was written in 1990 ... but hey, history doesn't change!).

Most people know that Ted Turner started CNN, but they don't know all that he was up against when he did it. He had already done really well for himself after he took over his father's billboard business by investing in radio and TV stations. He got the idea in the 1970's to start a 24-hour cable TV station (back when cable TV was still pretty new) ... and absolutely everyone told him he was crazy. The "three networks" (CBS, NBC, ABC) each had yearly budgets of about $100-150 million, and CNN had a projected budget for its first year of $30 million.

The stories about how CNN got up and running were great - and the anecdotes about Turner were even better. The man is crazy - CNN wasn't even profitable yet, and he started CNN2 (now HLN) to cover all bases to exclude his competition (CNN had a one-hour news cycle - he wanted one with a 30-minute news cycle). And he definitely wasn't afraid of suing people to get what he wanted! But honestly, he's an entrepreneurial genius ... and that's why he is where he is now (I work near the CNN headquarters, Turner Broadcasting, and Turner Field ... you get the point). That's why I've decided to read his autobiography next ... honestly, this book was a bit hard to get through. The author sometimes told the same stories from several different points of view, which got a bit long. So while the stories about Turner and many of the stories about how CNN finally got off the ground were great, I think Turner's autobiography might be better than this book.

111. Come on People: On the Path from Victims to Victors - Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D.

Come on People is based on the theme of Cosby's popular "call out" sessions where he has drawn attention to the crises among the black community in America and where he has challenged African Americans to restore their families and communities. In this book, Cosby and Poussaint give a very in-depth analysis of issues like violence, drugs, lack of education obesity, poverty, and broken families. From the chapter about violence:

Low self-esteem can cause a kid to do things that are physically and mentally self-destructive. These are lost, mixed-up youths. Kids who are depressed, angry, or suffering from mental illnesses need to get counseling. They may cry out in desperation, but they do not know how to ask for help and too often reject it when it is offered. They'd rather kill to gain a modicum of self-respect than come in from the cold.

The book is written as more of a guide than as just complaints about the state of black America. Cosby and Poussaint encourage readers to be actively involved in the education and upbringing of their children; to stay out of credit card debt; to listen to music that uplifts rather than degrades; and to take their neighborhoods back from drug dealers. In the chapter about going from poverty to prosperity, the authors encourage readers to find legitimate jobs.

Parents and caregivers, have you heard a kid say, "Well I can either flip burgers or go out here and make some real money selling drugs" ? When you hear that, do you stop that child and say, "Wait a minute, fool. You don't flip burgers for the rest of your life. You flip them to become the manager of that place. You flip burgers to move from manager to owner of the damn franchise" ?

While I appreciate the valuable suggestions on ways to overcome these hardships, it was very obvious to me while reading this book that the people who need it most would likely (sadly) not be reading. The authors tell parents to stop using the television to babysit their children; they also tell mothers whose children might admit that they are being fondled by an adult not to allow it to continue just because that adult might be helping with rent or bills. Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but would the mother who sits her kids in front of the TV and who allows her boyfriend who's paying the rent to fondler her daughter really be sitting down to read this book? I hope that it is able to reach the academics, sociologists, clergy, and teachers ... and also the target audience that really needs it.

109. Planet Google - Randall Stross

In Planet Google, New York Times columnist Randall Stross provides a behind-the-scenes look at Google's massively ambitious plan: to become the one-stop shop for the world's information needs. Stross explains how one of the philosophies behind Google's plan is that information should be open and accessible ... which is part of why Google hated Facebook at first (since Facebook was a "closed-network model" - meaning "the more members that Facebook signed up, and the more time that they spent within its cozy but closed confines, out of reach of Google's spider, the slower the pool of searchable information for Google to find on the open Web grew").
Stross also has a few chapters on the infamous algorithm that Google uses to process its search results. Apparently, Google is determined to have the algorithm, and not human bias, determine search results, even when (for example) anti-Semitic websites may be toward the top of the list when you search for the word "Jew." Stross also discussed the business side of Google and how company after company, including Microsoft and Yahoo, underestimated Google's technology and advertising model. Lawyers reading this book will also appreciate the brief discussion of the copyright issues brought up in the lawsuits filed against Google for scanning books into "Google Books."
Overall, there is something in here for everyone - the only downside is that some parts got a bit too tech-y for the average reader. I'm sure there is a better book about Google out there, but this one was good enough.

