Items of interest

Fantastic deconstruction of the mainstream liberal left’s thinking towards the West, Israel and the US in particular. It argues that we now live in a time that the Left would more likely defend a totalitarian fascist regime, rather then stand up against it and show solidarity towards it’s oppressed. Why? Because of the lazy and vague critique that it is ultimately the West’s fault or that we can’t morally impose our values onto their culture. While these excuses may have a modicum of truth in them - they should not be enough to stop us doing good in the world. Of course, this thinking is what brought us to the current Middle Eastern situation (unless you think it is a guileless conspirarcy all to do with oil and neo-colonialism), so there is no simple answer. Whatever - the book is a bracing intellectual argument, and while I don’t agree with all its points, it’s well worth reading.

Amazon.co.uk - with some great reviews and comments

Into bed with Tony - review in The Guardian (generally negative)

Is Nick Cohen right about the left? His critics reply in The Guardian

Democratiya review

4th Estate

Article by Dave Eggers in the Guardian, following up ‘What is the What’. It talks about the set-up and frustrations in the writing of the book, plus what happened when Valentino Deng visited his hometown - and met his parents again.

I recently finished this book. It is very good, beautiful even. Sad, funny, etc. It is about the life of one Valentino Achak Deng - a Sudanese ‘lost boy. It is a fantastic, strangely magical insight into that part of the world and the head of a child dealing with almost unimaginable (for myself at least) terrors. It never feels patronising. Nor does it feel like liberal hand-wringing. It is hard to know how it is done, but it has been written as a novel - even though it is essentially an auto-biography.

Anyone who thinks Dave Eggers is just about irony-clad smart-arsed literary showing-off* should give him another go.

I had to import it from the States via http://store.mcsweeneys.net/ - which also has lots of other interesting stuff in it. I’m not sure when it is out over here, but when it does come out, it will probably have a less fine cover. The US hardback version is gorgeous with a lovely print on the front.

Take a look at http://www.mcsweeneys.net/books/whatisthewhat.html and http://www.valentinoachakdeng.com/ for more eloquent discussion.

* Something I never got. There was always a proper humanity to his work.