Books we're reading

America’s Uncivil Wars: The sixties era from Elvis to the fall of Richard Nixon  

by Mark Hamilton Lytle

(Oxford, 2006)  

Why another book about the fabled 60s, Lytle rightly asks in the preface to this very well written book. Because, he says, it wasn’t all political; much of what happened in the 60s was social and cultural as well, a fact often buried in the avalanche of political histories of the era. What the book is really about is the passing of the cultural leadership torch from one elite to another in America, a process that took more than a decade, and not a little violence, to complete. Looking at Sam Sullivan, Gordon Campbell and Stephen Harper today, our three leaders from respective levels of government, I’m not at all sure Canada ever experienced the same transformation. They all look as though they would be perfectly comfortable in 1955.

Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the rise of Texas, America’s superstate  

by Robert Bryce

(Public Affairs, 2004)  

A not very well-written chronicle detailing how Texas and oil have come to dominate US politics. For the Canadian reader, the parallels with Alberta’s rise to dominance in Canadian politics are striking. I guess it’s true that money buys power, and right now, oil makes money more than anything else, and so oil is in power on both sides of the line. It is nothing short of catastrophic news for the environment, but excellent news for the public image industries.