« Sunshiny afternoon | Main | Looking for a virtual house »
May 10, 2004
More Paradise and Power
I've started reading Kagan's afterword. Apparently Kagan did not write this book primarily as an apology for the US military's overthrough of Saddam Hussein, but to explain how in his view Europeans live in post-war paradise, and Europeans owe that situation to what many non-Americans consider US imperialism. Kagan wrote all this intelligently, backing up many of his affirmations about mindsets on both sides with quotes and opinion polls results. Perhaps he doesn't take his research as far as Chomsky does his, but Kagan clearly goes far enough to convince the choir he's preaching to. those who don't hear a thicket of contradictions in place of a sermon.
Kagan has me wondering how many of my ideas and especially beliefs would appear strikingly foreign to someone in another frame of reference. Dad must have felt something like this when I sent him that book from Bourdieu. Maybe I should have made that Michael Moore. Michael Moore's books seem to sell faster than Kagan's, but they share something I cannot quite put my finger on, something that Chomsky's books, for example, don't have.
Posted by Mark at May 10, 2004 09:50 PM
Comments
Today, Chomsky's book on a closely related topic, Hegemony or Survival, has Amazon.com sales rank 597, whereas Kagan's book ranks 4,015. Do readers vote? Do voters read?
Posted by: Mark Craig at May 10, 2004 10:13 PM