Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Suicide of a Superpower by Pat Buchanan

Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025 by Pat Buchanan ★★


Buchanan offers his views that America will not survive primarily because our identity has changed from a Western Christian republic to something much more diverse and coarse. He agonizes over the "death of white America" and yearns for the days when Eisenhower was President.


Reputedly Pat Buchanan got fired from his job at MSNBC for this book and other critical comments he supposedly made. I'm not a Buchanan fan but he is at least civil in his criticisms. I enjoy hearing his views on the McLaughlin Group. I skimmed through much of the book and while I did not agree with most of Buchanan's conclusions, I did not see anything that was out of line as far as political discourse.


I would guess that Buchanan actually wrote this book. I wonder how many so called political analysts actually sit by a computer and write their books.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Two Sports Books: One a Home Run, the Other, a Double.

I just finished two sports books, one of which is a great read. I heartily recommend One on One; Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game by John Feinstein. Feinstein described sports figures who were part of his varied sports books. You will get his honest opinions and experiences with Bobby Knight, John McEnroe, Tiger Woods (Feinstein is not a fan), Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski and many others.


The chapter on the players and coaches around his book on the Army-Navy game is worth the price of the book on its own.


I also skimmed through Rafa by John Carlin and Rafael Nadal about the current #2 or #3 tennis player in the world. It's a bit early to judge Rafa's eventual place in the tennis world. The book's tone and content mirrors Rafa's tennis, workmanlike and very professional. There is very little gossip or inside stories about other tennis players. The book covers Rafa's support team, regimen and rituals around his game. The book also focuses on Rafa's first Wimbledon victory over Roger Federer his closest rival at that time.