*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[ringo]

Fantastic book that. I wanted to rip the face off Keanu cunting Reeves on the film.

Great writing, really tense

 

[BoatieBird]

Dracula - Bram Stoker.....loving this.

Great isn't it?
I read it last year after a visit to Whitby

 

[5t3IIa]

I'm halfway through the last party of Golding's To The Ends of the Earth trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Down_Below_(novel) <-- I googled that then closed my eyes as I couldn't bear a spoiler

I like it so much I'm going to start on that bloody Aubrey-Maturin O'Brien stuff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey–Maturin_series next. Twenty-one novels <rubshands>

 

[sojourner]

Great writing, really tense

And has a fancy term for the structure - epistolary.

 

[little_legs]

Half way through My Struggle Vol. 2 by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Loving it.

 

[ringo]

And has a fancy term for the structure - epistolary.

Had to look that up

 

[inva]

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
I've not read too much of this yet but it's off to a fantastic start that began quite funny and is now turning all a bit sinister. I'm really looking forward to the rest of it - brilliant writing.

Having finished this yesterday I'd have to say it's one of the best books I've read lately. Really excellent.

I've just started on a crime novel Weirdo by Cathi Unsworth which has begun pretty well and I've also got either Outsiders: Class, Gender and Nation by Dorothy Thompson or The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leïla Marouane to have a go at. I don't know much at all about the Marouane one, I just got it because it was cheap and it sounded like it might be something a bit different so I'm interested to see what it turns out like.

 

[Dillinger4]

You know what? I was REALLY hoping you might say something like that! Yes please!!

I've only really read fiction, novels, for most of my reading life, which is a bit weird but I never questioned it before. Since reading the Owen Jones book, The Spirit Level, and Flat Earth News, my hunger for factual knowledge in these areas has been aroused, but I wasn't sure where to start.

Thank you

OK here goes:

The Last Supper - Philip Willan

This title presents the truth at last about one of the world's great unsolved crimes. The death of Roberto 'God's Banker' Calvi, found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in 1982 days before his bank's collapse, remains one of the most extraordinary crimes of all time. Straight from the dark heart of Italy, it involved dark Masonic rituals, political involvement at the highest level, bizarre forensics, intense mafia involvement, the Vatican, a man on the run, and phenomenal sums of money swirling around. Revealing new sources that speak for the first time, investigative journalist Philip Willan finally uncovers the full truth behind Calvi's death and his last days on the run. Calvi's elimination prevented the world from learning the full truth about the activities of the Masonic sect P2, that secret 'shadow state' whose top-rank membership had been discovered shortly before. Had Calvi's death been investigated properly, Italy government today might have been very different. And the failure to investigate began in England. This true story of a man falling off the precipice is also a shocking political expose.

Also by Phillip Willan: Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy

The CIA has been accused of a massive intelligence failure in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks -- the result, it is said, of a moralistic and bureaucratic approach to information-gathering. But the CIA's spies had few qualms when it came to cultivating terrorist organisations and interfering in the internal politics of Cold War Italy. Puppetmasters reveals how US intelligence services exploited the P2 masonic lodge to prop up friendly Christian Democrat-dominated governments and counter the growing political influence of the Italian Communist Party. It was a ruthless strategy involving coup plots, right wing terrorist bombings and the manipulation of the Red Brigades. And it gave Italy one of the bloodiest and most protracted periods of terrorist violence ever seen in a modern, industrialised society.

Following on from the above is Stefano Delle Chiaie: Portrait of a Black Terrorist by Stuart Christie. The following is from reviews on amazon:

Stuart Christie's knowledge of the far-right is mind-boggling. I was asking myself how he knows all the information contained within the book - it's that detailed. However, I do believe his assertions and it seems to fit, given my less-than-extensive knowledge of the extreme right. For anyone wanting an in-depth investigation of right-wing influence and atocities, particularly centred around Italy in the seventies, this is the book! Stuart Christie is, of course, the anarchist who tried to assassinate General Franco, fighting on the side of the republicans during the Spanish Civil War. He is an authority on these things and his approach is dry but extremely informative.

