What'cha Reading?

[Olm the Water King]

Aaron Johnson: The Road to Turkish Language Reform and the Rise of Turkish Nationalism

This thesis examines the concurrent changes in Turkish identity and in the Turkish language from the early developments in the period of the modernizing Tanzimat reforms to the Anatolian Turkish nationalism and the alphabet and language reform of the Republican era. It looks specifically at how language issues played a large role in the development of Turkish national identity towards the end of the Ottoman period, and also examines the development of Ottomanism and Islamism. Finally it looks at how the desire to promote secular Turkish nationalism in place of the old Ottoman-Islamic identity was the driving force behind the Kemalist script and language reforms and discusses some of the consequences of these planned changes to the Turkish language and to the basis of Turkish identity.

[Tellenbach]

The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and more Prosperous America. An instruction manual on selling commonsense ideas to the stupid people. Lots of interesting information nuggets.

[Olm the Water King]

added to reading list:

Viewpoints Special Edition: The Islamization of Pakistan, 1979-2009 by the Middle East Instititue, Washington D.C.

The year 1979 was among the most tumultuous, and important, in the history of the modern Middle East. The Middle East Institute is marking the 30th anniversary of these events in 2009 by launching a year-long special series of our acclaimed publication, Viewpoints, which offers perspectives on these events and the influence that they continue to exert on the region today. Each special issue of Viewpoints will combine the diverse commentaries of policymakers and scholars from around the world with a robust complement of statistics, maps, and bibliographic information in order to encourage and facilitate further research. Each special issue will be available, free of charge, on our website, Welcome to the Middle East Institute | Middle East Institute.

The Iranian Revolution at 30 by MEI

This publication marks the 30th anniversary of Iranian Revolution with a special issue combining commentaries of policymakers and scholars. It examines the situation inside Iran, including the situation of women and minorities, educational and cultural policies, economic and environmental issues as well as Iranian politics. The authors further address the regional and international context.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1979-2009 by MEI

This publication sheds light on some of the important developments in Saudi Arabia's domestic and external affairs from 1979 to 2009. Twenty-one essays cover a broad range of topics, including the development of Saudi civil society, Wahhabism and questions of gender equality that sometimes affect Saudi-American relations.

Afghanistan, 1979-2009 by MEI

This volume contains 53 essays that revisit the history of Afghanistan from 1979 to 2009. The essays examine 1) the country's complex social, political and economic dynamics; 2) the fluid interplay between domestic and external actors; and 3) both the missed opportunities and opportunism that have been responsible for Afghanistan's misfortunes over the years.

The Legacy of Camp David: 1979- 2009 by MEI

This special issue report brings together scholarship on the Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979. Addressing a variety of policy and analytical viewpoints on the peace and its legacy 30 years later, the contributors shed light on the peace process itself, its foundations, aftermath and significance in the broader Middle Eastern strategic landscape.

warming up with these:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%...l_Peace_Treaty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mosque_seizure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_U...g_in_Islamabad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War

[Flâneuse]

Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
I'm not a believer in biocentrism quite yet, but it's an interesting theory to ponder.

[Olm the Water King]

also added to list:

Post-Communist Nostalgia, edited by Maria Todorova and Zsuzsa Gille

chapters look pretty interesting

Introduction: From Utopia to Propaganda and Back (Maria Todorova)

PART I: RUPTURE AND THE ECONOMIES OF NOSTALGIA

1.From Algos to Autonomos: Nostalgic Eastern Europe as Postimperial Mania (Dominic Boyer)

2.Strange Bedfellows: Socialist Nostalgia and Neoliberalism in Bulgaria (Gerald W. Creed)

3.Today's Unseen Enthusiasm: Communist Nostalgia for Communism in the Socialist Humanist Brigadier Movement (Cristofer Scarboro)

4.Nostalgia for the JNA? Remembering the Army in the Former Yugoslavia (Tanja Petrović)

5.Dignity in Transition: History, Teachers, and the Nation-State in Post-1989 Bulgaria (Tim Pilbrow)

6.Invisible-Inaudible: Albanian Memories of Socialism after the War in Kosovo (Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers)

7."Let's all freeze up until 2100 or so": Nostalgic Directions in Post-Communist Romania (Oana Popescu-Sandu)

PART II: NOSTALGIC REALMS IN WORD, SOUND, AND SCREEN

8.Sonic Nostalgia: Music, Memory, and Mythology in Bulgaria, 1990-2005 (Donna A. Buchanan)

9."Ceausescu Hasn't Died": Irony as Countermemory in Post-Socialist Romania (Diana Georgescu)

10.Good Bye, Lenin! Aufwiedersehen GDR: On the Social Life of Socialism (Daphne Berdahl)

1."But it's ours": Nostalgia and the Politics of Authenticity in Post-Socialist Hungary (Maya Nadkarni)

12.Looking Back to the Bright Future: Aleksandr Melikhov's Red Zion (Harriet Murav)

13.Dwelling on the Ruins of Socialist Yugoslavia: Being Bosnian by Remembering Tito (Fedja Burić)

14.The Velvet Prison in Hindsight: Artistic Discourse in Hungary in the 1990s (Anna Szemere)

15.Vacant History, Empty Screens: Post-Communist German Films of the 1990s (Anke Pinkert)

[Lark]

At the minute I've almost read half of a book I started this morning called And Man Created God by Robert Banks, its really a very good book, although I think its appeal is mainly because the author seems to have had a very similar experience with religious studies to me and turned it into a book.

[Mal12345]

The Martian by Andy Weir

[Tellenbach]

The Time of Our Lives by Peggy Noonan. I liked this more than I thought I would.

Here's a snippet about the Declaration of Independence and how Jefferson's text was edited:

"It hurt Thomas Jefferson to see these words removed from his great document. And we know something about how he viewed his life, his own essence and meaning, from the words he directed that would, a half century after 1776, be cut onto his tombstone. The first word after his name is 'Author'".

[Galaxy Gazer]

Netflix subtitles

[Yama]

I just finished reading Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild. It's about the emergence of the the first widespread social movement, which was the abolition of the slave trade in Britain in the late 1700s/early 1800s.