Doug sends his “best of 2007” list with the caveat that his record-keeping and/or memory limit the list to his “best of the past four months.” Maybe we should ask him more often. He also omitted any book we read as part of the book group.
David Halberstam, "The Coldest Winter", a retrospective on the Korean War and how it foreshadowed many of our adventures, or misadventures, on that side of the world. Also by Halberstam, "War in a Time of Peace", American involvement in the Balkans.
Walter Issacson, "Einstein", a great story of Einstein's life and times, and also by Issacson, "Benjamin Franklin”, who Franklin really was and what his contribution was.
Joseph Ellis, "American Creation", addresses the question: If you disregard the oft-invoked mechanism of Providential intervention, what then does explain the ability of a society of ordinary rural folks on the far periphery of civilization, well removed from the 18th century centers of learning and culture, to generate a set of leaders and a culture of creativity to produce the American revolutionary experiment, which Ellis views as among the 2 or 3 greatest periods of political creativity in world history?
Doug adds: "If you like fiction, Sherry and I are about halfway through the audio CD of "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides, and I highly recommend it - at least the first half."
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