Before reading this book, I was already intrigued by the Scopes trial, having encountered it through reading Inherit the Wind by Lawrence and Lee in my youth and viewing the film adaptation starring Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow.
This book captivated me, not just with the story of the Scopes trial itself but also with the rich background it provides on the cultural and political climate in America leading up to the trial. The country was grappling with racism, antisemitism, women’s disenfranchisement, and a stark divide between the North and South. Religious leaders were increasingly uneasy with the rise of science, and efforts to suppress scientific education in schools were prevalent—an issue that resonates even today.
Wineapple profiles three key figures of the era: Clarence Darrow, H.L. Mencken, and William Jennings Bryan. These profiles were the highlight for me. All three were intelligent, influential, articulate, and deeply flawed. Their strong beliefs on issues like racism, antisemitism, and religion shaped their actions.
Bryan, a staunch defender of the Bible, believed its teachings should be taken literally. His speeches and sermons, especially in the South, were widely popular. Despite three failed presidential campaigns, his political ambition never waned.
Darrow and Mencken, both agnostics, were critical of religious hypocrisy. Liberals in their politics, they used their legal and journalistic skills to push their principles. It’s fascinating that Bryan, Darrow, and Mencken ended up at the center of such a pivotal cultural and political moment.
Reading this book made me reflect on how much progress the United States has—or hasn’t—made in areas like racism, antisemitism, and the influence of religion in education, law, and politics. The challenges to science that existed in the 1920s are still relevant today.
I highly recommend this book as an insightful snapshot of American culture and politics in the 1920s and is still happening today.
Saturday Night will always remain burned in my memory as long as I live, as being the day when I heard the most religion preached, and the least practiced.
I am a huge Bill Maher fan. I’ve been watching Politically Incorrect since it debuted in 1993. Maher could be considered the Will Rogers of today’s culture. But Maher is more cutting, dynamic, controversial and cynical than Rogers ever was. Plus Maher has met plenty of people he did not like. Maher’s style is more like H.L. Mencken. Maher and Jon Stewart are the rational minds and voices that Americans need badly.
I’d recommend Maher’s books of essays about politics, media, cancel culture, Trump, education and civil war etc. to anyone interested in current events, history and politics. But I understand that 40% of the country might prefer to listen to Greg Gutfield and The Five. Their loss! I find Maher to be a very fair interviewer on his show, civil and willing to give opposite views from him a fair hearing.
Read the varied essays at your leisure. Maher incorporates humor with his opinions and criticisms. Try it, you may like it…
I have posted some excerpts that caught my eye and mind…
A job in Congress is just so much better than racking the weights at CrossFit, which is what Marjorie Taylor Greene did before she set her crazy eyes on the prize. And once you get the gig, it’s yours for life. The re-election rate in the house for incumbents in 2022 was 95% – – that’s better job security than a pedophile priest has.
Everybody keeps asking, how could a guy (George Santos) like this happen?” I’ll tell you how: because no one cares anymore about substance. It’s all tribalism. The only thing that matters is “is he on our team?” Is he doing our schtick?” Santos is just the first one to realize you could do both sides’ schtick and get away with it because people have completely tuned out anything that doesn’t already fit their narrative.
Americans are far too dim and distracted to responsibly make a (voting) choice in just weeks or even months. Americans actually think it’s a brag to say that they’re cynical about politics and therefore don’t follow it. Don’t flatter yourself. Cynical comes when you know too much; you, on the other hand, haven’t bothered to learn anything.
This country simply has no education standards anymore – – they will let you out of a public high school and give you a diploma and you don’t have to actually know anything. Which used to be a mission of schools: knowing things.
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok – – these are not places to read in the sense of garnering real and valuable information; they are what replaced reading so you’d have more time to take pictures of your dick. Sorry, but staring at your phone doesn’t make you a reader anymore than watching fireworks makes you an astronomer, or getting a tramp stamp makes you ass a museum.
