A thoughtful examination of American religious freedom from a US circuit court judge and retired law professor (Univ. of Calif., Berkeley). Much has been written about America’s unique guarantee of religious freedom, but few works have situated this privilege so carefully in American history, social theory, and international relations. Noonan also writes well, avoiding the —legalese— which has marred other discussions of religious freedom. The book is grounded in case studies, which helps the abstract legal issues to remain firmly rooted for the reader. Part one traces the history of religious freedom in America, from colonial times through the early national period. Noonan should be applauded for rehabilitating James Madison, whose contributions to religious freedom have been generally passed over in favor of his more flamboyant fellow Virginian, Thomas Jefferson. This section also includes a lengthy chapter from AngÇlique de Tocqueville, —the keen-eyed younger sister of the famous Alexis,— who traveled through America in the 1830s and was particularly interested in the vitality of American religion. Part two is more philosophical than historical, examining the often uneasy relationship between religion and the state through various court cases (Noonan quite cleverly casts this as a debate between Bunyan-inspired characters, calling the evolution of religious freedom in America —The Pilgrim’s Process—). Part three traces the influence that American religious freedom has exercised in France, Japan, Russia, and Noonan’s own Catholic Church. While Noonan tries to present a balanced story, one flaw of this book is his tendency to perceive religion solely within the patterns of the Judeo-Christian trajectory. Such a bias is evident from the opening pages when he defines religion as —a relationship to God,— passing over important religions like Buddhism which posit no belief in a deity. Noonan does try to broaden his canvas, including Native Americans— challenges to the courts at a few key points. Overall, his work stands out as exemplary in its grasp of complex historical and social issues. (12 b&w illustrations and 1 line drawing, not seen)
Pub Date: June 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-520-20997-4
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Univ. of California
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1998
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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