Mahmoud Khalil (Algerian-Palestinian activist, former graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.)
Mahmoud Khalil tells his story of being arrested by ICE for demonstrating at Colombia University in New York, only weeks before his graduation. Khalil is part of a demonstration against the Gaza war and what is identified by Amnesty International in 2024 as a Palestinian genocide. He is detained without being accused of a crime and sent to LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, Louisiana (approximately 1300 miles south). By coincidence or intent, the Trump administration cancelled approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University before Khalil’s arrest.
President Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)President Roosevelt (1933-1945)President Richard Nixon (1969-1974)President Donald Trump (2017-2021, 2025-?)
Kahlil’s book is a reminder of Presidential actions of former Presidents from both parties that have used their power to reinforce their government policies. Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Willson, Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and now, Donald Trump, are prime examples. Nevertheless, it is appalling to see the power of a President to arrest and illegally transport and/or deport foreign immigrants who are in this country to become productive workers or to attain an advanced education.
Are Americans more or less free in the 21st century?
America is founded on the principles of “free speech”, and “due process of law”, both of which are violated in the story of Khalil’s treatment by the American government. He is never charged with a crime but is arrested, and detained over 1300 miles from his home, a pregnant wife, and their newborn baby. The treatment of illegal immigrants by ICE is disgusting but Khalil’s experience shows it makes no difference when you look like a foreigner. America’s growing reputation as a bigoted country is confirmed. Khalil’s story shows if you look Black or foreign, your chances for success in America are diminished.
“No Land to Stand On” reflects on America as a country that has a long way to go to become a land of free speech and equal rights.
The power of an incompetent President is only mitigated by legislative and judicial powers, and the limits of their term in office. One hopes the next two years are better than the last two.
“The Cost of Care’ recommends insurance companies, medical services, and government administrations focus on creating a policy of “Medicare-for-all” that treats all elder and/or ill American citizens equally.
The Cost of Care (How Four Nurses Put Patients First in a Profit-Driven System)
Author: Theresa Brown
Narrated by: Donna Jay Fulks
Theresa Brown (PhD, BSN, Rn, Author, American clinical nurse.)
“The Cost of Care” is a somewhat frustrating book to review because it notes human faults that seem to dumb-down the profession of medical care in the United States. Like all products and services in America, cost is rising. Of course, a difference is that medical service is often a necessity rather than a choice. However, like all service organizations, some are managed well; others not.
Childbirth.
The first half of Brown’s book deals with childbirth and the costs and care for young families that choose to have children. Surprisingly, she finds Midwife birthing centers provide better care for pregnant mothers than most hospitals. She highlights Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Portland, Oregon Midwife centers. She notes the counseling and care from “Midwife” birthing centers are less expensive, equally effective, and more comforting for both mothers and newborn than major hospitals. Brown criticizes hospital treatment of pregnancy as emotionally sterile, less patient centered, and less likely to offer the best care for mothers and the newborn. This is an observation by Brown who is educated and licensed as a registered nurse.
A major criticism is Brown’s recognition of what one might call hospital clericalization of health care.
There is a sense of medical treatment becoming a mechanical job by caregivers, including doctors and nursing professionals who show little empathy or expressed concern for their patients. Many who have been treated by doctors, nurses, or hospital admissions employees will recognize some of her criticism. Large organizations, like hospitals, are highly regulated by the States in which they exist. Standardization of service in hospitals is required to mitigate possible mistakes in medical treatment. However, Brown notes that standardization works against the care, comfort, and safe infant delivery offered by mid-wife operations.
The right to choose.
However, what the author ignores is the volitional control a patient or pregnant mother has in choosing a physician. Human beings, whether doctors, nurses, midwifes, or pregnant mothers vary in their attitudes, habits, and beliefs. Both patients and those who provide medical services are human. The best any person can do as a physician, nurse, midwife, or patient is influenced by their education and the life they have lived. A pregnant woman’s choice of service is up to her. Brown argues mid-wife’ deliveries show lower C-section rates, fewer induced births and episiotomies, and higher rates of vaginal births with infant outcomes that are equal or better than hospitals.
Brown suggests care for expectant mothers is diminished by hospitalization.
Few service organizations and their employees perfectly serve the public. If one is not satisfied with a particular physician or medical service, a patient’s options are to choose a different service, live with or self-cure their malady, or try to find another medical treatment service. If the medical facility is the only one in town and has rude or unresponsive employees, a patient’s options are to complain about the medical service to supervisors or owners of the facility. Complaints may or may not change anything but failure to register a complaint will only reinforce poor services of the company.
Aged American citizens.
Brown goes on to discuss medical services for aged American citizens. The majority of Americans cannot afford full-service retirement communities that cover all natural aging maladies of those over 65. Qualification for complete care retirement communities often exceed a net worth requirement of $1,500,000 while most aged Americans’ have net worths of less than $250,000. This economic reality makes ageing in place a necessity rather than a choice for most Americans.
Brown ends “The Cost of Care” with a practical, though ideologically idealized, idea of how to improve medical care in America. She argues for caregivers, particularly nurses, be trained to base their care on human relationship. Brown suggests focusing on a health care change in America. She argues for health care to be reorganized. Her book recommends insurance companies, medical services, and government administrations focus on creating a policy of “Medicare-for-all” that treats all elder and/or ill American citizens equally.
Damasio’s theory may explain why history is filled with so much human tragedy. If emotion is the source of human evolution and knowledge, one doubts humans will ever achieve broad societal peace
Antonio Damasio (Portuguese neuroscientist, Professor of Psychology, Philosophy, and Neurology at the University of Southern California.)
This is an abstruse book to read or listen to because of the writer’s complex theory of emotions in human evolution. Professor Damasio’s research, education, and thought leads him to believe that consciousness comes from the emotions of human life. He argues that Descartes’ belief that “I think. therefore, I am” is wrong. Damasio suggests the correct phrase should be “I feel. therefore, I am”.
In contrast to Descartes, Damasio believes emotion, alone, made humans who they are.
René Descartes (A French philosopher 1596-1650.) believed thought, alone, made humans who they are.
To Damasio, feelings precede and determine human life’s reasoning abilities. He argues our biological being comes from feeling (not mind or thought) that conditions human belief and bodily existence. Damasio argues temperature change, blood glucose levels, blood pressure, and blood pH are thermostats of a human being’s bodily existence. He argues changes in emotion affect the thermostats of life that inform and educate the brain to remember and act as human beings.
Why do humans get angry? Why do we love? Why do we hate? Why are we sad or happy? (Damasio argues emotions change the thermostats of being)
To reinforce Damasio’s argument, he writes of a patient who retains his reasoning ability and IQ but is unable to decide to act because of a lack of emotional feeling. Like Artificial Intelligence, without emotional input, a brain may understand facts but fail to use them without emotional context. Damasio argues human evolution began with emotions that trained the mind in ways that changed the thermostats of the living; i.e., whether humans, elephants, apes, dogs, or cats.
B. F. Skinner, Harvard Psychologist and founder of the Operant Conditioning movement seems to have believed something similar to Damasio’s theory.
Damasio argues that consciousness and feeling evolve based on a life’s ability to regulate their “thermostats”. A newborn possesses feelings from the moment of birth and begins learning about life from emotions that garner responses of others and affect the thermostats of an infant’s body and mind. One may ask oneself, how is that different from A.I. that creates operational decisions based on remembered facts and historical results without emotional stimulation. If one accepts the author’s theory, A.I. only presents a false flag because mere facts have no emotional content. The irony of Damasio’s theory is that A.I. decisions are as likely to be as wrong or right as one informed by human emotion. The point is that wrong or right decisions are possible whether informed by historical facts or human emotions. That is not to deny Damasio’s theory of evolution through emotion but seems to make the end result of human or animal decisions as easily good or bad for advancing life.
One comes away from Damasio’s theory about the critical importance of emotion with as much skepticism as one has of A.I. as the savior or end of humankind. Of course, that is not the importance of the author’s theory. His theory simply makes one wonder whether emotion was and is the driver of human evolution, and our reasoning, decision-making, and consciousness.
It seems his theory shows more of a threat than benefit to humanity. Damasio’s theory may explain why history is filled with so much human tragedy. If emotion is the source of human evolution and knowledge, one doubts humans will ever achieve broad societal peace.
End Times Fascism (And the Fight for the Living World)
Author: Naoimi Klein, Astra Taylor
Narrated by: Astra Taylor, Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein (Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker.)Astra Taylor (Canadian American, documentary film maker, writer, activist, and musician.)
Has American government become fascist? Is America being led by a Benito Mussolini and becoming more like Nazi Germany than a democratic nation?
