Clif鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

Go to previous year

2024

5,020

pages read

books read

Clif

Shortest Book

208

pages

Longest Book

560

pages

Average book length in 2024

386

pages

Most Shelved

429,514

people also shelved

The Permanent War Economy by Seymour Melman

Least Shelved

175

people also shelved

Clif鈥檚 average rating for 2024

3.8

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.36 average

Clif鈥檚 first review of the year

really liked it

In the fourth century Christianity had been proclaimed the state religion by the Emperor Constantine. He had left Rome to establish Constantinople as the capitol of the Eastern Empire, Rome remaining the capitol of the Western Empire. The emperor in the east was called Augustus, that in the west, Caesar. For a Caesar to become Augustus was a promotion.

Our protagonist, Julian, came along two generations after Constantine. As a teen he had dreams o In the fourth century Christianity had been proclaimed the state religion by the Emperor Constantine. He had left Rome to establish Constantinople as the capitol of the Eastern Empire, Rome remaining the capitol of the Western Empire. The emperor in the east was called Augustus, that in the west, Caesar. For a Caesar to become Augustus was a promotion.

Our protagonist, Julian, came along two generations after Constantine. As a teen he had dreams of being a philosopher in Athens but was to rise to become Caesar and then Augustus, during the process aware of many murders and fearing for his own life. Not liking Christianity he wanted to return the Empire to worship of the old gods.

Gore Vidal chose a wonderful way to tell the story. Julian's memoire is the backbone, but it is interrupted frequently by the correspondence of two other men who are looking back on the life of Julian and commenting to each other about it, both of them having known him well. This works wonderfully to put what Julian says into perspective. It allows three well placed people to opine about the time.

The reader is rewarded with a wealth of insight on the culture, the places and people of a time of turmoil when the empire had split but Rome itself had yet to fall to the German barbarians, even as Germans made up a good percentage of the Roman Army.

I was impressed by the need for conquest. What Alexander the Great had done set a high bar for anyone wishing to control the known world. Julian, who comes across as a very reasonable even likeable man, nevertheless is driven by a desire to top Alexander, killing and conquering as needed to do so.

Not only is warfare the norm, so also is pederasty/pedophilia. Women are a spoil of war. If you are in an army, you will expect rape and booty and if they are not forthcoming, you go home. The life lived by Jeffery Epstein that we condemn was the general expectation of men of power in ancient Rome.

Religion gets examined in detail. Early Christians are already in violent dispute over church doctrine. Julian believes in the old gods and is beguiled by prophecy. Yet, as we all experience, signs that auger well are gladly received while those that don't must be false or are misinterpreted and can be dismissed. Humanity's follies are on full display. I understand that Vidal was not a fan of religion and this book shows a solid basis for his view, yet presents the subject realistically, in a way that is not dismissive of the power that religion, underpinned as it is by emotion, has on people.

A tale very well told. ...more

颁尝滨贵鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

it was amazing

This Is Your Country on Drugs by Ryan Grim

it was amazing

Universities and Empire by Christopher Simpson

Clif鈥檚 last review of the year

liked it

This 1998 publication, significantly from The New Press and not a major publisher, is a collection of essays documenting the invasion of academic research by the government, specifically the CIA and military, and by business.

The culprit, as with the corrupt US Congress that is devoted to lobbies, not the people it is supposed to represent, is money.

In exchange for money, schools have and will create "chairs" in this or that area of study with the This 1998 publication, significantly from The New Press and not a major publisher, is a collection of essays documenting the invasion of academic research by the government, specifically the CIA and military, and by business.

The culprit, as with the corrupt US Congress that is devoted to lobbies, not the people it is supposed to represent, is money.

In exchange for money, schools have and will create "chairs" in this or that area of study with the understanding that the person holding the position will be devoting time to doing research that the government or business want done. In exactly the same way that big donors to political campaigns expect to benefit from the work in office of the candidate they are buying, er, I mean supporting, large grants to universities do not come without strings that determine what is to be done on campus.

While all of the essays in the book are interesting and none of them long, the final essay, The New Corporate Yen for Scholarship is a must read even if the other essays are neglected. Case after case of business buying scholarship are cited all of them pre-1998. Now, as I write in 2024, the situation is certainly no better with no attempt to reverse the trend having come in the intervening 26 years. And education is not alone as we see this or that brand name given to a sports stadium. The most outrageous thing mentioned is that businesses will take the results of the research, go on to make a great profit from it and give none of that to the school, while at the same time patenting everything they can so neither the school or those who did the research have any claim to the work done. Thus does the public, the students who pay to attend college, subsidize big business.

This book is not an eye opener, since I think most Americans, certainly all who are either students or faculty at any big university, well know how the bread is buttered. If any eyes were opened in 1998, nothing came of it. At least this collection of essays is an example of uncorrupted education, for those who want to know the history and details of how higher American learning institutions have been bought. ...more

What did you read this year?