The.Economist.2007-02-10 (966424), страница 46
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In herearlier book, “The Caged Virgin”, which came out last year, Ms Hirsi Ali wrote that her sister came to theNetherlands to avoid being “married off”. In “Infidel”, however, she says Haweya came to recover froman illicit affair with a married man that ended in abortion. Ms Hirsi Ali helped Haweya make up anotherfabricated story that gained her refugee status, but the Netherlands offered her little respite.
Afteranother affair and a further abortion, Haweya was put into a psychiatric hospital. Back in Nairobi, shedied from a miscarriage brought on by an episode of religious frenzy. “It was the worst news of my life,”Ms Hirsi Ali writes.Mental illness, abortion, failed marriages, illicit affairs and differing interpretations of religion: much asshe tries, the kind of problems that Ms Hirsi Ali describes in “Infidel” are all too human to be blamedentirely on Islam.
Her book shows that her life, like those of other Muslims, is more complex than manypeople in the West may have realised. But the West's tendency to seek simplistic explanations is aweakness that Ms Hirsi Ali also shows she has been happy to exploit.Infidel.By Ayaan Hirsi Ali.Free Press; 368 pages; $26 and £12.99Copyright © 2007 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group.
All rights reserved.About sponsorshipAmerican politicsMy life as an insiderFeb 8th 2007From The Economist print editionTerry McAuliffe fails to spill the beans on the Clintons—and much elseONE month after the Senate voted onimpeaching Bill Clinton in February 1999, theClintons borrowed Jeffrey Katzenberg's houseon Bald Eagle Mountain, Utah, for a skiingholiday. Each evening they would sit down andwatch television.
Hillary Clinton, commandingthe remote control, clicked through everychannel only to encounter anti-Clinton invectiveall over the place. Clinton murdered people!Clinton sold drugs! She eventually had to settleon the sports channel.Terry McAuliffe, who joined the Clintons on thetrip, has been a top Democratic fund-raiser andall-round fixer ever since he joined the CarterMondale campaign in 1980.
He was Mr Clinton'ssenior moneyman (he even offered personallyto guarantee the loan that the Clintons neededto buy their house in Chappaqua, having madea pile for himself in various business ventures)and he is now Mrs Clinton's campaign boss. IfHardly Mac the Knifeall goes well for her, “Mac”, as he likes to becalled, could be at the centre of American politics for another decade.AFPWhat a Party! MyLife AmongDemocrats:Presidents,Candidates, Donors,Activists, Alligatorsand Other WildAnimalsBy Terry McAuliffe andSteve KettmannThomas Dunne; 406pages; $24.95Buy it atAmazon.comAmazon.co.ukThis book contains a few good anecdotes like the one above (though one suspects that the televisiontalking heads were talking more about womanising than murder and drug-dealing).
Mr McAuliffe is alsoinformative about his efforts to close the “infrastructure gap” between the Democratic NationalCommittee and its Republican equivalent. He even offers yet one more reason to hate Barbra Streisand:she hates dogs.But all in all this is a pretty feeble effort: Mr McAuliffe is clearly much better with money than he is withwords. Mac is an inveterate name-dropper. He is also addicted to patting himself on the back: “Man, yougot guts,” says an opponent on page 145; “I can't thank you enough for all you've done,” says BillClinton on page 167; and so on and so on. The basic thesis of the book can be summed up in a singlephrase: isn't it wonderful that a boy from small-town New York made a lot of money, befriended theClintons and got to hang out with the rich and famous?But Mr McAuliffe does little to illuminate the process of which he was such an important part. He is toomuch of a player to admit that Democratic fund-raising is anything less than perfect: he dismissescomplaints about the Lincoln Bedroom and fund-raising coffee mornings as Republican smear jobs.
Andhe is too much of a partisan to throw much light on the issues at stake: the Republicans are alwayssnobs and liars and the Democrats are always champions of the people against the powerful.This is a pity. Mr McAuliffe's name will always be associated with two of the most importantdevelopments in recent American politics: the transformation of the Democratic Party into a moneymachine that is just as powerful as the Republican version; and the further entrenchment of the dynasticprinciple at the very heart of modern politics.These developments raise fascinating questions. How can the people's party preserve its soul while itsleading politicians spend all their time hobnobbing with megabuck donors? (It would be interesting toknow when Mrs Clinton last socialised with people who were not rolling in money.) And why is a populistrepublic so enamoured of political dynasties? Mr McAuliffe is far more successful as an enabler of thesetroubling developments than as an analyst of them.What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and OtherWild Animals.By Terry McAuliffe with Steve Kettmann.Thomas Dunne; 406 pages; $24.95Copyright © 2007 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group.
