The Long Twentieth Century by Giovanni Arrighi
Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend by Domenico Losurdo
I've been enjoying Losurdo's book overall. There are perceptions/facts? about Stalin I feel he glosses over or doesn't really address, but I'm not finished.
I just finished Washington Bullets by Vijay Prashad. I listened to the audiobook for it. Its 5.5 hours of documenting every single time the CIA and allies killed a leftist political leader all the way up to the recent attempts in Bolivia/Venezuela. If you want to know more about how influential the CIA/US State Dept are, this is a good summary.
I'm reading Stasi State or Socialist Paradise by John Greene. it's a retrospective of the GDR focusing on things that the GDR got right (gender equality, housing, early childhood education and childcare generally) and trying to provide context for things that the GDR got wrong (Stasi, some other stuff).
I'm interested in the GDR right now because I had an epiphany moment that maybe the reason the Stasi was such a menace is that the GDR had to keep several million Nazis under control while under siege from all of capitalist Europe, so I'm interested in learning more about that, where it went wrong, where it worked.
I am wrapping up with the Xunzi by Warring States Period Confucian philosopher Xunzi. It's a fascinating work. Outside of believing human nature is inherently bad, he doesn't stray that far from Confucian doctrine, but it's the way he argues and defends Confucian doctrine against Mohists and Daoists that's truly fascinating. For example, he describes Heaven in a way that makes him sound like a Daoist, but then pulls the rug by saying, "since Heaven is ultimately unknowable and beyond the control of humans, we should just ignore Heaven and focus on what humans can control such as the rites of propriety," thereby making the case for Confucianism. The Heaven chapter also had him saying ghosts and spirits are probably bogus, but religious rites should still be observed for their social function.
And as for him arguing that human nature is inherently bad, it's within the context of polemics against Mencius, a rival Confucian philosopher who argued that human nature is inherently good. Xunzi isn't actually concerned about human nature, but about defending the edifying role of the rites and the role of the sage kings to cultivate benevolence and righteousness within people. He's essentially calling Mencius a dumbass for saying human nature is inherently good because it just makes the rites, the sage kings, and thus Confucianism and their job as Confucian philosophers, completely pointless since humans are already good instead of needing to become good.
However, his defense of Confucianism wasn't perfect, and he wasn't able to convincingly make the case for Confucianism over what would become the school of legalism. He contrasts between the true king and a mere hegemon, but he doesn't actually condemn the five hegemons. I could see how prominent legalists Han Fei and Li Si were his students. They probably listened intently to when he explained how the five hegemons made their ducal states powerful while mentally checking out when Xunzi started pontificating about how they sucked compared with the sage kings.
defends Confucian doctrine against Mohists and Daoists
Mohism rules. Slept on tbh. A damn shame that it lost out.
The Wandering Earth, and the other short stories in the book. I've liked what I've read so far
Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Story of young lesbian growing up in mid 20th century UK.
try the old bbc 4 part TV Series of it
I thought was quite charming
On War is a great read. I don't think normal, healthy people realize how deranged and monstrous war planning and war politics really is and von Clausewitz is a really good wake-up call.
It’s pretty interesting because it talks about planning, intelligence and tackle ptsd slightly
Unsafe At Any Speed by Ralph Nader. I've just started, but so far it's reinforcing my belief that America has always been a death cult.
finally finished harrow the ninth. read the first 2/3rds in a month, and read the last one all today. super good book, i spent the whole time going :what-the-hell:
