I want to look at two topics we have touched on in previous book notes that reappear in this weeks reading. Because the reading to date has largely taken place in the 1930′s, FDR’s New Deal has been touched on a number of times in the reading. Washington, and the freedom of Communists to move in and out of the Washington circles has also been | Read More »
My daughter was in her high chair. I was watching her eat. She was the most miraculous thing that had ever happened in my life. I liked to watch her even when she smeared porridge on her face or dropped it meditatively on the floor. My eye came to rest on the delicate convolutions of her ear – those intricate, perfect ears. The thought passed | Read More »
In this weeks reading of Witness, Whittaker Chambers joins the Communist underground. I continue to find this book fascinating. Chambers is approached by the communist underground while working at a communist paper. He is given the “option” of joining the underground (or “apparatus” as they refer to it). After deciding not to join the underground, he finds out that there really isn’t an option. He | Read More »
I wanted to use this weeks reading in Witness to discuss something that continues to surprise me in this book. As Chambers recounts his career and his joining the Communist party, I am struck by how far into America the Communist Party had gotten. Earlier in the book Chambers talks about the numerous federal offices that had Communist party members working in it. Some of | Read More »
For this weeks book notes, I covered up to chapter Four of Witness. I want to focus in on the third chapter. I thought this chapter was very interesting because Chambers explains why people become communists and why he became a communist. Some of the reasons are still out there today. While we don’t think of Communism as a threat in today’s world (we are | Read More »
I came across an interesting section of this weeks reading that I think has a life lesson in it. in this section, Whittaker Chambers is recounting a story from his youth. He talks about having an,”…old, wet-eyed female dog,” that used to follow him around when he was running errands. One day, a schoolmate comes across Whittaker while he is out. The schoolmate kicks this | Read More »
I have been very impressed with the first chapter of Witness. I wish I had been exposed to this book in high school. So far, this book has been a very powerful testimony to both Mr. Chambers conversion, and to the evil’s of communism. There have been a number of passages that have really touched me, and repeating them here would take too much space. | Read More »
There has never been a society or a nation without God. But history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations that became indifferent to God, and died. Whittaker Chambers, from the preface to Witness I have been surprised by this book already. I expected a narrative of Communism from someone who once believed in Communism. I expect as we go through the book we will | Read More »
This is the last post in the Road to Serfdom book notes. I finished the book and have been very amazed by it. I want to do this post a little different from the others. Instead of covering just this weeks reading, I would like to open it up. What lesson did you take from this book? Regardless of whether you read a chapter, or | Read More »
For this weeks reading, I want to focus in on one point Hayek makes in Chapter 14. I think this is crucial, because this is a theme we have already seen from the present administration and are likely to see over the next two years. Rahm Emanuel will alwaysbe remembered for explaining that, “you never want a crisis to go to waste.” He was simply | Read More »
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