With Christmas only two days away I will stick to my custom of recent years of taking a look at some of those books which I consider to be the best released this year, as well as some movies that intrigued me in more ways than one.
I will limit myself to 10 titles although there were far more that hooked me.
It might sound weird to start off with Dinner With Mugabe by Heidi Holland but it took some courage and determination for this author who has been reporting from Africa for over 30 years to get under the man’s skin and to try and understand his frame of mind, by tracking down the key figures in his life. As he morphs from freedom fighter to tyrant, she follows every development in his political life as his state of denial and cruelties grew day by day.
Misha Glenny was always a favourite since his days as Central European correspondent for the BBC World Service. He could trace every development in the Balkan trail bit by bit. This time round in his McMafia he went for a journey through the global criminal underworld. Rather than relying on press clippings he interviewed many key players – from politicians to police, victims and even members of the underworld itself. No region is spared – from Central Europe to the Gulf, to South America, Africa, China, Japan and India. He takes in anything from gold to money, diamonds to banks, drugs to cyber crime while even doing enough research to speculate how the future of organised crime will develop.
Many times I find that journalists make excellent authors. Another case in point is Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria. His The Post-American World dealt mainly with The Rise Of The Rest – writing about the rise of everyone else rather than about the decline of America. He diligently traces how we have moved from a multipolar order to a bipolar duopoly, an American Imperium and now to the next change in the nature of the international order. Written before the recent global financial meltdown, he criticised Americans for being out of touch with globalisation due to their obsession with issues like terrorism, homeland security and ‘economic panics’, arguing that the real challenges that his country faces come from the winners and not the losers of the new world.
Marco Travaglio’s Il Rompiballe takes the form of an interview by Claudio Sabelli Fioretti that is printed in bold type and runs for less than 140 pages. It is so compulsive to read as he adopts a Kalashnikov approach towards all political figures in Italy that I can guarantee that you will need far less than one night to read through it.
Until 2006 Bill Emmott was the editor in chief of The Economist. In tracing the way he feels that the power struggle between China, India and Japan will shape our next decade in his latest book Rivals, he has written more than anything else about the way Asia’s new power game is likely to develop. Two of his main conclusions provide sufficient reason to read this book. Primarily that there is no single entity called Asia, and that the rise of Asia is not going to pit Asia against the West, by shifting power from the latter to the former but rather by pitting Asia against Asia. He claims that the relationship between China, India and Japan is going to become increasingly difficult during the next decade or more and that conflict is not inevitable but nor is it inconceivable.
The Commission – The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation by Philip Shenon is also worth taking stock of. The title says it all. The New York Times veteran journalist not only outlines major shortcomings in the commission’s work but also hints at more. There are so many oversights, omissions and distortions that many senior investigators even believed that their work was being manipulated to minimise criticism of the Bush administration. One might argue that this is sheer speculation. So let the counter arguments come forward.
I normally lap up anything by Joseph E Stiglitz so I had to stick to tradition when it came to The Three Trillion Dollar War which is meant to provide us with a detailed account of the ‘true cost’ of the Iraq conflict. Co-written with Linda J Bilmes, the book does not even take account of the hundreds of billions in bills still due. All this without factoring in the thousands of injured veterans with disability benefits and health care. For once rather than reading a book about war we have a simply and directly written book that helps us understand the financial, economic and social consequences of American involvement in Iraq.
John Le Carre’s latest book A Most Wanted Man got mixed reviews but although not all that much happens on the ground, the writing of this 77-year-old author becomes even more direct and engaging the older he grows. Le Carre’, whose The Constant Gardner remains my favourite of recent years, throws in all the ingredients from the Islamic threat, to the Chechen war, German civil rights lawyers, the War on Terror itself, and the rivalries between different secret services. He remains one of the few thriller writers who can create characters we can identify and sympathise with.
There are no mixed opinions about Robert Fisk. You either love him or hate him. What is fascinating is that you can do either regardless of whether you agree with his point of view. Often prejudiced and in most cases over the top he remains the most thoroughly researched writer on the Middle East. No better proof of this can be provided than by his selected essays in the Age Of The Warrior. It might not have the colossal push of his The Great War of Civilisation but these essays which are basically Independent UK articles, show why this man not only covered the Middle East for more than a quarter of a century with much depth but also that he witnessed, experienced and also reported no fewer than 11 wars. He deserves our attention if anything for managing to remain so tireless and so provocative at the same time.
Scott McClellan’s name might hardly ring any bells. But his book What Happened provides quite an insight into the Bush White House and what he describes as Washington’s Culture Of Deception. In 1999 at the age of 30 he became GW Bush’s press spokesman when W was still Texas Governor. Until two years ago he was the White House Press Secretary but there comes a time when for many people ‘enough is enough.’ This book is a case in point. His biggest regret, although always admiring Bush from afar, is that the most fundamental mistake made by this outgoing administration is that at some stage it decided – always according to him – to turn away from candour and honesty when those qualities were most needed.
Cinema wise, the best films I watched so far this year, were No Country For Old Men, In The Valley Of Elah, The Dark Knight, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, Gone Baby Gone, In Bruges and yes, why not, Iron Man, Quantum Of Solace (even though I seem to be in a minority of one) and the cheesy Mamma Mia. Meanwhile I am looking forward to watching The Changeling and Gomorrah, plus predictably Frost/Nixon. The worst of the lot must have been the latest Indiana Jones!
I take this opportunity to wish you Mr Editor, your staff and readers my sincerest best Christmas wishes and genuine hope that 2009 will not turn out to be as bad as many are predicting it to be.
E-mail: [email protected]
Leo Brincat is the Main Opposition Spokesperson for the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change.