Sports, Assassins, And Fascism [Books]

It is sad that we are now in the middle of May and I’ve only now completed reading my third book of the year. It’s been a busy year. Nevertheless, we shall press on.

I read a lot of blogs, many of them about technology, politics, and sports. Currently, the king of sports blogs is Deadspin, which covers sports with a different voice and eye from your normal sports news outlets. Its founder and editor, Will Leitch, recently published God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occassional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (and How We Can Get It Back). In general, it’s an entertaining look at how journalists and networks, owners, and players view sports fans. It lacks a bit in that the “How We Can Get It Back“ part was pretty sketchy on details.

I enjoy mystery novels greatly, though I don’t read them all to often. Over the last couple of years I’ve received several recommendations to read Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal as the touchstone for its genre. After reading it, I largely agree. And no, it’s not because the assassin, The Jackal, is contracted to kill French President Charles de Gaulle. The plot is well done, the characters are deep and interesting, and the writing is first rate. Well done.

I like Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online Editor at Large, a lot. So when he came to Dallas in January to promote his book, Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, I gladly attended. Though his talk went a little (okay, a lot) long, he was engaging, funny, smart, and somewhat unpolished. So I finally got around to read the book, which is essentially a counterpunch to the liberal characterization of conservatives as fascists. I think the largest takeaway for me was not that American liberalism is fascist–though the title might suggest that to be the point–but rather that the Progressive movement in America, which is the predecessor to much of current American liberal policy and practice, looked to and borrowed from the European fascists. The long and short is that there are fascist ideas imbedded in current American culture both on the right and on the left. Hopefully, the worst of the fascist ideas will never take root in America.