February 7, 2011

Why Zombies Matter

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MoJo copy editor Adam Weinstein on Daniel Drezner’s Theories of International Politics and Zombies:

Drezner’s real genius is that he’s written a stinging postmodern critique of IR theorists themselves, applying the full force of their structured reasoning to topics as diverse as Michael Jackson’s breakdancing zombies, Peter Jackson’s lesser film canon (Dead Alive, a splendid Kiwi undead gorefest), and romantic zombie comedy flicks—”rom zom coms,” as he puts it. It’s both a pedagogical text and a lampoon of pedagogy.

TIPZ is a pretty good book. As Adam says, it’s part mockery (“postmodern critique” wouldn’t have occurred to me, but maybe it’s that too) and part serious primer about the insights and weaknesses of various IR theories. If you’re looking for something to get you up to speed for cocktail parties in an hour or two, this is just the ticket. If you like lame zombie jokes, so much the better.

Which reminds me: Personally speaking, this has been a remarkably good year for books so far. Looking over at my pile o’ discarded books, I see that I’ve read eight so far and every single one of them has been pretty good. That’s just coincidence, but it’s a nice coincidence.

(Aside from TIPZ, this year’s reading material so far has been: Robert A. Heinlein, by William Patterson, Supreme Conflict, by Jan Crawford Greenburg, Invisible Hands, by Kim Phillips-Fein, Capitalizing on Crisis, by Greta Krippner, Burr, by Gore Vidal, A Terrible Splendor, by Marshall Jon Fisher, and Our Hero: Superman on Earth, by Tom De Haven. All recommended if you happen to be interested in the subject material.)

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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