This has become a trendy topic recently, and there's been a lot of great material published. Here are a few books I'm a big fan of:

Cwiertka, Katarzyna J. Modern Japanese Cuisine: Food, Power and National Identity. London: Reaktion Books, 2006. This book has really stayed with me. It traces the imperial, military, economic, and political roots of the modern Japanese diet and then follows its export internationally. I love this book.

Norton, Marcy. Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: a History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008. I've only read an article on chocolate that later made its way into this book, but it was fabulous. Not only an eye-opening exploration of chocolate's pre-colonial and colonial history in the New World, but a wonderful treatment of its introduction in the Old World. Norton does a fabulous job of demonstrating the complexity and multi-directionality of colonialism here, and of defending the place of taste within that history.

Mintz, Sidney W. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Penguin Books, 1985. This is an absolute classic. Mintz is an anthropologist, and this is an anthropologist's history of the role of sugar and the taste for sweetness in a multi-century sweep of world history. Mintz does so much here. Such a must-read.

Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. Tastes of Paradise: a Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. This book is fun and readable, but not super scholarly. There are plenty of big provocative claims that make you rethink the use of stimulants in Europe -- but some of those claims need a bit more research, I think.

Gewertz, Deborah, and Frederick Errington. Cheap Meat: Flap Food Nations in the Pacific Islands. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010. And why not a Pacific-centered book? This is also written by anthropologists. It focuses on Papua New Guinea and New Zealand -- and Tonga a bit -- and explores the flap food trade in Oceania. Flaps are fatty portions of sheep that are extremely unhealthy and are variously seen as cast-off waste food, a symbol of neo-colonialism, and a route toward some version of "the good life." Great book -- even if it has more questions than answers.

Hope that helps. There are plenty more. Let me know if you're interested in something specific.

A few titles on specific topics that seem uncovered:

• The Thirty Years War by C.W. Wedgwood -- Written in the '30s, this is still probably the best single volume on the topic (in English anyway). Fantastic place to start for anyone looking to get into a hugely significant though often overlooked conflict in European History. It was recently republished in paperback so shouldn't be too hard to come by.
  
  
• The Crusades: A History by Christopher Riley-Smith -- There are endless books on the various Crusades from an endless array of perspectives and focuses. To me, Riley-Smith is the best single volume on the whole subject. Again a great starting point for those new to the area.
  
  
• The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400-1900 by Thomas Benjamin -- This is a rather hefty work but serves as a wonderful encapsulation of the subject of Atlantic History. As is often the case in this field, particular attention is paid to the complex interconnections of economic and social exchange at various edges of the Atlantic World. For something a little more focused, The British Atlantic World, 1500-1800 by David Armitage is also great.
  
  
• Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall is an awesome take on the subject. Restall basically debunks most modern misconceptions about the conquest of South America drawing on an array of creative source material. For primary reading on the conquest of Mexico specifically, by far the most important is The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo-- basically reads as an adventure novel.

So, with Pirates, I would start with a good introductory book like:

Under the Black Flag. It's a good general overview book that allows you to separate some of the myths from the reality of pirates. It's a good easy read and very factual. A great beach holiday book.

After that, I would suggest moving up a step to:

The Republic of Pirates, which is a fantastic book that reads like an adventure novel about the late "Golden Age" of pirates, including Blackbeard. This book is fun, full of facts, and reads like a modern reporter for Slate, Salon, or Rolling Stone would tell it (because it is written by a reporter).

Then finally, to get into the nuts a bolts, the why and how of Pirates I recommend anything by Benerson Little. He conducted an AMA earlier this year and blew it out of the water.

For his books The Searovers Practice is bar none one of the finest books I've read. Buccaneers Realm is great when talking about the very specific group of pirates known as Buccaneers.

Holy shit. You're still going 60 mph out of your ass.

>Wealth is not a resource and cannot be scarce. There is no limit to wealth. Wealth is directly tied to how productive a country is. And there is no limit to productivity. Beyond what is possible within the laws of physics.

Wealth as measured by what? Wealth is not some abstract or undefined variable. Wealth is typically measured by money among other factors. Money is not infinite otherwise we could print more whenever we wanted. You're conflating ideas as to obscure your point. This isn't good debate, it's obfuscation and charlatanism.

>Capitalism PREVENTS scarcity automatically. Prices go up when a resource is scarce. And down when a resource is abundant.

Ok what does price going up have to do with making something less scarce? Once again, you're obfuscating without a point. Price reflects scarcity (as you point out), but it does not control scarcity. Literally quite the opposite. Diamonds are a great example of how capitalism creates artificial scarcity and flies in the face of your point. Diamonds are expensive but are not in fact scarce. The perceived scarcity of diamonds is quite literally an invention of a capitalist market.

https://priceonomics.com/post/45768546804/diamonds-are-bullshit

​

>Scarcity happens in socialist countries FAR more often. For one reason. Price controls.

Haha, ok buddy. You're just swinging in the dark now. You're going to need to start defining your terms.

1. How are you defining scarcity in "socialist countries"? What measures or quantification of scarcity are you applying to your argument? Money is no longer an adequate measure of wealth in socialist countries, what other parameters are you considering? Cubans, for example, have less money than any other Caribbean nation, but better education, health care, and infrastructure than any of those as well.
   