An excellent piece of investigative journalism. Before al-Queda ever showed its CIA-connected face, there was a network of State-backed fascist terrorists in Europe whose shadowy goal was to spread terror and drive the people into the arms of Big Brother. This is that story.

The Europe-wide network of para-fascist armies was exposed in the 90s and officially abandoned, but as we know from looking at the example of the COINTELPRO/SOG hit squads in America, the likelihood that the military-intelligence-industrial complex really ceased activity is wavering around nil.

NATO's Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe by Daniele Ganser

This fascinating new study shows how the CIA and the British secret service, in collaboration with the military alliance NATO and European military secret services, set up a network of clandestine anti-communist armies in Western Europe after World War II.

These secret soldiers were trained on remote islands in the Mediterranean and in unorthodox warfare centres in England and in the United States by the Green Berets and SAS Special Forces. The network was armed with explosives, machine guns and high-tech communication equipment hidden in underground bunkers and secret arms caches in forests and mountain meadows. In some countries the secret army linked up with right-wing terrorist who in a secret war engaged in political manipulation, harrassement of left wing parties, massacres, coup d'états and torture.

Codenamed 'Gladio' ('the sword'), the Italian secret army was exposed in 1990 by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to the Italian Senate, whereupon the press spoke of "The best kept, and most damaging, political-military secret since World War II" (Observer, 18. November 1990) and observed that "The story seems straight from the pages of a political thriller." (The Times, November 19, 1990). Ever since, so-called 'stay-behind' armies of NATO have also been discovered in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. They were internationally coordinated by the Pentagon and NATO and had their last known meeting in the NATO-linked Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC) in Brussels in October 1990.

James Jesus Angleton, the CIA, and the Craft of Counterintelligence by Michael Holzman

As chief of counterintelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency from the early 1950s to the early 1970s, James Jesus Angleton built a formidable reputation. Although perhaps best known for leading the agency's notorious "Molehunt" - the search for a Soviet spy believed to have infiltrated the upper levels of the American government - Angleton also played a key role in the U.S. intervention in the Italian election of 1948, in Israel's development of nuclear weapons, and in the management of the CIA's investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He later led CIA efforts to contain the Vietnam-era antiwar movement, including the campaign to destroy the liberal Catholic magazine Ramparts.In this deeply researched biography, Michael Holzman uses Angleton's story to illuminate the history of the CIA from its founding in the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. Like many of his colleagues in the CIA, James Angleton learned the craft of espionage during World War II as an officer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), where he became a friend and protege of the British double agent Kim Philby.

Yet Angleton's approach to counterintelligence was also influenced by his unusual Mexican American family background and his years at Yale as a student of the New Critics and publisher of modernist poets. His marriage to Cicely d'Autremont and the couple's friendship with E. E. and Marion Cummings became part of a network of cultural connections that linked the U.S. secret intelligence services and American writers and artists during the postwar period.Drawing on a broad range of sources, including previously unexamined archival documents, personal letters, and interviews, Holzman looks beneath the surface of Angleton's career to reveal the sensibility that governed not only his personal aims and ambitions but those of the organization he served and helped shape.

 

[Dillinger4]

Continued:

Who Paid the Piper?: The CIA and the Cultural Cold War by Frances Stonor Saunders

During the Cold War, writers and artists were faced with a huge challenge. In the Soviet world, they were expected to turn out works that glorified militancy, struggle and relentless optimism. In the West, freedom of expression was vaunted as liberal democracy's most cherished possession. But such freedom could carry a cost. This book documents the extraordinary energy of a secret campaign in which some of the most vocal exponents of intellectual freedom in the West were instruments - whether they knew it or not, whether they liked it or not - of America's secret service.

Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World by Nicholas Shaxson

Tax havens are the most important single reason why poor people and poor countries stay poor. They lie at the very heart of the global economy, with over half the world trade processed through them. They have been instrumental in nearly every major economic event, in every big financial scandal, and in every financial crisis since the 1970s, including the latest global economic downturn.

