Reporters take to books...
Sticking with the idea of a theme to our book choices, thought we could read one of the many books written by reporters. The blurbs for the choices below are courtesy Amazon.com:The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuscinski
Haile Selassie, His Most Puissant Majesty and Distinguished Highness the Emperor of Ethiopia, enjoyed a 44-year reign until his own army gave him the boot in 1974. In the days following the coup, the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski traveled to Ethiopia and sought out members of the imperial court for interviews.
His composite portrait of Selassie's crumbling imperium is an astonishing, wildly funny creation. Elsewhere, the interviewees venture into tragic or grotesque or downright unbelievable terrain. Kapuscinski has shaped their testimonies into an eloquent whole, and while he never alludes to the totalitarian regime that ruled his native Poland during the same period, the analogy is impossible to ignore.
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim, in his new book, The World Is Flat, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency.
What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone. But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments is when they actually began to accelerate. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete--and win--not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well. Friedman tells his eye-opening story with the catchy slogans and globe-hopping anecdotes that readers of his earlier books and his New York Times columns will know well, and also with a stern sort of optimism.
Treasure Hunt: A New York Times Reporter Tracks the Quedlinburg Hoard by William H. Honan
A kleptomaniacal American soldier with a taste for high art, a relentless German sleuth hot on the trail of missing German treasures, and a priceless 9th-century gospel about to disappear forever into the shadowy world of private art collectors--the stuff of fiction? Hardly. In Treasure Hunt William H. Honan, a reporter for the New York Times, chronicles the amazing true story of the Quedlinburg Hoard, a cache of medieval treasures stolen from its hiding place in Germany's Harz Mountains at the end of World War II, only to resurface 40 years later in a small Texas town. How it got there and how the German government retrieved it is at the heart of Honan's tale.
posted by Bhawna Paul @ 5:49 PM
2 Comments:
I vote for The Emperor -- cool choices!
Nidhi
Tough decision -- they all sound so great! I've been wanting to read The World is Flat for forever, but since I missed going to Africa with you guys last time I'll vote for The Emperor as well. Was great seeing you all this weekend!
Grace
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