reading about the american theocracy

I’m busy tonight with my new cartoon for the Ann Arbor Paper, but, if I weren’t, I think I’d be driving out to the bookstore to buy Kevin Phillips’ new book, “American Theocracy : The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury.” Here’s a clip from the review in Salon:

…Phillips’ book is very valuable in the way he brings all the strands together and puts them in context. He has a history of good judgment that affords him the authority to make big-picture claims: In 1993, the New York Times Book Review wrote of him, “through more than 25 years of analysis and predictions, nobody has been as transcendentally right about the outlines of American political change as Kevin Phillips.” Other recent books foresee American meltdown; James Howard Kunstler’s “The Long Emergency” deals with some of the same gathering threats as “American Theocracy.” Kunstler is a far more engaging writer than Phillips, but he’s also more prone to doomsday speculation, and he sometimes seems to relish the apocalyptic scenario he conjures. It’s Phillips’ sobriety and gravitas that gives “American Theocracy” ballast, and that makes it frightening…

Speaking of Kunstler, I just heard from a friend that he’s scheduled to speak in Ann Arbor, at the Shaman Drum Bookshop, on April 21. I don’t know that he’ll agree, but I’ve written to him and asked if he’d be willing to answer a few of our questions here at MM.com. I’ll keep you posted. And, if he says yes, I’ll start a thread for potential lines of inquiry. In the meantime, read his book, “The Long Emergency,” and start thinking about what you’d like to ask him. (note to self: Maybe it’s time to restart the Ypsi/Arbor Progressive reading group.)