Book Review: <em>All the Shah’s Men</em> by Stephen Kinzer

Author: Stephen Kinzer
Title: All the Shah’s Men
Publication Info: [San Clemente, Calif.] : Tantor Media, 2003.
ISBN: 9781400151066

Summary/Review:

A gripping history of the first covert operation by the CIA to overthrow the popularly elected government of another nation in 1953.  That nation is Iran and the deposed leader is Mohammad Mosaddeq, the Iranian prime minister who dared stand up against Western imperialism.  The fascinating thing about this book is that for much of Mosaddeq’s reign many US leaders supported Iran’s self-determination and attempts at democracy.  Iran’s squabble was with Great Britain, especially regarding the exploitative nature of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.  When Mosaddeq nationalized Iranian oil, British leaders wanted him removed, but needed US approval which was eventually gained by the specter of Communism.  A number of familiar names play a role in the plot: Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, CIA director Allan Dulles, CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.  (grandson of Theodore), and Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr. (father of the Desert Storm commander).  Kinzer tells the story in great detail with the ultimate outcome balanced on the coming together of some very unlikely events

Kinzer concludes that the immediate result – a stable and anti-communist Iran under the Shah – was beneficial to the United States but the long-term results were disastrous.  The Shah’s tyrannical rule in Iran, and the knowledge that the US supported him, turned most Iranians virulently against the United States.  When revolutionary Iranians took hostages at the US embassy in 1979 it was because the embassy had been a base of covert activity in 1953.  Finally, it set a pattern of CIA-sponsored activities in other parts of the world that have contributed to the loss of the USA’s image as a standard-bearer of freedom.

Recommended books: The Devil We Know by Robert Baer
Rating: ***1/2

The Atonement: Sacrifice

            In the second chapter of The Atonement, Leon Morris talks about the use of the word sacrifice to describe Christ’s work on the cross.  Morris says that “sacrifice is a term we use quite often, but in a very different sense from that which the ancients gave it.  We dimly realize that once there were people who literally offered animals in sacrifice to their gods… But when we use the word it is almost always in a metaphorical sense” (p. 43).  Morris goes on to explain how we in the modern world use this term to indicate giving up something – whether it is a parent giving something up for a child or an athlete sacrificing his time to win a championship.

            Morris argues that sacrifices in the Old Testament and as understood by the New Testament audience understood “that the action was a symbolic transferal of the sins of the worshipper to the animal, so that when it died it was taking the punishment due to the worshipper for his sins” (p. 47). 

            The Israelites living under this sacrificial system did not approach God in a light, carefree manner.  “Nobody who came thoughtfully to God by the way of sacrifice could be in any doubt but that sin was a serious matter.  It could not be put aside by a light-hearted wave of the hand but required the shedding of blood” (p. 51).

            So, the New Testament audience would have understood that sacrifice was a serious matter that resulted in the death of that which was sacrificed.  They would have understood that it was the violent shedding of blood for a person’s sins.  They would have understood that the animal sacrificed was taking the punishment that they themselves deserved.  Every time they placed their hands on the head of a sacrificial animal they would have been reminded that this animal was dying in their place.

            The New Testament writers refer to Jesus’ death on the cross in terms of sacrifice (Eph. 5:2, Heb. 9:26, Rev. 1:5).  “The men of the New Testament used ‘sacrifice’ as a helpful category when they wanted to bring out something of what Christ’s death meant” (p. 44).  

            The death of Jesus, God incarnate, is significantly different from the death of mere animals.  “The death of Jesus is to be seen as a sacrifice which accomplishes in reality what the old sacrifices pointed to but could not do” (p. 63). 

            So, what does a deeper understanding of ‘sacrifice” help us to know about what Christ’s death accomplished for us?

“Sacrifice was a splendidly solemn way of dealing with sins.  It stirred the emotions and gave the worshipper something to do.  But did it really take away sins? Could any thinking person believe that the death of some poor animal, a bull perhaps, or a goat or a lamb, would put him in the right with a God who was holy and just?

But the sacrifice of Christ was a different matter. All the old and familiar imagery helped them to understand what Christ’s death was about. They could appreciate references to blood as cleansing and to death as a means of putting away sins.  And what was no more than dimly hinted at in the case of the animals they could see perfectly accomplished in Christ” (p. 66)”

Oh. My. Gods.

I picked this book up not expecting it to be anything great. In fact, I knew nothing about it other than it had some greek mythology in it. I’m all about greek mythology so I figured–what the heck?

Oh. My. Gods. is about a girl named Phoebe who is uprooted from her home and friends in Southern California and moved to Greece for her senior year of high school. She got a little more than she bargained for.

