Mid-2022 Reads
Here are a few books on international relations and the politics of borders and nationalisms that I'm in the middle of at the middle of the year
I've been writing a lot lately.
I've also been reading a lot in support of that writing. I've been reading on a wide variety of topics, but I wanted to take the opportunity to comment on a few books I'm in the middle of that are pertinent to the subject matter here.
So, here it goes:
Disunited Nations by Peter Ziehan: Professional geopolitical predictor, Peter Ziehan, asserts his belief that the end of the Pax Americana will result in the return of great power rivalry. As in his previous works, he makes a lot of reasonably specific predictions in this one. I'm not sold on Ziehan's opinions. But, as I'm mainly reading this one to analyze his writing style, I'm willing to forgive some of the more absurd parts of this book.
This is How they Tell Me the World Ends by Nicole Perlroth: Perlroth takes a deeper look at the fascinating world of the global cyberweapons market. Honestly, I'm only a few chapters into it, and this one has me a little freaked out about the future of warfare. However, I'm looking forward to reading through the rest of it. Excellent read so far.
How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr: Immerwahr explores the imperialist history of the United States and its overseas possessions. This one is solidly up against my alley. Like Disunited Nations, I picked it up to pick apart the writing style, but its subject matter has also been highly engaging. I would love to see a work like this expanded to cover the United Kingdom, France, and other extant imperial powers.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari: I'll be blunt: I hate Yuval Noah Harari. This book is shit, in my opinion. BUT I'm impressed at his talent in slinging reassuring narratives to Boomers and Gen-Xers through corny allegories and drawing elegant connections out of meaningless bullshit. Harari is a concept crafting genius. I'll give him that.
The Break-Up of Britain by Tom Narin: This one is changing how I think about the nature of left-nationalism in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Tom Nairn was probably always going to be a must-read for me. I'll hold my final opinion on the book until I finish the whole thing, but so far, it's excellent.
Border & Rule by Harsha Walia: Harsha Walia explores borders and migration through the lens of governance and racialized class hierarchies. It's great. She's great. It reads like a book put out by Haymarket books, so that will either be a turn-off or a turn-on for readers. I'm not a fan of the style myself. But Walia's deep and engaging handling of the subject matter makes it very forgivable.
Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson (Reread): I'm reading this cornerstone work of nationalism studies again to review its ideas more carefully and thoroughly. I liked it the first time, and I liked it this time. I thoroughly recommend that everyone read this book. Benedict Anderson's insights are brilliant.
The Lies that Bind by Kwame Anthony Appiah: I'm a fan of everything I've read by Kwame Appiah, and this is no exception. His handling of the multifaceted nature of identity is a must-read for anyone trying to understand community-identity-rooted political divergences and conflicts in the present era. I also happen to find his anecdotes on racial ambiguity to be highly relatable on a personal level. I highly recommend this book.
At some point soon, I intend to pen a deeper review of some of these books. I'm enjoying most of them, honestly. I hope you do, too.