The characteristic of a fascist nation is authoritarianism, ultranationalism, cultism, and opposition suppression designed to mobilize myth and emotion. Trump is an authoritarian. He believes America is the superior of all nations. He surrounds himself with sycophants who endorse his belief and fear his criticism. However, an estimated 59 to 61 percent of American citizens disapprove of Trump’s leadership. That opposition provides a belief that America is not and will not ever be like Mussolini’s or Hitler’s fascist regimes.
Klein and Taylor clearly mark the fascist actions and belief of America’s current president, but their arguments become tiresome and increasingly disrespectful of the power of democratic government and beliefs of an American majority. Their argument is diminished by being too judgmental, ignoring the feelings of most Americans, underestimating the power of America’s form of democracy, and oversimplifying the disgusting policies of an aged and incompetent President.
This is not a book that objectively assesses the truth of our times as seriously dangerous as they are for America and its allies. The picture drawn by these authors is a hyperbolically negative judgement of today’s American democracy. The book is returned to the library without being completed.
Thomas Wolfe shows how we become adults. He implies adulthood is a function of genetic inheritance, personal experience, and acceptance or rejection of our parents’ life experience.
Thomas Clayton Wolfe (1900-1938, American novelist and short story writer. North Carolina’s most famous writer.)
“Look Homeward Angel” is a tribute to the history of America in the early 20th century. What makes it a classic is that it reminds one of life in the 21st Century. In Wolfe’s short life, he captures a picture of America that is as reminiscent of today as yesterday. He tells the story of the Gant family as recalled by the book’s main character, Eugene Gant. Much of what is written seems like an experienced life of its author, Thomas Wolfe.
“Identity” is lost among Americans who do not have jobs or are grossly underpaid for the work they do.
Wolfe notes life is a search for identity filled with experiences of happiness, sadness, love, and loss. Our memories remind us of who we are, and how we became the person we think we are, despite the truth seen by others. Wolfe shows how humans are launched into life with experiences that make them something greater or smaller than their parents. As a child grows to adulthood, they become the sum of their personal life experience and inherited qualities of their parents.
S. J. Watson reminds reader/listeners of the nature and development of human beings.
The main character of “Look Homeward Angel” is Eugene Gant. Eugene’s story is about growing up in early 20th century America. Eugene is born into a big family, some of which die early in life. He is not the first born. The relationship between his father and mother show the trials of life between a husband, wife, and their children. William Gant, the father, drinks too much and seems to be in search of himself for a place in the world. He seems adrift with a self-destructive personality, an incoherent and somewhat peripatetic existence. He eventually settles into singular home life, but with scars from family separation and a wife who kept the home fires burning.
Can one be guilty of events for which they have no control over, or responsibility.
As in all families, every human being struggles to define themselves. Even though Eugene, his father, mother, and siblings have their own memories and history of life, Wolfe focuses on the growth and maturity of one son who grows to adulthood as a college graduate and an accomplished writer. It is the aspiration and self-discovery of Eugene and Wolfe’s engaging writing that keeps one engrossed in “Look Homeward Angel”. Wolfe is an extraordinarily gifted writer who paints imaginative, detailed, and believable pictures of an American family in the early 20th century. He portrays the vividness of life from the early 1900s through WWI and makes one think this is Thomas Wolfe’s life story.
Life’s journey.
Every child in a family has different expectations and experiences in life. Life is a singular journey for every human being. All of the Gant family members represent different aspects of life. Eugene’s mother is the anchor of the family. His father is a lesser light because of his lack of discipline, and employment instability. His sister, Helen, seems to understand Eugene as the aspirational child of the family. Eugene’s older brother and closest sibling, Ben, is a realist about the family’s instability and acts as protector of Eugene during the family’s hard times. Ben dies in the course of the story which gives reader/listeners a sense of the hardship in early 20th century America. Of course, the identified hardships of the Gant family remain in America today. That is what makes Wolfe’s story a literary classic.
Some Americans succeed in life; others fail. One sibling chooses to go to college while another chooses a different path. Each has an opportunity to succeed or fail. Education is no guarantee of a better life. However, doors are opened while others are closed without education. A minority of people become great, happy, and semi-contented while others fall into a cycle of poverty, unhappiness, and ever-present discontent. There is no clear path to success in life. One out of five of the Gant family presumably achieved fame and fortune. The other four seem to have lived a life of limited success in quiet desperation, insecurity, and struggle. “Look Homeward Angel” is as much a story of today as it is about early 20th century America.
