Larry’s Comments (group member since Nov 23, 2020)

Larry’s comments from the Nonfiction Reading - Only the Best group.

John wrote: "I have thought about reading all of Elizabeth Bishop eventually. She published about 100 poems. Something must be said about a poet of economy, since most of today’s active poets publish so much th..."

The Library of America volume (see below) of her collected poems also contains the following: "... an extensive selection of unpublished poems and drafts of poems (several not previously collected), as well as all her published poetic translations, ranging from a chorus from Aristophanes’ The Birds to versions of Brazilian sambas.

Poems, Prose, and Letters also brings together most of her published prose writings, including stories; reminiscences; travel writing about the places (Nova Scotia, Florida, Brazil) that so profoundly marked her poetry; and literary essays and statements, including a number of pieces published here for the first time. The book is rounded out with a selection of Bishop’s irresistibly engaging and self-revelatory letters. Of the 53 letters included here, written between 1933 and 1979, a considerable number are printed for the first time, and all are presented in their entirety. "

I think that it is perhaps my favorite LOA collection of poetry.

https://www.loa.org/books/277-poems-p...

This Carnegie Endowment article on Chinese holdings of U.S. treasury bonds is quite good. These two paragraphs lead you into details:

"I thought it would make sense to revisit and update my January 2018 post. As I explained in that entry, the real reason China cannot sell off its holdings of U.S. government bonds is because Chinese purchases were not made to accommodate U.S. needs. Rather, China made these purchases to accommodate a domestic demand deficiency in China: Chinese capital exports are simply the flip side of the country’s current account surplus, and without the former, they could not hold down the currency enough to permit the latter.

To see why any Chinese threat to retaliate against U.S. trade intervention would actually undermine China’s own position in the trade negotiations, consider all the ways in which Beijing can reduce its purchases of U.S. government bonds:"

Two crucial points. First, over the last six months, Chinese holdings have been slightly declining. Second, In any case, the large holdings of China still means that the United States will be paying significant amounts of money--through the interest owed on these bonds--to China.

https://carnegieendowment.org/chinafi...

In 2007, James Mann published The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression. In truth he published this book under a different title at first, and I can't find that title anywhere ... and that matters a little but not very much.

The book has one main thesis and explores that thesis fully. It is that the Chinese version of capitalism is not going to lead to democracy in any substantial way. I think that Mann was prescient and he has been largely correct. The reason is simple to understand and to state but it has been largely missed by most people, even those who are China watchers. It is that China works very well to serve the economic interests of about 300 million people .. the people in the major cities (mostly in Southern and coastal China) who have become middle class citizens ... and that the other people just don't matter politically. As long as those interests of those 300 million people are served well, they will support the Communist Party and the PLA. There are a number of details in the short book, but that's about it.

As long as the interests of those 300 million people coincide with the interests of the Communist Party and with the People's Liberation Army (PLA), it's a steady three legged stool. (The PLA is the entire military and not just the ground forces of the army. And the PLA runs many businesses.) When the interests of one of the three stop coinciding with the other two, the stool will wobble. Right now, it's a pretty steady stool ... but economic growth has been declining steadily.

And this (from the Free Dictionary):

"Of or in a position of high standing, rank, regard, or repute. The term is derived from the social hierarchy of nobility in medieval times, in which salt, a precious commodity then, was set in the middle of the dining table. Those of high noble rank were seated "above the salt," that is, closer to the lord and lady of the house, while those in lower social standing were seated "below" it. "

Carol wrote: "I am also very interested in learning more about China, a country of which I have only a superficial knowledge. As in so many places of the world, Britain's military power was used to dominate a fa..."

Carol,

As usual, all of your thoughts are valuable and full of important insights.

Larry

Eileen wrote: "Larry, thanks for setting up a thread on China. I have had that Michael Wood book on my short-list and am looking forward to reading it. If you have the chance to get to it, I will be interested in seeing your thoughts here...."

Sure, Eileen.

For a few years, I was the head of the Japan Section at USDA's Economic Research Service. And I would talk several times a week with the people working in the China Section, who truly were some of the preeminent China researchers in the federal government. (The other places in the government where you might find people with similar expertise would be in the CIA and in the State Department.) Most of those people had dedicated their lives to working on China. I realized early on how little I understood China but the economists of the China section were almost always willing to try to help others understand what they might need to know about China.

If you want a very good analysis of how China has become the economic power that it has, you can download this free 42 page research paper, China’s Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United States. Prepared by the Congressional Research Service, it's very much up to date.

HERE: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33534.pdf

In trying to understand what's going on to China today, it's easy to be drawn to studying the ongoing totalitarianism being waged against the Uighur people in western China or the growing authoritarianism (which could easily slide into a different kind of totalitarianism in Hong Kong). I think these events are hugely important in terms of what it means for China, East Asia, and the world. But it's only one part of what's going on in China. Trying to see China in terms of, say the ten most important things going on, is a huge challenge. And I don't have the answer to that.

So many works on China ... where to begin?

