In view of recent events, I decided to reshuffle the order of these columns. This gives me an outlet for despair, while not losing focus on the basic idea of Words on Paper – important books and how they reflect and influence society. Today’s post would have been number ten, or at the end of December. Perhaps a future post will address current political concerns: Misguided populism, dark side of the digital world (addressed in a forthcoming post entitled “Gutenberg to Zuckerberg”), rural and urban world views in conflict, racial and gender discrimination, difficulties of democracy, our present oligarchy, charismatic demagogues, or the appeal of totalitarianism. In the here and now, two of the books mentioned below stand out: Animal Farm, and Man’s Search for Meaning. The first describes the disease; the second, if not a cure, at least a way to survive. We now have at least four years to see how that all plays out.
I sometimes wonder what it would have been like in the 1960s and 1970s, if back then we had the communications technology that we have today. Now we are constantly bombarded with news and information about political and social conflicts around the world. Or goofy YouTube videos and click bait on FaceBook.
In speaking to groups, I have expressed a view that with today’s technology back then, we would have felt a much greater sting from all the conflict than we did. Or, being younger, you are much more resilient. I think it’s a bit of both.
For a short time in the 1970s I lived in a four-plex several houses down from the intersection of Chicago Ave. and 38th Street in south Minneapolis. We often shopped at the little convenience store. Had the murder of George Floyd occurred then, the news would have appeared in the local newspaper. The police officers would have been cleared of any wrong-doing. Without a live video that went viral, the incident would have faded away.*(see end note)
While the Jan. 6, 2001 attack on the U.S Capitol building would have beyond anyone’s imagination fifty years ago, the amount of video and photos would have been far less. The same with the race riots, 1968 Democratic convention, the Kent State shooting. The news media gave immense coverage, edited, fact-checked, credible. Who know what the overall impact would have been if every person had a smart phone, some even live-streaming?
Comparing political and social issues today with those decades ago, it seems that little has changed, at least in the list. This is evident in many of the so-called important books then:
* Banning and burning books: Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (1953)
* Drugs-Oxycontin epidemic: On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1957)
* Gender identity: The Price of Salt, Patricia Highsmith (1952)
* Environment-climate: Silent Spring, Rachel Carson (1962)
* Race: The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin (1963), Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (1952), To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (1960)
* Autocracy: Animal Farm, 1984, George Orwell (1945, 1949)
* Vietnam-Iraq-Afghanistan: Catch-22, Joseph Heller (1961)
* Gender equity: The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan (1963)
* Business-economy: Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (1957)
* Coming of age issues: Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (1951)
In view of the current political turmoil engulfing the office of the U.S. President, I would add All the President’s Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (1974).
You could go on almost without end compiling a list of important books from the past that remain relevant and important today. Research for this series led me to The Quiet American, by Graham Greene (1955). It provides background and insights into the situation in Viet Nam prior to the U.S. incursion. The Elements of Style, (Strunk & White, 1959) is gospel reading for budding journalists and all writers. Lord of the Flies, (William Golding, 1954) reminds me of my childhood, although it probably had a greater dose of Spanky and Our Gang. Man’s Search for Meaning (Viktor Frankl, 1963) still has a place on our bookshelf, and remains one of the best memoirs reflecting on faith and God, which sustained Frankl to survive a Nazi concentration camp. The Other America (Michael Harrington 1962) was assigned reading for a college history class. People today who believe that being in poverty is one’s own fault should read it. I am Malala (Malala Yousafzai, 2013) inspired me to identify a primary protagonist in my novel, The Swineherd’s Angel, as a young woman grad student from Iran.
Some of these books are found on lists of so-called banned books. Of course, that strategy has the opposite effect. When Huckleberry Finn was banned by many librarians in 1885, Mark Twain told his publisher, “That will sell us 25,000 copies for sure.”
(*Back in 1970s my experience with the MPD was much different. One day as I parked my motorcycle in the alley behind the four-plex, a squad car screamed in behind slamming on the brakes. Two officers jumped out, and one asked how fast I had been travelling on 38th. I don’t know. Sorry if I was going a little too fast. They said it was forty. As they checked my driver’s license, I also showed them my Teamster’s Union card. I was sober and did not use drugs. Their hope of snagging a hippie pothead fading, they smiled and reminded me to watch the speed, miles-per-hour, that is. For George Floyd it would have been much different, no matter what the circumstances.)
Thanks!
Forrest