Ameritopia, by Mark Levin

I have heard Mark Levin's radio show occasionally, and fully expected his newest book, Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America, to match his show: well-informed but loud, bombastic, and confrontational.  There was a little bit of that, but mostly Ameritopia was a thoughtful, almost academic treatment of political theory applied to current U.S. politics.  I should known to expect more.  He does have a law degree from Temple University and worked in the Reagan administration.  Plus, I read and enjoyed an earlier book of his, Men in Black, about the Supreme Court.

Levin does a great service in Ameritopia, taking the reader of a Cliff's Notes tour of several important political thinkers with a utopian vision: Plato's Republic, More's Utopia, Hobbes's Leviathan, and Marx's Communist Manifesto.  Then he spends several chapters discussing the political writings most influential on the founders, particularly Locke and Montesquieu, as well as Alexis de Tocqueville's assessments a few decades after America's founding.  These sections make up at least 75% of Ameritopia.  No matter what your feeling is about Levin or his well-known political leanings, you will benefit from this mini-course in political theory.

But all of that is just preparation for the last two chapters, in which Levin describes how utopian thinking came to displace the Founders' vision, especially with President Wilson's Progressivism and the growth of the federal government's power under President Roosevelt's New Deal.  The administrative state, in which the "mastermind seeks control over the individual" has become so prevalent in the United States that we take it for granted.  The regulatory state has become so entrenched in every bit of our life's minutiae that we hardly notice--to our peril.  The entitlement culture has so many people dependent on the federal government for their basic needs that dismantling it or even reducing its scope has become almost unmentionable.

Levin paints a pretty bleak picture.  I hope his voice and others like it will be heard above the constant clamoring--from both Rs and Ds--for a more powerful central government.

Amped, by Daniel Wilson

Back in December, I read Daniel Wilson's Robopocalypse, an enjoyable sci-fi disaster novel.  I was particularly excited when I read about his new novel, Amped.  The set-up intrigued me: in the very near future, many people with physical and neurological disabilities are "amped."  They have artificial implants which give them full functionality, and, in some cases, super-human abilities.  However, a social-political movement has arisen, giving the "amps" second-class status, stripping them of basic rights.

What I thought would be an interesting treatise on disability rights turned out to be a standard story in sci-fi, the "supers" versus "normals" story played out in X-Men, Heroes, and elsewhere.  Faced with segregation and persecution, a group of amps begins a revolution.  The hero, Owen Gray, whose father developed some of the amp technology, gets caught up in the rebellion.  As the rebellion spreads, Wilson never adequately conveys the scope or implications of the movement.  I wasn't convinced that the events of the book really had a broader impact on the nation.  By contrast, in Robopocalypse Wilson skillfully placed the characters' stories within the context of the world-wide events.

Amped wasn't a bad book.  I was disappointed that Wilson did not develop the problems related to amping.  The persecution on amps did not seem logical, especially since most amps were truly disabled people whose lives are improved by technology.  I know we see rare cases in which people with prosthetics may face societal resistance, such as Oscar Pistorius's struggle to be included in the Olympics.  But I don't see that expanding to full fledged persecution; even though some did not think he should have been allowed to race because of his mechanical advantage, no one was clamoring for his citizenship to be taken away or his human rights to be denied.



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Unstoppable, by Nick Vujicic

Long-time Reading Glutton readers may remember my review last year of Nick Vujicic's Life Without Limits.  This young man was born with no arms and legs, but has not let that slow him down.  He's an inspiration to all of us, no matter what abilities or disabilities we have.  He has a new book coming out soon from Waterbrook Multnomah, Unstoppable: The Incredible Power of Faith in Action.  I have not read it, but am happy to promote it (in exchange for a copy of it!).  Check in later for a review.

Below are a promotional video and excerpt.  Whether you have heard from Nick before or not, check this out.  I guarantee you'll be inspired.

Click here for an excerpt.

The Great Destroyer, by David Limbaugh

If you can read this book and not wish with all your heart that Barack Obama would not be reelected, you have some delusional problems.  David Limbaugh (yes, he's Rush's brother) lays out a case against Obama that should be enough to convince anyone that Barack has got to go.  In The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War on the Republic, Limbaugh picks apart the Obama presidency and reminds the reader why his election was a bad idea and bad for America.

Most of the events and issues Limbaugh discusses in The Great Destroyer will be familiar to any reader with a passing interest in current events: the Gulf oil spill, Fast and Furious, the ongoing financial crisis, etc.  But Limbaugh brings things together to show connections, and takes the stories deeper than a newspaper article or op-ed typically can.  You may have heard some of Obama's speeches Limbaugh writes about, but by putting them in context and putting them alongside the greater body of Obama's work, he brings out Barack's true colors.

Obama's far-left views are bad enough, but hypocrisy, deceit, and determination to tear this country down are astounding.  Limbaugh shines a light on "the bullying, the class warfare, the demonization of opponents, the narcissism, the rigid dogmatism" that come from Obama.  Several times while reading, I just had to laugh aloud.  I hope that history will look to Limbaugh's perspective, not that of the fawning media, for Obama's legacy.  But I doubt it.  Thank you, David Limbaugh, for being a voice in the wilderness.

The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane, by Kathleen Kaska

When I was a kid growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, a common destination for weekend camping was the  nearby Aransas Wildlife Refuge, winter home of the majestic whooping cranes.  When I went to the World Scout Jamboree in Alberta, Canada, our troop flag featured a whooping crane and depicting the whooper's migratory path from south Texas to western Canada.  One of the rarest birds in North America, the whooping cranes were nearly extinct, and still are endangered.  They owe what existence they have, in large part, to the efforts of ornithologist Robert Porter Allen.

