America in the King Years

Just finished the final volume of Taylor Branch's magisterial biography of Martin Luther King and his effect on America. King's astonishing oratory is on full display, but the books also reveal his extraordinary vision, humility, empathy, vitality and patience.

Although focusing on King, Branch details other powerful currents in American history: violent Southern racism and the revelation of equally vicious racism in the North; J. Edgar Hoover's paranoia, lawlessness, and relentless efforts to destroy King; the triumphs of Lyndon's Johnson's civil rights and anti-poverty initiatives and his ultimate inability to escape the pressures to escalate in Vietnam.

The final volume is tragic and overwhelmingly sad, telling the unfortunate story of how white backlash, black power and the Vietnam War combined to efface the power of nonviolence in America, and concluding with King's assassination.

A tremendous achievement and a rewarding read.

Arthur Upfield!

Just finished two more books by Arthur Upfield - see my earlier reviews of his Napolean Bonaparte stories set in Australia in the 30's and 40's. An Author Bites the Dust has Bony investigating the murder of a prominent Australian author, in a story centered around "literature" vs. "commercial writing". The other, Breakaway House, is the first I've read by Upfield that does not feature Bony, but instead, an extremely likable police inspector, Harry Tremayne - this was not only a good mystery, but also very humorous. These books are in fact more "commercial writing" than great "literature", but they're compelling reads, with very nice descriptive writing, great dialogue and delightful interactions among people. Wonderful summer reading!

Eckhart Tolle's Books

This review is one that combines "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth", two books by Eckhart Tolle that, while fantastic, were both fairly similar. Thus, my first recommendation is to read "The Power of Now" and only read "A New Earth" if you want some more emphasis on Tolle's concepts.

Tolle is a spiritual teacher that only came to prominence with these two books. Now, he is quite successful, teaching seminars as well as selling DVD's on meditation programs.

So I suppose an explanation is due. How does a self-proclaimed agnostic-bordering-on-atheist get into books about spirituality? Well, I got the recommendations from a site I stumbled upon with "StumbleUpon", and was drawn into them because the books actually appeal to atheists and agnostics, possibly even more than confirmed believers. You really have to read to understand...

The books are guides to attaining spiritual enlightenment. The books start out with Tolle's basic ideas: humans, from birth, engage in self-destructive behaviors, and are at their root, "insane" or "unconscious", to use Tolle's words. They are like this because they identify so heavily with the world of form and with their mind. So long as one is able to access "the power of the Now", they will be able to rid themselves of these basic delusions and attain inner peace.

There's a LOT more to it than that. Despite that, the books are both pretty short (less than 200 pages each) and really make each concept as simple as possible.

I would HIGHLY recommend the books. They were amazing. I, myself, am hopefully started on the journey to spiritual enlightenment... though that could take a while. For the moment, I've become more peaceful in my daily activities and have a greater appreciation for life.