Trump calls the Mueller report “the crazy Mueller report, “and in a way he’s right, because it’s over 400 pages detailing terrible crimes by a corrupt president, yet Mueller doesn’t prosecute. If Dostoevsky had written this report, it would be called “Crime and no Punishment.”
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump nicknamed his penis “Mike Pence” because it’s not hung like it should be.
Our economy no longer creates a middle class, it sucks it dry. Sometimes “middle class” just means you’re poor but you don’t do meth. And remember, this is the good economy, where 40% of Americans can’t afford a $400 emergency expense and 50 million have nothing saved for retirement. Sorry, but it is not middle-class when your retirement plan is a lotto ticket.
When did the American business model switch from honestly selling you a product to tricking the consumer who doesn’t read the fine print? You ever wonder, “Why is my cell phone contract longer than a CVS receipt?” If you forget to turn off “data roaming” and you go to Vancouver for the weekend, Verizon gets to keep your children. This is the way we do business, and it’s all based on the cynical premise of you fucking up: that they can wear you down, confuse you or count on you to forget.
Before we tackle any of our daunting specific problems here in America, we have to figure out how a country can solve any problem if so, many of its people are so intractably,, astoundingly, mind numbingly stupid. And I’m not saying that as hyperbole or just out of frustration. I mean this country just might be empirically, verifiably too fucking dumb to continue as an ongoing enterprise.
Colleges have turned into giant, luxury daycare centers with overpaid babysitters anxious to indulge every student whim.
Every year at graduation time we witnessed the ritual of commencement addresses, when America’s overrated, gas bags, and wisdom-free celebrities are invited by star fucking universities to come to their school and tell a bunch of spoiled, stoned, debt laden brats things like “You’re only limit is your own imagination” and The world will be a better place for having you in it.”
Before the Internet, you only had to put up with your wingnut uncle on Thanksgiving. Now he’s forwarding you proof that Trump won Arizona and Epstein was murdered by the QAnon shaman. The street corner nut with the sandwich board used to be laughed at; now he’s linked to.
Do you know the reason why advertisers in this country love the 18 to 34 demographic? Because it’s the most gullible. A third of people under 35 say they’re in favor of abolishing the police – – not defunding, but doing away with a police force altogether, which is less of a policy position, and more of a leg tattoo. 36% of millennials think it might be a good idea to try communism.
Is there anything more self-defeating than not using old people as a resource? Not taking advantage of their accumulated knowledge? Everywhere else in the world elders are sought for guidance. In America, elders are sought for TikTok pranks.
Now, I get it, Christians love to feel persecuted – – it’s part of their origin story. But it’s been a long time since anyone was getting eaten by the lions in the Colosseum. 64% of the country is Christian, not to mention every president we’ve ever had, so please don’t tell me, in what universe does it make sense when Sean Hannity says, “The liberal media’s war against religion is alive and well.”
So if the reader enjoys horror stories, there is no potential horror story greater than described in this book. What Jacobsen writes about is the end of human civilization. As soon as North Korea sends missiles towards the United States, there really is no mystery on how this story will end. The world is relying on nuclear deterrence. However, if a crazed leader of a country gets an idea in his head or a terrorist group manages to obtain and arm a nuclear warhead, all bets are off.
What Jacobson wrote is not particularly novel. There have been movies and other books which have explained what could happen if there is a nuclear war. This book does contain additional material and references based on her extensive research. The consequences of a nuclear war to mankind is described in horrifying detail.
The author is guessing as to how decision-makers within this type of scenario will respond. At one point, there is indecision by the secretary of defense, who now acting as President, to issue a full out nuclear retaliation. It seems that once the first nuclear rocket is launched, there is no going back. Nuclear winter is described in great detail – – however, very very few of us would experience it, maybe no one.
I remember reading Failsafe when I was a young boy. That book provided no horrific details as to the horrible ways that people would die, be maimed and struggle to survive.
Much of this book is based on the author’s research. She describes the process by which various agencies, military and government officials should follow if a nuclear war is to start. After reading this book, if I anticipate an imminent nuclear attack by a foreign government, I am not going to hide in some basement. I am going to look for away to die quickly before I experience the horror of a nuclear bomb.