108. 7 Things He'll Never Tell You ... But You Need to Know - Dr. Kevin Leman

In a similar vein as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, but written more for women, Dr. Kevin Leman breaks down what men need in relationships and explains how women can improve at giving it to them. I know that sounds like it's a book about how to be a subservient doormat to your man ... but it's really more a manual of how to get what you want (and deserve!) in your relationship!
Each chapter covers a different thing that men "won't tell you, but you need to know" - though I don't know that each "thing" was ever summed up in one sentence. At any rate, a common theme throughout the seven chapters is that men, at their cores, need three things: to be loved, to be respected, and to be needed.
My favorite chapter discussed men and sex. According to Dr. Leman (who, by the way, wrote this book from a very Christian perspective), sex is energizing and is the driving force behind a man. It builds his confidence and ego and improves his overall sense of well-being. "If he's in an unfulfilling job, he gets the strength to keep on doing what he's doing because he knows that there is a purpose for his work ... and a willing wife waiting as a reward at the end of his long day." Amazing how men and women can both be of the same species (scientifically speaking) but can view something like sex so differently! [Sidenote - I hope there's a book out there for men on what sex means for women!] Anyway, Dr. Leman also said this:

It's been said that women need a reason for sex. Men only need a place . . . . Men are wired by God to enjoy the feminine form. It's normal for a man who loves his wife to walk by another beautiful woman in a red dress and think, Wow, she's gorgeous. Or for him to turn his head in a restaurant to follow a young woman in a red miniskirt. The wife who thinks, How could you? That's so dirty! is missing the point. The wife who thinks, Hey, so he notices women in red? Mmm, what do I have in my wardrobe? has grasped the point. Later, she will undoubtedly grasp her husband's full attention by wearing that red little something she's got tucked in the back of her closet.

I know, it's much easier said than done to think like that!
In the chapter about men's need to be respected, Dr. Leman breaks down the apostle Paul's rules for marriage in Ephesians, including the verse that people often forget: "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." He also gives a very helpful list of rules about how to fight fairly (if you have to fight):

1. Remember that fighting is an act of cooperation.
2. Stay on the subject at hand.
3. Don't be a bone digger, bringing up past stuff.
4. Avoid the words you and never, as in "You never listen to me!"
5. Face each other and hold hands.
6. Have one person talk at a time. Do not interrupt.
7. When one person's done, the other person can respond.
8. After that exchange, clarify only if the issue needs to be clarified (i.e., someone has the wrong perception). Don't kill a dead horse.
9. If things get too hot, call a time out. Kids need recess, and you may too!
10. Don't avoid the topic. After your break, tackle it again the same day. Do not let the sun go down on your anger (Ephesians 4:26).

It's been a while since I've read Men are from Mars so I can't say whether to read that book or this one, but I highly recommend this book for all women - single or taken!

106. How to Be Safe in an Unsafe World - Harold H. Bloomfield & Robert K. Cooper

The blog lives! But I'm sorry that I had to bring it back with this book ...
This book is about what the authors call "safety intelligence." The discussion of inner security reminded me a lot of what Malcolm Gladwell talked about in Blink: how to avoid "emotional paralysis" by observing a situation in a small amount of time and maintaining a state of heightened awareness, calmness, and power.
The authors also offer practical tips to increase your sense of inner security and external safety that I, living in a big city, found quite helpful. For example, research demonstrates that it takes only seven seconds for an attacker to "size up" a potential victim - and that even by changing the way that you walk can deter an attack. Research also shows that yelling "help" when confronted with danger actually discourages assistance; but yelling "fire" will distract an assailant and will be more likely to attract the aid of bystanders. The book also gives suggestions on what to do if confronted with a stalker; if you're carjacked; if you're the victim of an incident of road rage; and also if you have to deal with an aggressive date or co-worker.
One reason I bought this book was because of the forward by Deepak Chopra (if his name is on it, it has to be good!), but I feel like there are better books out there on the same topic. I suggest you don't waste your time on this one.

105. Game Change - John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

This book (a.k.a. political thriller) is about the 2008 presidential election. Yes, this is the one that you heard about in the news - the one in which Harry Reid was quoted as saying that Obama had a chance at winning the election because he was a "light-skinned African American" with "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." It starts with laying out the candidates' decisions to run; covers the bitter debates; and goes into so much more in between.
What really struck me was how the authors exposed sides of the candidates that the public would never see. Some of my favorite parts ...

When Hillary Clinton found out that Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said on TV, "I think [Bill Clinton] has been a great leader, but I don't want my daughter near him," ...

The phone went quiet. Hillary was speechless. A few more seconds passed, and then finally came her voice, hot with fury.
"Fuck her," Hillary said - and then called Solis Doyle and summarily canceled the fundraiser.

According to Heilemann and Halperin, so much of Hillary's campaign was centered around (and ultimately hurt by) issues with Bill: his alleged continuing affairs; how to control his mouth; and his borderline comments about race (e.g. that Obama would surely win South Carolina during the primaries, because Jesse Jackson did in 1984 and 1988). The "race issues" were quite funny to read about, though. At one point, Hillary wanted to make a commercial portraying Obama as a chameleon.

