Diarmaid MacCullough, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years ****

Why did an atheist read an 1100-page history of Christianity? Because it provided a different perspective on the history of Western civilization, with which it is basically co-extensive, and because I often wondered about how the various Christian denominations relate to each other: Lutherans, Baptists, Armenian Orthodox, African Methodist, Pentecostal.

The author has a sympathetic understanding of the faith without being unduly bound to it. He offers intriguing interpretations of well-known events, such as Luther's protest, and captures how history is driven equally by theology and pure chance. For instance, he suggests that the center of gravity for Christianity was poised to be Constantinople or even Bagdad but for the swift rise of Islam.

The most significant history I learned was about the very existence of Eastern "Miaphysite" Christianity. I always thought the split in 400 - 500 was two-way, between Catholic and Orthodox. I admit that my eyes glazed over during certain eras with their litany of popes, patriarchs, and princes. Inevitable in a story with the scope of this one. I was more interested in the big picture anyway. The book includes an extensive bibliography, so that I can pursue topics that captured my interest (such as the development of Pentecostalism).

Gina Arnold, Exile in Guyville (33 1/3 series) ****

This recent entry in the 33 1/3 series is inspired by Liz Phair's acclaimed but controversial 1993 album. The book addresses the context in which the album came out and the reasons that it provoked so much passion (negative and positive). The pages describing the music are the weakest part of the book.

Arnold starts by recalling the state of the music scene at the time, "in the days before MP3s, iTunes, Smartphones, YouTube, Facebook, ... and other digital technologies swept the conventional music industry aside." The only way to hear new music was to buy records or see bands live, and the only way to learn about new music was to read the critics in alternative weekly papers... like Gina Arnold, who I used to read -- and disagree with -- in the East Bay Express. Her descriptions take me right back to that time and make me think, for the first time really, about the nature of the changes these past two decades. (I also realize that grabbing an issue of the alternative weekly is still one of my first impulses when visiting a new city.)

Arnold also teases out some of the foundational tenets of the indie rock community, such as the inherently male nature of its value system and the importance of obscurity. She makes a convincing case that the elders of the community felt threatened, or even betrayed, by Phair's feminist critique of their cozy, liberal worldview.

Like the book Let's Talk About Love, Exile in Guyville had me feeling very self-conscious about my musical tastes.