What David Is Reading
American Amnesia:
HOW THE WAR ON GOVERNMENT LED US TO FORGET WHAT MADE AMERICA PROSPER
Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson
Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson
Sometimes one simply must read books they disagree with to challenge their own views, or to be better equipped to deal with the arguments they most find unsettling. This book was painful to read in that so much of its underlying presuppositions are so horrifically contrary to the classical liberalism I hold dear, and yet truth be told the book was fair, honest, and in some cases enlightening. Now, it was also almost entirely wrong, but I am better off for having read it.
The Hour of Fate:
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, JP MORGAN, AND THE BATTLE TO TRANSFORM AMERICAN CAPITALISM
Susan Berfield
Susan Berfield
For any paying attention, our economic and political system seem hell-bent on relitigating and re-discovering various complexities of large and powerful businesses, and what limits there ought to be on the wealth and the power of these behemoths. Easy answers are not going to be found, but one thing is clear to me – those who have a better understanding of the history behind our previous grappling with these issues will be more prepared to understand the present environment. One will be struck in reading this book how much things have changed since the early 1900’s, and one will be struck by how much things are still the same.
Wild Company:
THE UNTOLD STORY OF BANANA REPUBLIC
Mel and Patricia Ziegler
Mel and Patricia Ziegler
I am a sucker for business biographies, especially underdog stories and rags to riches stories and all that other American dream stuff. And even when the author/self-made gazillionaire/entrepreneur themselves protests to loathe the ladder that they climbed, I find these stories inspiring (and their protests comical). The story of how a writer and an illustrator were able to start buying throwaway military garb and “style it” and “sell it” – eventually building one of the dominant clothing brands of the last generation – is really quite remarkable. And their contempt for the “corporate buyers” who funded their scale and expansion is equally remarkable, as much for its lack of self-awareness as anything else.