2. How are you defining "socialist" countries? There's actually a world of difference between say Cuba and the USSR for example but neither of them follow a traditional or Marxist interpretation of socialism. Which one are you going by? Furthermore, how does your idea of socialism reflect on the economy beyond "workers" having the means of production or unions (apparently existing)?
   
   >Socialists love price controls. Free college! Free healthcare! Free this. Free that.
   
   Ok, once again, give me examples cause this is literally all hot air. You seem to wander between democratic socialism and authoritarian socialism indiscriminately and without pretext.
   
   >Many socialist countries collapse because they solved problems of things being too expensive by simply making them not expensive anymore. Then of course, demand was artificially propped up by cheap goods and that resource became scarce and eventually the whole thing fell apart. It's disastrous when that resource is actually a necessity.
   
   Which ones? Actually, it doesn't really matter. Pretty much every example you're going to try and cite fell for the same reason: an inability to be better at capitalism than capitalists. The USSR fell to the economic demands created by (surprise) an artificial scarcity of nuclear arsenals and flooding the demand by threat of not being able to defend soviet sovereignty. Cuba and Venezuela have been economically strangled by removing the possibility of exchange with other Latin American nations by the USA. The book below is a good background on the unclassified information concerning the relationship between Cuba and America and how the latter, through almost a century of financial and military intervention throughout the continent, forced every nation to refuse any form of economic exchange or assistance.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Back-Channel-Cuba-Negotiations-Washington/dp/1469626608/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541552580&sr=8-1&keywords=backchannel+to+cuba
   
   Now, before you say "aha! if capitalism beat socialism, it's the superior economic form!" Just because one economic form is more is more suited to beating another doesn't necessarily mean it's better for us. You've already committed enough logical fallacies as is.
   
   

   If I could give you any advice, it would be to pick up a book and do some reading on subjects before you pretend to know them well.

Holy Crap! Thank you. I was aware of much of what you wrote, but there was soooo much more great food for thought.

So here's my goal, to better understand. I do get that the La Florida/Floridita Bar is a tourist trap, as are many of the Art Deco / bar and building locations in the city. That's what I'm researching and wanted first hand knowledge of. But beyond that I also want to experience the many wonderful bars and experiences that may be of that era, but not so well known either. I'll be in Cuba for a full week, so my goal is to make it as far as Trinidad and document the experiences I have. I plan on staying in a Casa Particular (Thank you for the wonderful websites etc) and can't wait for the experience. I want to approach the entire country, tourist trap or not in a historical aspect, and while there are many touristy areas, the history behind them is quite amazing. As an example, Constante Ribilagua (owner of the La Florida bar back in it's hey day ) is a bit of an icon for me and that sort of thing is what I am dying to experience.

I didn't realize Sloppy Joe's had been rennovated. This gives me an idea for the presentation for the lecture as I have photos from 2007 when it was hollowed out for rennovation (probably for the new bar). I welcome any other destinations you may have experienced. And THANK YOU for the recommendations for the travel books, I was inundated by them on amazon and wasn't sure where to go with that. I also picked up "Havana Before Castro" as sort of an historical guide for consideration.

https://www.amazon.com/Havana-Before-Castro-Tropical-Playground/dp/1423603672/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475105181&sr=1-1&keywords=havana+before+castro

Hey, I'm in the same shoes as you! My family is also from Michoacan, and I was looking for resources online concerning learning Purepecha, but there aren't many, and some that are there are pretty stale.

I was asking my family, and my sister in Mexico told me of this app called Vamos a aprender Purepucha. It's on the google play store, I don;t know about about App store. But the app is pretty neat, it teaches Purepucha differently than say Duolingo. Rather than tests or quizzes, the app has this artsy style showing around a drawn Purepecha community, and you go around engaging with it. I haven't gone so far into the app, but starting off its great. The application isn't in English, only in Spanish for translation. In my case, Spanish is my second language and as long you can read Spanish passingly it'll be fine.

As for learning history, there's a lot of books..... in Spanish. Yeah I know, but on the bright side, now we're exercising two languages at once. I don't know what in history you want, be culture or political history, but there's a hefty about online too. There's this book about the former Purepucha capital Tzintzuntzán. And there this giving some summations on Purepecha history. I'm also beginning this too, so I don't have much to show now, but there's a lot more we haven't found yet. Keep on.

1. Yes, light skinned people can serve their ancestors, the Lwa, and Bondye. I'm a light-skinned, Aryan-looking houngan. The Lwa call people to their service for their own reasons. There's nothing wrong with wanting to know more. Asking questions is how we learn.
   
   
2. Getting solid, trustworthy information on Vodou can be hard, especially with all the scams out there. I'm going to recommend three books for you, but I'm also going to note that real learning happens by attending ceremonies. Even if you have to travel to do so. I'll tell you a little about each book as well.
   
   Mama Lola, by Karen McCarthy Brown. The author was an academic who studied Vodou in Brooklyn and became very close with the titular mambo. The book is both academic and accessible, observational and multigenerational narrative.
   
   Haitian Vodou by Mambo Chita Tann. Written by a practicing mambo this is an excellent place to start. The book covers much of the history of Haiti rather than focusing strictly on the lwa and their immediate appeal (although it covers them too). It contextualizes both the culture and practice of Vodou within Haitian society and history.
   
   Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, by Maya Deren. Deren travelled to Haiti in the mid 20th century to study and film Haitian dance. Which, of course, brought her to Vodou ceremonies. Deren later initiated. While it's an older book, Deren's perspective as an artist rather than an academic is original, and interesting.
   
   Everything else aside, remember that various correspondences and so on vary from house to house and lineage to lineage. Don't let what's in print interfere with any guidance you get if you choose to join a house. When it comes to books vs your house it's like Vegas. The house always wins!
   
   Good luck if you choose to pursue this. Learn what you can and take your time.

Fantastic. I love audiobooks while running. I listened to a good part of Stephen King's 11/22/63 during an ultra last year which was great, and I've been listening to them during training runs for a few years now.

My favorites to listen to while running:
Scott Jurek's Eat and Run. It is kind of fun to listen to a runner talk about running while you are running.

AWOL on the Appalachain Trail. Really great book about a journalist's experience in thru-hiking the AT.

Robert Kurson's Pirate Hunters really surprised me. Nonfiction book about treasure/wreck diving. I was mildly interested the topic before I started listening to the book but now it is a favorite subject of mine.

The Martian. I can't say enough about the audiobook - the story is great and the audiobook makes the experience so much greater.

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler, of course. Great, atomospheric noir. One of the first audiobooks I ever purchased. Engaging and makes you forget the miles.

I'd definitely recommend Aviva Chomsky's A History of the Cuban Revolution for a good, brief introduction to and analysis of the history of the revolution. It's a quick, easy read and very good.

I recently read Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance 1959-1971 by Lillian Guerra, and I would very highly recommend it. It's not a communist take on things, but still incredibly interesting and great analysis of the first decade after the revolution.

I actually just spent the summer in Cuba, so I can give you some first hand experience with talking to people about immigration.

First, the people who fled Cuba in the 60s were largely upper class whites who were truly enemies of the revolution. These were the original "gusanos", or worms. Most Cubans living on the island don't seem to have much sympathy with them.

But after that it gets a bit more complicated. Beginning in the 90s with the collapse of the Soviet Union/socialist bloc (and thus of Cuba's most important partner -- they lost something like 80% of their exports essentially overnight) and the advent of the so called "Special Period", things got really, really fucking hard in Cuba. There was nothing to eat, no money, no oil, no hope. As is well known in the US, lots of Cubans did everything they could to get to Miami, especially on rafts. It is hard for me, even as a communist and a supporter (to an extent) of the Cuban government, to blame them at all for their decision. Hearing people's stories about their struggle in the 90s is... harrowing. Check out the documentary Balseros for a take on the rafters.

Nowadays, things are much better than in the 90s, largely thanks to Chavez/Venezuela. But plenty of Cubans still want to go to the US. It's hard when you're living in a relatively poor country next door to Empire to not dream of living inside it.

Of course, there have also been people over the years who have fled Cuba for "political" reasons, including many artists and intellectuals. I sympathize with them to some extent -- the political, artistic, cultural, etc repression, while understandable and perhaps necessary to some extent (though that's debatable), must have been (and to a lesser extent still is) very difficult to live under.

I think that the biggest thing I learned in Cuba was to just try to be more nuanced in my understanding of the situation. I still fully support the revolution, and think that overall the revolutionary government has done an admirable job that we have much to learn from. But they messed up in a big way on a lot of things, and it certainly isn't a cakewalk to live in Cuba right now. More than anything else I think Cuba needs a resurgence of the Left worldwide -- that's the only way for the country to recover enough economically to make some necessary political changes without sacrificing socialism.

See, do, and eat.

I'm assuming you're going for the tourist version. Stay in old Havana, but if you can, go don't stay at a hotel, stay at a casa particular. PM me and I can refer you to two trusted ones.

Walk the malecon, that's the seaside. Do the walk from old Havana to Vedado, it's a nice neighborhood up on the west end of the city. It's about a one-hour walk, but totally cool to see the seaside life. I recommend you do this at night as well, different life. Thursday nights is queer night on the malecon. If you're there on a weekend, go to Las Vegas, that's a queer club near old Havana. Really bizarre and awesome drag show late at night.

Food is just not great in Havana. You have to understand that with the embargo, a lot of spices were not imported, so most food is bad pork, rice and beans. Hope you're not a vegetarian. I recommend two restaurants, Castas y Tal, a paladar in Vedado neighborhood. Also, there's a really good restaurant near Hotel Presidente and the Casa de las Americas. PM me for directions. The former is owned by a cool group of gay dudes.

If you're there for architecture, I got a whole lot longer of a list.

Go to Copelia for ice cream, it's near where they filmed Fresa y Chocolate. There's a place on the eastern side of the city where the old dock warehouses are now artisanal tchotchkes. Can't miss out on the museum of the revolution.

I suggest you look at this book, to get a good take on how queerness operates on the island After Love.

There's a list of movies that you should watch to sorta prepare you for a good take on why things are the way they are. Yo Soy Cuba as well as Before Night Falls Julian Schnabel is a dick, but whatever.

Can you be more specific about your interests? I can tell you A LOT about the art scene if that's your taste.

I haven't read any of these, but a look at a university library catalogue shows me these titles, some look pretty interesting!

