New School Politics

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The Iraq Study Group report is brief but full of information. The problem I had with the report is that it was far too basic. If you read blogs or watch serious political news shows, the information contained in the Iraq Study Group report will seem boring. There was not any information that I read in the report that I did not already know or that was not easily available, and the summaries I had read online before receiving the book from Amazon covered all of the relevant information. I am keeping this review brief because the book was not worth that much of my time. If you are reading this blog or any political blog you probably know more than the information that is available in the report. That being said, it is a good source to gather figures and statistics from and it summarizes complicated ideas into the lexicon that most Americans can understand. There are some ideas suggested that have merit, but you can find the ideas in the Iraq Study Group report and political theories that contradict them online. If you know little about the situation in the Middle East it is worth reading but to rely on it as an exclusive source of information and opinion would be a mistake.  The report is available online as a PDF courtesy of the United States Institute of Peace.

Book Reports are a feature on New School Politics. In these articles, the author presents his opinion of a book, including its relevance to present day America. The same book may be reviewed multiple times by authors with different perspectives.

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Bruce Bawer’s While Europe Slept is a book that will raise your blood pressure. The book is filled with information that will not only horrify you but will infuriate you. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that a self-identified liberal who is also a member of the gay community wrote it. The author, Bruce Bawer, left for Europe in the late nineties when he became disgusted with the United States and sought an experience that would better align with his views. He moved to Amsterdam, one of the most liberal cities in the world. What he found shocked him. The level of anti-Americanism were appalling. The Europeans love to hate Americans but they fail to realize the monster that they have created. The Muslim influx into Europe is not only crippling the economies of Europe but it is sharply dividing the culture and raising the crime and murder rates. Europeans hope that Muslims will integrate into their society but many are sending their children back to schools in the Middle East to ensure that they are brainwashed to hate Westerners and follow the teachings of the Koran. The accounts of honor killings, terrorism, and the depictions of simple blind hatred will make you revaluate your views on the world. Lire le reste de cet article »

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The news and current events aren’t the only things we care about at New School Politics. Books are a large part of our political socialization and are very important to our society. The three of us at New School Politics do a lot of reading and felt our readers could benefit from good book recommendations. Therefore, we have decided to introduce a new feature: Book Reports.

Each book report will include a short synopsis of the book and our detailed impressions. At the end we’ll present the book with a simple grade to tell our readers whether or not it’s worth reading. In addition, we’ll be adding a Shelfari widget to the website in our sidebar. Shelfari will help us to show off the books we’ve read and help us to discover new books. The three of us will use it to update our readers on what we’re currently reading and what we read in the past. The opinions posted on the blog will be cross-posted on Shelfari for the enjoyment of their community.

Our bookshelf will be viewable on Shelfari and some of our recently read titles are going to be displayed in our sidebar. Our Wish List contains books we’re looking to read in the future. Our Reading List contains books we’re reading now. All other books that we have read are going to be contained within the Shelf. We’d love reading recommendations from our readers. If you’ve got any, feel free to contact us or tag us as “newschoolpolitics.” Please add us as a friend if you decide to use Shelfari. We’ll also be tagging all entries on our blog pertaining to books as “bookreport.” You can read all of our entries under that tag.

This is just one of the many new “people-powered” features we plan on adding to New School Politics. We hope you enjoy the new features. If you have any suggestions, feel free to contact us.

technorati tags:shelfari, books, bookreports, newschoolpolitics

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