On this day when everyone is Irish, I think it’s good to remember how many of us got here, what it took, the tragedies overcome and the triumphs at the end of the road. Kathryn Miles has written what sounds like a moving, important book. I caught part of her interview today on NPR:
Brief article with excerpt from the book, here
One of our finest historians passed away on August 6th. Tony Judt, the author of numerous historical works, with a primary focus on French intellectuals, passed away after a long battle with ALS. He was 62.
I recently read his excellent Ill Fares the Land, which would have been a strong and timely work regardless of how it was written. Given the fact that he dictated it while suffering from the ravages of Lou Gehrig’s disease made it all the more poignant and moving. Here is the opening section, first published in the New York Review of Books:
… |To be Continued “Tony Judt”Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today.
Wright’s book is picking up steam. He writes with compression, gets to the point quickly, after marshaling his facts and evidence. And the story he tells is enthralling. Polytheism, to monolatry to monotheism. Some of it I already knew. But much of it is new to me, based upon recent excavations and readings of better, more accurate translations of existing scripture. Wright’s gift is to put it all together in a very accessible, organized manner.
There is much evidence to suggest that Yahweh evolved from at least two Canaanite gods before him, El and Baal.… |To be Continued “The Ground of Change”
About 100 pages into a fascinating new book, detailing the rise and fall of gods, goddesses, the religious impulse and its repercussions. The Evolution of God, by Robert Wright, is a general history, starting from the earliest hunter-gatherer societies, moving into chiefdoms after the discovery of agriculture, onto city-states in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and through the advent of Levantine monolatry and monotheism. I’ve reach the foot of Mount Monolatry and fierce storms are taking shape.
Wright reminds us how much religion permeated every culture, from the dawn of human time to the present. All things were tied to the gods, especially early on in our evolution.… |To be Continued “The Sting of the Sun”
One of my favorite songs by Leonard Cohen is “Hallelujah.” Many artists have covered it, with various degrees of success, and it appears at the end of one of my favorite movies, “When Night is Falling,” to memorable effect. Am pleased to publish an essay about the great novelist/poet/songwriter with the grissly old voice. Yahia Lababidi compares and contrasts the work of Stephen Patrick Morrissey and Mr. Cohen in a fresh and original way.
* * * * *
Am reading a fascinating book by Stephen O’Shea, entitled Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval World.… |To be Continued “Hallelujah”