Penn and Grunwald (Clinton advisers) theorized that Obama, the darling of the left, was pandering to conservative Democrats in northern Nevada. He’s become a chameleon, one of them said.
“He has! We should call him that!” Hillary said, proposing a TV ad that somehow pictured Obama as a color-shifting lizard. “We need a visual,” she said.
“We can’t,” Grunwald replied.
“Why?” Hillary asked.
The color thing, Grunwald said. We’d get hit for dabbling with race.
“Oh Gawwwd,” Hillary groaned. “Give me a break.”

There were also so many fascinating behind-the-scenes stories about Obama. Apparently, he's a lot more cocky than a lot of people might think. Then again ... don't you have to be in order to have the guts to run for president of the United States?? But he also apparently has his emotional side. At one point, Valerie Jarrett threw a book party for him in her backyard soon after The Audacity of Hope had come out.

Jarrett introduced Obama and spoke about Audacity’s final chapter, in which he wrote about the stress that the demands of his career put on his marriage, the
disruptions to his family life. As Jarrett went on, talking about the sacrifices his wife and girls were making, she saw that Obama was crying-to the point where he couldn’t manage to speak when it came his turn. Michelle walked over, put her arm around him, and began to cry as well.
Even Obama’s closest friends had never seen him choke up in public before. He’s not emoting about the past, Jarrett thought. He’s emoting about the future. About the fact the sacrifices he’s imposed on his family are only just beginning.

The writers also exposed a lot about the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter story. How ironic that John Edwards finally came forward two weeks before this book came out and admitted that he had fathered her child. Many of his campaign staffers had been trying so hard to keep her away from him, knowing what was going on. And not that this in any way justifies his actions, but Elizabeth was apparently "an abusive, intrusive, paranoid, condescending crazy-woman" who walked all over Edwards. What a stark contrast from her image as the cancer-surviving, supportive politician's wife.

I wish the authors had included more about the McCain-Palin side of the story. But a few funny pieces were that one of McCain's favorite outfits off-camera is a dress shirt and boxer shorts (eww) and that McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman would watch the YouTube clip of John Edwards fixing his hair and roll on the floor with laughter. Also, the media has already exposed stories about McCain's temper, but this part was funny:

McCain was erupting over everything. At a scheduling meeting to discuss [his daughter] Meghan’s college graduation, McCain learned that the commencement was a multiday affair that would require him to make several round trips to New York. “How many fucking times do I have to go to fucking New York this week?” he yelled. “How many fucking times can you fucking graduate from fucking Columbia?”

There wasn't anything too shocking about Palin in there - I think the media has already done a pretty good job exposing her ridiculousness. But a small excerpt shows just how hardcore these campaigns are ... something had come up about Palin, and the staffers were not getting direct answers from her and so they had to check it out themselves.

Schmidt wanted to get them on the horn and have the history of her AIP registration checked out immediately.
"But it's two in the morning in Alaska," someone said.
"The phones don't work at fucking night there?" Schmidt bellowed. "Call them! And keep calling them until they pick up!"

Overall, the writing was exquisitely entertaining. The authors call Hillary's camp "Hillaryland" and Edwards' camp "the Edwardsphere." And read how they describe one of Obama's speeches in Iowa:

With a law professor's attention to detail and a litigator's argumentativeness -- plus a hint of the defensiveness of a politician under fire -- he included rebuttals to almost every criticism that Clinton had hurled at him down the homestretch.

Brilliant! It's interesting to note that a lot of the "quotes" are actually not in quotation marks ... in the preface, the authors point out that this was purposeful and was to show that the person remembering the supposed "quote" might not have been able to remember the exact verbiage - but that the idea was close enough.

This was a long book ... but unlike The Poisonwood Bible (notwithstanding the completely different genre), it was impossible to put down.

104. The Secret of Divine Civilizaiton - Abdu'l-Baha

This book was first written by Abdu'l-Baha in 1875 and was addressed to the people of Persia (Iran). It is known for its attempt to improve the degraded conditions of Persia: the poverty, corrupt government, and lack of education, especially for women. This book actually sort of reminded me of Plato's Republic (at least, the small amount I understood from The Republic!) in that Abdu'l-Baha examines what is needed to make a "just society." He argues that religion should be a binding force for love and not of ignorant prejudice, and he tries to reconcile the schism between religion and politics.
It's interesting to compare many of the issues that were being debated back then to what is in the news about Iran now: such as whether modernize and accept Western technology, or to reject Western culture and rely on technology developed in the Islamic world. In this book, Abdu'l-Baha shows the great changes that took place in Western culture as a result of the revelations of Jesus.
In discussing the government of Persia, Abdu'l-Baha warned that great results cannot be expected unless the members elected are qualified: "righteous, God-fearing, high-minded, incorruptible ... fully cognizant ... versed in the rules which govern the management of internal affairs and the conduct of foreign relations, skilled in the useful arts of civilization, and content with their lawful emoluments." He also discussed in depth a quote from Muhammad as it relates to this issue of finding the right people to serve in the government needed to improve the country: "As for him who is one of the learned: he must guard himself, defend his faith, oppose his passions and obey the commandments of his Lord."
To be honest, this book was very, very hard for me to read. You can tell that it was translated from Arabic (or Farsi) into English and that it was written over a century ago, because the English was very old and formal. Nonetheless, a good read.

