I was intrigued by David Mamet’s book after hearing him in conversation on Joe Rogan’s famed or perhaps infamous podcast. Mamet lives in California and had traveled to Texas where The Joe Rogan Experience is recorded.
When Rogan pointed out what a strange place California has become, describing it as “almost unrecognizable,” Mamet responded: “Well, it would be recognizable to George Orwell.” This was the jumping off for Mamet’s 3 hour long conversation with Rogan. The more Mamet shared, the more curious I became about his new book.
David Mamet is an all-around writer
David Mamet is an all-around writer. Renowned as a playwright, screenwriter, film director, and author of both fiction and non-fiction. He’s widely known for his plays including Glengarry Glen Ross, The Duck Variations, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago among others. His screenwriting credits are legendary: Heist, Hoffa, Wag the Dog, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Untouchables, and Hannibal to name, but a few.
His latest book Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch is a collection of political essays. The book is continually enlightening. It gave me the same feeling that I got listening to Mamet in dialogue on that infamous podcast show. That’s what I most desire from any writer, to feel like I’m sitting at their kitchen table.
David Mamet’s Recessional touches on a great variety of subjects
Most of this material appeared within the pages of National Review. I especially enjoy compilations of essays because every reading session takes you mentally to a different place. Well, Mamet makes a lot of fascinating connections between seemingly dissimilar themes.
The variety of subjects he explores in these essays jump around from paragraph to paragraph. The essays are very quick reading, just a few pages each. What’s enjoyable about them is how long you’ll be thinking about what he wrote.
So, as my sister asked me about the book: “what’s it about?” It would be easier perhaps to list what topics David Mamet doesn’t bring up. He covers history, music, politics, his Jewish faith, the movie business, COVID-19, Donald Trump and writing.
I was especially intrigued by how Mamet used excerpts from literature, the lyrics of American popular song, and descriptions from classic films to illustrate his ideas. He’s a person interested and well-versed in a lot of things.
Mamet wrote these essays to gain personal clarity
It’s important to note that the essays in this book were written during a turbulent time: 2020 to 2022. Watching American democracy and culture “dissolve” as he put it, Mamet asked himself the question: “What can I do?” Not finding the answer, he asked “How might I have clarity?” The essays are Mamet’s way of getting that clarity. Whether you agree or disagree with David Mamet’s positions, you’ll have plenty to ponder.
David Mamet is a fearless writer
You can be certain that he’s not the kind to soften what he believes out of fear of the various powers that be. For the times we’re in, this is worth mentioning. If there’s any most prominent idea it’s his awareness of “the virus of conformity.”
The essays in Recessional show the trending decline in American society’s diversity of thought and a rise in collectivism. Freedom of thought and expression are increasingly maligned and held with contempt. Mamet is unafraid to call the screaming down and undermining of the free-thinking citizen what it really is: cultural thuggery. As Mamet states: “Savagery appeased can only grow. Once you give in to it, it must escalate, like a fire searching for air.”
David Mamet uses the arts as a lens
I loved this book.
Why?
I’ve never witnessed an author using so many examples from the arts to explain his ideas. He uses theater, literature, and songs as a lens through which you can see the past and present of America.
No matter what your views are if you like thinking about human nature as it relates to civilization, Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch is an exceptional book worthy of your time.
My inkling is that reading these essays in years to come will be all the more interesting. Recessional is undoubtedly the most thought-provoking book I’ve read in years.
Title: Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch
Author: David Mamet
Publisher: Broadside Books (Harper Collins)
Publication date: April 5, 2022
Hardcover price: $19.79
ISBN: 978-0063158993
