Grand unified books thread

[Josquius]

And its an entire book written without paragraphs?

[Eddie Teach]

Still easier to read than Finnegan's Wake.

[The Brain]

Finished Moby Dick. First time I've read it in English. I love this book.

[Savonarola]

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt:  Interesting account on how imperialism and Antisemitism led to totalitarian regimes in Europe.  She seems to take Hobson's "Imperialism" (also a major inspiration for Lenin) a little too seriously.  Still it's not banal.  I learned that Benjamin Disraeli believed in Jewish world domination conspiracies.    What I found most difficult was how she kept describing the nation and the state as separate entities.  Since it's a foreign concept in the United States, I found it a struggle to understand what she meant.

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil also by Arendt:  It's interesting that this book inspires such controversy as Arendt doesn't provide easy answers in it, and largely lets the reader make up his mind about Eichmann's trial.  The part I found most interesting is when she went through the various European nations and how they responded to the orders for deportation.  They ranged from Denmark where, in time, the SS wouldn't carry out their orders, to Romania where the SS had to step in to protect Jews from waves of violence unleashed by the locals.

Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer by Bettina Stangneth: one of many attempts to rebut Eichmann in Jerusalem, this time using the Sassen interviews, which Eichmann conducted with Willem Sassen while both were living in Argentina.  The problem with this approach is that Eichmann was a notorious braggart, something that even Stangneth begrudgingly admits.  The interesting part, to me, in this one is that in the 1950s both neo-Nazis and genuine Nazis like Stassen (prior to interviewing Eichmann) were Holocaust deniers.

[Admiral Yi]

Have you read The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama?

[Savonarola]

Have you read The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama?

No, it looks like it got a lot of positive reviews.  What did you think of it?

[Admiral Yi]

No, it looks like it got a lot of positive reviews.  What did you think of it?

Thumbs up.

[dps]

What I found most difficult was how she kept describing the nation and the state as separate entities.  Since it's a foreign concept in the United States, I found it a struggle to understand what she meant.

As I understand it, the nation is basically the people, while the state is basically the government, correct?

[Gups]

Finished Moby Dick. First time I've read it in English. I love this book.

About to start it for the first time.

[Queequeg]

What I found most difficult was how she kept describing the nation and the state as separate entities.  Since it's a foreign concept in the United States, I found it a struggle to understand what she meant.

As I understand it, the nation is basically the people, while the state is basically the government, correct?

I think "bureaucracy and guns" is probably the best way of describing a state. 

[Queequeg]

Finished Moby Dick. First time I've read it in English. I love this book.

About to start it for the first time.

Best novel written in English.

[The Brain]

Finished Moby Dick. First time I've read it in English. I love this book.

About to start it for the first time.

Hope you enjoy it!

[Savonarola]

What I found most difficult was how she kept describing the nation and the state as separate entities.  Since it's a foreign concept in the United States, I found it a struggle to understand what she meant.

As I understand it, the nation is basically the people, while the state is basically the government, correct?

Yes, that's correct, the Jews were a nation but, prior to the founding of Israel, there was no Jewish state.  (At least not in modern times, queue up the Languish discussion of when the first Jewish state ended.)

[Malthus]

What I found most difficult was how she kept describing the nation and the state as separate entities.  Since it's a foreign concept in the United States, I found it a struggle to understand what she meant.

As I understand it, the nation is basically the people, while the state is basically the government, correct?

Yes, that's correct, the Jews were a nation but, prior to the founding of Israel, there was no Jewish state.  (At least not in modern times, queue up the Languish discussion of when the first Jewish state ended.)

As a matter of terminology, it is perhaps an advantage to think of Jews as forming a "tribe", and as Israel as a "state" with a majority Jewish population.

"Tribe" is perhaps a better descriptor than "religion" or "ethnicity" (though it has aspects of both). "Nation" is correct, but confusing, as it is often as you say considered synonymous with "state". 

[The Brain]

North Americans haven't heard of the term "nation state"?