• The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball 'the definitive history of baseball in Cuba'
  
• Baseball Without Borders: The International Pastime An academic work has a section on baseball in Cuba, along with sections on Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Korea, China, etc. Used copies for only 95¢!
  
• The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream How Orlando El Duque Hernandez escaped Cuba and went to play for the Yankees.
  
• Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into the Heart of Cuban Sports Looks like this is a more contemporary approach?
  
• Smoke: The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball more of a history book, appears to have lots of photos. No ebook.

Sup homie,

Now firstly before I get into the actual books I am going to recommend Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast - He's effectively doing audiobooks via podcast these days (I'm actually re-listening to "Prophets of Doom" at the moment, it's about 4 hours 30 minutes of excellent storytelling of historical events) - Really, really recommend that. (you can also buy all the old episodes).


Now onto the History Nonfiction books themselves:



Michael Pollan - The Botany of Desire - While somewhat more of an analysis of how plants have become and evolved according to human cultivation the book does an excellent job of historically breaking down each major event and process involved.



John H. Mayer - Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign - Title says it all. Pirates. Open seas. History. Strong recommend.



Alfred Lansing - Endurance - Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - If you love an amazing story of stoicism, heroism, and amazing leadership then anything about Shackleton should be on your list. This epic tale follows Sir Ernest Shackleton's voyage on the Endurance with the aim to cross the Antarctic - which failed. What happened next throughout the following months is an monument to the incredible spirit of a man, his crew, and the desire to get everyone home.

If you need more try looking into the below:

Niall Ferguson - The War of the World

William L. Shirer The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich A History of Nazi Germany

Andrew Roberts - The Storm of War

Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs, and Steel

Marcus Aurelius - Meditations

Other posters have touched on the heart of it, but here is a little elaboration if you want to know more:

The only recorded instance of pirates burying treasure anywhere is when Captain William Kidd buried a portion of his ship's cargo on Long Island before meeting with Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont and Governor of New York. It bears mentioning that he didn't bury this treasure specifically to dig it up later, but because he was facing charges of murder and piracy and his goods were likely to be seized.

He buried the treasure to use as a bargaining chip with Bellomont, hoping it would give him leverage and help him avoid going to trial (Bellomont was one of his benefactors and had even financed a previous voyage). This tactic failed completely, and Kidd's treasure was simply dug up. There are rumors that portions of it remain buried, but this is almost certainly nonsense.

I'd also like to point out that Kidd, in terms of what we usually refer to as 'pirates', hardly qualifies at all. He was well known and respected among the colonial nobility, went to sea with the funds and blessings of many high-ranking people, and happened to end up on the wrong end of a political scandal and with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. His trial was rushed, and he may have even had a legitimate letter of marque, making him a privateer, not a pirate.

Robert Louis Stevenson used Kidd (or rather, the fictionalized Kidd-as-pirate that had persisted to the late 19th century) as a prototype for Long John Silver, and embellished the part about burying his treasure. Treasure Island is really the root of so many of the pirate icons we know and love (peg legs, parrots, buried treasure, etc.).

If you're interested in learning more, I recommend you take a look at Captain Kidd and the War Against the Pirates, The Pirate Hunter, and Under the Black Flag.

Edit: It's actually Gardiner's Island, as one of the above posters mentioned, which is near Long Island, but is separate.

I would highly recommend a book by Maya Deren called Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. Deren was, among other things, an experimental filmmaker, and she spent many years in Haiti living among the people there, observing and engaging in various voudoun rituals and dances.

It is by no means a comprehensive study of the religion, but Deren offers a unique perspective on the subject because she is an artist. Rather than the withdrawn aloofness that plagues so much academic and anthropological writing, Deren actually participates in the dances and rituals. So she is able to give a firsthand, experiential-based account of the religion, not just a vague interpretation.

She originally went to Haiti with the intent of studying the dance forms of the ritual. It is written in a more lyrical and poetic style, and some of the things she discusses intersect a lot with aesthetics, philosophy, and metaphysical issues. But for anyone interested in voudoun religion, this is considered a seminal work.

This is her unfinished film of the same name on YouTube, which documents her time spent in Haiti, and the dances they performed. It will be a nice addition should you decide to read the book. Enjoy! Deren was a fascinating woman. :)

Edit: grammar

https://www.amazon.com/Sweetness-Power-Place-Modern-History/dp/0140092331

This was a great read for me about history of sugar (and capitalism). And it has a whole great section about popularization of tea in England. I see a potential in a trading or tycoon game about influencing Europe with crops from exotic lands in the 18th century. Coffee, Tea, Cocoa. It could work well, we should brainstorm about it :)

https://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X is one of the best nonfiction book on pirates.

If you want a sword & sorcery, fantasy version of pirates, Red Seas Under Red Skies is a great read. If you want just piratey fiction, Captain Blood is one of the best pirate books. It's older, but still in print. I love that thing!

>Thank you for that article, it did clarify your argument about cultural communities in America immensely.

I recommend picking up a copy of American Nations for yourself; it's quite illuminating. Our Patchwork Nation (book & website) and The Nine Nations of North America are also worth a look, but they are a bit ahistorical and place too much emphasis on economics rather than culture.

> I have to ask what the intentions are behind rejecting science...

