How was the Gorbi book? I read a memoir of the GWBush years recently. What was his take on the end of the Soviet Union?
He believes the SU fell apart when Gorby weakened the state in an attempt to strengthen the individual. That being said, despite Yeltsin and Putin returning to traditional, authoritarian, and more anti Western norms in Putin’s case, Gorby should be lauded for his reforms that democratized and benefitted the middle classes, not the tycoons.
Am really enjoying filling my 17th Century house with loads of books.
Really recommend the Flashman series although very un-PC 
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Never heard Flashman. Will try it.
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The Flashman novels are great- Flashman is a cad, coward, seducer, who notably tries to flee from every heroic confrontation in Victorian history- and he gets tangled up in most of them, with people like Bismarck, Abraham Lincoln, and the Dowager Empress, gets involved in the Afghan Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the US Civil War- Major, Union Army, 1863; Colonel, Confederate Army, 1864- the Indian Mutiny, and many more.
What I especially like is that, unlike most fake-history, Frasier is deadly accurate with his references and footnotes.
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Read a few pages of the first novel and I find it quite entertaining. Almost like one of those steamy romance novels, but aimed at male readership.
Some of lines on Afghan men and women are pretty funny
Got novel 1.
I love the intriguing opening Explanatory Note that sets the stage for everything else.
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Haha, I remember a line in the beginning about someone having a mood “like a Turk at a christening”. Definitely written before #metoo as well.
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Chrimbo book list want:
Crawford’s book is a useful addition to climate security literature insofar as it provides a history of the military’s fossil fuel use and its efforts to address climate change over the decades. Her work to develop an independent measure of Defense Department emissions is valuable, as is her argument that curbing emissions expeditiously will make the United States and the world a safer place. It is her estimation of the military’s role in moving toward decarbonization that should be questioned. Does the military’s very existence, as Crawford argues, drive climate change above and beyond the direct impact of military emissions? Her book attempts to make that case, but ultimately, her argument that the military is more than just one entity among many that have created the systemic climate risks facing the world today is unconvincing.
Now moved on to The Genial Idiot by John Kendrick Bangs, second in series.
Funny stuff from over 100 years ago.
The Genial Idiot: His Views and Reviews https://g.co/kgs/kyif5f
I’m 20% into the first Flashman book.
Fun, interesting, historical, not-PC, before woke was a thing.
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The good ole days
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Just added these to my highschool library thanks to generous donations. I thought they looked strange but intriguing. Are they satire?
In the 1980s, a right-wing Japanese politician co-authored a book with Akio Morita, Sony’s founder titled The Japan That Can Say No. He threatened to give their DRAM chips, which were a couple of generations more advanced than Americans’ to the Soviets.
I am 93.5% into the first book here. Definitely amusing. But, thinking about this, it is so sad that it takes me weeks to read a small book. I spend too much time at the computer.
I carry my ereader all the time and try to pick it up instead of looking at my phone. Doesn’t always work but at least I have the option.
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