Book Reviews: The Latest In Peeriblah and Edi-isms

If you're one of those increasingly rare Diplomats who reads real books, here are two you might want to pick up and plow through during the weekend --- assuming, of course, you aren't going to a tournament! Better yet, read them before you go to a Con and try practicing what you learn, at the Con. It may not help you win, but you'll have a lot more fun losing!

If you've read and enjoyed Henry Kissinger's Diplomacy, you'll enjoy Klaus Larres latest, Churchill's Cold War: The Power Of Personal Diplomacy. If you haven't read Kissinger's book, but you did see the recent HBO movie about Churchill and his beloved Clementine and you enjoyed that, skip Larres' book and go to my next offering.

Klaus Larres is a German scholar. He's edited books with such titles as: Germany Since Unification: The Development Of The Berlin Republic; (which he edited in 2001) Germany Since Unification: The Domestic And External Consequences; (which he edited in 1997); Uneasy Allies: British-German Relations And European Integration Since 1945 (which he edited in 2002); Federal Republic Of Germany Since 1949: Politics, Society And Economy Before And After Unification (which he edited); and The Cold War: The Essential Reading (which he edited in 2001). All of this tells you that he's one busy editor with a lot of students with time to burn to sift through books and articles looking for goodies to add to his anthologies.

However, his latest offering, Churchill's Cold War: The Power Of Personal Diplomacy, is, according to the publisher, something he actually wrote himself! Whether a German scholar can do justice to this topic is something I will leave to you to decide for yourself.

When we strip away all the "angst" with which Larres fills his books, we are left with four words: Churchill, Power, Personal, Diplomacy. We all have our own perceptions of Churchill, a scoundrel or the greatest man of the last century! We all know of his power, based on the wealth of the greatest empire in history which he and others squandered away in two world wars. We know of his personality, so cunning that even Stalin feared him and so charming that no less an expert than the Queen of England said he was her favorite prime minister! And what of his diplomacy? Like the man himself, it was all over the charts: brilliant successes and dismal failures.

I can't think of another figure in history who has gone through so many ups and downs in public standing as has Churchill. In death, as he did in life, he stands with one leg in the 19th Century and one in the 2lst; looking down his nose at the 20th Century that, perhaps more than any other man he shaped. Scarcely a year goes by that some new author advances yet another theory to explain Churchill's greatness and his great weaknesses.

It's really quite simple, I think. Churchill's power was based on his personal diplomacy and personal diplomacy consists of two elements: personality and words! Churchill's personality would have been worthy of a Shakespearean play, although I think even The Bard would have had problems finding the right mix of history, tragedy, and comedy to do Sir Winston justice. And Churchill ranks, no doubt, right behind Shakespeare as the greatest writer in the history of the English speaking peoples. Amazingly, he even turned his oratorical weaknesses into strengths and his spoken words are just as impressive as his written words.

I ask you, Dippers one and all, when was the last time you ran into a personality at a Con or read something in the hobby literature that impressed you as much as Churchill has impressed our world with his personality and his words? Not likely!

Stanley Bing, on the other hand, is offering us a delightful little gem called What Would Machiavelli Do? Stanley Bing is the nom de zap of a businessman/writer who has written a series of popular puff pieces on various aspects of today's business world. Among the titles: Throwing The Elephant: Zen And The Art Of Managing Up, and Lloyd: What Happened, and Old Dogs Remembered, and Crazy Bosses: Spotting Them, Serving Them, Surviving Them, and Biz Words: Power Words For Fun And Profit. He keeps cranking them out and as long as businessmen have time to kill in airport waiting rooms; they'll keep buying them.

The complete title of Bing's latest is What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify The Meanness. It's pretty much a take on Machiavelli's The Prince, updated to today's world of Internet and cell phone technology.

Borders bookstore's ad said the following, "How did the rich and powerful get where they are today? Are they smarter? Better looking? Certainly not. Some are even short and ugly. The answer is simple: They're meaner. And if you want to get where they're going, you'll be meaner, too. The good news is that once you get started, it's easy. Walking in the steps of the Florentine master, Bing shows you how to be all the Machiavelli you can be." Having read that, think back to the winners of the last few Cons you've played at. Do Bing's words read true? No? They didn't to me either. The truth is not so simple. The fact is that our hobby's successful and powerful and smarter!

The choice is yours this summer. You can read Larres on Churchill, a superb example of Peeriblah (even in the translation) or you can read Bing on Machiavelli, a superb collection of Edi-isms! Either way, you're the winner.

  Larry Peery
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