All rights reserved.About sponsorshipBritish political historyFirst among equalsFeb 8th 2007From The Economist print editionSIR ROBERT WALPOLE is widely regarded as having been Britain's first prime minister.This well-researched biography by Edward Pearce, an accomplished political historianand biographer, provides a lively account of Walpole's public career. It charts his riseunder Queen Anne and George I (including a spell in prison in the Tower of London in1712 on charges of financial impropriety) to his appointment as paymaster-general in1714. The equivalent of many millions of pounds of public money passed throughWalpole's hands and he took full advantage of the opportunities it afforded for selfenrichment.The Great Man—SirRobert Walpole:Scoundrel, Geniusand Britain's FirstPrime MinisterBy Edward PearceWalpole became prime minister in 1722 in the wake of the South Sea Bubble scandal.He has an undeserved reputation for financial wizardry, based upon his supposedexpertise in rectifying the damage done by the bubble.
In fact Walpole did notunderstand the speculation and was prevented from making a disastrous investment inthe shares himself only by a shrewd adviser.He fell from power in 1742, having served as prime minister for more than 20 years, alonger period in office than anyone has managed since. His government aspired topeace abroad and sound administration at home; less admirable was the Black Act of1723, under which anyone who was convicted of blackening or disguising his face tohunt deer could be hanged.Jonathan Cape; 485 pages;£25Buy it atAmazon.co.ukThe durable prime minister's greatest talent was his hold on power. His authority was founded on his mastery ofthe House of Commons, which he achieved using a mixture of “authority, charm and menace”.
Carefuldispensing of political patronage also helped. Walpole believed every man had his price; this he was prepared topay, but in return he expected absolute loyalty. Those who crossed him or who failed to deliver what wasexpected of them were ruthlessly discarded. Here lies Walpole's legacy for, as Mr Pearce puts it, he “created thepolitics of the next hundred years”, perfecting the system of jobbery and rotten boroughs that was swept awayonly by the Reform Acts of the 19th century.Walpole encountered increasing opposition the longer his regime continued.
The second half of his period inoffice was characterised by ever more strident criticism. One of the delights of Mr Pearce's book is the chapteron the literary opposition to the prime minister. Jonathan Swift's “Gulliver's Travels” cruelly satirised Walpole'sregime while John Gay's “The Beggar's Opera” delighted its huge audiences with its irreverent commentary onhis cynical corruption. Alexander Pope and Henry Fielding also had much to say on Walpole's administration.Mr Pearce makes only passing reference to what is, for many, Walpole's outstanding monument: themagnificent Palladian house he built at Houghton in Norfolk. Building it absorbed much of Walpole's energy andtime between 1722 and 1735; it is said that each morning he opened letters from his agent at Houghton beforeturning to government business.The author clearly admires his subject for his political longevity, his commitment to peace and his parliamentaryand electoral management.
Given how corrupt, repressive and touchy Walpole was, though, Mr Pearce says that“liking him is too difficult”.The Great Man—Sir Robert Walpole: Scoundrel, Genius and Britain's First Prime Minister.By Edward Pearce.Jonathan Cape; 485 pages; £25Copyright © 2007 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.About sponsorshipAmazon worldwide bestsellersThe history boys (and one girl)Feb 8th 2007From The Economist print editionThe history books that Americans buy reflect their concernsAMERICANS are worried about God, globalisation and their place in the world.
That, atleast, is the conclusion to be drawn from the global sale of history books throughAmazon.com.A new edition of Thomas Friedman's 2005 bestseller, “The World is Flat”, is there,along with Newt Gingrich on the role of religious faith in America and Michael Orenand Mark Steyn (interestingly, both outsiders) on the consequences of Americanbehaviour abroad, especially in the Middle East.These books all came out within the past six months. Big names and big subjects tendto generate big publicity around publication time, but it takes an additional, oftenindefinable something for a book to continue selling. James Loewen's “Lies My HistoryTeacher Told Me” is nearly a decade old, and still sells hundreds of copies each week.In an easy, readable style, the author vets ten topics (from Christopher Columbus to the Vietnam war)and bewails how American textbooks distort them.
Although he sometimes adopts a tone of high politicalcorrectness, he often proves the textbooks and teachers wrong. For readers who are children at heart,what could be more appealing?1. The World is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Centuryby Thomas L. FriedmanClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk2.
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheidby Jimmy CarterClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk3. Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Presentby Michael B. OrenClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk4. America Alone: The End of the World as We Know Itby Mark SteynClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk5.
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Presentby Howard ZinnClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk6. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans fromColonial Times to the Presentby Harriet A. WashingtonClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk7. Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation’s History andFutureby Newt GingrichClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk8.
Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navyby Ian W. TollClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk9. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrongby James W. LoewenClick to buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk10. The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S.
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