Even if you are not a bird lover or nature lover, and even if you think the environmentalist movement is a bit wacko, you will enjoy Kathleen Kaska's telling of Bob Allen's story.  As an Audobon Society naturalist, who had studied roseate spoonbills and flamingos, tracking their migration and identifying their nesting grounds, he was the perfect candidate to save the whooping crane.

Seven foot wing span!

The whooping cranes' winter home on the Texas Gulf Coast was well-known.  The federal government established the Aransas Wildlife Refuge in 1937 to protect the cranes' habitat and diet from hunting, fishing, and development.  But their northern nesting sites remained a mystery for many years.  Allen and his colleagues spent many summers scouring remote areas of the Canadian wilderness before they finally discovered where the whooping cranes summered.

Bird watching, stereotypically a rather dull pursuit, may not seem like material ripe for an engaging story.  Allen himself acknowledged that "a casual but undeviating perseverance and ability to drink gallons of strong coffee can be reckoned among the filed ornithologist's most valuable assets."  Kaska takes her readers far beyond Allen's long days of sitting motionless observing his birds, giving a sense of adventure and suspense to his long struggle to save the whooping cranes, and instilling in the reader a sense of his love and admiration for these rare birds.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson

Allan Karlsson firmly believes that "When life has gone into overtime it's easy to take liberties."  So when he crawls out the window of his nursing home, just minutes before his 100th birthday party, sparking a manhunt and a cascading chain of events, he takes it all in stride.  Allan first makes his way to the bus station, where he buys a ticket to as far away as he can get for a 50 crown note.  A young man asks Allan to watch his suitcase while he takes a dump, and Allan impulsively decides to board his bus with the young man's suitcase, leaving the angry young man behind.

It turns out the young man is part of a criminal gang (albeit a small, bumbling one) and the suitcase is full of cash.  As Allan traverses the Swedish countryside, with law enforcement and a criminal gang on his tail, he proceeds more or less obliviously, in search of a good meal and a drink of vodka.  As the story unfolds, Jonasson takes us on a series of flashbacks, telling Allan's life story.  In his century of life, his pursuit of vodka and a good meal took him from Sweden, across Europe, Asia, and the U.S.  Along the way, he dined with presidents and other key figures, crossed the Himalayas on foot, and aided in the development of the atomic bomb.

Allan's simple, common-sense approach to life and Jonasson's wry observations make the book.  For example, on the "fantastic wealth" oil provided for England and Iran.  The wealth went to "mainly England, if the truth be told, but that was only fair because Iran's sole contribution to the project was cheap labor--and of course the oil itself."  Then there was the time Brezhnev "thought that Afghanistan needed his help.  So he sent his elite troops into the country, and they happened to kill the sitting president, so that Brezhnev had no choice but to appoint his own."  Then there was the Anglican priest who tried to convince some Iranian communists to adopt Anglicanism so that "Anglicanism would become the state religion in Iran the day the communists took over."  He did try to pray about his work in Iran: "But God answered with silence.  He did that sometimes, and Father Ferguson always interpreted it to mean that he should think for himself.  Admittedly, it didn't always work out well when the pastor thought for himself, but you couldn't just give up." I can relate to that!

The 100-Year-Old-Man is a fun read, with understated humor and a convoluted story line.  This is the kind of book that Dave Barry's Lunatics was trying to be.  I was reminded more of Jaroslav Hasek's The Good Soldier Svejk.  I only wish Peter Sellers were alive to play Allan in the movie version!  It's been a best seller in Sweden since its publication in 2009, and is now available in English in the U.S.

Thanks to Edelweis and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Christ Our Mediator, by C.J. Mahaney

C.J. Mahaney, pastor of Covenant Life Church in suburban Washington, D.C., packs a great deal of truth and conviction in his little book Christ Our Mediator: Finding Passion at the Cross.  This is my first exposure to Mahaney.  If the pastoral tone, theological depth, and clarity in communication in this book are reflective of his overall ministry, I certainly wouldn't mind hearing more from him.

In Christ Our Mediator, Mahaney challenges the reader to focus on the cross, and Jesus mediating purpose.  Too often, we focus on subjective feelings, rather than the object teaching of the gospel.  "Our feelings are an essential part of our right response to reality, but they should never in themselves be the determiner of reality."  We should not "invest our feelings with final authority."  Looking to Paul, Mahaney reminds us of the substance of the gospel: "The main theme and essence of the entirety of holy Scripture" is that "there's a unique intermediary between God and humanity: the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as the ransom for all."

Jesus suffering on the cross, unimaginable to us, had a focus.  In spite of the overwhelming weight of the sin of the world, Jesus' focus was on me.  In his darkest our, he still loved me and was thinking of me.  "There's no greater encouragement, and no greater motivation for everything God has called you to do in life, than to recognize His love for you in His darkest hour, and to receive his care for you in your darkest hour."  That's amazing.  And it should never be far from our minds as we grow as Christians.  We need to preach the gospel to ourselves, again and again, above all else.  "Growth in godliness must be pursued, but never apart from joyful gratitude for the cross."

Christ Our Mediator is a challenging read, not in terms of vocabulary or academic language, but in terms of demanding a response.  Don't let its short 96-page length fool you.

Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah and Edelweis for my complimentary review copy.