102. The Male Factor: The Unwritten Rules, Misperceptions, and Secret Beliefs of Men in the Workplace - Shaunti Feldhahn

I would sum this book up as the workplace edition of Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus. Written by Shaunti Feldhahn (she also wrote the For Women Only and For Men Only series), this book is based on confidential interviews that she conducted with more than three thousand men about how men tend to think in work environments. Some of the information is basic - for example, it's almost common knowledge now that women are often better at multi-tasking, while men tend to have one-track minds. But Feldhahn explores this issue a bit deeper (and uses a great analogy of women being like a computer that can have many windows open at once that you can click and switch between; and men being like a computer than can only have one window open at a time, and you have to close one before you can open another) by explaining how this can affect how men and women in the workplace. For example, we know that women (generally) tend to be more emotional than men. But because men have more of a one-track mind, when a man perceives a woman as being emotional about something at work, he is more likely to assume that she is not getting work done because he figures that she is like him and can't do more than one thing at one time (i.e. be emotional and be effective at work).
Further, men are much more likely to perceive someone who is emotional as violating the rules of the business world - i.e. being "unbusinesslike." So what's the moral of the story, per Feldhahn? "If something might evoke personal world, don't let a man see it."

Here's a passage from the chapter on emotion:

The issue of managing emotion was one of the top topics that came up in my interviews; men clearly thought that an inability to manage emotion well was a way talented women sometimes shot themselves in the foot. Yet these same men often commended women for their superior empathetic, listening, and interpersonal skills. In short, many men clearly saw the benefits of someone who was "relational" but not "emotional."

Another interesting point that Feldhahn made is that women to be very interested in the process, and men tend to be more interested in the end result. So if an associate is explaining his or her research to a male partner, the partner is much more likely to be interested in the very narrow answer to his question, rather than, "Well, I didn't find anything here, so I checked this resource, but then I had to ask this partner this question because ... and then ultimately I found ..." As one man in Feldhahn's survey put it: "Don't tell me about the pain; just show me the baby!"

Oh - and what about the short skirts and low-cut tops in the workplace?! Even if you don't think your male colleague is looking at your body ... he probably is.

Neuroscientists have consistently found that more areas of the male brain are devoted to visual-spatial processing than in the female brain. By contrast, more areas of the female brain are devoted to verbal and emotional processing. Where a woman's brain predisposes her to experience the world more relationally, a man's brain predisposes him to experience the world more visually.

On top of that - because of hormones like testosterone, men are more likely to perceive certain stimuli as sexual in the first place. So even if you think what you're wearing is "high fashion," a man is more likely to think, "She must want me to look at her chest!"

Of course some people can write off some of what's in this book as "stereotypes," "overgeneralizations," etc. - but to that I say take from it what you will. I'd definitely recommend it to any working woman.

101. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill

This classic business and self-improvement book was first published in 1937, and is arguably one of the most famous self-improvement books today (more than 30 million copies have been sold). It is based on author Napoleon Hill's prior work, The Law of Success, which was the result of research on Hill's close association with people who achieved great wealth during their lifetimes like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles Schwab. Apparently, Andrew Carnegie asked Hill to study the characteristics of these men, and from this Hill developed 15 laws of success and 13 principles of personal achievement.
Some of Hill's "laws" are admittedly a bit "obvious": desire, faith, persistence, etc. But the anecdotes from men like those mentioned above certainly do make this a great read. Also, Hill combines these laws with concrete, practical steps by which by which "desire for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent."
One of my favorite chapters discusses the "six basic fears" that are centered around negative emotions and can hold you back from achieving success. They are: the fear of poverty; the fear of criticism; the fear of ill health; the fear of loss of love; the fear of old age; and the fear of death.
There's also a great chapter called "The Mystery of Sex Transmutation." From that chapter:

Sex, alone, is a mighty urge to action, but its forces are like a cyclone--they are often uncontrollable. When the emotion of love begins to mix itself with the emotion of sex, the result is calmness of purpose, poise, accuracy of judgment, and balance .... When driven by his desire to please a woman, based solely upon the emotion of sex, a man may be, and usually is, capable of great achievement, but his actions may be disorganized, distorted, and totally destructive. When driven by his desire to please a woman, based upon the motive of sex alone, a man may steal, cheat, and even commit murder. But when the emotion of LOVE is mixed with the emotion of sex, that same man will guide his actions with more sanity, balance, and reason.

