the_siobhan | 2016 books: 33-37 (Reply)

I decided I needed to go through more of the books that need to leave the house, so I'm going to be reading through some of my existing non-fictions for a bit.

Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story by Robyn Doolittle
I think this one showed up in my house via

sabotabby. It's an account of the events around Rob Ford's election as Mayor and the revelation of the infamous crack video that put Toronto at the top of the international news cycle. Doolittle wrote about Ford for the Toronto Star and was the reporter that was originally contacted about the infamous video.

Apparently this was written in three months. It's a fairly straightforward factual account of events, nothing new but put in context and chronological order. It's focuses primarily on the story of his drug and alcohol abuse.

It's a pretty quick read, I finished it off in a doctor's waiting room.

The Progressive Patriot by Billy Bragg
I bought this assuming it was an autobiography. It kind of is, but not in the traditional way of did this, then did this, then did this other thing.

Instead it's an essay on the gradual development of his own attitudes towards patriotism and English pride. He goes into the history of East Anglia (where he was born), the development of enfranchisement in Britain, and the history of his own family in the labour movement. And of course his love of music and how it evolved and tied into the development of his political attitudes.

Bragg is an incredibly intelligent, articulate man. I've read so many autobiographies by musicians that obviously employed a ghost writer, but this is clearly in his own words. Definitely worth reading if you are a fan.

Infidel: My Life by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
This one says, "uncorrected proof" on the cover, so it came from one of the boxes of books we collected a few years ago.

The story of Ali's life growing up in Somalia in 1977, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya. At 23 her father arranged her marriage to a man she disliked and so she ran away to Holland and applied for refugee status. There she was able to attend University and eventually entered politics.

Ali is a major advocate of the need of Islam to "reform" and become more responsive to the needs of the individual, especially women. Her views have made her controversial and the target of death threats. It's a fascinating book of a very eventful life, and she recounts the stories of her past in a very straight forward way.

My Traitor's Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe and His Conscience by Rian Malan
Rian Malan grew up in Johannesburg during the time of apartheid, descended from an Afrikaner family that had a major role in the Dutch rule of South Africa. He moved to the US to escape military service and eventually returned to write about the apartheid system.

This is not a history book. It does include excerpts about the lives of people living in South Africa, but primarily it is about Malan and his feelings about living in a country where you know everybody hates you and you know they have damn good reason and you are heavily outnumbered. (It did occur to me at one point while reading that the only reason Canada isn't in a parallel situation is because European diseases had such a devastating impact on the people who lived here.)

There are points in the book where I felt like Malan was being self-indulgent, but he does do an excellent job of depicting the tensions created by the apartheid system.

Führer-ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo-Nazi by Ingo Hasselbach
Hasselbach was born and raised in East Berlin. From his accounts when he started off he didn't have a political bone in his body, he just like to get high and brawl. This was frowned on by the authorities because he wasn't supposed to have a reason to rebel in a communist utopia. He started painting swastikas on buildings because it pissed off the Stasi even more than the anarchist symbols.

Once the wall came down he was recruited by actual neo-Nazis and put to work building the movement in East Berlin. He was influenced by one of the major leaders who filled in the role of father figure and became addicted to the sense of power and rebellion. At some point he realized what he was actually doing and left the movement, speaking out against his old friends and later co-founding a group called Exit, which helps people escape right wing organizations.

This is a great book to read if you ever wonder why people get into hate groups. Hasselbach talks about how they provided family, crash space and a sense of purpose to the kids he indoctrinated. It's fascinating reading and pretty damn disturbing.