In Treasure Islands, Nicholas Shaxson shows how this happened, and what this means for you.

The Blood Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy by James S. Henry

Like tentacles on a vast octopus, the firsthand investigations in The Blood Bankers all lead to one core. A financial detective of sorts, investigative journalist Jim Henry analyzes a range of scandals, including the looting of the Philippines by the Marcos family and the financial collapse of nations throughout the developing world. A rogues' gallery of international criminals owes its existence to the dramatic growth of the underground global economy over the last two decades. Our world is being reshaped, often in sinister fashion, by wide open capital markets and an international banking network that exists to launder hundreds of billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. Here is an inside look at globalization's dark sidethe new high growth global markets for influence-peddling, capital flight, money laundering, weapons, drugs, tax evasion, child labor, illegal immigration, and other forms of transnational crime.

Full Service Bank: How BCCI Stole Billions Around the World by James Ring Adams

The Bank of Credit and Commerce International was the favorite bank of dictators, drug dealers and arms merchants around the globe. In this riveting account, two veteran journalists expose the bank's outlaw schemes and its increasingly precarious financial status, and they reveal the daring undercover operation that resulted in the first indictments against B.C.C.I.

The Octopus: Secret Government & the Death of Danny Casolaro: Secret Government & the Death of Danny Casolaro - by Kenn Thomas. This doesn't have a decent blurb on amazon, so I am going to quote from the wikipedia page for Danny Casolaro:

Joseph Daniel Casolaro (June 16, 1947 – August 12, 1991) was an American freelance writer who came to public attention in 1991 when he was found dead in a bathtub in room 517 of the Sheraton Hotel in Martinsburg, West Virginia, his wrists slashed 10–12 times. A note was found, and the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide.[1]

His death became controversial because his notes suggested he was in Martinsburg to meet a source about a story he called "the Octopus." This centered on a sprawling collaboration involving an international cabal, and primarily featuring a number of stories familiar to journalists who worked in and near Washington, D.C. in the 1980s—the Inslaw case, about a software manufacturer whose owner accused the Justice Department of stealing its work product; theOctober Surprise theory that during the Iran hostage crisis, Iran deliberately held back American hostages to help Ronald Reagan win the 1980 presidential election; the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International; and Iran-Contra.[2]

The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America by Peter Dale Scott

This is an ambitious, meticulous examination of how U.S. foreign policy since the 1960s has led to partial or total cover-ups of past domestic criminal acts, including, perhaps, the catastrophe of 9/11. Peter Dale Scott, whose previous books have investigated CIA involvement in southeast Asia, the drug wars, and the Kennedy assassination, here probes how the policies of presidents since Nixon have augmented the tangled bases for the 2001 terrorist attack. Scott shows how America's expansion into the world since World War II has led to momentous secret decision making at high levels. He demonstrates how these decisions by small cliques are responsive to the agendas of private wealth at the expense of the public, of the democratic state, and of civil society. He shows how, in implementing these agendas, U.S. intelligence agencies have become involved with terrorist groups they once backed and helped create, including al Qaeda.

 

[Dillinger4]

There are loads loads more, but that covers quite a lot. I can vouch for every one (except the Danny Casolaro one - that is good but takes quite a speculative leap at the end) of these books as extremely well written, meticulously researched and referenced. They are very clear about what can be proved, and what is speculation.

Start with the first one, Last Supper by Phillip Willan. The Roberto Calvi case goes everywhere. It is astonishing. Learning about Italian history from 1945 is instructive. Follow that with the book about Stefano Delle Chiaie. After that, whatever takes your interest. It goes in so many directions.

 

[Dillinger4]

I have just looked through my books, here are a few more:

Pinochet in Piccadilly: Britain and Chile's Hidden History by Andy Beckett

In October 1998, the erstwhile Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London, charged with crimes against humanity by a Spanish magistrate. But over the 16 months that Pinochet was detained, intriguing questions went unanswered about his close ties with Britain. Why was Lady Thatcher so keen to defend the General? And why was Tony Blair's usually cautious government prepared to have him arrested? As Andy Beckett uncovers, the answers reside deep within the long and shadowy history of relations between Britain and Chile.

