Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 - Hunter Thompson

Once again I relapse to making analogies to the Michelin guide. The Michelin Guide uses a three star system for rating restaurants which proceeds as follows:

one star ("a very good restaurant in its category")
two stars ("excellent cooking, worth a detour")
three stars ("exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey")

There are books, and there are Books.
And then, there are BOOKS

In particular, Hunter Thompson's analysis of the appeal of Candidate George McGovern to dissatisfied voters in the primary election of 1972, as well as his thoughts on the Democratic party's inability to produce a coalition able to defeat Nixon, an anecdote regarding Nixon's obsession with professional football, as well as repeated references to the author's unsuccessful bid to be elected Sheriff of Aspen, Colorado on the Freak Power ticket when members of the Democratic and Republican parties put aside their differences and united in a coalition against him. The combination of subject matter and the author's no-nonsense treatment of the coverage given to the campaign makes this book meaningful as a study of politics, media, and America of the 1960s and 1970s.

The China Fantasy - James Mann

Two things sprung out to me on reading this book-

First, I would have hoped that the author could have made reference to cooption and paternalistic behavior by the Chinese government towards the urban middle class in China.

Second, I would have drawn a parallel between the mainstream of US society in the 1950s and the attitude of a significant portion of current mainland Chinese society towards democracy: as long as I have my money and raise my family, I don't feel a great need for politics.

The book takes a fairly deconstructivist approach towards US policies towards China: the author casts a discerning eye towards US policies of engagement and the hopes that economic growth will improve the level of democratic governance in China. The author discounts out of hand any long-range propositions on the part of the Chinese government to raise such levels as being mere window dressing- on the other hand, I am not yet 100% certain of this fact. The author recommends a closer level of scrutiny by Congress of the China-US relationship, but does not go into explicit detail beyond stating that human rights should be more heavily emphasized.

Covert Action as a Tool of Presidential Foreign Policy - John J. Carter

Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan

They all used covert action in some form or another. This book discusses the way various presidents saw covert action and the ways in which they used it. While the book does not go into exhaustive detail, the way the author described the interaction between various presidents' personalities and their use of covert action gave great perspective on contemporary history.

Embattled Garrisons - Kent Calder

The United States' presence around the world is more dramatic than one would imagine at first thought.

Published in 2007 during the final days of the G.W. Bush presidency, this book examines that presence around the world.

Not only the United States, but also Britain, France, and Russia continue to have facilities in various places.

The book devotes particular study to various different types of negotiation scenarios between the basing nations and the countries where bases are placed, with the variables being payments and coercion.

Examination of difference between the US as liberator and the US as colonial power, as well as the subject nation being a conquered developed country or a developing country with a weak government.

On the whole, I found the book a fascinating overview of the hard security presence of the United States around the world.