The Best Books of 2003
By Steven Martinovich
web posted December 22, 2003
The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush
By David Frum
Random House
HC, 384 pgs.
David Frum's bestseller, The Right Man is not a behind-the-scenes
exposé of
the George W. Bush White House - if that was what you were expecting, you
can save your money. Rather than tabloid fodder, this tome is an insightful,
but clearly deferential, examination of Bush's character and ideas that are
cogently shaping his presidency. Sure, Frum was a Bush speechwriter for only
a year, but it was one heck of a year! The September 11th "Day of Infamy" not
only ignited a battle-royal against terrorism, but revealed the true mettle
of George W. Bush as resolute world leader confronting an unparalleled threat.
As Frum notes, "George W. Bush was hardly the obvious man for the job.
But by a very strange fate, he turned out to be, of all unlikely things,
the right man." - Read the rest of our review here
A Free Nation Deep in Debt
The Financial Roots of Democracy
By James Macdonald
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
HC, 564 pgs.
It is James Macdonald's contention that political freedom and public debt
were inseparable for much of human history. From the earliest Greek city
states until the end of the First World War, he writes in A Free Nation
Deep in Debt, government looked to its citizens in time of great need. Few wars,
whether of offensive or defensive nature, have not occurred without the citizen
playing the role of creditor.
- Read the rest of our review here
Of Paradise and Power
America and Europe in the New World Order
By Robert Kagan
Alfred A. Knopf
HC, 103 pgs.
"It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americans share a
common view of the world, or even that they occupy the same world." With
that statement Robert Kagan opens Of Paradise and Power, his controversial
June/July 2002 Policy Review essay turned book. As recent events have shown,
European and American political leaders have come to the sudden realization
that an ideological gap may have irreversibly changed the nature of their
decades old alliance.
- Read the rest of our review here
All Day Permanent Red
The First Battle Scenes of Homer's Iliad - Rewritten
By Christopher Logue
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
HC, 51 pgs.
Only the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare may be more important
to western literature then Homer's The Iliad, his retelling of the final
days in the ten year war between the Greeks and Trojans some 3 000 years
ago. It began life as oral epic poetry, recited over what took days in villages
across Greece before someone put ink to paper to preserve the work, at least
in the form that it existed at the time, for posterity. It's not unfair to
declare it as a foundation stone of everything that has come after it.
- Read the rest of our review here
The Anti-Semitic Moment
A Tour of France in 1898
By Pierre Birnbaum
Hill and Wang
HC, 388 pgs.
The recent rise in anti-Semitic incidents in France have revealed some uncomfortable
truths, chief among them that the motto of the Republic, "Liberté, égalité,
fraternité", applies to all Frenchmen providing you believe that
some are more French than others. Verbal and physical assaults have also
reminded people of just a few decades ago when French Jews lived in far more
perilous times. The history of French anti-Semitism, unfortunately, stretches
back far longer than mere decades.
- Read the rest of our review here
Infectious
Greed
How deceit and risk corrupted the financial markets
By Frank Partnoy
Times Books
HC, 464 pgs.
The opening lines in the stories of companies like Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom
and dozens of others all begin with the same name, writes Frank Partnoy. In 1984,
Sanskrit scholar turned Wharton graduate Andy Krieger began trading currency
options at Salomon Brothers. Although his career ended in ignominy just a few
short years later, Krieger was the "Patient Zero" in the virus that
infected Wall Street and financial markets around the world. The infection was
a cavalier disregard for everything except meeting or exceeding profit expectations
and the end of the year bonus, Wall Street's ultimate measuring stick. - Read
the rest of our review here
After
Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy
By Noah Feldman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
HC, 260 pgs.
The recent post-war unrest in Iraq, which has now included two incidents of American
soldiers firing on Iraqi protestors, illustrates the long and very difficult
road to bringing freedom and democracy to that country. It's also, unfortunately,
reinforced the thinking of many people that Arabs -- and Muslims in general --
aren't capable of governing themselves. Without an autocratic leader, they believe,
Muslim nations fall into chaos at a moment's notice.
- Read the rest of our review here
The
Teammates
By David Halberstam
Hyperion
HC, 217 pgs.
There is no doubting that David Halberstam is one of the finest writers in
America today. Something happens, however, to further elevate his ability when
he turns to the subject of baseball. When it comes to America's past-time,
Halberstam turns not into a historian but rather a chronicler, paying attention
not just to its grand themes but also the small elements that make up the tapestry
of the game.
- Read the rest of our review here
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