Chatter: Uncovering the Echelon Surveillance Network and the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping by Patrick Radden Keefe

How does our government eavesdrop? Whom do they eavesdrop on? And is the interception of communication an effective means of predicting and preventing future attacks? These are some of the questions at the heart of Patrick Radden Keefe’s brilliant new book, Chatter.

In the late 1990s, when Keefe was a graduate student in England, he heard stories about an eavesdropping network led by the United States that spanned the planet. The system, known as Echelon, allowed America and its allies to intercept the private phone calls and e-mails of civilians and governments around the world. Taking the mystery of Echelon as his point of departure, Keefe explores the nature and context of communications interception, drawing together fascinating strands of history, fresh investigative reporting, and riveting, eye-opening anecdotes. The result is a bold and distinctive book, part detective story, part travel-writing, part essay on paranoia and secrecy in a digital age.

Chatter starts out at Menwith Hill, a secret eavesdropping station covered in mysterious, gargantuan golf balls, in England’s Yorkshire moors. From there, the narrative moves quickly to another American spy station hidden in the Australian outback; from the intelligence bureaucracy in Washington to the European Parliament in Brussels; from an abandoned National Security Agency base in the mountains of North Carolina to the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

As Keefe chases down the truth of contemporary surveillance by intelligence agencies, he unearths reams of little-known information and introduces us to a rogue’s gallery of unforgettable characters. We meet a former British eavesdropper who now listens in on the United States Air Force for sport; an intelligence translator who risked prison to reveal an American operation to spy on the United Nations Security Council; a former member of the Senate committee on intelligence who says that oversight is so bad, a lot of senators only sit on the committee for the travel.

Provocative, often funny, and alarming without being alarmist, Chatter is a journey through a bizarre and shadowy world with vast implications for our security as well as our privacy.

This predates a lot of the revelations made by Edward Snowdon, but covers almost exactly the same kind of stuff.

Government of the Shadows: Parapolitics and Criminal Sovereignty by Eric Wilson

Government of the Shadows analyses the concept of clandestine government. It explores how covert political activity and transnational organised crime are linked -- and how they ultimately work to the advantage of state and corporate power.

The book shows that legitimate government is now routinely accompanied by extra-governmental covert operations. Using a variety of case studies, from the mafia in Italy to programmes for food and reconstruction in Iraq, the contributors illustrate that para-political structures are not 'deviant', but central to the operation of global governments.

The creation of this truly parallel world-economy, the source of huge political and economic potential, entices states to undertake new forms of regulation, either through their own intelligence agencies, or through the more shadowy world of criminal cartels.

Why Are We the Good Guys? by David Cromwell

One of the unspoken assumptions of the Western world is that we are great defenders of human rights, a free press and the benefits of market economics. Mistakes might be made along the way, perhaps even tragic errors of judgement such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But the prevailing view is that the West is essentially a force for good in the wider world. Why Are We The Good Guys? is a provocative challenge of this false ideology. David Cromwell digs beneath standard accounts of crucial issues such as foreign policy, climate change and the constant struggle between state-corporate power and genuine democracy. The powerful evidence-based analysis of current affairs is leavened by some of the formative experiences that led the author to question the basic myth of Western benevolence: from schoolroom experiments in democracy, exposure to radical ideas at home, and a mercy mission while at sea; to an unexpected encounter with former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, the struggles to publish hard-hitting journalism, and the founding of Media Lens in 2001.

 

[Orang Utan]

Maybe there should be a blog.thread.
I have just read this one about the Congo.
:mad
Belushi discokermit nagapie - Ben wrote this
http://doilum.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

 

[Awesome Wells]

Judge Dredd, Complete Case Files #11.

"Chopper For Oz!"

Bristol Library took stock of a whole bunch of JD graphics recently. Unfortunately for them comics are banned in Meg City 1, so that's ten years apiece in the cubes.