This story was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect much and the story was a bit predictable, but I liked Phoebe, Damian, and Griffin as characters. I did want to see more of Phoebe’s and Stella’s relationship. There could have been a lot more development on that front. It was definitely the interactions between the characters (their relationships) that kept me interested in the story. I wanted to see how the story unfolded.

A fun read, all in all.

Discovery

I thought it would be fun to review a book on my blog, so here it is.

Discovery is a memoir by Vernon Smith, an American economist who taught at Purdue and Arizona State who won the Nobel Prize in 2002. You can preview a pretty good chunk of it here.

Dr. Smith does not spare any detail in discussing his family’s origins on a quiet Kansas farm, where engineering marvels of that time rapidly changed the landscape. This can make it a little bit of a drag, but some of the stories are engaging and worth reading. Here are a few examples:

Dr. Smith goes into great detail on making the perfect hamburger (never use ketchup) that is inherently economic: “[The] effect of minimum wage on hamburger mass production. By reducing min. wage labor costs, the substitution of machinery for labor causes unemployment.”

He also talks about dodging the draft, “To test your hearing for 4F classification, someone across the room would whisper, ‘Did you ever shit in your grandmother’s hat?’ and look for a smile.”

Distinctions between the brain and the mind: ““What exist are infinite variations on the mental theme of being human… its called individuality, the most important feature of humanity.”

He mentions his mother’s suicide, where she hanged herself in the garage: “Mother had systematically turned over, face down, every photograph in which her own image appeared.”

I was most interested in his chapters on college and economics in general.

“If goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will.” -Bastiat

“Public schools are not set up to produce achievement in their student’s lifetime performance; they are set up to yield achievement by students who do not drop out and produce good scores.”

“What is utility theory good for? It’s good for teaching.”

“Graduate school is an endurance test coupled with the belief that it is worth enduring, but it was not that demanding for me after surviving Caltech’s undergraduate meat grinder.”

Here are a list of the economic related books he plugs:

Economic Philosophy:
A.N. Whitehead, “Process and Reality”
Bertrand Russell, “History of Western Philosophy” & “Human Knowledge”
Sir Arthur Eddington, “The Nature of the Physical World”
Sir James Jeans “Physics and Philosophy”
Dick Howey

Economics
Samuelson, “Foundations of Economic Analysis”
Von Mises, “Human Action”
Lord Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society
JMK, The Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
Girard Debreu, Theory of Value

Mathematical Economics
R.G.D Allen, Jacob Marschak, J.R. Hicks
Imperfect Competition: Joan Robinson, Edward Chamberlin

F.A. Hayek, David Hume, Sidney Sigel, Amos Tversky, Martin Shubik, Charles Plot, Alvin Hansen, Keynes, Foster and Catchings, Hayek, Hicks, Samuelson, Metzler, Friedman, Leontief, Daniel Kahneman.

Bottom Line: Worth reading if you’re interested in economics.

The Lost World of Genesis One

John H. Walton’s new book The Lost World of Genesis One looks very interesting. I placed my order last week and shall review it soon.

Publisher’s Description:

In this astute mix of cultural critique and biblical studies, John H. Walton presents and defends twenty propositions supporting a literary and theological understanding of Genesis 1 within the context of the ancient Near Eastern world and unpacks its implications for our modern scientific understanding of origins.

Ideal for students, professors, pastors and lay readers with an interest in the intelligent design controversy and creation-evolution debates, Walton’s thoughtful analysis unpacks seldom appreciated aspects of the biblical text and sets Bible-believing scientists free to investigate the question of origins.

Here are some Sample Pages.

G. Campbell Morgan, "Discipleship" (originally published by F.H. Revell, 1897).

Fresh off his duty as director of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences, the Rev. G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) penned a series of devotional essays on the subject of discipleship.  Morgan, who was converted under Moody’s preaching in his native England, returned to London to pastor Westminster Chapel and later mentored its next pastor, the influential evangelical leader Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Summary

In the first chapter of his book, Morgan sets forth what he understands to be the Biblical definition of discipleship:

“Disciples” is the term consistently used in the four Gospels to mark the relationship  existing between Christ and His followers.  Discipleship means a return to divine ideals through the teaching and power of Jesus . . .¹

Discipleship in this sense refers to the way in which a Christian goes about following Jesus Christ.  Jesus is understood as Lord of Lords and the greatest of teachers.  In chapter 2, Morgan tells readers that Christians must look specifically to the Sermon on the Mount (SotM) for Jesus’ own teaching on how disciples should pattern their discipleship.