After I read this book, I realized that all other business/self-improvement books I've read get their wisdom from this one. So instead of reading all the other ones that are out there, just check out this must-read classic.

100. The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli

100!! I did it!!

What a fascinating book! Published in 1532, this political treatise is basically Machiavelli's master plan for seizing and holding power. Apparently, Machiavelli sent it to Lorenzo de Medici, a member of the Florentine family that basically ruled the center of the Renaissance. In it, Machiavelli discusses the qualities of principalities (basically, what a prince has control over) and the reasons for their successes and failures. He also shows how many men try to acquire and keep these principalities, and discusses means of attack and defense that can be applied to defend them.

Some of Machiavelli's assertions are, in my opinion, quite true and realistic ... while others are quite disturbing. While I was reading this book, I found myself taking so many notes: this will definitely be a book that I buy and will have to re-read. I'll share some parts that stood out to me.

Cruelty can be called well used (if it is even permitted to use the word "well" in connection with evil) if it is executed at a single stroke out of the necessity to secure one's power, and then is not continued but converted into the greatest possible benefit for one's subjects. Badly used cruelty is cruelty that, even if initially limited, increases with time rather than subsiding.

Also, from the chapter entitled "Of The Different Types of Armies, and of Mercenaries":

The prince must therefore never shift his attention from the exercise of war, even in times of peace, and he must do this both in action and in mind. As for action, he must not only keep his troops well trained and organized, but must also himself continuously go out hunting, keeping his body accustomed to hardship, while learning the lay of the land ... He must do this with the greatest application[.]

In other words: be prepared, and know your enemies! This is a great quote that every president should read:

The choice of advisers is very important for a prince: Advisers are able or not, depending on the prince's wisdom. One can assess a prince's intelligence by looking at men with whom he surrounds himself. If they are capable and loyal, one can consider the prince prudent, because he was able to discern their ability and managed to keep them loyal. But when these men are lacking in quality, one can consider the prince as deficient because it is in choosing his advisers that he can make his first mistake.

I also loved the chapter on whether it is better to be feared or loved. I would absolutely love to read what other writers have said about it: it's only four pages, but it is so deep! Someone should write a book applying that idea to the concept of how we view God. God is supposed to be the the Creator, the All-Merciful, the All-Loving ... but it's considered a positive attribute to be "God-fearing." Is it better that we love God - or fear God?

I'm glad I ended on such a great piece of work. Thank you SO much to all who have been following my blog and for your thoughtful and insightful comments. I'll be taking a break from reading for a few days ... but don't worry, I'll be back! :)

99. What Is This Thing Called I? - Allen C. Carter

In this book, clinical psychologist Allen Carter explains how our minds often function by obeying "commandments" dictated by false gods that he calls "the creator god," "the we-god," and the "i-god." He explains how we can overcome being victims of these commandments by identifying who we truly are, through what Carter calls "the ten acceptances and their gifts."

In the chapter about one of the "i-god" commandments about how we often believe that we are unworthy and guilty with shameful pasts, Carter explains how forgiveness can often free us from these feelings of guilt.

True forgiveness recognizes that there is no guilt and never was! People just do what they do. Behavior is neutral. It is our judgment that makes the behavior right or wrong ... Yet, what about those others who hurt us, who did not love us, who used us, or abused us? What about them? The answer, dear reader, is "Forgive them for they know not what they do," or more accurately, they do not know who they are. They do not know that they are loved unconditionally. If they did, they would not hurt us, abuse us, or leave us.

I wasn't a fan of the first part of this book: it's supposed to the dialog in a class that he taught at Morehouse College, though the "dialog" seemed a bit phony and forced. But the next four parts were written better. The book fits pretty squarely into the lump category of self-help books by Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, and others. The only difference is that it was by a black author and he often talks about the black experience while exploring these subjects. Overall: a decent book.

97. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream - Barack Obama

For some reason, I thought that this book would be a "part 2" to Dreams from My Father, but it was definitely much different: less biographical, a lot more about "the issues." In this book, Obama writes in depth about his personal views on faith and values, repairing the broken political process, and issues like education, renewable energy, and the partisan divide.

I appreciated the way that Obama did not hide from the fact that he is a Democrat - but he was not as incendiary as Sarah Palin. From one part:

... Conservatives, for instance, tend to bristle when it comes to government interference in the marketplace or their right to bear arms. Yet many of these same conservatives show little to no concern when it comes to government wiretapping without a warrant or government attempts to control people's sexual practices. Conversely, it's easy to get most liberals riled up about government encroachments on freedom of the press or a woman's reproductive freedoms. But if you have a conversation with these same liberals about the potential costs of regulation to a small-business owner, you will often draw a blank stare.