Wolfe shows that one can never fully go home again. Eugene has grown beyond his attachment to home because the past is only a memory and his future lays before him. Time changes everything. Wolfe shows the differences in how one becomes who they are; i.e., the family we come from shapes us in great and small ways. How and by whom we are raised is always with us. It does not mean we are not different from our parents. Thomas Wolfe shows how we become adults. He implies adulthood is a function of genetic inheritance, personal experience, and acceptance or rejection of our parents’ life experience.
The rise of Artificial Intelligence is a concern of both politicians and the “Nerd…” generation. One doubts the American government will endorse or succumb to a “Nerd Reich” despite the threat of AI in the wrong hands.
The Nerd Reich (Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy)
Author: Gil Duran
Narrated by: Vincent Price & 1 more
Gil Duran (Author, American journalist based in San Francisco.)
Duran has written a provocative book suggesting there is a cabal of tech entrepreneurs like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and others who are engineering a potential master control system that will influence and eventually dominate society. He argues this system of control and influence is creating a “…Nerd Reich” in the sense of Hitler’s Third Reich that initiated WWII.
Leaders of a “Nerd Reich”?
The weakness of Duran’s argument is that most, if not all, human beings have self-interests that are different in ways that are great and small. Theil has strong opinions about what society gets wrong and seeks tech solutions to change societal belief. In contrast, Musk focuses on specific goals, like exploration of space, rocketry, and driverless cars. On the other hand, both show a desire to control humanity’s future like the biblical belief in God’s infallibility. Thiel pursues independent human thought by entrepreneurs not constrained by formal education. Musk pursues civilization-scale engineering based on technological education of the work force. The point is that these two entrepreneurs, like every human being, looks at life differently and emphasizes their personal biases in achieving their goals. Thiel looks for ways to change society by creating entrepreneurs while Musk looks to build things that do not exist with public/private education of workers. The point is that there is no entrepreneurial Tech cabal. There are Tech individuals looking for ways to change the world but in different ways.
Brilliant minds do not pursue the same goals. Revelation comes from different pursuits by those interested in different things. Some look for universal truths of science like Einstein while others look for truth about morality like Friedrich Nietzsche. Technologists will pursue both fields of study. They may agree on one avenue of exploration and not the other. There is no single cabal of interest by technologists, there are many different interest groups. Science and philosophical revelation generally come from an individual, not a consortium of people whether technologists, or scientists, or one person. Franklin Roosevelt and Adolph Hitler were leaders with immense power, but their power came from the people they led. The same is as true today as in the times of Roosevelt and Hitler. It is up to society to decide which path, which leader, we will follow.
Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.
The “Nerd Reich” is an exaggerated view of human revelation, discovery, creation, and execution. It does not give a complete picture but only a sliver of life, a period of temporary societal success or temporary failure. There will be and surely are tech cabals today, but that is and always will be the nature of human association or what is called society. Human beings associate with each other because of common interests and pursuits. Revelation always comes from the individual with hangers on that may have played a role in new discoveries, but social change comes from the “many”; not the “one”.
Technology is a widely held interest of millions of citizens of every country in the world. However, it is only one discipline among many. Tech association within society is not a singular controller of action or outcome.
General human judgments are often based on “confirmation bias”. The nature of thought and belief of human beings is often based on evidence that others say is true without personally investigating the basis for their judgement. In addition, we tend to understand information based on things that are compatible with views we already believe. We also have selective memory and tend to forget contradictory evidence. We often fail to consider alternative explanations because of preconceived beliefs that comport with what is being stated as fact or fiction. Further, many are not willing to clearly look at the evidence that supports or denies drawn conclusions.
Reviewing the “Nerd Reich”, one must ask themselves what they have seen that suggests there is a “Nerd Reich”. Does Musk’s actions as an American government employee who fires Department heads and employees at the general direction of President Trump make him a member of the “Nerd Reich”. I think not, in view of his position of Trump’s Presidential appointment and Trump’s ordered direction. President Trump is not, by any stretch of imagination, a “Nerd…”. Trump is simply an autocrat who has risen to the level of his incompetence.
The rise of Artificial Intelligence is a concern of both politicians and the “Nerd…” generation. One doubts the American government will endorse or succumb to a “Nerd Reich” despite the threat of AI in the wrong hands. At least to those of us who believe AI is a tool of humanity, not a superior form of intelligence.