With "science" lets be specific, as people (conservative or otherwise) tend to accept and promote scientific findings which confirm their biases. When people complain about conservative opposition to "science" they typically mean the following:

Rejection of Evolution

This position is assumed by many Evangelical Christians who embrace Biblical Litteralism. It is an article of their faith that the Bible, which states humanity was created in it's current form, is the true and inerrant word of God.

I think it's noteworthy that this issue has become more controversial, not less, over time; i.e. there are more people in America today rejecting evolution than there were in the 80s and 90s. I believe that for many Evangelicals rejecting evolution has become a necessary affirmation of their faith as part of the broader fight against Liberal cultural imperialism, which tends to be secular.

Rejection of Climate Change

The environmental movement in America is largely based in the liberal cultures of the Left Coast and Yankeedom (digression: I hate that name and tend to think of Woodard's "Yankeedom" as 'Greater New England'). In fact, the Left Coast was dubbed "Ecotopia" in The Nine Nations of North America, because of the importance of the environment to that culture.

This means that the primary proponents of climate science are the cultural enemies of America's Conservative cultures. By itself that would make the science suspect to those cultures.

Addressing the issues raised by climate change will require even more use of the federal government to enforce a cultural value of the aforementioned liberal cultures (specifically, environmentalism). It should come as no surprise that Conservatives increasingly suspect it's simply all propaganda meant to justify ever more cultural imperialism by the left.

Rejection of "Social Science"

On this front I have a lot of agreement with Conservatives. Much of "Social Science" seems, at best, to be a pseudo-science, heavily influenced by the biases and assumptions of its practitioners. Much of it also emerges from Universities based in liberal cultural regions, which explains why conservatives reject it.

Put simply, when it comes to the conservative "rejection" of science, what they are really rejecting is the arguments of Liberal Cultures, even when those arguments are right. The sad truth is, it doesn't matter if you've got the facts on your side, when the people you need to persuade can't trust you.

Scenario: two people come to you, asking you to choose a side in their argument. One is a trusted community leader or the representative of an industry that provides something you value and employs thousands of people. The other is someone who holds your beliefs in contempt and who promotes values you find offensive. Who would you believe?

Rejection of Healthcare

The great irony of the current health care debate is that the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) was based off a plan from the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank). So why are Conservatives so adamant in rejecting it?

Again, it's a matter of trust. All they can see is an effort to bring healthcare under the control of the federal government, and thus under the control of the liberal cultures.

If a conservative President had proposed the plan they would have supported it. Instead they are opposing it, because they don't trust the intentions of the people pushing it.

Rejection of Education

I actually went to the trouble to look up the Common Core standards which conservatives are up in arms about. Frankly, I found them so vague and innocuous that I suspect they were only passed as a "feel good" measure to make it look like the administration was taking education seriously.

Nothing in them innately challenges conservative cultural values, so again I believe it's simply a matter of trust. It looks to them like Liberals using the federal government to indoctrinate their children, so they are fighting it tooth and nail.

>there are instances in which the conflicting values of a larger nation must be resolved

Very true, but unless you are going to use force, such resolutions require compromise and compromise requires trust. The cultural imperialism of America's liberal cultures, their open contempt for conservative values and their willingness to use the federal government to enforce their values on conservative communities, has destroyed any hope of establishing such trust.

>The fight for Civil Rights was an extremely controversial movement at the time, and many communities rejected it as progressive imperialism, which it certainly was. It was also the minority demanding change from the majority. If you look at it like that, making many people change for few might seem unfair but that is an extremely limited way of seeing. First of all, what exactly did the majority have to give up?

What the majority had to lose, was exactly what it did lose: the national consensus. In the wake of the Great Depression the Democratic party forged a political consensus between Americas various cultures, which allowed the nation to progress economically and stand united in the face of foreign threats.

That consensus, which prevailed into the early 1960s, saw America rise to the status of a global super power, entailed the strongest sustained economic expansion in our nation's history (before and since), and vastly expanded the middle class. That consensus was based on a social contract which entailed the liberal cultures ignoring the racist policies of the south.

Look at where we are today: declining global influence, rising economic inequality, and extreme political dysfunction. We have arrived at this situation precisely because the national consensus was sacrificed on the altar of liberal cultural imperialism.

That being said, it wasn't the passage of the Civil Rights Act which dealt the fatal blow. That act was, in many ways, simply an evolution of the national consensus. It was the product of a democratic process; passed by an elected congress and signed into law by an elected president.

The legalization of abortion, deregulation of contraception, and abolition of school prayer, were qualitatively different. They were forced on the nation by un-elected judges. These decisions were not the product of a national search for consensus and they galvanized the formation of the religious right, without which the Republican party would not have an effective electoral coalition.


___
> It is infinitely less expensive to fund contraceptive services than to pay for pregnancy and childbirth

This is actually a very short sighted view. Since the wide spread adoption of contraception ,western nations have seen a marked demographic decline. If it weren't for immigration the U.S. population would be declining. Nations with aging and shrinking populations face stagnant or negative economic growth (see Japan).

Unfortunately, importing relatively uneducated workers from the third world to replace highly educated and productive first world workers who refuse to reproduce, is not a viable long term solution. Western nations might soon have to consider banning contraception in order to ensure their long term viability.

>insurance companies already "subsidize" men's sex lives, by covering erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra. That insurance companies were already covering those drugs was part of the reason why the Employment Equal Opportunity Commission ruled in 2000 that insurance companies providing prescription coverage could not exempt birth control.

