Jodi Picoult: My Sister's Keeper

Hi guys,

We only have 3 weeks left in April (sorry for the late post), but you're welcome to join me in reading My Sister's Keeper if you want!

Here's the inside flap:
"Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?"

Benjamin Franklin: Question #1

In introducing his life and biography Franklin states “that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first.” Do you think he took this advantage in writing about his life? Did he re-write his life in a better light? Is it possible to write an autobiography without doing this?

Benjamin Franklin: Question #2

In justifying not being a vegetarian because he saw fish inside the fish he wanted to eat, Franklin said, “So convenient a thing is it to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do.” We know that he cheated on his wife a lot (who knows what else). Do you think he used this attitude to justify his actions throughout his life? (I just thought this saying was clever and showed his personality, so I wanted to quote it here.)

Benjamin Franklin: Question #3

Franklin had some good connections: the governor helped him get his start; he met up with people in the printing industry in New York on the way to Philadelphia, etc. Considering all that Franklin accomplished in his life, was Franklin an unprecedented genius, or just in the right place at the right time? Are there people of equal caliber that we never hear of because they’re born in some obscure part of the world? Does such a thing as a “self-made man” exist, or is it all about who you know?

Benjamin Franklin: Question #4

Upon his involvement in expanding the printing and circulation of paper money, Franklin states, “My friends there (in the House), who conceived I had been of some service, thought fit to reward me by employing me in printing the money; a very profitable job and a great help to me.” This sounds very similar to the pork barreling and large government contracts we so often hear complaints of. Is this something that has always happened? Is there anything in Franklin’s biography that would lead you to think that he would disagree with the way those contracts are awarded today?

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

I stole the following intro to Benjamin Franklin from USHistory.org:

"Benjamin Franklin was the most famous American in his day. Wherever he went, crowds formed. People worldwide pictured Franklin when anyone said, "American."

The diversity that is the Internet may be epitomized by few people in history — Benjamin Franklin is one such person, commercially successful, ever concerned and involved with the public good, a great communicator, and a remarkable man of science and technology, finding practical effective solutions to real problems.

Trying to comprehend Benjamin Franklin's life and legacy is like trying to grab a shadow. Each time one tries to get a fix on the reflection, it darts away and grows even larger.

By turns pamphleteer, apprentice, printer, balladeer, inventor, philosopher, politician, soldier, firefighter, ambassador, family man, sage, delegate, signer, shopkeeper, bookseller, cartoonist, grandfather, anti-slavery agitator, Mason, and deist — he was all of the above and none of the above.

His great biographer Carl Van Doren called Franklin "a harmonious human multitude." As Franklin was an "electrician" also, we kept looking for a common current that defined him. From the time he was a teenager thinking about ways of education to the time he was an 83-year-old man agitating for abolition, the mainspring of the "human multitude" may well have been public service.

Each generation produces people who reshape their world. Benjamin Franklin was one such man."

If that's not enough to get you excited, what other books have we read where the whole text was online?

I have been wanting to read this for a while, I only hope it is as interesting to read as his life seems like it was.

Question 1

The Economic Hit Man is an engaging story which is presented as a factual autobiography, but many of Perkin's critics have noted that his book reads like a Grisham novel, and is probably just as fanciful. What is your gut feeling? Were any parts too unbelievable?

On the flip-side, we also see corporations like Halliburton and Blackwater are in trouble with war crimes, and satellites intended to reduce our CO2 levels are falling from the sky. Will this be the book that finally substantiates the conspiracy theorists?

Question 2

Since he wrote the book, Perkins formed a foundation in an attempt to do more than just write about the problem. Has reading the book motivated you to do something in reaction? either in countering or profiting from the alleged "American Imperialism" and its corporatocracy?
Any ideas on how to 'take the power back'?

Question 3

Perkins' story revolves around private US companies undermining foreign governments, but Perkins clearly saves his harshest criticism for the US government, calling the CIA agents "the jackals." Is it disconcerting that in this story the US is the villain instead of the hero of the story?

Is this perspective helpful in understanding the reasoning behind terrorism and drug-trafficking?

Question 4

This EHM theme has been very popular lately in Hollywood with movies like Syriana, Quantum Solace and the International. Does such publicity end up helping or hurting Perkins' cause? Does it popularize his story to the point of fiction?

Question 5

The book sends a clear message - that we (the US) make up a fraction of the worlds population, but use the majority of its resources. However, the US also has a very strong anti-socialistic tendency, making it doubtful that we will change to the extent of "sharing the wealth."
So, how can we reconcile these two mentalities on a national or personal (Ward) level? Can we?

Confessions of an Economic Hitman

From Wikipedia, here is a basic summary:

"Covertly recruited by the United States National Security Agency and on the payroll of an international consulting firm, he traveled the world—to Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other strategically important countries...Perkins reveals the hidden mechanics of imperial control behind some of the most dramatic events in recent history, such as the fall of the Shah of Iran, the death of Panamanian president Omar Torrijos, and the U.S. invasions of Panama and Iraq."

According to his book, Perkins' function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with huge debts they could not hope to pay, these countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an EHM as follows:

Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

Here is a link to the author's website and life's work since leaving his EHM colleagues behind.

Trust me, this book reads like a John Grisham novel with a glimpse into a global history that most of us have never known.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to the book club! I hope everyone is as excited as I am to start reading more. To see the schedule for this year, refer to the side bar on the left. If you have not submitted a book but want to participate, feel free and we will add you on to the list. Also, if you decide to change your book, let me know at least a month before you are supposed to host, and I'll let everyone know. Happy reading!