Timothy W. Ryback (Author, historian, director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague, former lecturer on Concentration of History and Literature at Harvard.)
In writing “53 Days” Timothy Ryback identifies warning signs of democratic policy violations in Germany by Adolph Hitler in the 1930s. Hitler’s methodology is to attack institutions of government like the court system, the election process, government employment, and the media while blaming communist sympathizers trying to capture the government. The condition of the German economy is dire. Between 24 percent and 30 percent of Germany’s population were unemployed. Industrial output fell by 46%. A growing number of middle-class workers were losing their savings because of job losses. Faith in democracy collapses with citizens turning toward a belief in something different; i.e., either Communism or Nazism.
The Nazi party became the largest political force, though not a majority, in the 1932 election which gave legitimacy to the rise of Adolph Hitler.
Hitler preached power and refuses compromise. This nearly kills his appeal to the German majority but as Hitler exploits divisions among his rivals, their disorganization and infighting creates a vacuum that reduces resistance to the public’s interest in Hitler’s party. Most conservative leaders miscalculated the political appeal of Hitler. They took comfort in the appointment of President Hindenburg who expressed disdain for Hitler and his party platform. The tide soon turns with the suspicious Reichstag fire. (The suspicion is whether the fire is started by Nazis, the communists, or a lone arsonist unassociated with either party. The inference of the author is that it was a lone arsonist, but Hitler used the incident to inflame a political fire among fence sitters who sought governmental change.)
Surprisingly, Rybeck notes Hitler did not defeat democracy or the communist movement through a simple exercise of power but by using legal and constitutional procedures to overthrow a German democracy based on a distortion of democratic principles. Hitler’s rise, in Rybeck’s opinion, was not inevitable. However, many political leaders underestimated Hitler’s ability to undermine democracy by using democratic principles to undermine its efficacy. Rybeck believes democracy is a workable form of government rule in Germany’s time of economic strife, even in the 1930s. If constitutional safeguards, political parties, courts, and leaders upheld democratic norms, Rybeck believes real democracy could have restored the German economy. Of course, that is a road not taken because Hitler’s distortion of democratic norms gains control over the German government that turns into an autocracy. A listener/reader wonders whether America is at risk of being ruled by a clever tyrannical leader like Hitler.
The erosion of trust in elections is apparent in America from outsized influence of wealthy Americans and corporations that have agendas that are as likely to support as impede democratic ideals. Challenges to American Democracy have appeared from the influence of the politically and financially powerful in America. The independence of the judiciary and restrictions on news media access by the President are examples of challenges to the norms of American Democracy. Actions by today’s American President lean toward making America more autocratic than democratic. Trump’s vilification of the press, arbitrary firing of government employees, reliance on sycophancy as a measure of ability to manage government departments, undermining America’s election system, and the weakening of Constitutional checks and balances are examples of growing autocracy in America.
As one listens to Rybeck’s book, one sees parallels between Germany’s economy in the 1930s and rising economic insecurity in America. Like the society in Germany of the 1930s, America shows growing economic inequality, and declining trust in government departments from the arbitrary firing of competent employees. The rising political polarization of America is magnified by the election of an autocrat to govern an America that is founded on the principles of democracy. The wealth of people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Michael Dell and corporations like Google, AOL, Meta, Comcast, Walt Disney Company, Fox and other media conglomerates have inordinate power to influence public opinion; largely based on “what government policies benefit them”.
“One person, one vote” as the power of democracy is seriously challenged in today’s America. America’s economic situation is nothing as dire as Germany’s in the 1930s. American democratic institutions are firmly established by the Constitution. We are not recovering from a world war. However, a concern remains because of the rising gap between rich and poor in America.
The rising Gap between the rich and poor in America.
Politicians seem more focused on winning elections than defending democratic norms. Democratic ideals are being undermined by major influencers that have money and power in America. Independence of the courts needs to be reinforced. Elections must remain free and competitive without threats from a President that undermines the integrity of Americans right to vote. News media must retain its independence and a fundamental right of access to public government meetings. Federal government departments must have a level of independence with continuing education to professionalize their management skills. Constitutional limits must be respected by government representatives. Political parties and the elites of America need to constrain political leaders who violate the ideals of democracy.
Ryback’s history of Hitler’s rise in Germany is a reminder of how fragile democracy can be.
