First, if you’re wondering what I as a Hillary supporter think about Hillary’s decision to continue running after yesterday, the answer is I don’t know what I think of it as a strategy. Naturally I would like to believe that she could still somehow prevail. I am not sanguine. People are speculating that she is now running for the VP slot. We’ll see.
But — and this matters more to me — I most definitely admire her for her unswerving commitment to see the process through. Despite the pissing and moaning in the media, and whatever the outcome, I predict that the day will certainly arrive when people will look back with awe and amazement at Hillary’s insistence in going the distance against all odds and wish that they had chosen her. She is indomitable. I like that in a Democrat and so should other Democrats. Alas, many of them are so beguiled by the media myths about Hillary that they just can’t see what a force of nature she really is.
Obama could learn a lot from her and he’d be a better (future) president for it. Instead, I imagine we’ll be stuck with him in his current incarnation — all rhetoric, all the time.
March 17th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
This is another Guest Book Review by fiction writer Jessica Schneider who also writes for Cosmoetica, is Book Editor for Monsters and Critics and is the only contributor to her own blog.
Book Review: Fidel Castro: A Spoken Autobiography
By Jessica Schneider
There are many different ways one could approach when reviewing this book. On one hand, it’s an excellent source when thinking of Fidel Castro. Not so much because of historical and objective accuracy, but one of Castro’s character. On the other hand, could one claim this a pleasant read? Unless you are just a die-hard Fidel fanatic, I think most readers would find this boring.
Just to give a bit of background, the book is a spoken autobiography, and so basically it’s a 600-page interview with Fidel Castro. The interview, conducted by Ignacio Ramonet, consists of unchallenging questions, and ones that don’t really focus Castro in his replies. For example, a good interviewer should be asking questions that prompt discussion, for the most interesting and entertaining interviews are those where you have a discussion going on between the interviewer and interviewee.
Such is not the case with this book.
For one, Ramonet doesn’t ever challenge Castro on the things he says. Just to give an example, Castro spends a decent length of time talking about Che Guevara and what a great and “gentle” man he was, yet Ramonet doesn’t even bother asking Castro to comment about Che’s controversy and why many consider him to be nothing more than a mass murderer.
A good interviewer would have at least challenged that fact, even if he didn’t necessarily agree with it. Another example is when Castro speaks about his childhood and how he loathed authority. Ironic then that one who loathed authority as much as he did eventually grew into a dictator. None of this is mentioned, and these examples only allow me to conclude that the entire interview is pretty much 600 pages of puffery.
Yet, having said that, the positive side is that readers will be given an “in” into Castro’s character. Read the rest of this entry »
