Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu That Led America into the Vietnam War is an near daily account of the battle that destroyed the French and opened the way for the partition of Vietnam. It is detailed, but also a compelling read. The suffering was tremendous, and for the Vietnamese people, it would continue.
Maimonides and the Book That Changed Judaism: Secrets of "The Guide for the Perplexed" by Micah Goodman is less about the secrets of the Guide, and more about the heavy lifting the Ramban accomplished in this work. As Goodman says in the subtitle of this book, the Guide did change Judaism. The Rambam set a high mark on mature, thoughtful Judaism – a Judaism of the head (and the heart) we so desperately need.
I read No Place to Call Home: Inside the Real Lives of Gypsies and Travellers, by Katharine Quarmby, in part to learn about modern Roma life. This book, however, is not strictly about the Roma, although they are featured. Rather, it is about a confusing (for an American) array of road people in Britain. These people seemed to have caused much consternation among settled peoples in the 1990s and early 2000s. This is their story.
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| letter in the Rambam's hand |
Maimonides Guide of the Perplexed entranced me as a younger
man, and I have read portions of it several times. However, I read though the entire book this
time, and I have some new insights. Yes,
the Guide is about the “secrets” of the Torah, but it is much more than
that. This book is really an ambitious attempt
to define and redefine all of Judaism. It
is that monumental work. I won’t take so
long to read it entirely again.
The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance by Shaul Magid is an important book. As the title suggests, Magid sees the Jewish exile as necessary; it is not some state of existence that will one day be amended by Zionism. If you have an open mind and want to learn about topics that might distress you, as a Jew, but are vital, read this book.
North Woods: A Novel by Daniel Mason, is an excellent, very accomplished work. Although it would seem that it would fall into clichés, the old house passing from person to person, it largely does not. I hoped it would not become a novel about ghosts, as that seemed a cliché too far. Alas… despite that, this is a compelling novel that keeps you reading.
The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World, by Vincent Bevins take us into the clandestine world of anti-communist crimes committed by the United State and other totalitarian allies during the Cold War. The author explains that the US feared that Indonesia would fall to communism; this large and well populated country had to stay out of the American orbit, at any cost. And the mass murder and terror campaign used to accomplish this became a program of sorts. The Jakarta Method was the brutal installation of right wing dictators in countries that America feared would fall to communism. The result was a nightmare.