That's a specious comparison. Erectile dysfunction is a medical problem requiring treatment. Fertility is not a disease, it is in fact a sign of health in premenopausal women. Comparing one to the other is like comparing reconstructive surgery with purely cosmetic surgery.

It's worth noting that the EEOC is an appointed body, not an elected one. Their rulings are not the product of a national debate in search of a consensus.

>Actually all the Planned Parenthoods in my area provide a big bag of free condoms to any person who asks for them.

Bully for them, but are they being required to by federal law? It's fine for an institution to promote your values in your culture. It's not alright for the federal government to coerce institutions in other cultures to enforce values which conflict with their own.

>>Men pay 70% of the taxes in this country

>And I'm gonna need sauce on this please.

Good catch. This figure is repeated often in the manosphere, so I cited it without confirmation. I think it emerged from this British report, but I can't find comparable numbers for the U.S. Given the disparity between male and female income in the U.S. it's likely men are paying more in taxes than women, but I can't find any hard numbers.

For the most part pirates couldn't take advantage of boat yards and the like. They would regularly careen ships (anchor them in shallow water and wait for the tide to go out) so they could defoul the bottoms and re coat them. While most pirate ships would have employed a carpenter for a lot of maintenance such as regular careening the carpenter would be supervising and using the work of the crew. Careening would have taken place more often on a pirate vessel since speed was soo important to them. The carpenter may have had some base pay but usually would have been paid in shares (a portion of the loot). Materials, sails, extra masts, etc would have been stolen off other ships. Since a pirate ship would normally have a lot more crew than a merchant vessel labor was in no short supply. So it probably wouldn't cost a pirate much if anything in actual $$$ but there would have been a huge investment in time/labor. I've been reading a great book on it, Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly https://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465908075&sr=8-1&keywords=Under+the+Black+Flag

Having said that there were shares set aside for ship maintenance. A pirate captain didn't really own his pirate ship the whole crew did, and when not in battle everything was voted on, including who the captain was, so any cost of maintenance that might have occurred would have been a distributed cost.

If you are interested in true pirate history, Under the Black Flag is a splendid book.

It was more complicated than that, you're correct. But economic questions weren't irrelevant. Rather than talk out of school (my specialization), I thought I should point you at titles that may help and which I don't have to hand because I'm not in my office:

I don't know if this is too long in the tooth now, but Immerman's The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention may have some insights. Bear in mind it's 1983 so the situation became substantially more complicated in the following 7-10 years. But this may tell you a lot about that early period. Walter LaFeber's Inevitable Revolutions (1993) may also be worth a perusal.

But for more recent studies of US policy relative to the Guatemalan coup and its aftermath, I think Bitter Fruit (new edition, 2005) may still be at the top of the heap. Nick Cullather assembled the official CIA history of the 1950s coup in 1999, but I have never laid eyes on that book. I've read bits of Immerman and all of LaFeber, but a long time ago. Hopefully this will give you someplace to start!

You might be interested in reading Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates. I haven't gotten very far into it myself, but I've enjoyed the bit that I have read.

I think it was this NPR review that originally introduced me to the book.

Personally, I suggest A History of the Cuban Revolution. I bought this not too long ago and it looks wonderful. Also, it's author is the daughter of Noam Chomsky, whom I have quarrels with, but nevertheless is a wonderful author.

It's funny, the US took Puerto Rico by force, spent a good part of the 20th century trying to extinguish any attempts at independence (I recommend reading http://www.amazon.com/War-Against-All-Puerto-Ricans/dp/1568585012) , and now is being so nitpicky about making us a state. I'd say they had us exactly where they wanted us.

Under the Black Flag! Nonfiction, incredibly interesting, and a great read that's hard to put down.

also ..
http://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Ships-War-1400-1860/dp/0831776560/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405749703&sr=8-1&keywords=sailing+ships+of+war+1400-1860

http://www.amazon.com/Harbors-High-Seas-Edition-Aubrey-Maturin/dp/0805066144/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405749730&sr=8-2&keywords=patrick+o%27brian+reference

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405749757&sr=8-1&keywords=under+the+black+flag

all three good places to start. The second one is fantastic to have open and waiting while reading the O'Brian Books

I highly encourage anyone who sees this to read "The Nine Nations of North America" by Joel Garreau. Its a bit dated now (35 years old), but its a fascinating look at the differences that have shaped our regional cultures.

A more modern take on this would be "American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America" by Colin Woodard. I haven't actually read this one yet, but it seems to be the progression of the work that Garreau laid out.

Which books have you already read and found valuable?

My recommendations:

"Cuban Revelations: Behind the Scenes in Havana" by Marc Frank


"Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know" by Julia E. Sweig


This one is kind of dry and academic, but I found the part about agricultural policy particularly illuminating: "Cuban Economic and Social Development: Policy Reforms and Challenges in the 21st Century".

I also have "The Revolution Under Raul Castro: A Contemporary Cuba Reader" and "Back Channel To Havana: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana" but haven't started them yet. They look promising.

Well, I think you need to understand the potential bias those Cubans may have. IIRC most of those Cubans are comparatively wealthy families that left after the Batista regime was overthrown and they nationalized their businesses. In other words, many left before actually really experiencing living in the socialistic Cuba. For a down to earth analysis of how everyday Cubans live, I'd strongly recommend Inside El Barrio.

