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What I've been reading
1. Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul, by Michael Reid. A good treatment of the region's recent history; it is best for its balanced assessment of what market-oriented reforms have managed or not.
2. Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?: The Transformation of Modern Europe, by James J. Sheehan. Blah, blah, blah, blah, Europe has fewer soldiers than it used to, blah. Blah. Sheehan is a first-rate historian, but there's not much to this book.
3. Architecture of Authority, by Richard Ross. This book is nothing more than photos of jail cells, parole hearing rooms, Mary Boone Gallery, and the like. Thought-provoking.
4. Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism, by John Updike. Scattered essays on just about everything. Completely apart from his fiction, Updike is simply one of the smartest and most impressive people out there. It is amazing how many topics he knows so much about and how well he writes about them.
5. Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You With the Bill), by David Cay Johnston. This is quite a good compendium of different ways that government screws us over, written from a mixed populist/libertarian point of view. Recommended. I expected not so much but the substance here held my attention. I'd now like to know the total welfare cost of all these bad policies.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on January 26, 2008 at 04:32 PM in Books | Permalink
Comments
Interesting to know about David Cay Johnston's book. I left it near the checkout line because the cover quotes and blurb were just a little too incendiary. I'll have to go back and pick it up.
Posted by: TJ at Jan 26, 2008 5:22:13 PM
The link to "Architecture of Authority" is incorrect; it links to the Reid book.
Cheers,
Ryan Zalis
Posted by: Ryan Zalis at Jan 26, 2008 6:01:18 PM
I'd love to read a review by you of a second-rate historian's book given your, hum , treatment of "first-rate" Sheehan's...
Posted by: Attila Smith at Jan 26, 2008 6:41:22 PM
I'm surprised you expected "cheap trash" from Johnston--there is little doubt in my mind that he is the most knowledgeable mainstream reporter on U.S. tax issues. It is true that the publicity for the book is on the sensational side--but it isn't so easy to get people to read books about tax policy.
Posted by: matt wilbert at Jan 26, 2008 7:17:38 PM
David Cay Johnston writes horrible articles in the New York Times about the unmitigated gall of capitalists who avail themselves of "loopholes," which he hates. He never met a loophole he didn't want to close, or a tax evader (or avoider for that matter) he didn't want to see jailed. He is one of the worst journalists in America. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I can't imagine his book being any good.
If I could buy the NYT, he's maybe the fourth person who would go, after Krugman, Herbert and Rich.
Posted by: Bill Stepp at Jan 26, 2008 7:58:50 PM
Other books taking the Johnston line are The Conservative Nanny State and The Big Ripoff, though Gabriel Kolko's "The Triumph of Conservatism" is really the father of all them.
Posted by: TGGP at Jan 26, 2008 8:27:58 PM
Matt, you have a good point (I hadn't recognized his name, I should add), so I reworded my post.
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at Jan 26, 2008 9:55:32 PM
Being from Chicago, it doesn't surprise me that government collusion might be involved.
Posted by: jorod at Jan 27, 2008 12:40:21 PM
I listened to an interview with him on NPR and he seemed to paint pro-business tax policy as the primary cause of inequality in this country and the main issue shaping our economy. Tyler, even if his particular examples are interesting, what of his overall theory?
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