Summer Reading

WallStreetEagle I gave you a banana for the Isaacson book; it's on my bookshelf and waiting to be cracked open.

Right now, I'm reading Palimpsest by Gore Vidal, which details the author's first ~40 years of life. He's sardonic in regards to any and all relationships (e.g., between his mother and him, his mother and her many husbands, teachers and students, friends and lovers, etc) and goes deep into what makes people tick, so I'm enjoying it immensely. There are and certainly will be references here to the predecessors of The Wise Men. In that same vein, here are a few books I've read or am planning to read that you might enjoy:

• Washington by Meg Greenfield. Everyone looking to move to DC or spend significant time there should read this book, IMHO. Reading it now, even though the book is several years old, the basic vibe in the city is the same.
• Memoirs: 1925 - 1950 by George Kennan. A bit dry in the beginning; he describes a lot of buildings and things he sees outside his window when he lives in the Baltic region. He's the anti-Vidal in that Kennan's childhood and early twenties are glossed over, but things get better from once he gets into the swing of things at State.
• Kissinger: Volume I: The Idealist, 1923-1968 by Niall Ferguson. Terrific; Kissinger is one of my favorite people to read about and, unlike Kennan, Ferguson really dives deep into his formative years in an engaging way.
• Personal History by Katharine Graham. This is one of my favorite books of all time. You get diplomatic gossip, an interesting perspective on various psychologies of deeply flawed people, and a business memoir all in one.
• The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in the World by Derek Chollet. I think Holbrooke was a very divisive character in Washington and a very current one, relatively speaking. I'm excited to learn more about him, but be warned that if you buy the Kindle version on Amazon, all you get is a badly converted PDF.
• Zbig by Charles Gati. Since Brzezinski died only a couple of weeks ago, this is worth picking up. A full-length biography of the man is badly needed, but I suspect will be forthcoming; this is a good start, for now.
• The Georgetown Set by Gregg Herken. This book has been lying in my living room for over a year, less than a foot away from my favorite armchair and screaming my name; I'm excited to pick it up this summer. Provides an outsider's view of some of the fascinating characters from Katharine Graham's book (Harriman, Phil Graham, the Alsop brothers) and introduces people like Frank Wisner to the mix, detailing how each contributed to ending the Cold War.
• Thirteen Days by RFK. Short read providing a first-hand view of the 13 days during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• The Hawk and the Dove by Nicholas Thompson. Compares and contrasts the lives of Paul Nitze and George Kennan, their complete opposite views of the Cold War and America's role in it. Looking forward to reading this one.

Stepping away from the world of politics for a moment, here are a few books that I read recently and enjoyed:

• A Voice from Old New York by Louis Auchincloss. Provides the last remaining glimpse into a world that no longer exists: 1920s-1930s New York from the perspective of a single member of a big, wealthy family.
• In a Yellow Wood by Gore Vidal. One of Vidal's earliest works that really fleshes out the minor details in the lives of several people in a single, dull day and how their lives, hopes, and dreams are all interconnected.
• Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons. Loved this book; I read it more or less straight through, with only a break for sleep. He describes all the amateur shenanigans that go into today's start-up culture. If you like the show Silicon Valley, this is it in real life.
• Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh. A wide-eyed, naive UChicago Ph.D student decides to study people living "in the hood" by integrating himself into their everyday lives. He's taken under the wing of a gang leader named JT; hilarity, awkward moments, and changed views ensue.