Books For the Commonwealth

[Saphalus]

BOOKS FOR COMMONWEALTH
Founded on May 8th, 2019

Originally known as Books!, we are a private media outlet currently trying to expand to other regions. The NationStates Commonwealth is our first attempt in setting up a franchise as our main location is actually located in the Empire of Mare Nostrum.
We bring weekly-book reviews on books that we might deem to be interesting enough to introduce to this region with hopes of encouraging activity of discussion regarding the topics of various books that has been reviewed.

Disclaimer: Please refrain from posting in this thread without the proper authorization of an employee of Books!
Reasons: Utilizing a thread is highly different for us because the model that we're used to for businesses and media outlets are a personalized subforum dedicated for a particular business / media outlet.

Employee Directory:
Saphalus - Chief Review and Editor

[Saphalus]

BOOKS FOR COMMONWEALTH
GRAND OPENING (RE-EDITED FOR THE COMMONWEALTH)

It has been almost three weeks since Books! were approved to be an official establishment by the Empire (of Mare Nostrum). I am particularly stoked to immediately write so that I can bring books that I - Saphalus - have found intriguing for the region. Due to a somewhat tight schedule that I had to deal a couple of weeks ago, I could only bring myself to write this review now. Crappy excuse, I know since I apparently was on a two weeks vacation, but slightly justified by the also (current) never-living community that this region (Mare Nostrum) has . Beside the discord, that is.



Thus, this shall be the official grand opening of Books! I should say that since I am currently the only employee in this media outlet, I encourage everyone reading this to discuss the contents provided by the reviews, especially if you found them to be aligned with your area of interest. I am also going to happily accept any voluntary help in writing the reviews. Oh! And maybe some of you would be interested in writing for this outlet, maybe got an interesting book that you’ve read and want to introduce to everyone? I would say that this outlet would be a great place for that, as it is the main purpose of Books!



A disclaimer however, should be immediately given about the purpose of Books! As the description states, this establishment exist introduce books that I found to be possibly interesting for Mare Nostrum (and the NationStates Commonwealth). This is done with hope to stimulate activities of discussion in the community. This doesn’t mean that Books! doesn’t intend to bring legitimate reviews but it is best understood as an attempt to bring a re-viewing of a book instead of dedicated solely for criticism. Books! still does criticism! But it’s more focused on introducing books! This means that some reviews may skip / nitpick some points in a certain book if it can serve to be beneficial for the readers.


PERSONAL WORDS FROM EMPEROR REX CIPHRA (OF MARE NOSTRUM)
"Personally I am excited for this book reviewing outlet that Saph is creating. I'm hoping that it can help encourage me to read once again. Hopefully he can also inspire others in the empire to read as well. Let's see what the first issue holds!
"

Thank you for that, our dear and awesome Emperor! It is nice of you to put me in such high expectation (even though I know you don't expect anything from me, you inglorious basterd   ). I share the same interest as Rex when he said that he's hoping that Books! can encourage him to read once again. This is one of the main focus that I have in my mind when creating this establishment. I wish to encourage and stimulate activity in Mare Nostrum by introducing interesting books that may be able to captivate Nostrumians to discuss the topic from the books that has been reviewed. Such a cool Emperor Rex is, isn't he?
ADDITION FOR THE COMMONWEALTH: Now that Books! have gained at least a foothold in The Commonwealth, I am also interested stimulating such activity in here. I believe that the NationStates community can gain more dynamism by discussing certain topics that we might otherwise never have the chance to discuss normally.

PERSONAL WORDS FROM SENATOR SHAPIRIUS (OF MARE NOSTRUM)
"Don't throw old books off your list; just be aware of their age. They are powerful tools for understanding the present and anticipating the future." (Gary Hoover)

Since the dawn of time, books have been a method of communicating one's ideas, beliefs, and theories in a visual way. Over the years, what started out as clay tablets has evolved into paper, ink, and leather. Some students have taken to books as oil takes to water. Others have devoured any amount of written knowledge they can get their hands on, and consumed it once more if they felt like it. Pictures were open to the imagination without context, but words transcribed on a page are immovable and unchanging.
For most introverts, books represent a safe place where the world can calm down for a few hours. For most extroverts, books are a necessary evil. However, I believe that both groups have a primitive reaction to books. One uses books almost like a drug, in order to lose themselves in another's imagination, but regards other books as useless. In my opinion, all books are useful when one accepts what they are: a method of communicating that can be duplicated with ease, in order to spread the knowledge further."