I really admire and respect his more balanced approach - especially because he still stands his ground on what he believes.

I also really liked reading about an insider's perspective of Washington. The stories that he told about his interactions with Senator Byrd and President Bush were great! This part was also revealing:

If you ask my eight-year-old what I do for a living, she might say I make laws. And yet one of the surprising things about Washington is the amount of time spent arguing not about what the law should be, but rather what the law is. The simplest statute - a requirement, say, that companies provide bathroom breaks for their hourly workers - can become the subject of wildly different interpretations, depending on whom you are talking to: the congressman who sponsored the provision, the staffer who delivered it, the department head whose job it is to enforce it, the lawyer whose client finds it inconvenient, or the judge who may be called upon to apply it.

My favorite chapter was actually the last one, entitled "Family." Likely because I want to be Michelle Obama when I grow up ... I loved reading what he had to say about their marriage and their children. I laughed out loud when I read this story:

...I called Michelle from my D.C. office and started explaining the significance of the bill – how shoulder-to-air missiles could threaten commercial air travel if they fell into the wrong hands, how small-arms stockpiles left over from the Cold War continued to feed conflict across the globe. Michelle cut me off.
“We have ants.”
“Huh?”
“I found ants in the kitchen. And in the bathroom upstairs.”
“Okay…”
“I need you to buy some ant traps on your way home tomorrow. I’d get them myself, but I’ve got to take the girls to their doctor’s appointment after school. Can you do that for me?”
“Right. Ant traps.”
“Ant traps. Don’t forget, okay honey? And buy more than one. Listen, I need to go to a meeting. Love you.”
I hung up the receiver, wondering if Ted Kennedy or John McCain bought ant traps on the way home from work.

Perfection! Obama is a ridiculously amazing writer - and he makes even some of the drier topics sound quite interesting. I'll probably re-read this book some time in the near future.

96. Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process Race and the American Legal Process - A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.

I was incredibly impressed by this well-researched and well-documented book by Higginbotham, a former Third Circuit judge. He gives a very thorough analysis of the "interaction between the law and racial oppression in America" (from the back of the book - but said so well). The first part of the book explains how perceptions of black inferiority developed, and how they came to influence our society so much. He also discusses the U.S. Constitution's references to slavery; the Supreme Court's sanction of racism in decisions like Plessy v. Ferguson and Dred Scott v. Sanford; and the unequal criminal justice system.
One passage that jumped out to me was from a part in which Higginbotham was discussing Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, Uncle Tom's Cabin:

Those who are oppressed may have the capacity to be brave and noble like everyone else, but the oppression itself is probably not what makes them brave and noble. Those who are oppressed may be in possession of certain absolute and simple truths beyond the knowledge of others, but chief among those truths is that freedom is preferable to oppression. Yet those who insist on seeing beauty in oppression often do so to assuage their guilt for contributing to that oppression. That is why the temptation to find beauty and nobility in suffering and oppression has a long and distinguished history.

Also, from the Dred Scott decision: did you know that Chief Justice Taney made twenty-one references to African Americans as inferior and to whites as dominant or superior? (i.e. African Americans being an "inferior class of beings"; an "unfortunate race"; and "unfit to associate with the white race"). And of course we all know that blacks were unable to serve as witnesses or jurors in court. This especially posed problems where a white man was sued by a black man, or was prosecuted for a crime against a black man, because the black man could not testify; nor could black witnesses. Clearly, this often led to a miscarriage of justice. To imagine a time where such things overtly pervaded our legal system.

And from President Abraham Lincoln:

I am not, nor have I ever been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races .... and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together, there must be the position of superior and inferior, I am as much as any other man in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.

I think a lot of people forget how pervasive these beliefs were, and how they really influenced not only behavior but legislation and jurisprudence!

How humbling to have finished reading this book the same day that I was sworn in as a lawyer.

95. What Your Doctor Doesn't Know about Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You - Ray D. Strand

In this book, Dr. Strand puts forth his arguments in favor of "nutritional medicine" - vitamins, minerals, and other supplements - and how these are essential to combating a lot of diseases. He defines "nutritional medicine" as a way to supplement pharmaceuticals (if needed) - to be distinguished from "alternative medicine," which is an alternative to pharmaceuticals. According to Strand:

Scientific research has established beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt that oxidative stress, or cell damage caused by free radicals, is the root cause of more than seventy chronic degenerative diseases.

