The Tenth Parallel

Eliza Griswold, "The Tenth Parallel" 2010 Non fiction. This book continues my simple reading plan--get recommendations from others, read them. Griswold follows the battles between Christianity and Islam along the tenth parallel (North latitude) across Africa and east through Indonesia to the Philippines. The writing and the stories are fascinating. Everywhere she finds people adopting a religion as a matter of survival in lawless and governmentless lands. Everywhere she finds people who, for lack of decent jobs, are willing to kill others of their own religion or the 'opposing' religion for a few rupiah. Since the conflict between Christianity and Islam along these front lines is viewed as a zero sum game where I only win if you lose, it is not clear how the fighting will ever stop. A clear exposition on a part of the world that I, clearly, did not understand.

Fugitive days

William Ayers, "Fugitive Days", semifiction, 2001. I read this book on a dare. The person daring me said that Obama's books "Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from my Father" were mostly ghostwritten by Ayers. After reading Obama's books and this one, I can see the similarity. The method of story telling is the same and Obama's books sound more like Ayers than they do the writings and speeches of Obama. This book, however, is fascinating for a very different reason. It is well written and is more self revelatory than it appears to be. Ayers talks about dropping out of college, about sex, drugs, and rock and roll; but mostly he talks about the delusional mindset of a small group of rich kids taking on the 'system' and the 'man' without realizing that the groups efforts are viewed, from outside the group's meth induced haze, as pitiful and unwanted--rich kids on a violent mission trip to poor America, rich kids doing the anti-fraternity fraternity. I started to ask about the back story of this book--where were the parents of these kids, why weren't there more disaffected people who decided that violence was the answer and that what occurred after the violence was not important, and what fueled and fuels the 'Let's defend the noble repressed savage story line.' especially when the defended savages then turn on each other. Worth a read for the clear story and for the implied back story. Also, possibly, a view into the mind set of Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations who seem to run on the adrenaline of violence with no plan for effective governance later on.