Celibacy, marriage, infidelity, and the experiences of education, financial security, and life make human relationships unpredictable. Watson’s story shows how unpredictable life can be.
S. J. Watson (English author, writer, audiologist.)
“Before I Go to Sleep” is a terrifying novel about human relationship. On the one hand, it is a story about memory and identity, trust and deception, power and control. On the other, it is about the immense harm that may come from a psychotic episode of one who has lost control of their temper and behavior. Watson writes a story about a wife, Christine, who is married to Ben. They go through a rough patch in their marriage and Christine has an affair with a man named Mike whom she meets at a coffee pub. Through several meetings and conversations, Christine is seduced and chooses to have an affair with Mike.
Relationship building.
Christine chooses to end the affair, but Mike reacts to her rejection by beating her into unconsciousness. She loses her memory from the brutalization, and in a mysterious way, Christine reconnects with Mike who takes care of her during a long and extended recovery. Her husband, Ben, seems both absent and present during Catherine’s recovery. Mike assumes the role of Ben as Christine’s husband when Ben is not present. Because of Christine’s lack of memory, she remembers neither the faces nor behaviors of what are essentially caregivers in her life. Mike takes Ben’s place by living with and caring for Christine when the real Ben is not present. Mike chooses to become Ben and changes the story of Christine’s brutalization from his attack to an automobile accident as the cause of her injuries. Mike purposefully misleads Catherine about events in her life. He re-establishes an intimate relationship with Catherine as her husband named Ben.
Threats to relationships in life.
Mike’s deception becomes threatened when an interested psychiatrist named Nash wishes to help her recover her memory. Dr. Nash is interested because of the unusual nature of Christine’s memory loss. In one sense, this heightens the mysteriousness of the author’s story because a reader/listener wonders why Nash involves himself in Christine’s life. Presumably, Nash knows something about what really happened to Christine and advises her not to say anything to Mike about his aid because he believes she is not being told the truth about what happened to her. He advises Christine to keep a secret journal of everything that happens in her life to aid recovery of her memory.
Violence against women.
Violence against women by men is a tragic truth that is magnified in patriarchal societies. Of course, women can also be violent, but their history is less often physical, and more often verbal and/or psychological abuse. The author creates a story that draws one into an engrossing thriller about male physical assault that makes a listener/reader want to find out how Christine recovers her memory of what really happened. Christine is lovingly cared for by the man who had brutalized her. This imaginative social relationship gives a tension to the writing that keeps one engrossed in Watson’s story.
Human nature.
What Watson reminds reader/listeners of is the nature and development of human beings. Relationships between people who care for each other are complicated by genetic inheritance, learned experiences, physical characteristics, and emotional stability. Celibacy, marriage, infidelity, and the experiences of education, financial security, and life make human relationships unpredictable. Watson’s story shows how unpredictable life can be.
Men and women are different just as races and cultures are different. The key to human progress is equality of opportunity, regardless of gender, race, or culture.
Angela Saini (Author, British science journalist, reporter for the BBC, written articles for The Guardian, New Scientist, and Wired UK.)
Angela Saini’s book challenges while clarifying the argument that male dominance is grounded in the history of human society. She illustrates how cultures varied in their belief and practice of sexual hierarchy but generally were more patriarchal than matriarchal. Archeological evidence suggests gender relations varied. The fact that such evidence is based on fragmentary archeological evidence and the vagueness of interpretation weaken arguments of either sexes’ superiority. Nevertheless, Saini’s research shows most societies have patriarchal tendencies rather than either equal or matriarchal societies. Her history is well documented, but it is a bit tiresome. Because of her research, and the length of her book, one gets the feeling she narrows her thinking to evidence that only supports a preconceived opinion.
Saini notes cultures in northeast India, an area of China, and the North American’ Iroquois and Shoshone seem to show patriarchy takes a backseat to women’s preeminent role in society. She also notes evidence of bonobo primates that are female that show dominance of their species despite strength differences between the genders. This is credible research that suggests gender strength is not the determinate factor in superiority.
Women were found as capable of tending to the farm as men during the agricultural revolution; particularly as mechanization became the hallmark of production. In general, Saini’s book fails to recognize belief in superiority is not the cause of gender discrimination. Power structures in communities and nations whether capitalist or communist are not determined by gender differences. Male or female superiority is not a matter of gender equality, but opportunity inequality. Even though male superiority is obviously false, opportunity inequality shows most societies make it appear true.
