See, this is what happens when two nerds get married and have little boys.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

What Denise WILL be reading this week

Reckless Endangerment, by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner. I would be reading it now, except the screen on my Kindle broke. A new one will be here tomorrow (FREE! Thanks Amazon!), at which time furious reading will commence. Alexander Hamilton was very good. I love how reading about the Founding 235 years ago makes me understand what's going on today more thoroughly. Sometimes it's comforting, sometimes it's profoundly disquieting, but in any case I like understanding. Anyway, Hamilton didn't deserve the bad reputation that he has. He was brilliant, occasionally nearly prophetic. He was also brash, heedless,and often incapable of self-control. In several very real ways, he saved the country. People call George Washington the father of the country. Chernow calls Hamilton the father of the government. The first 4 presidential administrations were far more fluid and uncertain than people tend to think. The whole American experiment almost came crashing down several times-- and many of those times, either Hamilton himself or one of his policies stepped in and saved it. Which is all the more remarkable considering he wasn't a huge fan of the Constitution to begin with. He just figured it was the best compromise that was likely to come out of Philadelphia, and once it was put to the vote, he did everything he could to make it the law. Good for him. A good statesman (as opposed to a politician) should know a good compromise when he sees one. Hamilton also gave the U.S. its very first s*x scandal-- and spent the rest of his life making it up to his wife. She was blissfully happy with him. Would that more men who cheated followed his example. Anyway, kudos to Hamilton (and Chernow-- it's a VERY well written book). Voracious reading will recommence tomorrow!

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