Below is the May 2010 reading schedule for, Digging Deeper, UFPPC's Monday evening book group.[1] ...
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May 2010 READING SCHEDULE
--DIGGING DEEPER meets every Monday from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Mandolin Café, 3923 S. 12th St., Tacoma, WA.
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May 3 & 10, 2010: DIGGING DEEPER CXXII: Derivatives
(1) Simon Johnson and James Kwak, 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown (Pantheon, 2010). “Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what comes next for the world economy. Dangerous and reckless elements of our financial sector have become too powerful and must be reined in. If this problem is not addressed there is serious trouble in all our futures.” —Nouriel Roubini.
(2) Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (W.W. Norton, 2010). "Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages? Michael Lewis turns the inquiry on its head to create a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 best-selling Liar’s Poker. . . . [A]s compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our times." —New York Times.
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May 17, 2010: DIGGING DEEPER CXXIII: Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis and Persepolis 2 (Pantheon, 2003 [orig. French ed. 2000] and 2004 (orig. French ed. 2001). "A memoir of growing up as a girl in revolutionary Iran, Persepolis provides a unique glimpse into a nearly unknown and unreachable way of life . . . That Satrapi chose to tell her remarkable story as a gorgeous comic book makes it totally unique and indispensable." —Time.
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May 24, 2010: DIGGING DEEPER CXXIV: Edward Said on media
Edward Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (Pantheon, 1981; updated ed. 1997). "Professor Said is adept at holding a mirror up to American attitudes toward Islam. . . . [He] skillfully traces the origins of American misinformation about Islam to the way that Orientalist scholarship is financed and organized in this country. . . . This plea amounts to a prescription for cultural self-awareness that will be wasted on none of us." —New York Times Book Review (Christopher Lemann-Haupt).
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• Since July 2004, United for Peace of Pierce County’s “Digging Deeper,” a Monday-evening book discussion group, has examined more than 295 books. (Summaries of many of them have been posted online on the website Scribd.) Topics discussed have included the Iraq war, Peak Oil, climate change, torture, the corporation, Islam, Iran, U.S.-Iran relations, Barack Obama and the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., the writings of Robert Baer, parallels between the U.S. and ancient Rome, Israel/Palestine, sustainability, war and human nature, the nature of money, September 11, energy geopolitics, the debt crisis, American immigration policy, the 2000, 2004, and 2008 presidential elections, financial crisis, the politics of assassination, and Saul Alinsky’s life and writings, as well as abiding themes of war, peace, and social change. Occasionally the group has spent several weeks reading longer works, like Daniel Yergin’s The Prize or Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilisation. — Participation is free and open; anyone interested is welcome. Try King’s Books (218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma) or other local bookstores for copies of books. More information: contact Mark Jensen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or see www.ufppc.org.