I prefer my political corruption to be fictional at this time of year, so I'm watching The Wire (for the first time, believe it or not). I just started season 5 yesterday. Looking forward to state senator Clay Davis being charged with something, but I don't know if it will come to fruition.
So I'm obsessed with FBI operations under COINTELPRO (spearheaded by J. Edgar Hoover). There are many different directions you can go under this broad category because there were SO many individuals and groups (civil rights organizations, antiwar groups, black power groups, Native Americans, student activists, antidraft protestors, conscientious objectors, etc.) targeted. Basically any group or individual Hoover found undesirable was subject to surveillance and worse. A couple of recommendations:
Documentary: 1971 (https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/1971/) about the burglary of the Media, PA FBI field office by a group of activists who then make public evidence of the FBI's spying on American citizens
Book: The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas
Chinua Achebe's novel Man of the People is an illustration of political corruption in Nigeria that's very Evelyn Waugh in telling, which is to say no one comes out looking good and the deviance is enthralling to read.
All The King’s Men is so beautiful - and there’s so much rich Louisiana corruption. Just for a good political read (and it sure as hell is long) I love Robert Caro’s biography of LBJ. You don’t have to be a fan of that nutty politician to admire his deal making abilities and to wish for a time when crossing the aisle was normal - and politics didn’t seem so personal. This has been an INSANE week. Anyone else?
I don’t have a long read rec. but will often settle in and watch All The President’s Men when I am in the mood for political fraud. I realize it has its own problems with accuracy but i love the typewriter sounds in the newsroom!
I prefer my political corruption to be fictional at this time of year, so I'm watching The Wire (for the first time, believe it or not). I just started season 5 yesterday. Looking forward to state senator Clay Davis being charged with something, but I don't know if it will come to fruition.
I prefer historical political fraud vs in the now, looking forward to ideas of what others like.
So I'm obsessed with FBI operations under COINTELPRO (spearheaded by J. Edgar Hoover). There are many different directions you can go under this broad category because there were SO many individuals and groups (civil rights organizations, antiwar groups, black power groups, Native Americans, student activists, antidraft protestors, conscientious objectors, etc.) targeted. Basically any group or individual Hoover found undesirable was subject to surveillance and worse. A couple of recommendations:
Documentary: 1971 (https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/1971/) about the burglary of the Media, PA FBI field office by a group of activists who then make public evidence of the FBI's spying on American citizens
Book: The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas
Read/Listen: NPR story from 2006, COINTELPRO and the History of Domestic Spying (https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5161811)
Chinua Achebe's novel Man of the People is an illustration of political corruption in Nigeria that's very Evelyn Waugh in telling, which is to say no one comes out looking good and the deviance is enthralling to read.
All The King’s Men is so beautiful - and there’s so much rich Louisiana corruption. Just for a good political read (and it sure as hell is long) I love Robert Caro’s biography of LBJ. You don’t have to be a fan of that nutty politician to admire his deal making abilities and to wish for a time when crossing the aisle was normal - and politics didn’t seem so personal. This has been an INSANE week. Anyone else?
Putting a pin on this, AFAIK the full on longread analysis we need is still yet to happen, but the Gough Whitlam-Queen letters saga is full of political intrigue https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/14/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-palace-letters-and-the-dismissal-of-australian-prime-miister-ough-whitlams-dism
I don’t have a long read rec. but will often settle in and watch All The President’s Men when I am in the mood for political fraud. I realize it has its own problems with accuracy but i love the typewriter sounds in the newsroom!