Them: Adventures With Extremists

by Jon Ronson

The author, an intrepid reporter, details his interviews and meeting with several extremists of the world, including a London-based Muslim whose goal is the overthrow of all secular Western governments; Randy Weaver (who seems to be a fairly normal guy, actually — the feds really, tragically fucked up on that one); a KKK Grand Wizard who’s trying to polish the KKK's image, some very humorless Aryan Nations skinheads; radio personality Alex Jones — who's made out in the book to be a paranoid lunatic — and David Icke, who believes that the New World Order is run by aliens who can transform into giant lizards. (Many people believe that this is Icke’s code for "Jews," but Ronson’s dealings with the man seem to indicate that he really thinks they’re alien lizards).

Ronson’s a very funny writer, and as he transforms his subjects into hypocrites and buffoons, he makes the bizarre seem mundane. The book’s climax shows Ronson, who has already interviewed a member of the mysterious Bilderberg Group, infiltrating the completely stupid Bohemian Grove owl-burning ceremony, a quasi-druidical ritual at a retreat for the wealthy that’s half Iron John and half frat boy drinking club. Excellent reading, and Ronson’s got the right mix of level head and humorous suspicion to alternate the reader into bouts of panic — do the Bilderbergs really control the world? — and bouts of laughter, as he makes another extremist out to be a ignorant, short-sighted fool. Good stuff, though it’s pretty sad how many people — my people, in a sense, Americans — are so stupid and deluded about the "Jewish menace." I mean, as horrible as Islamo-fascism is, their beef with Israel is understandable. The USA’s policy with Israel really is biased; Israel really does behave abominably to Palestinians. But some stupid bigot in Idaho whining about Jews running the New World Order and UN helicopters, that’s just sad and stupid. 

five stars

Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

by Stephen Greenblatt

Greenblatt sketches out what is known about the life of Shakespeare, interspersing the meager details with background information about Elizabethan England.  He tells of, for example, the tension between Catholics and Protestants, the vilification of the Jews, the myriad ways in which the society was brutal and bloody, and King James’ beliefs on witches and prophecy.  The result is a very intriguing book with many interesting and extremely debatable propositions.

That some of the sonnets seem to be written to a man seems undeniable (see for example Sonnet XX); that Shakespeare was hired by nobles to write the sonnets in order to convince another young noble to marry a certain woman seems highly unlikely, especially since as Greenblatt himself notes, the sonnets hardly argue the merits of marriage.  Or to take another case, Robert Greene’s obvious attack on Shakespeare is immediately denounced by the people involved in it; but Greenblatt inadequately investigates why a mysterious and very powerful protector should concern himself with a player and playwright.  Or again, Greenblatt’s juxtaposition of “hamlet” with the death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet and the deterioration of his own father is a very tenuous argument at best, but his connection of the writing of “Macbeth” with James’ paranoid obsession with witches and scrying makes perfect sense.  It is true that nearly every single statement about Shakespeare made in the book contains a qualifier like “probably,” or “it can never be certain that,” or “highly likely,” or “if;” but in the end, all these hypotheses don’t detract from the book’s purpose: to place Will Shakespeare in his world. 

four stars