Book review: The iPINIONS Journal – Commentaries on the Global Events of 2014
by
Anthony L. Hall
Not content to remind us each year in the Spring of the sometimes distressingly swift passage of time, we now have to figure out where an entire decade went to with the publication of Caribbean News Now op-ed columnist Anthony Hall’s tenth retrospective compendium of insights and observations on the major events of our times.
Hall’s latest look back — The iPINIONS Journal – Commentaries on the Global Events of 2014 — covers his usual wide range of subjects, conveniently ordered by region and topic, making it easy for the reader to refer to particular sections and items of interest.
As Hall points out in his introduction, the topics are as eclectic as ever. They include the hope of Arab Spring giving way to the terror of ISIS; the Sochi Olympics; the United States normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba; the hacking of Sony Pictures; the disappearance of Flight MH370; the Crimea as the Sudetenland of our times; the ex-communication of NBA owner Donald Sterling; the scourge of Ebola; the killing of Michael Brown; the World Cup; the outing of Bill Cosby as a serial rapist, allegedly; and in memoriams, to name a few.
The latest volume includes such geo-political topics as:
Africa and the Middle East: Uganda’s gay witch-hunt, and the US presence in Afghanistan – Out with a whimper.
The Americas and the Caribbean: Petty politics (and homophobia) bedeviling equal rights for women in The Bahamas, and Obama takes historic steps towards Cuba.
Asia: Japanese harpooned by western cultural bias and Hong Kong protesters raise spectre of Tiananmen Square 2.0.
Europe: The serial ménages à trois of French President Hollande and Putin blames America for Russia’s aggression
United States: Obama: Succeeding against all odds and Snowden’s NSA mischief continues.
Other major topics are the Globalsphere, Sports, Entertainment, Potpourri, Public Service Announcements, and In Memoriam, including of regional note Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier (Haiti) and Myles Munroe (Bahamas).
As always, Hall tackles all of these topics and many more in his latest volume with his trademark confidence, flair and humour as a regional iconoclast, notwithstanding his expressed fear that, when most people now read a 147-character tweet and think they know everything, publishing 500-word commentaries is becoming rather like building horse-drawn carriages … when most people were interested in driving Model Ts.
“As usual I hope my commentaries serve as a provocative, informative, and even entertaining antidote to the re-tweeted snark and partisan talking points that pass for social commentary these days. And I hope that, for posterity, this volume proves a reliable source for reflection on the most important (and popular) events of 2014,” Hall says.
He certainly achieves this objective and more.
Highly recommended reading.
The iPINIONS Journal – Commentaries on the Global Events of Our Times: Volume X, 670pp, is now available at Amazon (including an e-book version for just $3.99) and all other major booksellers.
* Republished courtesy of Caribbean News Now – syndicator of my weekly columns.