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This was a satisfying and useful read. The pages turned quickly. In my case, the author provided greater depth of understanding about many (often crazy) conspiracy theories that one reads about in passing in newspapers and journals. More significantly, the author unifies them in fundamental ways and explains their growth and mutation. My negative criticism of this book is limited as it is mild. In one case the author appears to make a false equivalency of misplaced and opposed conspiracies on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is fair to say that the United States has a rich history of secretive Government intelligence agencies and military-industrial intrigue justifying some kind of "Deep State" notion, it is quite another to go out on the Trumpublican limb, where the Government writ large is an enemy of the people. By contrast, while there are some limits to which the rational mind will not go in theorizing about the Trump Administration's seeming affection for autocrats (especially Putin), and the manner in which his Administration and political team was mired in Russian money, cutouts, assistance, and intelligence agents -- the fact of that relationship and reliance was pregnant and unquestionable to all but the brain dead among us. To the extent that the author's concluding chapter can be read as posing an equivalence between Deep State theorizers of the Trumpublican ilk and "Russiagate," it is in error. The Russia hoax is mostly a hoax itself.

This book is now 28 years old, and it shows. That's not an indictment of the book though. It just doesn't fit very well with the American political narrative of the 21st Century, which takes no prisoners, admits no fault, concedes nothing, and consigns moderation and the reality of Government operations (both its successes and failures) to footnotes in a more aspirational diatribe about what this or that faction views as success or fair. Nevertheless, it's a great book that observes some enduring truths about a delusional American public that divorces the notion of "special interests" from the self-interest (for which they all advocate daily in the American political process and National dialog - personally and in the aggregate through their many lobbies, left and right). It's always the other guy's interest that is "special" and theirs that is National. They probably screamed like stuck pigs about the publication of these truths in 1994, but would do so even more in 2022 -- where successful businesses are either rightly condemned for contorting the field of competition with the levers of Government or wrongly held in contempt for too ably turning a buck and not treating their employees like shareholders and CEOs, and usually both. It is the same America where people without means and ready financial recourse are asked to subsist in perpetuity and, perhaps, regarded as heros for their cheapened sweat and risk-taking, but then condemned as malingerers or cheats for accepting assistance. Yet, means-testing is an apostasy. And, to all of this, politicians will agree, add to the national debt, keep dated or failing programs knee-deep in debt-financed funds, depriving themselves of the opportunity to fund or even recognize necessary new programs or those that require current emphasis. This book will find few friends. That's too bad.

This is the kind of book one savors -- a page here, a chapter there, a little pondering, and then a little more. The book was not dense, but it was worth pausing for contemplation. By the time I completed it, at the pace of the Information Age, it was already venerable. If I could recommend one book that explains the positive potential and likely pitfalls of the maturing Information Age, this would be it. As I finished the book, the Democratic primary for the 2020 U.S. Presidential election took shape. Concerning the world we will likely face in the short- and medium- term future, as described by this book, Andrew Yang "gets it" -- the others, not so much. Although we are in charge of our destinies, if there is an irreducible inevitability of change guaranteed by the Information Age, his platform positions are closest to dealing with it. This is not a campaign plug, as much more may be required -- just an intellectual continuity I noticed. Great reading.

I watched a movie called Fugitive Pieces with my daughter, which we interpreted differently and argued about. I asked for a copy of the book as a Christmas gift, largely to determine whose interpretation was correct. By the time I received it, I forgot the nature of our differing interpretations. There was a time when I read a great deal of fiction, but I stopped about 30 years ago. Since then, I will read a novel every few years (interspersed among many more works of non-fiction). Any interest in fiction is usually instigated by a plot summary or theme I find too compelling to avoid, but not so here. Understandably, and unknown to me because of my reading preferences, the novel on which the film was based was over 20 years old and had met with broad critical acclaim.

The author's writing and vocabulary are rich -- so rich, in fact, that nearly every other page is quotable for concept or turn of phrase. After reading it, one knows the movie version could be interesting, perhaps even very good, but could never fully capture the book's more thoughtful aspects, elegant detail, and careful examination of mind and memory. Although principally set in the mid-Century Greek Islands, one will reject any temptation to compare it to Zorba the Greek or Corelli's Mandolin because, while the setting is often evoked and has its uses, the story being told by a Polish war refugee is deeply introspective. The other venue for the story is Toronto and environs, where the protagonist's experiences and legacy are concluded by an admirer as a reflection. Anyhow, it's a great work of authorship and worth your consideration. More details on the story line are disclosed in the Goodreads summary.