R.C. Zaehner, Concordant Discord: The Interdependence of Faiths Being the Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at St. Andrews in 1967-1969. Half of this volume is amazing, the other half meandering. The best parts are on Hinduism and Buddhism, and how they can best be understood in relation to Western religions. Zaehner has an amazing Wikipeda page, and I have ordered other books by him, the ultimate act of literary flattery.
James Stafford, The Case of Ireland: Commerce, Empire and the European Order, 1750-1848. An excellent and well-researched books, most interesting on the Irish Union of 1800-1801 and how and why so many classical liberals favored it. What did they get wrong? Or did they? Consistently instructive on earlier Irish thought on trade as well.
Victoria Houseman, American Classicist: The Life and Loves of Edith Hamilton. A good and fun book. I hadn’t known that she was very likely bisexual, or that she was good friends with Felix Morley and Robert Taft. Interesting throughout, and drives home the point about just how early Hamilton did her most important work on mythology. It remains widely read today.
Harvey Sachs, Schoenberg: Why He Matters. A very good introduction to a composer who truly matters. Also a good (short) portrait of Vienna at that time. Maybe it won’t “sell you” on Schoenberg, but it will make his advocates (I am one of them) seem far less crazy. It also admits that a lot of his work wasn’t that good, and helps you separate the better from the worse.
Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman, Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy. This book in preprint form was well ahead of its time, and now it is coming out in a super-timely fashion.
Lorraine Byrne Bodley, Schubert: A Musical Wayfarer. Super-thorough, everything about Schubert and most of all his music.
I have not read the new novel by Bradley Tusk, namely Obvious in Hindsight, about the attempted introduction of flying cars and the regulatory obstacles that arose (among other dramatic events).
Lunana, A Yak in the Classroom is the only and also the best Bhutanese movie I have seen, ever. Recommended, gives you a real look at the country, both rural and urban [sic].
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