Here's one that was recently published based on a television series on PBS (and perhaps first on the BBC). I haven't read it yet, but the series was impressive. It covers the history of China from the beginning to the present time:

The Story of China: The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream by Michael Wood.

A book that I have read is John Keay's China: A History. Keay is anon-academic highly acclaimed historian. (As an aside, Michael Wood is an academic historian, but he is certainly not a China specialist.) Keay's specialty is Asia and that may be good and bad when it comes to China. I think it's a strength in that it allows him to understand China's place in the world, especially with respect to countries like India. But China is so complicated that if you're not a China specialist, you're going to miss so subtleties. All in all, still recommended.

Eileen,

I will add a thread on China under History ... some writing could be under Country/regional, but I think a lot of the books we end up talking about will be historical.

Eileen wrote: "Interesting, Larry. That seems to really underscore China's comparably more expansive view of historical timelines which was also a point I heard made earlier today when I watched a book discussion on The China Nightmare: The Grand Ambitions of a Decaying State...."

I'm concerned a lot about China. I don't want to pay the price you have to pay for that book, but I think that AEI has a few links that will give you a sense for what's in it. Here's one: https://www.aei.org/wp-content/upload...

It's really hard to place Xi into the framework of recent Chinese leaders. He doesn't have the wisdom (and I do choose that word carefully) that Zhou or Deng had ... at least wisdom as it pertains to seeking China's best results over the long run. As one example, I don't think that in the worst days of Zhou or Deng that they would have pursued the crackdown on Hong Kong the way that Xi has. Unfortunately for Hong Kong, the Hong Kong people have little support on the Chinese Mainland, so Xi's crackdown is probably going to get worse. And then you combine all of this with Xi's new Cult of Personality. I never thought we would see that again.

Where Xi goes wrong is that he has miscalculated the resistance coming (and growing) from almost every other country in East Asia and the Pacific region. Going back to Chinese domestic matters, Xi has threatened a lot of strong people within China and has gotten away with it. The reported number who were prosecuted for corruption last year was 18,585, and it is a small number of those who were prosecuted since Xi came to power. I think that Xi will run out of luck when the economy hits a few major rough spots and he is unable to fix things.

No one knows where all of this is going. And anyone who thinks that they do is kidding themself. The Chinese curse of "May you live in interesting times!" is again relevant and very worrying.

Carol wrote: "I have just tried to postA History of the Jews by Paul Johnson by creating a new thread 'Jewish History ' under the History section. I could not manage it because I was not sure what ...he has also written a History of Christianity, which I have not read, but which I gather is excellent - a factual history of the Christian religion. Has anyone read it? "

When it first came out I probably read about 80 pages of it. (I still have the trade paperback. I just checked and that's where my underlining stops.) It's okay. I much prefer this more recent A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by the Oxford Historian, Diarmaid MacCullough. Yeah, that "three thousand years" is right and not a misprint. He epxlains it in the text. MacCullough real specialty is the Reformation and all of his books on that period of Christianity are simply brilliant.

I think that Marlowe exemplified the violence and the creativity of the Elizabethan Age. I like what you said at the end, Carol. "He was clearly not so talented a word smith as Shakespeare, but he wrote vividly and held my attention even then."

Carol & Eileen,

In a message to Sher this week, I had this:

"In 1972, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai was asked about the impact of the French Revolution. “Too early to say,” he replied. Given that the French Revolution of 1789 had occurred nearly 200 years before, Zhou Enlai was expressing the long view of history in a very witty and Oscar Wildean way. "

Larry

John,

I value Bloom's works a lot, but I totally believe you in your description of his decline. I think that that is fairly common among those who produce a lot, whether it's nonfiction or fiction.

Larry

Kathy wrote: "Excellent review! I feel a bit sorry for the author. I get the feeling that he submitted an exceptional history on the geology of Yellowstone, and the editor said “we need to spice this up!”"

Yep, I can buy that!

Kathy wrote: "I am currently reading Super Volcano: The Ticking Time Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park by Greg Breining. It is speculative nonfiction. It starts out as a travel..."

Kathy, I read that and actually gave it four stars. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I do agree with you that the author is trying to worry us a little. I wouldn't worry about traveling to Yellowstone ... I'm not so sure about Naples.

John wrote: "I decided to embark on a Louise Gluck project. I have saved to my New Yorker library all the pieces on her there. I am also looking at other articles I can find in other periodicals.

I will say th..."

I love your project, John.

Carol wrote: "Some very strange films have been made; 'Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter,' for one. When we saw it, husband said "there will be vampires in Pride and Prejudice next."
Lo and behold- a few days late..."


:-) Yeah, it's vampires and zombies all of the time these days ... I like so little horror. The only horror work that I read three times is the novel Song of Kali by Dan Simmons. The admirable thing about this is how it builds to its heartbreaking conclusion. This is from the Wiki: "Song of Kali is a horror novel by American writer Dan Simmons, published in 1985. It was the winner of the 1986 World Fantasy Award. The story deals with an American intellectual who travels to Calcutta, where he becomes embroiled in mysterious and horrific events at the centre of which lies a cult of Kapalikas that worships Kali. "