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  • Dr. Robert T. Morris: Fifty Years a Surgeon
    A clear window into many important and interesting areas of life in general - as well as medicine - in the mid-19th to early 20th century. Warts and all. Good read. (***)
  • Christopher Landon: Ice Cold in Alex

    Christopher Landon: Ice Cold in Alex
    Interesting and well developed characters, in genuinely tension inducing situations - even when the matter of "who did it" is not really a mystery. Vivid enough for the place and period - WW2 North Africa to early 1950s Britain - to come to life inside your mind. (***)

  • Karl Von Clausewitz: On War

    Karl Von Clausewitz: On War
    I read this first many years ago. The author then impressed me as being more lucid and broadly learned than many contemporary writers on this and similar areas. He still does. (****)

  • Loren Lomasky: Person's, Rights, and the Moral Community

    Loren Lomasky: Person's, Rights, and the Moral Community
    Well written, and clear. Many interesting ideas and explications of problems, but his theory itself - on a derivation of rights, seems possessed of unnecessary elements. Worth reading. (***)

  • J. B.Schneewind: Sidgwick's Ethics and Victorian Moral PhilosophyVictorian Moral Philosophy
    Details life and analyses work of one of the great figures in 19th century philosophy. Well written, gives good insight into the context of attitudes, assumptions, and circumstances affecting much of the intellectual spirit and life of Britain during those times. (***)
  • J.G.Ballard: The Drowned World

    J.G.Ballard: The Drowned World
    Another (long-time) re-read. Ballard tends to play one note - but it's a good one - and he plays it VERY well. Some uncontrolled/unforeseen calamity engulfs the world. Protagonist(s) confront general realization of the coldly impersonal nature of the world and how human responses are to a large extent a product of the interaction of those forces with his/there-own biological pre-dispositions - engraved in the structure of each and every one of their cells. And, that the true and only expression of one's authentic self and humanity, lies in how and whether one can/does inwardly accept the truth of these constraints, and expresses that realization, in those (few) opportunities available for actual personal choice. Intentionally or not his work gives powerful and poetic expression to the Existentialist perspective. The world of this novel happens to be slowly drowning in the over-heated flood-tides that result from a run-away solar anomaly. But, it could be just about any such occurrence - e.g. A "Wind From Nowhere," or the Japanese invasion of Shanghai (both of which served as the backgrounds of others among his novels). The story-line, character-types, dilemmas, decisions, and general moods are much the same in each story, but the pacing, poetry, intensity, and aggravating authenticity of the characterizations in each instance are gripping enough to make every reading worthwhile. (***)

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« The More Things Change: Memorial Day 2007 | Main | Filling the Ranks: short essays, questions and observations on the current state of the War in Iraq and at home »

10 August 2007

Withdrawal

Red_State_Blue


Reflections on a House Divided

Withdrawal


And there, I believe, is where the real problem lies for persons like my friend who are very clever, well-informed and resourceful indeed. To such people the normal progression of conflicts of this kind - even when the counter-insurgency is successful in the end - must seem like a train-wreck in slow motion - or -  like one of those agonizing scenes in a horror movie when whomever is leading a group on an - obviously - ill-fated expedition to examine some strange-and-alarming-circumstances-or-other  says something to the effect that  "let's all now split up, and meet back here in an hour"  and then "first let's leave these heavy shot-guns behind, they'll just slow us down." They want to scream and throw things at the "screen". And sometimes they do.

Withdrawal
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Trackbacks of the day:

Woman Honor Thyself 
Stiknstein has no mercy 
Don Surber

The World According to Carl


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Comments

But, whether we do it elegantly or with the grace of a drunken seal lion, we must prevail...Exactly my friend!..great to see ya posting again!..ty for the link!!!

Do blog on, David! Another finely-crafted exposition--congratulations! Your postings always assure some new and nuanced perspectives on the world's continuing strife. Well done, m'lad.

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