Two books, one theme: the modern state versus the lone operator
a paired review of a classic thriller and a monumental political biography.
I promised myself I’d sometimes pair a famous novel with a famous work of history when they’re genuinely in conversation with each other. This pairing happened almost by accident: I reread Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal because I’d been living inside Julian Jackson’s vast biography of Charles de Gaulle. And the two books—very different in ambition and tone—circle the same question:
What happens when a single, determined human being tries to out-think, out-run, out-manoeuvre, the machinery of the modern state?
Lots more at, including cognitive constraints for individuals trying to manoeuvre the state…
https://steady.page/en/cognitive-republic/posts/7cf9db58-d89a-439a-aae8-1a752558c16b