Online Great Books Podcast

This week, Scott and Karl read Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. The role of community in the shaping of character is a recurring theme for Berry, who is the author of more than forty books that largely serve as an extended conversation about the life he values. Berry is a writer, a novelist, an essayist, but also a poet, a farmer, and an environmental activist. He now lives and works on a 125-acre farm in the same community in Kentucky where he was born. According to Scott, “There’s a kind of conservationist that sees the human as the parasite of the earth and the source of the problems. Berry sees the human as the steward of the earth and the source of good, or who can be." The backdrop for many of Berry’s stories is a fictitious town located in Kentucky, Port William. Jayber Crow, this novel’s narrator, shares his life story— from a young man who abandons his plans to become a minister and becomes the town barber instead, eventually earning membership into the Port William community. Crow's life, which begins as WWI is about to erupt, is emblematic of a century of upheaval, and Jayber's episodic tales challenge contemporary notions of progress. According to Karl, "This is an anti-progress book. The difficulty with the concept of progress is that it’s undefined. It’s just continued movement, but movement to where?"  Tune in to hear more about Jayber's journey of homecoming and one community's resilience. 

This week Scott and Karl read Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, the memoir widely viewed as the best account ever written of fighting in WW1. Printed in 1920, this book illuminates not only the horrors but also the fascination of total war, seen through the eyes of a German soldier. "Ernst is a generous soul who can see the good in all things," according to Scott.   Forged by the storm of steel, Jünger is able to share a thoughtful depiction of both the good and the bad parts of war as part of the human experience.  Karl says, "Reading this book, you can understand something of human nature... there's the temptation to think that we're the good ones, we'll do it right, we'll bend the arc of history. Everyone has already thought that through history."  Tune in to learn more about the book that has accomplished what so many others claim but are not: a classic account of war. 

Why are modern debates on morality so shrill? This week, Scott and Karl read After Virtue, a book on moral philosophy by Alasdair MacIntyre. Published in 1981, MacIntyre examines the historical and conceptual roots of the idea of virtue and diagnoses the reasons for its absence in personal and public life. In Karl's words, "Ethical conversations are currently pointless and unable to be resolved. We talk about reason, we talk about right and wrong, but we don’t really mean it." Maclntyre believes that modern life is characterized by the absence of any coherent moral code, and especially a lack of any genuine community. According to Maclntyre, there's importance in being a part of a community "within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us." After Virtue is a really hard book to read and fully understand, but it’s the enjoyable kind of hard. Tune in to hear Scott and Karl talk about virtue and the fate of a moral culture without a shared telos. 

This week, Scott and Karl read The Inimitable Jeeves, the second collection of Jeeves stories written by P. G. Wodehouse, published in 1923. First appearing in print in 1915, Jeeves continued to feature in Wodehouse's work until his last completed novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, a span of 60 years.  The Inimitable Jeeves follows the adventures of Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves, through a hilarious parade of linked short stories. You'll find a certain harmony in their relationship that is hard to replicate. As Scott points out, "It takes two of these guys to make a complete person."  Tune in for a fascinating discussion of Edwardian English, Aristotelian virtue, and the frivolous, empty, and perfectly delightful world of P. G. Wodehouse's The Inimitable Jeeves. 

This week, Scott and Karl read War is a Racket, the antiwar classic, written by one of America's most decorated soldiers— General Smedley D. Butler.  When he published this essay in 1935, General Bulter was already a retired United States Marine Corps Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient. In his essay, you'll find that he argues against war because war is a racket. But what is a 'racket'? According to the General, "A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes." His frank essay showcases how American war efforts were animated by big-business interests such as war profiteering. Tune in to hear Scott and Karl's take, and learn just how General Bulter recommends disrupting the war racket.   

Scott, Karl, and Brett Veinotte of the School Sucks Project continue their discussion of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals.  Picking up where they left off from last week, the trio polishes off the remaining rules on Alinsky's list. Scott says, “What he outlines here is pretty much the way things work. I don’t think he invented anything. I think he discovered, codified, and learned how to teach what really works and what really happens to people."  According to Alinksy himself, "The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away." Even if you're unwilling to embrace the tactics, you'd be unwise to ignore them.  Tune in to hear more on Alinsky-style organizing, real-world influences, and the rules continuing relevance. 

Scott and Karl are joined by Brett Veinotte, creator of the School Sucks Project, for a special two-part discussion on Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals.  Divided into ten chapters, Rules for Radicals provides 10 lessons on how a community organizer can accomplish the goal of successfully uniting disenfranchised people with the power to effect change on a variety of issues. Alinsky also offers his list of 13 “Rules for Radicals," tactics which Karl calls "a poisoner's manual."  Does this book promote disorder in society? According to Brett, “You can give it an optimistic treatment like it’s real-world tactics for changing the status quo. More cynically, it’s a non-ideologically driven, slogan rich quest for power relying on ridicule and polarization happening in an environment where widespread rationality is not going to be a factor." If that sounds like a lot to unpack, you are not mistaken. Tune in for part one of a revolutionary discussion on Alinsky's mass power organization and its ongoing application. 

This week, Scott and Karl read and heartily discuss G.K. Chesterson's What I Saw In America. Chesterson was a prolific English journalist and author who traveled to America on a lecture tour of the US in 1921.  What I Saw In America begins as a travelogue of his journey but eventually becomes an extended reflection on what makes a nation a nation.  Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox" and his opening line doesn't disappoint.  He writes, “I have never managed to lose my old conviction that travel narrows the mind.” Throughout his travels, the main question on Chesterson's mind— what does it mean to be an American?  As Scott points out, "He's a perpetual outsider who sees everything clean."  Tune in for a fascinating discussion on the American ideal, the drawbacks of progress, and what Chesterson deems to be the greatest guarantor of political and economic liberty. 

What’s the proper cost of being a citizen? This week, Scott and Karl read and discuss Starship Troopers, written by Robert A. Heinlein in 1959. Labeled both a seminal and controversial military Sci-Fi read, this book is a provocative challenge that makes you think about citizenship, leadership, and moral philosophy. As the plot goes, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against humankind's most frightening enemy. On a deeper level, Scott says, “[Heinlein] is very thoughtful about the whole art of war.” Join Scott and Karl for a look behind the curtain of a book that continues to resonate and influence to this day, a book you may even find yourself picking up more than once.

This week, Scott and Karl put on their tin foil hats for a reading of George Orwell's 1984.  Published in 1949, the enduring relevance in 1984 is hard to overlook. Of its message, Karl says, “There are definitely right stories to tell and wrong stories to tell. The wrong stories get pulled which is why I’m frustrated with George Orwell— you wrote the instruction manual!" In a world where language is used solely for political purposes and family life is replaced by pure economic calculus, Orwell managed to tell a story with characters that his readers can identify with.  Karl continues, "If you have any sort of sensitivity like I do, this is one [book] you will throw across the room. Not because it is bad, but because it rings so true.” Tune in for a fascinating discussion on political prophecy, power, and compliance in this week's episode, brought to you by onlinegreatbooks.com.