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Whatcha Reading?; War and Peace? Best of Jugs? I'm curious
Topic Started: Apr 26 2006, 05:09 PM (3,437 Views)
The Evil Smurfs
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Blue Nazi Devil
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Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots, and October Surprises in US Presidential Campaigns. It's a wonderful book going over every American election, detailing the sleaze and dirty tricks since Hamilton tried to fuck up Washington's election. It's amazing to see what would go on back in the mid to late 1800's... up to and including election judges simply throwing away votes for the other guy (I'm looking at you Rutherford B. Hayes).

The wheels kinda fall off on his section on the 2000 election (overstates one side, understates the other), but he's still pretty even-handed. Even for 1960.
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Kenny
King of California
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The Evil Smurfs,Oct 5 2007
08:41 PM
The wheels kinda fall off on his section on the 2000 election (overstates one side, understates the other), ...

Hmm ... do I even need to ask which side? <_<
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N00biana
An enigma hidden inside a mystery
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Has anybody else here read The Reagan Diaries yet? Interesting...
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The Evil Smurfs
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Blue Nazi Devil
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Kenny,Oct 5 2007
08:02 PM
Hmm ... do I even need to ask which side? <_<

Probably not. That being said, though, the book is still worth it and very enjoyable. The over/understating does kinda mesh with the other chapters; not politically, mind, but because he focuses more on the winner's actions than the loser's (figuring the winner probably did more, because they won). And despite the slight (and it really is slight) unbalance on 2000, he's very fair in 1960, readily pointing out all of the bullshit that swirled around Kennedy (especially in Illinois).
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Cobdenia
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1953 is the new 1932 for 2008
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I'm currently reading "Sahib; the British Soldier in India"; which is suprisingly interesting. Plenty of idea's for Cobdenia's developement ;)
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Gruenberg
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aka Kleinschnauzer
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If it weren't for the fact it pretty much solidified Redemption, Hayes's election would be one of the funniest things ever. Nevermind registering people twice or something, let's just make up the final tallies!
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The Evil Smurfs
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Blue Nazi Devil
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Throwing out ballots is so much easier than registering dead people!

Oh, and while I'm at my local Pretentious Book Store and Coffee Cafe, I've been reading 50 Reasons to Hate the French. :lol:
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Jenster
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^ Because the French Riviera is overrated! Bastards. :angry:
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The Palentine
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The thinking man's pervert
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The Evil Smurfs,Oct 8 2007
03:45 AM
Oh, and while I'm at my local Pretentious Book Store and Coffee Cafe, I've been reading 50 Reasons to Hate the French. :lol:

There's only 50??!!!!!! :blink: :blink: :P
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The Evil Smurfs
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Blue Nazi Devil
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:lol:

I'm guessing they cut it down so it wasn't longer than the Encyclopedia Brittanica.


Also, I'm thinking about looking into C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America. I heard an interview with the author today, and it sounds pretty cool. Imagine: a foot race from LA to NYC. They averaged about 40 miles a day... that's almost two marathons a day. For 84 days.
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Gruenberg
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aka Kleinschnauzer
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The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow. This is a fan-fucking-tastic book, about the 18th century Lunar Society of Birmingham (Erasmus Darwin, Matthew Boulton, Josiah Wedgewood, Joseph Priestley, James Watt, etc., and one person who - embarrassing lack of basic internet sense pending - has the same name as me). They really had fun in those days.
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Cobdenia
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1953 is the new 1932 for 2008
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I wouldn't worry too much, Bert. I usually use my actual name on forums, or at least my surname. On quite a number it's just my surname with two letters stuck on the end :unsure:
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Jenster
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Kamikaze Penguin Tamer
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Well, I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray and now I'm trying to tackle Frankenstein :lol:
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Gruenberg
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aka Kleinschnauzer
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Have just finished The World of Yesterday, Stefan Zweig's autobiography; it was excellent, and I plan on reading some of his fiction next, after Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon and The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck; also Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures from a Warzone, which is both hilarious and horrendous in talking about UN aid workers and the extent of the corruption of the African operations and, I have to say, the whole damn organization. They're not big fans of Kofi.

The books I currently have out, almost none of which I have even started reading, and need to do so by next week, in addition to the Baudelaire, Nietzsche and Wagner I have to read as primary sources. Cunningly, instead of using Reading Week for reading, I am using it for holidaying to Sweden. So, I'm fucked.
Standing at the Crossroads: Southern Life in the Twentieth Century
Better Day Coming: Blacks and Equality 1890-2000
An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy
Germany From Napoleon to Bismarck
German History, 1770-1866
Wagnerism in European Culture and Politics
Created From Animals: The Moral Implications of Darwinism
3 biographies of Baudelaire (Benjamin/Pichois/Sartre). All boring; the English translation of The Flowers of Evil might be more fun.
2 volumes of Schopenhauer who is So. Interminably. Dry.

Also, I really am going to Sweden for a few days, so won't be around until Sunday. See you around!
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eco
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Star Maker is a bit of a slog, really; I prefer Last and First Men.

Enjoy Sweden, the bits I've seen (Stockholm and surrounds) are lovely.
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