For those that don't know. Puerto Rico is a huge economic scam that the US government has been per enacting for the benefit of a hand full of billionaires. This scam also accounts for 5% of the US economy. We control the way they import and export, thus controlling their entire economy and preventing them from forming their own. This scam has led to the bull shit loans they were given with the future end goal of them defaulting in their loans and the all their assets being sold off to private interest. Their schools, infrastructure, prisons, naturals resources, utilities, you name it will eventually be given to their debtors and Puerto Rico will become a free market nightmare. Meanwhile whenever they attempt to get help from the government (fed loans or grants, or bankruptcy protection) congress votes it down because that hand full of families still needs to get their pay day.

https://www.amazon.com/War-Against-All-Puerto-Ricans/dp/1568585012/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435763235&sr=1-1&keywords=nelson+denis&pebp=1435763237228&perid=0Y6VG7Q35DMERJN7WZ2C

The demographic transition in Havana in the years following the ouster of Batista resulted in many of the homes of the wealthy being occupied by the families of those who were servants; the Revolution legalized those former servants' ownership as the years progressed. A fascinating and accessible book on the Urban development of Cuba is Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.'s "Inside el Barrio"

i think cordingly is the top scholar in the area, and his book under the black flag is a great read.

Well, we do know that Anne Bonney wasn't hanged. At least, no record shows she was, and there are records showing she was pardoned (along with Mary Read) for being being pregnant.

Mary ended up dying from infections while imprisoned. And Anne disappears from the records. It's presumed she was whisked away by her father (a lawyer/merchant) back to Ireland or the American Colonies.

I am happy we have a trailer with more of her in; she is an impressive historical figure considering the time's bias against women (though she was from a somewhat well to do stock). And she supports the notion that pirates were writing their own codes against ruling monarchies of the time.

Interestingly enough, both Anne and Mary had major reasons in their development from even a young age to start dressing like men and functioning as them. Anne was a bastard daughter and her father raised her in secret as a young boy training to be a lawyer. Mary was raised poorly, and could get work passing as a sailor (male only at the time).

This cross-dressing is not unheard of. Lafayette was so eager to fight in the American Revolution he dressed and acted as a woman to cross the Atlantic in order to fight (something French soldiers from France were not permitted to do).

Somethings to consider for our modern age biases.

Most of my knowledge on this is from "Under the Black Flag" which I have been reading in excitement for this game.

There's a pretty good book about this, Sweetness and Power. Not UK-specific, but it looks at the intertwining of sugar and politics through history in a comprehensive way.

Well, ok seems there was a misunderstanding between the historian and me. He was simply quoting it from a secondary source.

Finally, he was not sure where we would be able to find a copy of it but in the meantime, google scholars has more reliable sources than elsewhere.

Also, I didn't have the time to read it so I'm not sure how much it covers Black Beard but one book that was highly recommended for pirates is Under the black flag by David Cordingly

Hope this helps and sorry that I couldn't provide with more info.

The graphic novels

Set to Sea by drew weing

Baggywrinkles by lucy bellwood

Crogan's Vengeance by Chris Schweizer

Literature

Master and Commander by Patrick O' Brian (based on historical events)

Two years before the Mast by Henrey Dana (Embellished but trueish)

The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex by Owen Chase (True Story)

Endurance by Alfred Lansing (True Story)

The United States Navy Blue Jackets Manual by Thomas J. Cutler (useful for facts and lingo as it's made for teaching seamen the basics)

Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly (Historical info on Pirates)

Movies

Master and Commander (acurat for film)

Yellowbeard (comedy)

Cutthroat Island (Actiony)

Captains Courageous (Just a Film Classic)

Captain Blood (Buckle Swashing)

All links are to the Amazon.com Listings, but most of this should be available via resale or library for less.

Hope this helps.

I read
"Under the Black Flag" which is nonfiction but was very enjoyable.
[linky] (http://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342402253&sr=8-1&keywords=under+the+black+flag)

There's a great book that goes into detail about this concept, although it's a bit dated by now. It's called the Nine Nations of North America.

You say that so confidently?...

I suggest some of these books:

Richard Gott: Cuba- a new history

Aviva Chomsky: A History of the Cuban Revolution

Marifeli Perez-Stable - The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy, 2nd Edition

Eduardo Galeano: Open Veins of Latin America

Lars Schoultz: That Infernal Little Cuban Republic: The United States and the Cuban Revolution

Defoe

Woodard

Woodard

I'm guessing that these are the books they're using for history reference mainly.

Edit: Cordingly -Also a good resource book.

voted for Bernie, then Jill Stein, listen to alex, democracy now, tyt, a bunch of youtube channels, no to fox news. I actually spent a lot of hours searching WikiLeaks myself. I only pay for internet. It is hard to get reliable info from anywhere these days. everyone is selling something.

but I know this is how your professors present your other to you.

I actually have an advanced degree but can tell when someone is speaking from emotion and indoctrination rather than evidence, as you just did with your ad hominem.

this book has evidence that 3 bankers got the US involved in WWI. It's a great book: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520246713

check out this book. there are many like it for other countries that were victims to US involvement: https://www.amazon.com/CIA-Guatemala-Foreign-Policy-Intervention/dp/0292710836

just continue down this rabbit hole. review the sources yourself. they're all there.