A lot of people should read this book before they go vote this November.
I was not a fan of Trust. The other three books were OK but I’m not sure they would have made my top 100 book list. I rarely read fiction books in the NYT best selling list. I do have a prejudice against most (not all) fiction books by female authors. They tend to write in a different tone and voice than I like. I have no issues with non fiction books by female authors.
Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, And Assorted Hijinks By Dick Cavett My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I am going to combine this review with Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary and Off-Screen Secrets also written by Dick Cavett. I read these books at the same time. I admire Cavett’s wit, intelligence, humor, and storytelling. I enjoyed his talk show when it was on in the 1970s. Both books were series of short essays and articles that he wrote for the New York Times. Here are some of the people and topics that he covered, and with which I enjoyed: Groucho, Marx, George W. Bush, Johnny, Carson, Muhammad Ali, John Lennon, James Gandolfini, William F Buckley, Elizabeth Taylor, the Vidal – Mailer incident, Richard Nixon, David Letterman etc.
Cavett’s writing is crisp and humorous and as elegant and entertaining as the many interviews that he did on his ABC talkshow.
I doubt that very many readers under 60 years old may know of Cavett, but he was a bit of a cultural icon and hero in my day. His books represent a nostalgic trip for me into the celebrity world of the 1960s and 70s.
The great ending of this book made it all the worthwhile to read through all 415 pages. This is the seventh or eighth Horowitz book that I have read and enjoyed. This is the second Horowitz/Hawthorne series book that I have read.
There were so many subplots and turns within this story that the author, skillfully connects and explains at the end. It was a murder mystery, where a cast of about a dozen could have been involved in murdering one of the residents in the community. Everyone had a great motive to see the demise of one of the obnoxious new neighbors in the close community. As I read the book, I could not figure out how the murder investigation would conclude.
An interesting angle of the book is the narration provided by Horowitz in his role as an author and storyteller of this crime. His uneasy relationship with detective Hawthorne is part of another mystery within the book.
The ending of the book is pure genius. So many swerves and plot turns! Just when everyone thinks that they have the answers (or the murderer) the questions change and the plot thickens.
This book would make an excellent beach read for those who enjoy mysteries. I’d love to see this book presented as a movie – – it was that entertaining!
What struck and scared me as I read this book was how similar the political situations in Germany in the early 1930s were to the United States currently. Each country was and is going through a burgerkrieg (civil war) where there exists intense, political differences that often resulted in violence. Hindenburg stayed in office as he feared Hitler gaining political power. Hindenburg was accused of dementia and suffering from the ravages of old age. Today, Joe Biden fears a Trump presidency and the end of democracy in the United States. Biden too, is accused of suffering from dementia and being too old to serve another four year term.
In both the cases of Hitler and Trump, there were events that could have and should have ended their political pursuits. Hitler persevered through many defeats, political, personal and strategic.
I was not familiar with the appropriate knowledge of German history from 1918 till 1933 when Hitler seized power. Ryback provides the necessary background, history, and important men during this period. This book may provide a greater service in understanding what is happening in the United States today by looking back at what happened in Germany in the 1930s.
Shown below are my notes from this book..
“It has been said that the Weimar Republic died twice. It was murdered, and it committed suicide. There is little mystery to the murder. Hitler vowed to destroy democracy through the democratic process and he did.”
