Lucid, sinewy sentences lash, tickle, and caress.
A veteran essayist for the New York Times collects some gems from his pile of precious—though not always popular—stones.
Fish (Law/Florida International Univ.; Versions of Academic Freedom: From Professionalism to Revolution, 2014, etc.) has arranged his pieces thematically (see subtitle); within each category, he proceeds mostly chronologically. He claims in several places that he’s more interested in presenting than in advocating issues, but this is a tad disingenuous: his attitudes generally hum like electricity, even if they are sometimes strung behind the drywall. Fish’s more intimate, biographical essays compose the first section, but he’s hardly hiding elsewhere. He frequently talks about his readers (and their responses, sometimes hostile), about his myriad teaching experiences, and about popular culture. There are surprises throughout. He says he really loved the recent film Les Misérables, and he calls True Grit (the Coen brothers’ version) “a truly religious movie.” Fish’s focused sections serve both to attract and warn readers. He includes, for instance, some dense essays about legal issues—especially involving the First Amendment, on which he is an authority)—and will either delight or alarm readers with his occasional agreements with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The author also links stand-your-ground laws to the ethos of old Western films, including Shane. Fish lets loose on those he calls the New Atheists: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and the late Christopher Hitchens. Basically, he calls them superficial, if not stupid. He also argues for defining academic freedom more sharply, urging teachers to discuss any issues they want—but not to proselytize. Fish fiercely advocates for the liberal arts and disdains so-called independent voters. Like other fine essayists, he clearly identifies issues, is both analytical and tendentious (he would not confess to the latter), and will annoy readers on both sides of our current political divide.
Lucid, sinewy sentences lash, tickle, and caress.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-691-16771-8
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
Harari delivers yet another tour de force.
A highly instructive exploration of “current affairs and…the immediate future of human societies.”
Having produced an international bestseller about human origins (Sapiens, 2015, etc.) and avoided the sophomore jinx writing about our destiny (Homo Deus, 2017), Harari (History/Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) proves that he has not lost his touch, casting a brilliantly insightful eye on today’s myriad crises, from Trump to terrorism, Brexit to big data. As the author emphasizes, “humans think in stories rather than in facts, numbers, or equations, and the simpler the story, the better. Every person, group, and nation has its own tales and myths.” Three grand stories once predicted the future. World War II eliminated the fascist story but stimulated communism for a few decades until its collapse. The liberal story—think democracy, free markets, and globalism—reigned supreme for a decade until the 20th-century nasties—dictators, populists, and nationalists—came back in style. They promote jingoism over international cooperation, vilify the opposition, demonize immigrants and rival nations, and then win elections. “A bit like the Soviet elites in the 1980s,” writes Harari, “liberals don’t understand how history deviates from its preordained course, and they lack an alternative prism through which to interpret reality.” The author certainly understands, and in 21 painfully astute essays, he delivers his take on where our increasingly “post-truth” world is headed. Human ingenuity, which enables us to control the outside world, may soon re-engineer our insides, extend life, and guide our thoughts. Science-fiction movies get the future wrong, if only because they have happy endings. Most readers will find Harari’s narrative deliciously reasonable, including his explanation of the stories (not actually true but rational) of those who elect dictators, populists, and nationalists. His remedies for wildly disruptive technology (biotech, infotech) and its consequences (climate change, mass unemployment) ring true, provided nations act with more good sense than they have shown throughout history.
Harari delivers yet another tour de force.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-51217-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
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