He devotes a good amount of time to explaining diseases such as fibromyalgia, lung disease, and diabetes. In the chapter about diabetes, he explains how Americans tend to eat way too many high-glycemic foods like white bread, white flour, pasta, and rice (meaning they cause blood sugars to rise very rapidly and stimulate the release of insulin). When our blood sugar drops, we feel hungry - so we eat again sooner. After a while, the release of insulin becomes overstimulated so often that our bodies become less sensitive to it.

It was interesting for me to have read Fast Food Nation recently, because Strand talks about a lot of the same things that Schlosser did. He explains that the RDAs (recommended daily allowances) set forth by the FDA are not very useful. Also: 17% of the American population does not eat any vegetables; and if we exclude French fries and baked potatoes - more than half of the population is not eating any vegetables!

Strand definitely made it clearer to me what these "free radicals" are that I keep hearing about; as well as what anti-oxidants are and why they're so important.

94. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins

In this book, Richard Dawkins argues for the "gene-centered" view of evolution: in other words, that natural selection operates at the level of the gene rather than the organism, and that organisms are responsible for transmitting genes across generations.
Dawkins explains that even though we are born "selfish," we can overcome this selfishness by developing and improving ourselves as human beings through altruism and education. In one chapter that I enjoyed, he explains that "nice people finish first" - i.e. they're more likely to survive and prosper. He also argues against the premise that evolutionary theory somehow inspires selfish, aggressive, and competitive behavior.
I also enjoyed the chapter on "memes" - units of cultural transmission - as important contributors to human evolution (i.e. songs, rituals, religions, prejudices, etc.).
I have to admit that a lot of what Dawkins was talking about was over my head. I understood most of it - but I wasn't always sure how it all fit in with his overall premise. I also didn't find some of the material that interesting just because I don't consider myself to be so wrapped up in the whole debate about evolution as a lot of people are!

93. Gideon's Trumpet - Anthony Lewis

I was supposed to read this book the summer before I started law school (but never did). Now that I've finally read it three years later, I can definitely understand why it was assigned! This book tells the story behind Gideon v. Wainwright, the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision which held that states are required under the Sixth Amendment (of course, as incorporated through the Fourteenth) to provide counsel for criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys. I say that I now understand why it was assigned because Lewis does a fantastic job of explaining how a case gets all the way up to the Supreme Court; the procedure behind four justices deciding whether to grant a writ of certiorari; the role of the law clerks; etc. What I particularly enjoyed about this book was how Lewis gave so much context and background of the case itself, such as including letters that the defendant (Gideon) wrote to his lawyers.
For example, when Gideon learned that attorney Abe Fortas, had been appointed to represent him for his appeal to the Supreme Court, he wrote to Fortas asking him if there was any information he could provide that would help with the case. Fortas replied and told Gideon that "a little background" would help ... Gideon replied with a twenty-two page letter about his entire life that concluded as follows:

I have no illusions about law and courts or the people who are involved in them. I have read the complete history of law ever since the Romans first started writing them down and before of the laws of religions. I believe that each new era finds an improvement in law each year brings something new for the benefit of mankind. Maybe this will be one of those small steps forward, in the past thirty-five years I have seen great advancement in Courts in penal servitude. Thank you for reading all of this. Please try to believe that all I want now from life is the chance for the love of my children the only real love I have ever had.

Doesn't that put such a human face on such a landmark decision?! In the decision itself, the Court overruled Betts v. Brady and held that the right to the assistance of counsel was a fundamental right, essential for a fair trial, and emphasized the procedural safeguards needed for due process of law.

The amount of detail might make this book more likeable by lawyers and/or people who are interested in the law. Although some of the case law discussed is a bit outdated (this book was published in 1964), it's a great read.

92. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance - Barack Obama

Dreams from My Father is the autobiography of President Obama, published in 1995 after he was elected to be the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, but before the start of his political career. In addition to telling the story of his life, Obama talks a lot about his personal experiences with race and discovering his identity.

Most of us know the basics of Obama's life: he was born in Hawaii to a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, and his parents separated when he was just two years old. Obama's image of his absent father was created by stories told by his mother and her parents; he didn't get to spend time with his father until he was ten years old when his father came to Hawaii for a month-long visit. His father died in a drunk driving car accident in 1982.

Obama moved with his mother to Indonesia when she married Lolo Soetoro, but returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents when he was ten years old for better educational opportunities. He stayed there until the end of high school, after which he moved to LA where he attended Occidental College. In discussing his freshman year, Obama says:

... [O]ur worries seemed indistinguishable from those of the white kids around us. Surviving classes. Finding a well-paying gig after graduation. Trying to get laid. I had stumbled upon one of the well-kept secrets about black people: that most of us weren’t interested in revolt; that most of us were tired of thinking about race all the time; that if we preferred to keep to ourselves it was mainly because that was the easiest way to stop thinking about it, easier than spending all your time mad or trying to guess whatever it was that white folks were thinking about you.