 

[Naiwen]

I am reading Anne of Green Gables.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

This is the third book I've read by him and while I find him funny, he doesn't really seem to like some of the countries he visits. Sometimes I just want to yell at the book "if you wanted western-style flush toilets, you should stick to countries that have them."

 

[DotCommunist]

The Graveyard Book

good Gaiman so far. His usual darkly twee style....but whats this...on the horizon...is it a quirky assertive girl who will take our hero in hand and make a man of him? Oh niel. Every love interest in your books is basically her from Dresden Dolls.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

The Graveyard Book

good Gaiman so far. His usual darkly twee style....but whats this...on the horizon...is it a quirky assertive girl who will take our hero in hand and make a man of him? Oh niel. Every love interest in your books is basically her from Dresden Dolls.

I read that book. It's even more twee than his usual fare. American Gods is better, imho.

 

[DotCommunist]

I read that book. It's even more twee than his usual fare. American Gods is better, imho.

I'd rate American Gods as his best novel tbf. Neverwhere is in the no2 spot.

not counting Sandman obvs (co its a graphic novel series) of which I hear there might be a new one soon

Having the character Death as a waifish goth girl with a penchant for catholic tat is very signature gaiman

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I'd rate American Gods as his best novel tbf. Neverwhere is in the no2 spot.

not counting Sandman obvs (co its a graphic novel series) of which I hear there might be a new one soon

Having the character Death as a waifish goth girl with a penchant for catholic tat is very signature gaiman

Yes it is. I'd agree that Neverwhere is second on the list. I think Neverwhere is a bit darker too. I keep thinking I'll order the mini-series, but haven't done it yet.

 

[Pickman's model]

revelations of the golden dawn

 

[DotCommunist]

Yes it is. I'd agree that Neverwhere is second on the list. I think its a bit darker though too. I keep thinking I'll order the mini-series, but haven't done it yet.

would that be the BBC mini series where Patterson Joseph plays De Carrabas? not so good I'm afraid. Ropey budget and truncated script. Really not worth paying for.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

would that be the BBC mini series where Patterson Joseph plays De Carrabas? not so good I'm afraid. Ropey budget and truncated script. Really not worth paying for.

Yes, it is. Thanks for the info. I'll save my cash.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Me too, but when I was unemployed my local library was a lifesaver

When I was a kid, we had two modes of entertainment. Drinking or reading books from the library. I choose the latter. Its only as an oldster that I've taken to drink.

 

[sojourner]

Thanks so much Dillinger4

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Just started this one. It looks like it might be a slog.

 

[DotCommunist]

Yes, it is. Thanks for the info. I'll save my cash.

I nearly offered to send you it then I realised that a 1st class stamp doesn't get a letter all the way to americky it would be pointless anyway, its rubbish and I really wanted to like it but just.....no. In my copy of neverwhere theres a note by Gaiman saying how much of a disappointing nightmare the whole process was.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I nearly offered to send you it then I realised that a 1st class stamp doesn't get a letter all the way to americky it would be pointless anyway, its rubbish and I really wanted to like it but just.....no. In my copy of neverwhere theres a note by Gaiman saying how much of a disappointing nightmare the whole process was.

No worries. I'm sure my library has a copy if I cared to look.

I did look on half.com and you can get it for nearly the cost of postage and there's lots of copies. I think my pawn shop movie rating system applies here. A movie is good or bad depending on how many copies there are in the local pawn shop. You count the number of copies and subtract that from 10. That's how good the movie is.

 

[TruXta]

Charles Bukowski's Ham on rye.

 

[BoatieBird]

Annie Proulx's The Shipping News.
Beautifully written and thoroughly absorbing - thanks ringo

 

[sojourner]

Annie Proulx's The Shipping News.
Beautifully written and thoroughly absorbing - thanks ringo

I've just started No Place To Call Home, by Katharine Quarmby. Shaping up nicely. Ooo AND I found out there was an 'Egypcians Act', and consequently in 1624, eight men were put to death in Scotland for being Egypcians - six of them from one family, the Faas.

Any Phillip Pullman fans of His Dark Materials will instantly recognise one of his sources! Me eyes nearly fell out me face when I read that!