David Mamet’s Book: The Secret Knowledge

I have been reading David Mamet’s new book, The Secret Knowledge.  It’s a very intellectual book.  You have to know something to understand it. When Mamet talks about his Chicago world, I understand what he means without even reading the words.

For those of you that don’t know of David Mamet, he is an American playwright. He has written some spectacular plays, and after this book I don’t think he is done yet. He could become the Ayn Rand of our time, but with a twist.

Mamet is from Hyde Park, and went to Francis Parker School.  My kids went to Parker as well.  The school has lots of famous alums, Jennifer Beals, Darryl Hannah, Jonathan Alter, and even Mark Pincus the CEO of Zynga.  Mamet has said he never met a conservative, or anyone he knew was a conservative until he was 60.  I can see why.  My family and I joke that we were diversity picks at Parker.

Parker is populated heavily by the left wing, although there is a small minority of people that are conservative.   What do you expect? The heavily urban areas of our country are heavily populated by the far left wing.  Naturally the school population would reflect the neighborhood.

Sometimes I think the school likes to try and vaccinate everyone against conservatism by having a few in there to inoculate them!  But one thing that Parker is extremely good at is teaching kids to think independently.  Kids that graduate from Parker will at least be able to think critically, and entrepreneurially.  The achilles heel is that most of them are knee jerk liberals-and have succumbed to that cult.

The book discusses logically his transformation from a left wing liberal, to a conservative.  It is based on fact, and self awareness.  He espouses many of the themes that we handle from time to time on this blog.  Mamet isn’t a shrinking violet when articulating his argument.   I have trod on the same soil earlier in my life that he is now breaking.

Mamet gives a good accounting of how America started, what it means, and why we are here.  Many reviews have focused on his absolute destruction of things like global warming.  I think if one reads the book with specific current event topics in mind, they miss the forest and focus on one tree.  This book is much much deeper than that. It is an extremely thought provoking book if read in the correct frame of mind.

Mamet doesn’t embrace Republicans and give them a pass either.  In his eyes today, they seem like the lesser of two evils!

He footnotes his statements heavily.  It reads like a term paper, as Mamet shows his sources.  He has a clear understanding of where he has been, where he is going , and how he got there.

It is a very provocative text.  It is one that should be read in History classes at a school like Parker but I doubt it will even see the light of day in the library, let alone a classroom.  But the kids have free will, and they can buy it and read it on their own.  After all, America was founded on the right of the individual over the State.

You should read it too.

Read more at Points and Figures