Male and female are complementary sexes that are different in their own ways. Both sexes have the capability of being either workers or leaders or whatever a nation needs as long as each has an equal opportunity to be what they choose to be.
Equality of opportunity, whether it is about race or gender, is the gold standard of human equality and achievement. Historians who identify the ills of society based on gender miss the fundamental point of life which is, as the U.S. Army’ slogan once said, “Be All That You Can Be”. Social organizations that get in the way of that goal diminishes human value and interferes with human progress. Men and women are different just as races and cultures are different. The key to human progress is equality of opportunity, regardless of gender, race, or culture.
Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings (When Do Leaders Matter?)
By: Jared Diamond
Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
Jared Diamond (American author, scientist, and historian. Considered as one of the top 100 public intellectuals who also wrote “Guns, Germs, and Steel” that received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize.)
Diamond has written a ponderous history of world leaders, sports coaches, famous entrepreneurs, and founders of religion. Why and how great leaders change the course of history, corporations, winning sports teams, and religious belief are the subjects of “Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings”. He eventually concludes that leaders do matter but the time and social circumstances in which they live have a great deal to do with what they accomplish. By accomplish one presumes he means what leaders have done whether it is for the good or harm for those they lead. He offers no particular revelatory conclusion other than great leaders are driven to succeed.
Hitler & StalinBill GatesJesusJohn WoodenRachel Carson
Historians have struggled with Diamond’s idea of great leaders for centuries. He offers a conclusion that sits on a fence between leader’s strengths, weaknesses, and the social conditions of the time in which they lead. Diamond argues leaders’ matter, but their impact depends on energetic ambition, personal drive, and, most importantly, the social circumstances of the era in which they live.
Opportunity and risk.
Historical conditions create opportunities and risks. A leader capitalizes on personal attitude, and a vision of the time in which they live. A leaders’ interpretation of experiences in their personal lives and the events of the society in which they live, at the time of their rise to leadership, determine their success or failure. All of these characteristics are noted in “Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings (When Do Leaders Matter?)”.
WINSTON CHURCHILL (1874-1965)
A political example of Diamond’s point is the advent of WWII. When analyzing an event like WWII, Winston Churchill’s life experience and the society and economy of the country in which he is raised are entirely different from what Adoph Hitler’s life experience and German society foretells. Churchill and Hitler tapped into the strengths and weaknesses of their societies to exercise similar but different leadership skills. Hitler uses his military experience, abhorrent prejudices, and oratorical skills to create a fascist state. The personal experiences of Hitler’s life are imprisonment, poverty, and created prejudices that resonate with Germany’s roaring twenties feelings of powerlessness. The burden of WWI reparations is crippling German society. In contrast to Hitler, Churchill uses his war experience, oratorical skill, and patrician life of privilege to martial the forces of the West against Germany’s invasion of Poland, the precursor to WWII.
The fall of Germany in WWII.
Germany’s hyper-inflation caused by the financial burden of reparation imbued German citizens with a sense of powerlessness in their lives. Hyper-inflation and a weakened German economy made Western Powers’ reparations an impossible obligation for the German people to meet.
Hitler appears to have overcome personal hardship and gained ground in German politics by cleverly currying favor with German leaders in this time of economic hardship. Hitler gains a platform for addressing German citizen’s social discontent. He offers a message that resonates and rewards citizens who are drawn into Hitler’s belief that the world unjustly penalizes Germany for WWI. Hitler capitalizes on citizens’ powerlessness by rebuilding the German army as he gains political power. By invading Poland, and blaming others (particularly Jews) for the condition of German society, Hitler’s power and influence increases. He appeals to German society in ways that diminish rationality by blaming others for the ills of a collapsing the economy.
Poverty, raised taxes, and helplessness in Germany before WWII.
Hitler operates within social conditions that are present in Germany at the time of his leadership ascension. Hitler is suited to the moment because of his personal life and developed oratorical skill that overcome feelings of powerlessness. His idea is to blame others for German poverty and hyperinflation which resonates with many German citizens.
Invading Poland becomes the western world’s cost for unfair reparations that make Hitler an early hero of many German citizens. It is a small step for Hitler to organize blame for Germany’s economic crisis on Jews with tacit, if not complicit, cooperation of many who wished for a scapegoat for Germany’s economic collapse. Hitler uses learned oratorial skill to capitalize on feelings of citizen powerlessness to become Germany’s autocratic leader.