Even though this next passage is a bit long, it has so much depth:

That was the problem with people like Joyce. They talked about the richness of their multicultural heritage and it sounded real good, until you noticed that they avoided black people. It wasn’t a matter of conscious choice, necessarily, just a matter of gravitational pull, the way integration always worked, a one-way street. The minority assimilated into the dominant culture, not the other way around. Only white culture could be neutral and objective. Only white culture could be nonracial, willing to adopt the occasional exotic into its ranks. Only white culture had individuals. And we, the half-breeds and the college-degreed, take a survey of the situation and think to ourselves, Why should we get lumped in with the losers if we don’t have to? We become only so grateful to lose ourselves in the crowd, America’s happy, faceless marketplace; and we’re never so outraged as when a cabbie drives past us or the woman in the elevator clutches her purse, not so much because we’re bothered by the fact that such indignities are what less fortunate coloreds have to put up with every single day of their lives--although that's what we tell ourselves--but because we're wearing a Brooks Brothers suit and speak impeccable English and yet have somehow been mistaken for an ordinary nigger.

Obama finished up his last two years of college at Columbia University and then moved to Chicago where he worked for a non-profit organization doing community organizing for the Altgeld Gardens housing project on the South Side. It was during this time that he decided to visit Kenya for the first time. On his way there, the flight attendant looks at Obama and asks him if he is related to Dr. Obama (i.e. Obama Sr.). It turns out their families were close.

I found myself trying to prolong the conversation, encouraged less by Miss Omoro’s beauty – she had mentioned a fiance’ – than by the fact that she’d recognized my name. That had never happened before, I realized; not in Hawaii, not in Indonesia, not in L.A. or New York or Chicago. For the first time in my life, I felt the comfort, the firmness of identity that a name might provide, how it could carry an entire history in other people’s memories, so that they might nod and say knowingly, “Oh, you are so and so’s son.” No one here in Kenya would ask how to spell my name, or mangle it with an unfamiliar tongue.

Something that came to mind after having read this book and Sarah Palin's book was Palin's comment during the 2008 campaign about how she loved to visit the "pro-America" parts of the country - implicitly implying that there were some parts of the country that she believed to not be "pro-America." Even though she later apologized for that comment, her book, in my opinion, maintained that same tone: the people who are "patriotic" and "so American" are the people who are most similar to her America. This memoir by Obama was very revealing and deep (and nonpartisan) and told so much about his life and lives of the poor black people in Chicago's projects. I hope Sarah Palin some day realizes that those people are just as "American" as the white farmers in rural America and "Joe the plumber."

Definitely a wonderful book, and I look forward to reading The Audacity of Hope.

91. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal - Eric Schlosser

Eric Schlosser does an amazing, in-depth survey of almost anything you can think of that has to do with fast food: he shares history of the most of the core fast food restaurants, e.g. McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and Carl's Jr.; he interviews the teenagers and immigrants who work at these restaurants; he uncovers secrets of the contemporary meatpacking industry; and he discusses marketing and globalization as it relates to fast food. He even explains how franchising fast food restaurants works: apparently the primary business of McDonald's isn't really fast food, it's real estate! The McDonald's Corporation owns the real estate of all of the 15,000 McDonald's restaurants in this country and it leases out the property to its franchisees. (Also, according to Schlosser, Subway is one of the worst companies of which you could become a franchisee.)

To understand just how much fast food has taken over our society:

[I]n 2000, [Americans] spent more than $110 billion [on fast food]. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music - combined.

The marketing strategies used by fast food establishments are amazing. The bulk of their advertising is directed toward children, since children are "surrogate salesmen" - they have the ability to persuade others, usually their parents, to buy what they want. Soft drink marketers try to get their products into elementary schools because children establish their tastes and habits early - and soda has the highest profit margins out of any product at fast food restaurants.
The part of the book that was the most disturbing was the part about the slaughterhouses and the meatpacking industry. It was basically a modern day version of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Did you know that American beef can't even be exported to most countries in Europe, because American cows are fed things that Europe has banned? They are given bovine growth hormone (banned in Europe) - and they're also fed ground up cows and poultry. Yes - cows, which are really supposed to be grain- or grass- fed, are now omnivorous. Oh - and if you are a vegetarian, you might want to reconsider eating McDonald's fries - part of what gives them their unique taste is that they're cooked in oil with beef tallow and beef extract.

This was a great book - I decided to read this book after it was quoted several times in The Hungry Gene. Schlosser really revealed a lot about the fast food industry ... probably a lot more than I ever wanted to know! Even though it won't prevent me from eating fast food, I appreciate having a better understanding of what McDonald's (et al.) is doing to lure me to eat its food and I appreciate knowing what exactly I might be putting in my mouth.