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Title: Hotel America: Scenes in the Lobby of the Fin-De-Siecle by Lewis H. Lapham ISBN: 1-85984-062-0 Publisher: Verso Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fantastic writing and great observations.
Comment: Lewis Lapham reminds me of Gore Vidal. Both are master essayists, and both offer an honest critique of imperial ambitions abroad and Puritan impulses at home. Each man is a master of the political essay, and neither individual talks down to his audience.
This collection of essays was written from 1990-1995 and touches on the last vestiges of the Reagan oligarchy (George Herbert Walker Bush) and bemoans the lack of substantial policy changes in the Clinton epoch. Lapham isn't the typical "liberal"; for example, he calls for funding fewer arts organizations (but funding the "chosen few" substantially to get more 'bang from the buck'). While it is true that Lapham's viewpoints are generally considered Leftist, he refuses to be pinned down, lamenting the loss of smoking priveleges in public places nearly as much as the lack of health care for the uninsured.
I highly recommend this book and the critical thinking prominently exhibited by its author.
Rating: 1
Summary: How Clever
Comment: He can turn a phrase, but he's no thinker on the level of, say, Michael Oakeshott or Roger Scruton. Lapham's contempt for the United States and loathing of "Joe Six-Pack" lurks between every line, like a blister beneath a square of moleskin. A rich dish, but ultimately it leaves you with the cramps and need for a power-scower with the toothpaste of your choice. Clever writing and gaudy metaphors do not a social critic make (a socialite, perhaps); there's better stuff out there. The above-named philosophers, Jacques Ellul, Christopher Lasch, Tom Wolfe, Murray Kempton). (NOT Gore Vidal or Norman Mailer or Michael Moore or Noam Chomsky, Lapham's brothers-in-loathing.) Lapham, ultimately, believes in nothing but the power of his pen; he has no sense, much less interest, in a shared community, and continuity with same. THat's why Scruton, Oakeshott, Lasch, Ellul will be read when Lapham's tomes have been pulped into next year's best seller. Poetic justice at its best.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent
Comment: Mr. Lapham's pen strikes the page with brutal honesty. He's not afraid to decnonstruct the corruption in our political arena.
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Title: Century of Revolution, 1603-1714 (Norton Library History of England) by Christopher Hill ISBN: 0393300161 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 July, 1982 List Price(USD): $14.50 |
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Title:Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius ASIN: B00000IRDV Publisher: Winstar Home Entertainment Pub. Date: 29 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $19.98 |
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Title: Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee, Mark Fischetti ISBN: 006251587X Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 07 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Enigma of Arrival: A Novel by V.S. Naipaul ISBN: 0394757602 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 May, 1988 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes ISBN: 0374525870 Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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