Chris Weingarth's Book Review #1: "War and the Soul" and "Comeback"

Two current reads: War and the Soul and The Comeback.

Prodded by Remembrance Day, I began reading War and the Soul. Turns out to be “antivenin” for the current media spin and hysteria. “We are aroused by, addicted to, and in love with the archetype of war. … We cannot escape the mythic dimension. We can only awaken to it and decide how we will live it out.” (emphasis added) The book has much to contribute to the possibility of awakening.

I recently finished The Comeback and am starting back in again. It also serves as “antivenin” for what passes as “news.” It allows for an understanding of current “immigration” issues that is both deeper and historically informed. “So the indigenous-immigrant relationship was carefully developed over hundreds of years and largely in good faith. What followed from the 1870s on was quite different. Increasingly, non-Aboriginals did not act in good faith. And each of these betrayals we undertook in order to help them disappear. For their own good. … What is happening today is not about guilt or sympathy or failure. … What we are face is a simple matter of rights – of citizens’ rights that are still being denied to indigenous peoples. It is a matter of rebuilding relationships central to the creation of Canada and, equally important, to its continued existence. But there is more. We also face the possibility of those relationships opening up a more creative and accurate way of imagining ourselves. A different narrative.” (emphasis added)

Neither book qualifies as “entertaining,” but if you’re in the mood for “gripping,” you can’t do much better.

Also in Bluerock Blog