Review 64: The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis ( Alan Jacobs)

Michael Jose said it best, though writing about A.N. Wilson's biography of Lewis:

I am strongly reminded of the position in which John Betjeman's biographer, Bevis Hillier found himself. He tells us that he decided to avoid producing a 'critical biography', which is an illegitimate art-form, as it 'yokes together historical narrative and literary criticism'. This is Wilson's error, and he compounds it with his own repetitious and subjective brand of psychoanalysis. It is as if he cannot restrict himself to any one role, or even a coherent set of roles. He wants to be an honest broker, iconoclast, Devil's Advocate, psychoanalyst, literary critic, and historian by turns. He fails.

Review 63: The Literary Culture of the Reformation: Grammar and Grace (Brian Cummings)

Cummings is indebted to Derrida's deconstructionism, and he tries to cast the reformation as a 'word game' with much 'distance.' I suspect that he misquotes his sources to advance his thesis(see his section on Montaigne's 'war of words'). His emphasis on the reformation as a literary and grammatical event is beneficial. Otherwise, his work is subject to the usual critiques of decontruction (see Van Hoozer's "Is There a Meaning...").

Review 62: The Greatest Communicator: What Ronald Reagan Taught Me About Politics, Leadership, and Life (Dick Wirthlin)

Light and entertaining retelling of RR's rhetorical/political strategy, ie. how he won landslides in 1980, 1984. Wirthlin was the architect of these victories and he perfected scientific politics, even down to calibrating how certain words affected audiences. The reader will be interested to learn that the political strategy continued long after RR won elections. His strategist (Wirthlin) continued to conduct polls/ focus groups, and RR was as much a campaigner in office as he was in the election cycle. The best part of this book: Wirthlin provides his analysis of what made RR a great communicator. Much can be learned here for any budding writer/speaker. So, what did make RR such a great communicator? Values! How did he craft such value rich messges? "Persuade through reason. Motivate through emotion."

Review 61: Irresistible Revolution (Shane Clairborne)

This book is to be commended for resisting materialism and for taking Jesus' most challenging words seriously; beyond that, it is awfully self-indulgent-- a surprise, perhaps, for a book espousing asceticism, and new monasticism. This book proves it is possible to be self-indulgent while being a monk (ie. to be overly focused on self). This is why we must always remember the reformation principle that righteousness from God is the only hope for righteousness in life. When we seek to establish our own righteousness the result is pretty much what we have here, a monasticism that cleaves life into the sacred/secular. Furthermore, it is a mistake to turn absolute pacifism into a Christian value, as Claiborne does (see Carson's Love In Hard Places for a more biblical view on War). There is such a thing as a just war. I hope readers resist the revolution espoused in these pages because it represents a liberal Christianity (ala Tony Campolo), and the spirit of the age (environmentalism). The last, and most disturbing point: This book is not specifically Christian, though it uses Christian lingo. This is the danger of elevating extra-biblical values (environmentalism, pacifism) above the priority of scripture (Faith in Jesus Christ).

Review 60: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (William L. Shirer)

Well written: clear and compact. This book is so simple a child could follow its development and argument; though, the evil is so grotesque, this is not reading for children. Many of the themes in this book are frighteningly similar to the USA in 2008: moral corruption in Germany, the Nazis; the willingness to trade freedom for financial security (we just saw the gov't take over the financial industry this week with a 700 bill. bail out). The pressing question: could what happened to Germany happen to us? Shirer argues that one of the main faults of the Allies leading up to WWII was the failure to take Hitler seriously, even when he was very clear about his intentions. I fear we are similarly sluggish in reading political developments. The greatest lesson for us at present: resist compromises with incremental evil because indepedence lost cannot be regained: "In making common cause with the lawlessness... the generals were putting themselves in a position in which they could never oppose future acts of Nazi terrorism not only at home but even when they were aimed across the frontiers, even when they were committed against their own members (226)."

Review 59: Bush At War (Bob Woodward)

Woodward is clearly biased; his tone is cynical. This detracts from any sense of objectivity. In the foreward he claims all his sources are documented, but I would have like to seen that documentation. Much of the first half of this book reads like gossip. Most of the details in the beginning of the book are not revelations; in fact, they are brief to a fault. However, as the book goes on it does contain several revelations: the most disturbing being Colin Powell's (the only true moderate) ostracization; the most surprising: how bad things were going at first in Afghanistan. The biggest alarm for me: how, almost at the instant of the 9/11 attacks, Bush and his aides were bent on war. War is the key term of this book. This strikes me as reckless, a lust for blood and revenge.

Review 58: Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (Edmund Morris)

A re-imagining of the genre of biography applied skillfully to the 'film' of RR. This genre is not so new really: it fits into the class of historical fiction. Often this is frustrating, sometimes entertaining, and occasionally brilliant. In this case the genre (historical fiction) suits the man, and C.S. Lewis would approve, believing as he did that form and content are inseparable. At times Morris condemns bitterly and visciously; often he admires begrudgingly (enviously? see character of Paul Rae). The mild perversion in his earlier classic 'The Rise of TR' is in full view here. He suspects Reagan of being a hollow man, but his work on Reagan is open to the same criticism; it is hollow in parts, lacking insight, lacking real engagament; Morris skimps on enormous sections of RR's presidency.