Episode · The Book Review · 2020-08-28
Kurt Andersen on The Book Review: books mentioned (Aug 2020)
Kurt Andersen on ‘Evil Geniuses’
Pamela Paul discussed Evil Geniuses by Kurt Andersen, Hiroshima by John Hersey, Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, and A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet and others. Greg Cowles discussed Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. Also mentioned: Mating by Norman Rush.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses by Kurt Andersen is a contemporary history book that examines the organized efforts by institutions and individuals that unmade American egalitarianism and reshaped the nation's economic landscape over recent decades.
Discussed“Kurt Anderson will be here to discuss his new book Evil Geniuses the unmaking of America a recent history”
Where to get it
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Hiroshima
John Hersey's groundbreaking work of narrative reportage, Hiroshima, documents the devastating atomic bombing of the Japanese city through the personal accounts of six survivors.
Discussed“what's the story behind John her's Monumental book Hiroshima”
Where to get it
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Fantasyland
Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen is a cultural history book that examines America's deep-rooted national propensity to believe in magical thinking, conspiracy theories, and nonsensical, illogical ideas throughout its history.
Discussed“so your previous book to this was fantasy land and I I feel like there's a connection so where did leave off in that book and pick up in your new book”
Where to get it
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The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is a classic Lost Generation novel chronicling the disillusionment, travels, and romantic entanglements of a group of American and British expatriates in Europe.
Discussed“your first book about a book was also a book about war um you know he previously wrote about how many ways The Sun Also Rises”
Where to get it
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Hamnet
Hamnet is a deeply moving historical novel by Maggie O'Farrell that imagines the domestic life of William Shakespeare and the profound grief surrounding the death of his young son.
Discussed“I'm reading Maggie o Farrell's new novel hamnet which as readers of Geraldine Brooks's very favorable cover review in the book review will know is about Shakespeare's family”
Where to get it
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Mating
Mating by Norman Rush is a sprawling, intellectually ambitious novel following a brilliant female American anthropologist in Botswana as she navigates an intellectual and romantic entanglement with a utopian community leader.
Discussed“so I am reading mating which is Norman Rush's first novel for which he won the national book award”
Where to get it
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A Children's Bible
Lydia Millet’s novel A Children's Bible follows a group of rebellious youths navigating an apocalyptic landscape after ecological collapse upends adult society.
Discussed“and the book I want to talk about this week is is Lydia Mill it's a children's Bible”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (7) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“he'd won the fitzer for his 1944 War novel Bel for Adano”
“I have not read Hiroshima since I think 9th grade in High School when it was assigned and I don't know if it's still assigned with the same regularity”
“books like the Mary Trump the Stephanie Meyer which was sort of a surprise not not a surprise hit but it was announced and then quickly released John Bolton Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games author all those books have sold more than a million copies”
“I spoke last week about Yoko ogawa's the memory police”
“I'm reading hamnet by Maggie o farell”
“I'm reading mating by Norman rush”
“and I just finished reading a children's Bible by Lydia Millet”