Once Christians understand how to follow Jesus and His SotM, Morgan charges them to move to the next phase of the development process, a systematic application of the SotM theology  into every aspect of their daily lives.  Morgan recommends 9 areas in which application should take place and each area makes up a subsequent chapter in the book (The Disciple at Home, at Business, at Play, as a Friend, in Christian Service, in Sorrow, in Joy, in Death, and in Eternity).

While each chapter area offers a helpful devotional insight, a few stand out as being particularly helpful.  In chapter 5, for example, Morgan reminds readers that work is not the curse from the Fall.  Work is good but becomes laborious as a result of the Fall. Disciples, therefore, are reminded to find joy in work dedicated unto the Lord.

Morgan pairs work with the value of play in the life of a disciple:

The power to laugh, to cease work, and frolic in forgetfulness of all the conflict, to make merry, is a divine bestowment upon man, and its absence in any case is as sure a mark of the blighting effects of sin . . .²

Given that he was writing this chapter at a time when Britain was a major player in an emerging global economy, it is shocking that he would pen these words to his readers and charge them to slow down.

Pros and Cons

Discipleship is a great read both as a devotional book and as an introduction to discipleship theology.  Morgan makes complex subjects like the Kingdom of God easily accessible to most readers and each chapter is relatively brief and easy to read in one sitting.  I also found Morgan’s overall structure beneficial for helping integrate a theology of discipleship into everyday life.

The one glaring weakness that I find with Morgan’s work is in the thin description of discipleship.  The author reduces discipleship to an individual way of life or philosophy of spirituality. While I agree that the disciples were those who followed Jesus in the Bible, the disciples were also the recipients of the Great Commission in which Jesus told them to “make disciples.”  The command implies that discipleship is more than just an individual way of life and that discipleship requires a program of some sorts in which the church body strategically makes non-followers into followers of Jesus.

All in all, I recommend this book as a valuable resource in helping leaders think correctly about discipleship.  I could not agree more with Morgan’s definition and application of discipleship theology.  However, this book needs to be read in conjunction with a practical program book, like Bill Hull’s The Disciple Making Church, so as to communicate a more robust approach to discipleship.

_____________________

1. G. Campbell Morgan, Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973 reprinted edition),
pp. 11, 51.  You may find a copy of this book at Amazon.com here.

2. p. 59.

Book Review: Lush Life by Richard Price (2008)

If you’re a fan of Richard Price’s writing from the TV show The Wire, Lush Life will satisfy the void left by the series’ end.  In his eighth novel Price trails a murder in New York, using Wire-esque narrative arcs to unravel the layers of life on the street.  The characters are multi-dimensional and the dialogue carries the novel.  Price’s ear is true as is his empathy for desperate people.

The novel centers on the murder of a young man who stood up to some muggers and how two detectives work the case.  Price then spirals outward to include the back stories of the victim, his friends and family, the shooters, the cops, and others affected by the late-night slaying.

Though primarily a plot-driven novel, the heart of this story is really the setting and the world of the lower East side of New York that Price takes into.  In The New York Review of Books, Michael Chabon said,

The classic Price dyad of chief characters is represented in Lush Life by the Lower East Side itself, its authentically grungy streetscape of immigrants and poor people (Asian, Latino, and black) alternating like a point of view, block by block rather than chapter by chapter, with the new overlay of high-rise “add on” condos, fashionable shops and nightspots, and realer-than-real themed restaurants like Café Berkmann, all distressed finish and spotless tile, where Eric works as a manager.

Walter Kirn also tries to capture the essence of Price in the NYT:

Price is a builder, a drafter of vast blueprints, and though the Masonic keystone of his novel is a box-shaped N.Y.P.D. office, he stacks whole slabs of city on top of it and excavates colossal spaces beneath it. He doesn’t just present a slice of life, he piles life high and deep. Time too. The past is rendered mostly as an absence, though, as a set of caverns, a hive of catacombs. Some of his characters’ ancestors are down there, but the main way we know this is through the hollowness of the new neighborhood built over their crypts.

As an exploration of place and time the novel soars.  As an exploration of urban life that turns stereotypes and cliches inside-out  the novel excels.  It also hammers home the vibrant multi-cultural world and its tensions.  Price doesn’t really reach beyond this in terms of theme, but the novel isn’t any less for it.  He doesn’t over-weight dialogue or use it falsely; he lets the characters respond and react honestly.

The only quibble I have is with the way we follow the murderers.  It robs some of the tension in scenes since we know more than the characters do, but at times it’s worth it as the shooter once bumps into the victim’s sister.  Price creates so many worlds and as they intersect the book really takes off.

• For a good analysis of Price’s writing style and some examples of the excellent dialogue, read The Mookse and the Gripes review here.
• Price discusses Lush Life on Charlie Rose here.