This page provides the reader with occasional references to books that are worthy of being discussed. When a book appears on this page, however, it ought not be assumed that the author of this blog agrees or disagrees with the content. “The Independent Thinkers” is dedicated to advancing thought and furthering debate, which require challenging existing assumptions about the way we view the world. Reading works that force us to think critically and to question what we think we know to be true is a great first step in that endeavor.
The Independent Thinkers
A page for thinking people who tirelessly challenge their own assumptions and let neither conventionality nor agenda nor political party obstruct the relentless pursuit of truth
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Google US. News- Lou Dobbs resigns from CNN - Los Angeles Times
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March 14, 2007 at 11:59 pm |
John McWhorter’s Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America (New York: 2000) is one of the more important books written about race in the last two decades. McWhorter’s thesis is that not racism but culture–in particular: the cult of separation, the cult of victimology, and the cult of anti-intellectualism (what he now calls the “cultural disconnect”)–has produced many of the social ills facing black communities today. He writes very powerfully and argues his points well. And though some of his information is anecdotal, it is usually supported by a tremendous amount of data.
I’ve noticed that few scholars have debated him on the merits of what he has said. They instead ignore his very important contribution to the debate (how many Americans, do you think, have heard of John McWhorter?) or they label him a sell-out for his views.
McWhorter is himself African American and has written extensively in the last several years about this subject. He is an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Some of his other books may appear on ths page in the future.
April 3, 2007 at 9:44 pm |
I recently read Barak Obama’s first book, a memoir entitled “Dreams From My Father” which takes the reader deep into his past and learn how he became the man he is today.
It was refreshing to see a politician being so earnest in telling the reader what struggles they went through growing up. These days, politicians try and act like a perfect person; hiding the “bad things” they’ve done in the past. Why should someone be ashamed of their past? If it weren’t for the past, there’d be no future. Right? Obama openly admits that he still smokes today and that he smoke marijuana as a teenager into college quite often.
Beyond that, Obama explains how he went from a college graduate to being an organizer in South Chicago to meeting his family for the first time in Kenya to going to Law School at Harvard (just like his father). It was a very well written book that helped me especially to understand how he thinks and works not only as a politician but as a person. It helped me see how great he would be if he would be elected President in 2008. I highly recommend this book if you’re someone who wants to know more about him as a politician.
April 6, 2007 at 1:11 am |
Bobby,
I have yet to read Barack Obama’s memoir, but you’ve given me added inspiration to do so. Thanks for the comment.
April 6, 2007 at 1:29 am |
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) is by most accounts the book that began the environmental movement. Essentially, Carson’s work was a treatise against the chemical industry generally and the dangers of the chemical DDT in particular. It has been compared to Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in terms of its influence. I would argue it may have been even more important than Paine’s great work because Common Sense gave momentum to a movement–the ideological separation between America and Britain–that had already been happening. Silent Spring started a social movement from scratch. To the extent that scientists and others discuss global warming today, Rachel Carson is the reason why.
December 10, 2008 at 1:48 am |
Recently I read Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It’s a splendid interpretation of Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet during the Civil War. Lincoln did not shy away from but welcomed into his administration not only those who disagreed with him, but were his political rivals. It captures the true essence of the greatness of the man.
The book also has particular relevance in light of Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency. Lincoln was not supposed to get his party’s nomination for president in 1860. Instead William H. Seward, a New York Senator, was the clear favorite. When Lincon gained the nomination and went on to become president, he selected Seward for Secretary of State.
Obama has made several references to this book in recent weeks.