Thank you for that, Senator. While I wouldn't know about the introvert and extrovert preference which you've discussed, I would say that I agree with the sentiment that we should not - generally speaking - throw out our old books. Personally speaking, I keep books because they have very specialized information that we can't generally find on the internet. To compare, books are things that have a lot of work and effort behind them. If we compare books with.. let's say educational videos on Youtube, it should generally be visible that books should have a lot more educational and informational value. This is not to undermine the technology and capability of the internet because Wikipedia IS indeed a very useful tool to find information and Youtube Videos are amazing at sending out their intended information. To this note, I think Senator Shapirius has spectacularly analyzed the importance of books in general.

ISSUE #1: HOW FASCISM WORKS by Jason Stanley

Jason Stanley - How Fascism Works, The Politics of Us and Them - New York: Random House, 2018 - LCCN: 2018013266, ISBN: 9780525511830, ISBN (ebook): 9780525511847 - Official Page Number: 193, Total Page Number: 233


History brings with itself an interesting question, does it repeat itself? Since the Allies defeated one of the most stark examples of Fascism - Nazi Germany - one could not help but wonder, is it on the rise again? This book comes at a crucial time in our history because the truth is, it is very much alive and well. Jason Stanley - in this book - tries to deconstruct the ideals of what we call, Fascism. It also provides an incredible amount of evidence to ground itself on reality, which is why this is an essential and highly relevant book in today’s times.





In my regard, this book is also very accessible and important. All of us reading this needs to be on the watch for any incarnation of Fascism as Errol Morris has said in his review of this book, “..Fascism is not a plan on how to govern, but a plan on how to seize control.” And to be on the lookout for fascism, we need to know what we’re dealing with just as Sun Tzu says, “Know your enemy”. This book gives a highly relevant matter an accessible light so that people that’s not even familiar in social science, can understand it. However, that is not to say that this book is lacking in depth because in the contrary, it presents a lot of information on Fascism in a way that makes us realize just how integral each chapter is to the whole book.



In the introduction, the author starts by divulging us in his personal story on how his father - a former European refugee nearing the end of his life with Parkinson’s disease - wanted to visit the beaches of Normandy to fulfill his lifelong dream. The author states, “Leaning on the shoulder of his wife, my stepmother, he fulfilled a lifelong dream, walking where so many brave American youth lost their lives in the battle against fascism.”



The author then starts to focus on the idea of American heroism, eventually reaching the topic of Donald Trump and how he has revived Charles Lindbergh’s America First - a very popular movement of pro-fascist sentiment in the US during WW2 - as his slogan, “America First”. The author writes, “If Trump recalled Lindbergh specifically with America First, the rest of his campaign has also longed for some vague point in history-To ‘Make America Great Again’, but when, exactly, was America great, in the eyes of the Trump Campaign?” Jason Stanley picks out Steve Bannon’s words - the then president-elect’s chief strategist - when he said that, “it will be as exciting as the 1930s” which Stanley then said, “In short, the era when the United States had its most sympathy for fascism”.



While some people would most likely argue that the US at that time is not a fascist country, I would say that this sentiment is merely one side of the coin as the author himself has also recognized that in the twenties and thirties, many Americans shared Lindbergh’s views against immigration with The Immigration Act of 1924 strictly limiting immigration into the country, specifically for restricting the immigration of non whites and Jews showing the embracement of Lindbergh’s view akin to Nazism for America. Hence, I would say that Stanley have excellently deconstructed the ideals behind the “Make America Great Again” sentiment.



In the next part of the introduction, the author - Jason Stanley - finally introduces his motivation in writing the book. He writes, “My interest in this book is in fascist politics. Specifically, my interest is in fascist tactics as a mechanism to achieve power.” The implication and meaning behind his interest in fascist politics is further elaborated when he explained the features of fascist politics, “Fascist politics includes many distinct strategies: the mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectualism, unreality, hierarchy, victimhood, law and order, sexual anxiety, appeals to the heartland, and a dismantling of public welfare and unity.” These laid out ‘distinct strategies of fascist politics’ also serve as a simple model of the book which further the book to be more concise rather than complicated as the book simply address each strategy by dedicating one chapter each to a single ‘distinct strategy of fascist politics’.



While this review could as well cover every chapter individually, I would rather just leave the entire review here. This is not only (because I’m lazy as a cow) because it would be too long, but it would actually also help the readers. I cannot express every single thing that I find interesting in the book here so it would be best for you to just get the book. The book is fascinating and can brag lots of content even though it’s only about one single topic. It covers an array of examples and can be expected to make us realize of our own ‘fascistic’ views. It can help us see these views (haha get it? See these views?) but what’s important is to keep in mind that we should always ask ‘What and Why?’. What exactly do we think? What exactly is it about? Why do we think like this? Why don’t we think otherwise?