OMG BOOKS

I like to read and I read a fair amount. Over the years I have been greatly influenced by some books, books I call OH, MY GOD books because of astounding information that leaves you saying, Oh, my God! I want to recommend the following.

Although it has been superseded, at the time The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer was the first book to comprehensively look at the horrors of the Nazi regime. It is still worthwhile.

If you want to learn of the incredible stupidity and wastefulness of World War I and the leading generals, read In Flanders Field by Leon Wolf. It is an astounding expose, especially of General Douglas Haig.

Having been brought up at a time when cowboys were good and Indians were bad and the popular view was that simple stereotype, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown is a revelation. If you don't want to go out and scalp a white man after reading it, there's something wrong with you (I exaggerate, of course).

Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips opened my eyes to the structural problems of the US economy. Written in 2002, it practically predicted the economic crash we have seen.

Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine ranks way up there as a book telling you important stuff you had no idea was going on. Highly recommended, relevant, and very recent.

One of the bad things about having so many books is that sometimes I can't find something when I want it. The next book is Cadillac Desert and I can't remember the author's last name. It's Marc and his last name starts with S. A highly entertaining book about water policy in the West, another important subject which few people know about, even though they should. By the way, if you go to Amazon books or Abe Books web sites and enter the title, you can find the book and author's name.

Pity the Nation by Robert Fisk is a great book about the Lebanese "civil war." If you want to learn about the Middle East, you should start with this book.

So many books, so little time.