The American Way of Killing by Malcolm Gladwell
Oh my gosh, this book BLEW MY MIND. Gladwell sets out to answer this question: Why is America so violent? There is a difference, he points out, between crime and violence, and the statistics at the beginning of the book had me racing through the pages.
For instance, he asks the reader to rank these 5 Western cities by their homicide rates: London, Toronto, Chicago, New York, and Paris. You probably guessed something close to the actual ranking:
1. Chicago
2. New York
3. Toronto
4. Paris
5. London
Now take those same five cities and rank them on robbery rates. You probably think the ranking is similar. It’s not. Here’s the ranking based on robberies:
1. Paris
2. London
3. Chicago
4. New York
5. Toronto
So, if it’s not a matter of crime, then what accounts for the violence in America? This book completely changed the way I look at guns, policing, and the immorality of ignorance. And this is far from a one-sided argument; Gladwell argues that America needs more police officers—a lot more. If you only read one book this year, read this one. Your mind will be blown to pieces.
Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State by Michael Lewis
This is another book that blew my mind—it’s Michael Lewis for goodness’ sake. (Does he ever not deliver?) It’s an inside look at the wrecking ball that was DOGE. It’s nearly impossible to measure the damage done when you replace qualified experts with political favorites. (“For even Christ did not make his favorite disciple, John, the head of his church,” Josef Pieper wrote in The Four Cardinal Virtues.) Think about scientific research. When you fire scientists and cut funding, how do you measure the discoveries that might never happen? There’s no way to prove, for instance, that the cure for cancer has been delayed by ten years. DOGE claimed to save taxpayers billions, though its figures have been widely disputed. But how do you calculate the cost of years of lost research, delayed treatments, and human lives? Needless to say, I wrote a lot of expletives in the margins of this book. Also, it reads like a thriller. Buckle up.
Misc.
As you probably know, I love the musical Les Misérables, so when The Phoenix Theatre Company put on a production, I went and saw it…three times. It was exhilarating. The cast was so talented and I was lucky enough to meet a few of them! The musical got me thinking about Victor Hugo and his life, so I read (most of) Graham Robb’s Victor Hugo: A Biography, which was good, but a tad long-winded. (A book on Hugo that I absolutely LOVE is Marva A. Barnett’s To Love Is to Act: Les Misérables and Victor Hugo’s Vision for Leading Lives of Conscience.) I was so moved by the musical that I also bought The Musical World of Boublil and Schönberg. by Margaret Vermette to understand how something so powerful is created…though I don’t think there’s really an answer. Some things are just otherworldly. I read Kate Bowler’s newest book, Joyful, Anyway, which I really enjoyed. Her book No Cure for Being Human is wonderful too. Then I read Freak Kingdom by Timothy Denevi about Hunter S. Thompson’s political writing and it was SO good. If you’ve never read his classic essay about the Kentucky Derby, do yourself a favor and read it. It’s hilarious. Finally, I read Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson which is good and worth reading, though I liked his book Shadow Divers a lot more. Shadow Divers is insane.