Hitler starts acting like a King.
Once the general population accepts Hitler as leader, he has sovereign authority to act like a King. He chooses to invade Poland. As Germany’s new leader, Hitler creates a nationalist agenda to rebuild Germany as one of the great powers. Initially, the international community is not prepared to respond. Another world war appears in the offing. Is that because of Hitler’s decisions or the circumstances of the time and the mistakes engendered by the Treaty of Versailles?
Diamond implies WWII is not solely because of Adolph Hitler but of a confluence of his leadership skill and the social condition brought about by WWI reparations. That is the theme of Diamond’s argument for “When Leaders do Matter”. They matter when a society, a business, a sports team, or a religion is floundering and seeks someone to lead them out of a crisis. The tragedy of that truth is that it is as possible for there to be a Hitler as a Lincoln to come to the aid of a society in crisis.
Qualities of leadership.
The author concludes powerful political, economic, religious, and sport’s leaders are driven personalities who serendipitously capitalize on social crises. Diamond implies no great leader, or entrepreneur is likely to succeed without an evident political, economic, religious or sport’s crisis felt by a concerned societal group. Of course, talent, intelligence, and ambition are essential for a leader to become successful (meaning powerfully good or bad), but a societies geographic, economic, and institutional environment play a big part in their success as leaders. Diamond concludes that if great leaders of an era are taken out of their time, their success or failure is likely to be different.
THOMAS EDISION (1847-1931, AMERICAN INVENTOR, BUSINESSMAN CONSIDERED BY SOME TO BE AMERICA’S GREATEST INVENTOR)John Wooden (Basketball Coach)Ross PerotWILLIAM KOCH (AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN, SAILOR, AND COLLECTOR)JAY-Z (BUSINESS MOGUL, ENTERTAINER)
Diamond argues this is true, not only for political leaders, but business moguls, sports coaches, and religion leaders. Every successful leader has followers that are grounded in societal influences that reinforce leaders’ success.
Those leaders who succeed have independent skill, but their success lies not only with their personal skill but with the people who choose to follow. Three examples given by Diamond are Bill Gates, John Wooden, and the infamous Jim Jones.
Computer generation.
The personal computer revolution had already begun when Bill Gates hit the scene. Semiconductor technology was advancing rapidly. Large markets for software were being developed. New companies were popping up every day. Diamond explains that Gates gained technical competence in the field of computers with a vision for licensing software and creating a platform for computing. Gates plowed fertile ground because of the many people who were interested in the technology of computers. He helped shape the wave of computer technology but only because of the society in which he lived. He is aided by his parents and the education he received but market recognition of the potential of computerization was already there for the taking. It is the same acceptance Hitler received from the German people before the advent of WWII.
John Wooden (Led UCLA to 10 NCAA championships, the first to enter the Basketball Hall of Fame.)
The legendary John Wooden is Diamond’s example of great coaches who excelled in basketball. The measure of his success is not the wealth he gained from his coaching skill but from the number of championships his teams achieved in his career. Wooden won 10 NCAA men’s basketball national championships in 12 seasons as the coach of the UCLA Bruins. Seven of those wins were consecutive between 1967 and 1973, an unbroken record. His teams achieved 12 Final Four appearances. In his career he had a record of 664 wins which is over 80 percent of the games his team played. Wooden’s success has never been equaled which shows how important a great leader can be, but he is supported by the wealth of UCLA and an athlete recruitment system that brings great athletes to the university.
Religious leaders.
The last chapters of Diamond’s book address religious leadership. To many listener/readers, his analysis is likely to be offensive. To this reviewer, Diamond’s history is insightful but somewhat biased in that religion has been a builder as well as a destroyer of society. His emphasis is on religion’s destructive history. As a personal non-believer, Diamond reinforces atheism. History shows that religion has aided human care for others despite its ongoing destructive history which is evidenced today in the hostility between America and Iran that is supported by many religious believers. Innocent people on both sides of conflicts about religion are inevitably killed.
Diamond also gives the example of Jim Jones–
As a leader of a purported religion, Jim Jones induces men, women, and children to drink a cyanide concoction that kills 918 followers in Jonestown, Guyana on the northern coast of South America in the 1970s.
Diamond shows leaders are human which by definition makes them imperfect.