Life in Debt is a good documentary about how the IMF destroys countries.

Watch Vice. Occasionally they cover this sort of thing.

Like this one?

They've got it for cheap on Amazon if you don't mind second-hand buying, hardcover too!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X

This book, The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention, is actually good at painting a balanced portrait of this. In addition to telling the story of the two brothers and United Fruit Company, it provides a lot of context of the general Cold War anti-Soviet ambience, and the foreign policy mileu of the era. So much so that you switch around the title and subtitle so it was "The Foreign Policy of Intervention: The CIA in Guatemala" and it would still have been a suitable title for the book.

Under The Black Flag (The link is to the Amazon page)

This is a solid one

https://www.amazon.com/dp/081297722X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_CodyCbYNC7SBD

Which reminds me, I keep meaning to buy this book.

> Under the Black Flag

Its on Amazon UK.

What about Sidney W. Mintz's Sweetness and Power? Published in 1986, it's 274 pages.

Here's a decent book regarding the economic/political/sociological "cultures" of North America. Also seen in this map on /r/imaginarymaps

It’s about this:

https://www.amazon.com/Sweetness-Power-Place-Modern-History/dp/0140092331/ref=nodl_

Yeah, real back channels are official and well-documented. Look no further than the Obama-Cuba negotiations, which have been reported to death and are even the subject of books. You don't try to hide them from your own fucking intelligence agencies.

>the conquistador and the padres saw this region[American Southwest] whole, without imaginary line between creating divisions between the state state of Sonora and the state of Arizona. The desert was the same, the cactuses were the same. And the descendants of the conquistadors are still here. Hispanics in New Mexico still refer to themselves as Spanish, rather than Mexican-Americans, partially out of snobbery, but also out of a sense of historical accuracy. in Santa Fe, because of intermarriage, the lineage is throughly European. Mexican Americans, by contrast, claim a far more indigenous North American ancestry.

Page 216 The Nine Nations of North America

Well I went looking for it online and I stumbled on the show!!! I'm sorry I had the title wrong. It's called under the Black flag. https://www.amazon.com/Under-Black-Flag-Romance-Reality/dp/081297722X

A lot of those stories sound bland because they were written by British Naval officers who tended to keep things short and to the point. A case in point being captain Bartholomew Roberts (if I remember it's been a while since I read about this) he was the most prolific pirate of all times in terms of ships captured, the reason for this being that he was known to be a harsh captain and ran his ship like a military vessel. The British finally caught up to him off the west coast in Africa and were finally able to take him down. What the reports fail to make a mention of was that they caught them in the middle of an intense storm with waterspouts apparently and that the only reason they were able to take him down was because most of his crew was still drunk from the night before since they raided a town. The actual history from the golden age of piracy is full of stories like this. Just gotta find the books that go into them a bit more.

This is the book a read years ago that has a ton of the stories you are looking for!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/081297722X/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_3/147-4147247-5238661?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NE5GTF1HX6Z2548HD1D4

There are reasons why many (well relatively few) of us will never support statehood. I understand it is better than the current status, but I have no desire to secure a permanent subordinate relationship which my country has only been out of for a few months since 1493 (Spain granted some autonomy in 1898 but then US took over).

A few examples

I think "Ley Jones", FBI's carpetas, which are extremely well documented in Nelson Dennis' War Against All Puerto Ricans, and the continued incarceration of Oscar Lopez Rivera are additional atrocities that were more subtle.

The killing of Filiberto Ojeda Rios is arguably another, but I am biased with this one. Regardless, the way he was killed was objectively inhumane (shot him at his house after he didn't resist then stood outside, waiting hours for him to bleed out and die).

Due to all of these things as well as insular persecution (because yes, some Puerto Ricans are also guilty) I disagree with the notion that there can ever be a fully democratic decision regarding the territorial status. Our collective mindset has been severely tainted. PNP (statehood) and PPD (ELA/colony) parties have been the only ones in power. Both of them have time and time again to be corrupt as fuck and mostly used the territorial debate as something that differentiates them but they're mostly exactly the same. This is anecdotal, but the more educated someone is the higher the probability they support independence.

Hopefully the independent (as it is used in US, not in relation to territory) candidates that are running for this term will get some influence. If it was up to me, I'd give PIP (independence as in territorial status) a shot, but the island is filled with melons (green on the outside as in PIP but red inside as in PPD mostly due to fears that no one else will vote PIP).

Would write some more but I've final exams to take care of. Just a final note, the only thing Congress has done so far is propose a Fiscal Control Board which is so colonial that even the current PPD governor, who will bend his ass over for anything, is against it. I also expect we will soon have a humanitarian crisis (well IMO we already do but some disagree) due to high incidences of Zika virus while 1 doctor is leaving the island per day

Thank you reddit for at least discussing this. I am doing my undergraduate here in the mainland and most people don't even know where the island is and much less that I'm not an "international student". To those that do know, they think the island is a tropical paradise which is rich and everyone sips Bacardi on a golf cart while jacking off to mamasitas. Sadly even the most liberal Sanders supporters mostly shrug or don't care when I explain what is (and has been, for decades) actually going on.