The Thin Red Line

So today I was supposed to write about Divided America,  a book long on statistics and short on useful ideas.   But given Barrack Obama’s selection as the Democratic nominee,  I find myself less able than ever to delve into Earl and Merle Black’s thesis that America is an evenly divided country with the Democrats controlling the Norheast and the West Coast, the Republicans controlling the South and the Mountains/Plains states and the Midwest  cast as the eternal "swing" region.   Of course, I could easily point out how dry and un-engaging I found the Black brothers analysis of long term regional polling data or the fact that the Black’s intense categorization of the electorate as, for example "non-Christian whites" vs "New American minorities" left me cold and confused.   But today, it seems to me is a day to celebrate Obama’s victory.   And the Blacks’ dry statistical analysis be damned.

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April Fools!

Awhile back I did a post about Gary Trudeau’s latest Doonesbury collection and Frank Rich’s The Greatest Story Ever Sold and remarked that while both were excellent books I find I no longer have the stomach to read about our inept and corrupt politicians.   After reading an article in Newsweek  I recently posted to my politics blog (for the first time in ages) to plead my case that opposing Hillary Clinton does NOT constitute misogyny or sexism.   But the four books I am featuring today,  all of which have been in my stack for well over a month and some of which are Past Due at the library,  and  none of which I have been able to bring myself to read strongly suggest that I really am burned out on reading about political stuff.

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