Word: reader
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Schell does not leave the reader with a completely one-sided vision of progress in China. Certainly he is aware of the immense changes in the social structure there, and approves of them; but he also recognizes a tendency to bureaucratic regimentation, which he suggests was only halted by Chairman Mao's influence. Mao, he suggests, was able to avoid seeing his revolution turn into a regime simply because his personality was powerful enough to prevent it from happening; which rather leaves us wondering about events since he died, and whether they were, as Schell implies, inevitable...
...struggling to keep their heads above the filth that has become their lives, trying to rationalize the job they must do with a moral code that they have already stretched to the breaking point. For le Carre, those stories come together to create a masterpiece of entertainment. For the reader willing to think about them closely, they may in the end mean much more...
...friends to the secret police resulted in the brutal crippling of his friend. Levanter lures the clerk to a sauna, knocks him unconscious, then unflinchingly shoves a saber up his rectum. While Kosinski says he himself would not have killed the clerk, making Levanter perform that act confronts the reader with the question: at what moment should life be spared. "The act generates respect for life even though it is about violence," Kosinski maintains...
...research is impressive, but he doesn't think very hard about what he has dug up. Clark continually and annoyingly relies on quotes to supply the book's only colorful observations about Edison's personality and his image. It is Edison's words, not Clark's, that provide the reader with a sense of the danger of the inventor's headlong rush to "make it go." Clark quotes Edison when he decided to relocate his lab in New Jersey saying, "See that valley? Well, I'm going to make it more beautiful. I'm going to dot it with factories...
...even graver danger here has emerged than that of journalists simply confusing their duties when confronting intimidating speakers. Many journalists have begun to reassess their roles. This new role permits the deliberate cooperation of journalists with elites to suppress information which they believe is too controversial for the average reader to react sensibly to. The emphasis shifts from reporting the news to sifting the news. These journalists see themselves in a position to responsibly cooperate with powerful officials to makes sure the masses never learn too much about policies the public might object to, but which are, nevertheless, for their...