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The US military is one of the biggest engines driving private profits in the world. But what’s the cost to the rest of us? We talk with Norman Solomon about his new book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.
But first, we explore George Eliot’s scandalous solution to “the marriage question.” We talk with Clare Carlisle about her book, The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s Double Life.
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Key Words: Clare Carlisle, George Eliot, Norman Solomon, Militarism, US military, book excerpt, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, history
Clare Carlisle
George Eliot was a contradiction. One of Britain’s most celebrated novelists, she took a male name as a nom de plume, was in a “marriage” notably not consecrated by the state, and made oodles of money more than her de facto husband, George Henry Lewes.
Yet she was opposed to women’s suffrage, insisted on being called “Mrs. Lewes”, and, early in her career, deferred to Lewes’ opinions of what kind of a writer she should be, even when she disagreed with him. Perhaps not the feminist icon one would think — or was she?
Philosophy professor Clare Carlisle explores Eliot’s and Lewes partnership from the perspective of how it illuminates the contradictions of marriage: the push and pull between autonomy and interdependence that any such partnership entails.
But The Marriage Question also situates Eliot within the social currents and confines of her own time, providing a nuanced portrait of the great novelist.
Clare Carlisle teaches philosophy at King’s College London. She is the author of several other books, including on the philosophers Spinoza and Søren Kierkegaard. She also edited George Eliot’s translation of Spinoza’s Ethics.
The Marriage Question is out from Macmillan.
Norman Solomon
Did you know that since 9/11 happened, the U.S. has added $2 to the federal discretionary budget for militarism for every $1 added to invest in communities? Less than $2 out of every $5 in discretionary spending is available to fund such things as primary and secondary public education, housing programs, child care programs, federal disaster relief, environmental programs, and scientific research.
And talking about the environment, the US military is one of the largest, if not the largest, single contributor to the greenhouse gases that are wreaking havoc on our planet.
Yet the pro-military drumbeat is relentless from the US press and other opinion-makers.
Journalist, media critic, author and activist Norman Solomon delves into the hidden cost of the US military machine in his terrific new book, War Made Invisible.
Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. In addition to War Made Invisible, he’s the author of War Made Easy and Made Love, Got War.