Made Love, Got War

Nearly all books nowadays that dare confront the daunting problems facing humanity seem invariably obligated to offer optimistic “solutions,” regardless of how deep the doo; not so with this book. As the title suggests, little has changed: We have a deceptive and secretive president, prolonging a pointless war without end, as we did four decades ago. Author/syndicated columnist Norman Solomon wonders aloud whether his investigative journalism has made any difference, and concludes that, alas, it hasn’t. Accounts of his early activism while still a teenager (which triggered FBI surveillance), through his anti-Vietnam War and anti-nuke years are interesting, as is his noble but futile effort in glasnost Moscow to convince the American ambassador to match the Soviet’s unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing; or his two trips to Iraq in 2002 to somehow prevent the current inexorable catastrophe in the country. To be fair, this book is more a memoir than a treatise pretending to solve the world’s problems, but I wanted more reflection and integration of “what it all means,” as well as, yes, possible solutions, and a light for the way out.