Trump and Hitler similarities Neither were drinkers Both felons Both thin skinned Both very poor liars (If you tell a lie long enough and keep repeating it…Goebbels) Both suffered election defeats that they refused to accept Both overestimated crowd sizes at various rallies and events Both were counted out after electoral and political defeats and came back Both sought to annul election results and lost Both seeking to establish dictatorships embraced by the populace Both opposed by older men (Hindenburg and Biden) who feared their rise to power Both promising “revenge” on their political opponents when they gain power Both used immigration issues (Hitler-Polish, Trump-Mexicans and South Americans) to stir up enthusiasm from their political base
Oswald Spengler knew both men. (referring to Hitler and Strasser). The author of the two volume landmark treatise Decline of the West was considered one of the leading conservative thinkers of today. Spengler found Hitler to be “clueless, indecisive, in a word, dumb. “
Adolf Hitler gave thousands of young Germans a chance from escape from reality Time wrote in December 1931. Hitlerites had uniforms, brass bands, roaring mass meetings, plenty of free beer. (Trump MAGA rallies 2020-2024)
The next day, Vorwarts (German newspaper) splashed the news in a banner headline, “Hitler wants to rule!” The editors were frantic at the thought. “The appointment of Hitler is out of the question because he lacks even the most basic qualifications”, they wrote. “You cannot trust a government to the leader of a party in recent days has been responsible for perpetuating countless horrific acts of violence without discrediting the authority of the state before the eyes of the entire world, not to mention the majority of its own people. “There was also the fact that Hitler served prison time for treason against the very state he was now seeking to rule.”
Memoir…history…love story… Prior to reading this book, I was vaguely aware of the name, Richard Goodwin, and his involvement in politics and in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. I was not aware of his specific roles. as it turns out, he was a man of certain influence working for both John F, Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Turns out he was a great speechwriter, wordsmith and political strategist. He was described as a “generalist”, a man who could fill a lot of roles and responsibilities.
Growing up in the 60s, I, of course, was interested in the nostalgic trip during that decade. Goodwin was a huge fan of the Kennedys. This created significant issues when he worked for Lyndon Johnson. Goodwin was involved to a certain degree in the discussions around civil rights, Vietnam, the Great Society etc.
Based on the book, it seems that Goodwin did not receive the credit he should’ve gotten for his effective communication of both JFK’s and LBJ’s’s policies and goals. Goodwin seem to find himself in hot water, often inadvertently, with people he worked for. In 1968 Goodwin worked for Eugene McCarthy, prior to RFK’s entry into the presidential race. Goodwin had quite a balancing act and at the same time, he did not wish to undermine the policies of Lyndon Johnson.
Doris Kearns Goodwin is an excellent writer. I have seen her on new shows on television where she is a thoughtful and effective communicator. This is an excellent book. If a reader has an interest in 1960’s history, politics or wishes to know more about the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, this book is an excellent resource.
Dick Goodwin had an interesting career and he seems motivated to achieve as much good as he could in the various roles he had in government. This is definitely a five star book!
This is a very long book, about 1100 pages. But the history and narratives are so compelling, the reader does not mind the mental lifting required. The author was an established and renowned foreign affairs reporter during the 1930s and 1940s. This book is obviously excellently researched and Shirer was reporting from France and Germany prior to the war. His books about Nazi Germany are also compelling history reads.
Shirer also provides an excellent insight into how the war started by examing the behavior of not only France, but also Britian, Germany and Russia.
Why France Fell?
Arrogance: Misguided reliance that things would always stay the same. French politicians and military leaders believing that they had all the right answers and refused to adjust to changing times.
Poor national leadership: Inability to address social inequities, economic problems and the threat of Nazi Germany.
Poor military leadership: Soldiers were not properly trained. “Territory wars” among French generals. Strategy warfare mindset from the 19th century. Poor communication skills among themselves and with the political leadership.
Lack of courage: While many French soldiers fought valiantly, there were many incidents of French soldiers running away from battle and throwing down their weapons and removing their uniforms. These soldiers wanted to go back to their regular lives and not fight in a war they believed was over. They were afraid of German tanks, planes and soldiers.
Appeasement: Both France and Britain did not want war and agreed to whatever demands Hitler made, particularly those made at Munich. Both France and Britian had military opportunities to thwart the German army in 1939 and 1940 but did not have the necessary spine and will to stop Nazi aggression.
French culture: Political extremism and corruption were accepted as norms by the French populace. A national will did not exist to make the necessary political, economic and cultural changes to become a national power. The French people were largely complacent with their history and perceived standing in the world.
Esot-eric 