Jun 25, 2010

20th Century Notes

by Cliopatria

In Daniel Judt and Tony Judt,"Generations in the Balance," NYT, 18 June, a 16-year-old and his 62-year-old historian/father discuss the plight of American democracy. When Michael Wolff suggested that Judt père had written the part of Judt fils, young Judt replied for himself.

Leigh Phillips,"Ex-commissioner calls Congo's colonial master a 'visionary hero'," euobserver.com, 22 June, tests the limits of historical delusion. See also: Chris Bertram,"Plucky King Leopold," Crooked Timber, 24 June.

Joanna Moorhead,"Henrietta Lacks: the mother of modern medicine," Guardian, 23 June, reviews Rebecca Skloots's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

David Runciman,"It's Been a Lot of Fun," LRB, 24 June, and Ian Buruma,"The Believer," NYRB, 15 July, review Christopher Hitchens's Hitch-22: A Memoir.

More Comments:

Chris Bray - 6/25/2010

First page of the NYT piece: "As for the corporations, we baby boomers were right to be cynical. Like Goldman Sachs, oil companies are not benign economic agents, serving a need and taking a cut. They are, in Theodore Roosevelt’s words, 'malefactors of great wealth.'"

Second page: "Big government built this country. Without it there would have been no transcontinental railroad."

I offer to buy Tony Judt's ticket to tour the Leland Stanford Mansion.