Concluding my top ten list for 2008. Here's yesterday's part 1.

6. Wellsprings

Mario Vargas Llosa is a leading light of South American novelists. Apparently, that is, because I had never encountered him before stumblinng upon this marvelous collection of political and cultural essays (I don't read much fiction). It’s the fruit of a lifetime of letters, as he tackles Spanish regional nationalisms, Latin American political corruption, Borges, and more. Vargas Llosa here is developing a vision for multi-cultural democracy that can sustain the individual. He is profound without being pedantic. I plan on returning to this book in coming days in this blog.

7. Why the French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space

The occasion is the ongoing battle in France over the Muslim female head-covering, a debate I’ve followed for years in English and French-language media. But John Bowen, an American anthropologist, has cracked the code, explaining to Anglo-Americans exactly why the “veil” is so troubling to the French. To do so, he has to explain some basic elements of the French world view, such as where freedom derives from, the importance of clothing as communication, and religion’s relationship to the public space. Very, very insightful.

8. Against Race: Imagining Political Culture beyond the Color Line

Paul Gilroy desires to be a “planetary humanist”. An English sociologist of Caribbean ancestry, who was teaching at Yale when this book was written earlier in the decade, Gilroy is concerned to demonstrate that all ethnic politics point toward Auschwitz, from Black Power to flag-waving patriotism. His answer? To develop a cosmopolitanism that gives all of us enough belonging and vision to move beyond race. This is where he falls flat; I fail to be convinced that planetary humanism has enough of a center to hold the house he’s building upon it. But if the prescription is weak, Gilroy’s diagnosis is superior. Few thinkers are this competent across disciplinary hedgerows.

9. Missions, Nationalism, and the End of Empire (Studies in the History of Christian Missions)

What happens when Christian missions are entangled with imperialism and nationalism? This collection of essays, edited by Brian Stanley of Edinburgh, explores the problem through historical case studies. Hartmut Lehmann, for instance, looks at German missionaries after WWI, after their African colonies had been stripped from them by the victor nations. Stanley’s introductory essay is the most important, and can be read through Amazon’s preview function.

10. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947

A history of Prussia. Not exciting to many people, I freely concede. I read this one for my own reasons, and enjoyed every page, when I should have skimmed it. Christopher Clark combines military, bureaucratic and dynastic history with societal change for a 360° vision of Germany’s foundations.