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Here we go!

Gonna set this book aside for awhile so my brain cells can regroup, and I can listen to Mark Sandman sing his song titled Patience.

"Lincoln's policy of helping every man work his way up had been jettisoned by his own party after only twelve years." (p. 152)

"By 1859,... Republicans like Lincoln were ready to adopt the idea that the government should actively promote individual economic advancement." (p. 40)

Quote: "We all have our phobias, " I say.

Ah-ha! The crux of the matter revealed on page 23.

This gonna take a while. So far, I've read the introduction three times. I didn't reread it because I didn't understand it. I reread it because I wanted to savor it.

"Demythologizing our past is necessary if we are to clearly understand our present." (p. 23)

Holly Gibney showed up on page 284. Halfway to page 560.

"..., almost no one spoke about the political impact on Western democracies. Everyone assumed that in a more open, interconnected world, democracy and liberal ideas would spread to the autocratic states. Nobody imagined that autocracy and illiberalism would spread to the democratic world instead."

"...Elon Musk is a billionaire only because of the massive taxpayer-funded subsidies he has received." -Brooke Harrington in Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the new Colonialism

"This is the story of Donald Trump's life: wanting recognition, instead getting attention, and then becoming addicted to attention itself, because he can't quite understand the difference,..." (p. 112)

Quote from page 178:
'What to do?'
'The opposite of whatever orangey does,' said Pollux.

Oligarchy has come to America.

The intro is full of provocative and true statements; e.g., "...I am not disparaging sex work but highlighting the negative perception of sex work and even sex itself as a hallmark feature of Western society..."

Rather than being the heirs of the founders, we're the descendents of the slaves and the abolitionists.

Rather than being the heirs of the founders, we're the descendents of the slaves and the abolitionists.

Oddly relevant to a day and age when a large portion of the population fears that the nation may actually become a melting pot.

It took this long for something to happen in the story that I cared about.

Gawd, the first story was gawd awful!
I'm old. Life is short. I'm out of here.
Goodbye, Doris, goodbye.

"Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale!" 🐋

I suspect this collection of short stories will be the standard by which I measure all others, because so far I've liked them all. Here's an assortment of stories to give you a taste: 'Her First Detox', 'Emergency Room Notebook, 1977', 'Carpe Diem', 'Electric Car, El Paso' and 'Sex Appeal'.

"[Captain Bildad, a Quaker and native of Nantucket,] had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that a man's religion is one thing, and this practical world quite another."

Chapter 3 reminded me of a Joni Mitchell song.

Chapter 4 reminded me why I hate Reagan so much, and I'm not the kind of person who hates people easily.