Through a Glass Darkly

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 roiled the publishing industry, as they did the lives of all Americans. A stream, if not a flood, of books about 9/11 followed during the year. Possibly of more long-term significance than the books about the attacks are the ones about the cultures and nations of the Middle East where fundamentalist Islam thrives. Also during 2002, several notable fine works of political biography and memoirs appeared.
Recently declassified documents are used to recreate the events and describe the leaders of one of the pivotal events of the Cold War in Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East (Oxford, 0-19-515-174-7), by Michael Oren. This distinguished historian presents a thorough investigation of the short war that continues to complicate Israeli–Palestinian relations. Among the detailed works that examine the roots of terrorism within individual countries is Afghanistan’s Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the Rise of the Taliban (University of Washington, 0-295-98050), by Larry P. Goodson. Although the Taliban have been driven out of Afghanistan, following a war in which two million died, their brand of political fundamentalism has spread throughout the Islamic world with security consequences for the entire world, says this political scientist from Bentley College. The “dismal record” of the relations between the United States and Libya is the subject of Libya and the United States: Two Centuries of Strife (University of Pennsylvania, 0-8122-3672-6), by Ronald Bruce St. John. Oil, Israeli security, Libyan self-determinism, and communist containment are among the complicated debates that have estranged both nations, says this author of more than thirty books and articles on Libya.
The glaring differences between East and West are explored by Bernard Lewis in What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response (Oxford, 0-19514420-1). The author, an expert on Near Eastern studies at Princeton, in this best-selling appraisal, concludes that while the West achieved political, economic, and military prominence, the Islamic world declined, and will continue to do so, as long as these nations blame the West for their failure. The arduous task of treaty-making is described by Thomas Graham, President Clinton’s Special Representative for Arms Control, in Disarmament Sketches: Three Decades of Arms Control and International Law (University of Washington Press, 0-295-98212-8). Graham was a participant in every arms control agreement of the last thirty years, and this insider’s account demonstrates how cultural and diplomatic misunderstandings contribute to the failure of diplomacy.
The stories of prominent and lesser-known political players make for fascinating reading. William Blum, one of the latter, recounts his resignation from the Department of State to become an anti-Vietnam War activist in West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir (Soft Skull Press, 1-887128-72-7). His memoir recounts his personal war with the CIA, his part in the Patty Hearst kidnapping case, and his work with filmmaker Oliver Stone.
Another entertaining memoir from the Left is White Boy: A Memoir, by Mark Naison (Temple University Press, 1-56639-942-4). This coming-of-age story tells how a Jewish boy from Brooklyn grew up to become the first white member of Fordham’s University Department of Afro-American Studies. He recounts the student protests at Columbia University in the late 1960s and his involvement in the civil rights movement during the early part of the decade. Intellectuals In Action: The Origins of the New Left and Radical Liberalism by Kevin Mattson (Penn State University Press, 0-271-02148-9), is a collective biography of the founding members of the New Left and how their writings and actions can serve as models for contemporary activism. The life of the son of the legendary political reformer, “Fighting Bob” La Follette, is told by Patrick J. Maney in Young Bob: A Biography of Robert M. La Follette, Jr. 1895-1953 (Wisconsin Historical Society, 0-87020341X). As a senator, the younger La Follette was a leading advocate of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation during the 1930s. He lost his Senate seat in 1946 to the soon-to-be-notorious Joe McCarthy and tragically committed suicide soon after.
The lives of Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Nixon as they intersect with the political movements of their eras are the subjects of three significant works of political history. Michael Gardner’s Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks (Southern Illinois University Press, 0-8093-2425-3) tells the little-known story of Truman’s courageous advocacy of equality for African-Americans during an era when more than eighty percent of the public was opposed to federally funded programs for blacks. Truman’s adroit use of the Supreme Court and executive orders promoted civil rights despite the efforts to maintain segregation by the racist Southern bloc of the Senate. Dean Kotlowski’s Nixon’s Civil Rights: Politics, Principle and Policy (Harvard University, 0-674-00623-2) documents how Nixon lost the support of African-Americans when he became president because of his failure to support integration and busing, despite his support for programs targeting minority businesses and education. In Kennedy and the Promise of the Sixties (Cambridge University, 0-521-81617-3), W. J. Rorabaugh claims that Kennedy, although not a great president, was a talented one who was responsive to a public experiencing explosive social changes.
Fine works from conservative publishers include David Kelly’s Burnham and the Struggle for the World: A Life (ISI Books, 1-882926-76-5). Burnham (1905-1987) was a leading Marxist intellectual who became an admired conservative leader while serving as William Buckley’s mentor at the National Review. The author, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer, presents a comprehensive biography of this staunch anticommunist and advocate of limited government and limited presidential authority. Kevin J. Smant’s Principles and Heresies: Frank S. Meyer and the Shaping of the American Conservative Movement (ISI Books, 1-882926-72-2) presents the life of Meyer (1909-1972), who used his highly visible position as literary editor of the National Review to help define modern conservatism. Meyer was a young anarchist who made the political journey from left to right, says this historian from Indiana University.
Joshua Muravchik presents a sweeping history of the people and events that contributed to the failure of socialism in Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism (Encounter Books, 1-893544-45-7). The author, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, details socialism’s repeated failure to respond to the needs of the people, despite its promise of utopia.
These books represent the many excellent works published by university and independent presses that tell the stories of political activists from both sides of the political spectrum and explore global politics during a year when public attention has been heightened by extraordinary circumstances.