Double the Fun: Two Non-Fiction Reads

Due to being out of town, my blog wasn't updated last weekend with a new book review. To make up for it: Non-fiction times 2! Now first, non-fiction is not for everyone. Often it requires not only a great writer, but a significant interest in the subject matter (who wants to read 200 pages on the art of cheese grating? just saying!). While works of half-read non-fiction at times do pile up on my nightstand, overall I've found that reading a work that is full of surprisingly new information is simultaneously energizing and invigorating. It also requires extreme knowledge and dedication to the subject matter.

This describes the first book, I'm reviewing this weekend, Seth Rosenfeld's "Subversives: The FBI's War on Student Radicals, and Reagan's Rise to Power". Now let me just warn you, this book is DENSE. It is five hundred pages long, and has a bibliography that could be a novel in it's own right. Don't let that deter you. This is a fantastic read. Cowen gathered thousands of pages from secret FBI files that he got through the Freedom of Information Act, as well as, information he gained through private lawsuits against the FBI when they failed to respond to his requests. The lengths he went to get his information could be a novel in and of it itself.

Rosenfeld's book focuses on the 60's and the counter-culture movement. The primary thrust of the work, is the invasive tactics that politicians and mainly the FBI, would take to utilize surveillance and heavy handed threats against student protesters and any that were thought to be 'subversive'. The book focuses not only on the ways that the FBI would keep tabs on protestors around the country, but also how they would label these individuals as communists and socialists, effectively blacklisting them from any gainful employment or even acceptance as students at Universities. The books focused specifically on the epicenter of the Free Speech Movement at University of California Berkley and shares the personal history of 'student radicals' like Mario Savio.

What's fascinating about this book is the ease with which the FBI under Hoover and politicians like Ronald Reagan, used the subversive movement and threats of communism within the United States as a way to extend their political reaches and cripple their political opponents. It is also clear from the FBI files gained by Rosenfeld, how the FBI would purposefully distribute wrong or misleading information to the public in order to raise concern and turn public opinion against the protestors. While the 60's are not a distant look into the past, I was simultaneously in awe of where the Free Speech Movement 'started' and how far there is still yet to go. One of the early stories in the book, revolved around protestors being ticketed and even expelled for attempting to pass out information about politics on a University Campus- where today the recent presidential candidates made several stops at large universities along their campaign route. Another story recounts how a protestor was jailed for carrying a sign that utilized the 'f' word.

The book illustrates the struggle that was made on the part of concerned citizens to ensure that all individuals had to right to say what they felt or believed, regardless of how political or societal forces feel about it. While our culture has come along way, it is unnecessary to discuss all the ways that equality and free speech still need to be ensured in our country. This book illustrates the struggle and hard won freedoms that we do have, and is encouraging to those who are still working to make that same idea happen for all.

The second book this week is "An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies", by Tyler Cowen. This book was highly disappointing. The slow food, local food and general foodie movements have been highly popular in the last few years. Cities from Portland, to Milwaukee, to Atlanta have been championing a move away from processed foods to healthier, more natural foods. Restaurants have sprouted in cities across the country that now change their menus weekly depending on what is in season and available locally. With all this interest, Cowen's book regarding the food movement should have been an easy read, but the best word to describe it is bland. The book quotes heavily from Michael Pollan's, "In Defense of Food", but fails to offer any additional or new insights into the subject matter. The rest of the books is dull, lifeless and uninteresting. The book will make you want to put it down and get lunch, instead of just reading about it. Avoid this one at all costs.

**On a side note, Pollan's "In Defense of Food" is a great and fascinating read regarding modern nutrition, eating local and the food industry's vested interest in changing what we eat. A few year old, finding a cheap paperback won't be hard and worth it from both a foodie and a economic perspective.**