Z itibaren Süyci Bal, Gülistan Eyaleti, İran
This book was too dry but I'm giving it 5 stars because i LOVED the PBS documentary. My advice, don't read the book. Watch the documentary instead.
I really liked this book. There was a lot of history about the Hmong, which actually helped me to understand some of my students better. Not always a fan of Western Medicine, it reinforced my thoughts of our MDs and Western Culture as arrogant and bully-like.
Agamben's claim in this book is that modern political theory (i.e., from Hobbes on forward), is premised on the State of Nature, the War of All Against All. This means that whatever form of government is chosen, it tends invariably towards either anarchy or to the concentration camp. Why? Because the government will be too weak to defend its citizens, and the State of Nature will reassert itself; or, with increased demands for rights on the parts of citizens, the state will need to enact ever more laws to protect and defend those rights, leading to the complete control of citizens in the concentration camp. This is a controversial claim, and much of the theory (drawn from Foucault and Arendt) will not resonate well with American audiences who may be unfamiliar with their work. Furthermore, Agamben's text is dense and difficult, as he's trying to get the reader to think about politics without using the language we've been accustomed to use for the last several centuries. However, I think that if the reader perseveres, s/he will be rewarded. Agamben's argument is worth considering, and it will get the reader thinking about politics in a different way from the stale rhetoric of current debates.
Ed Kennedy is a 19-year-old Australian taxi driver. When he inadvertently helps arrest a bank robber, mysterious playing cards start showing up at his house. He and his best friends (including the girl for whom he secretly pines) don't know much about it, but they know he's acting strangely. Each of the playing cards has a list, and it's Ed's job to figure out what to do with the people or places on the list. Lots of fun twists and turns, although definitely some profanity and sex-talk (rather funny though). If Ed is the Messenger, then what is the Message? The ending may very well blow your mind.