Books to Get You Thinking
The Pulitzer Prize, awarded each year for outstanding journalism and literary works in different categories has long become a benchmark of excellence. On April 12 the Pulitzer Prize Committee that operates under the auspices of Columbia University announced the 2010 winners in different categories. At MCL we are pleased to offer our readers with the full range of the Pulitzer winning titles in Fiction, Biography, History and General Nonfiction.
First-Time novelist Paul Harding’s Tinkers took the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Set against the backdrop of a picturesque New England winter, the novel is a poignantly beautiful journey into the mind of George Washington Crosby, the central character of the book who fixed clocks all his life for a living and now lies on his deathbed surrounded by his family and the familiar objects in his living room. As he drifts in and out of the present, hallucinations that are vivid, real and tormenting intersperse his thoughts and carry him back to a kaleidoscope of memories of his childhood and of his father who had died many decades ago. Beautifully penned, the author explores the meaning of life and death and the eventual triumph of mind over body through the tangled relationships between three generations of a family.
Lords of Finance: the Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamad, a hedge fund manager and a trustee of the Brookings Institution, won the prestigious History Award. This fascinating narrative revolves around the actions of a powerful group of four central bankers from the US, UK, France and Germany who dominated the post World War I era. The author skillfully weaves a story around the divisive politics, the prevalent economic orthodoxy largely set by the existing Gold Standard, and the unwise policy decisions that played a decisive role in the consequent unfolding of the Great Depression of the nineteen thirties. Interesting parallels with the current global financial crisis are effectively drawn by the author and the important question of whether we are any closer to understanding and controlling the workings of the global economy than we were in the thirties looms large.
The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David Hoffman.
First-Time novelist Paul Harding’s Tinkers took the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Set against the backdrop of a picturesque New England winter, the novel is a poignantly beautiful journey into the mind of George Washington Crosby, the central character of the book who fixed clocks all his life for a living and now lies on his deathbed surrounded by his family and the familiar objects in his living room. As he drifts in and out of the present, hallucinations that are vivid, real and tormenting intersperse his thoughts and carry him back to a kaleidoscope of memories of his childhood and of his father who had died many decades ago. Beautifully penned, the author explores the meaning of life and death and the eventual triumph of mind over body through the tangled relationships between three generations of a family.
Lords of Finance: the Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamad, a hedge fund manager and a trustee of the Brookings Institution, won the prestigious History Award. This fascinating narrative revolves around the actions of a powerful group of four central bankers from the US, UK, France and Germany who dominated the post World War I era. The author skillfully weaves a story around the divisive politics, the prevalent economic orthodoxy largely set by the existing Gold Standard, and the unwise policy decisions that played a decisive role in the consequent unfolding of the Great Depression of the nineteen thirties. Interesting parallels with the current global financial crisis are effectively drawn by the author and the important question of whether we are any closer to understanding and controlling the workings of the global economy than we were in the thirties looms large.
The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David Hoffman. In this compelling superbly researched narrative history of the Cold War Arms Race, the author makes extensive use of newly discovered documents from the Kremlin and the US that includes information from both interviews and memoirs. The book presents a chilling account of the decisions that resulted in the massive stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction by the United States and the Soviet Union during the years of the Cold War. “The Dead Hand” was the name given to the automatic retaliatory nuclear warhead system developed by Soviet Union. Readers get a gripping account of how the Cold War finally ended and of the efforts made by successive presidents and policymakers to halt the spiraling escalation of arms, while at the same time safeguarding the vast arsenals of nuclear and biological weapons stocked in various unguarded locations in the Soviet Union.
The First Tycoon: the Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by TJ Stiles.
The First Tycoon: the Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by TJ Stiles. This engaging and memorable biography not only won this year’s Pulitzer Prize but also bagged the 2009 National Book Award. Stiles infuses his readers with a keen sense of history as he explores the life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the richest entrepreneur and industrialist of nineteenth century America who was responsible for setting up the steamship and railroad system in America and constructing the Grand Central Terminal in New York City with his own private funds. Stiles skillfully portrays the indomitable spirit and obsession for economic power that made Vanderbilt “both a creator and a destroyer.” His adroit maneuvering of prices, stocks and business dealings helped him create an empire and earned him a special place in history as one of the founders of the modern corporate American economy.
- Nita Mathur
very interesting books
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