This book definitely feels out of the trend in the 2010s for fun 1970s sports story books written by people like Dan Epstein and Jason Turbow. Maybe m This book definitely feels out of the trend in the 2010s for fun 1970s sports story books written by people like Dan Epstein and Jason Turbow. Maybe more than anything it recalls the work of Jeff Pearlman who writes a complimentary blurb for the cover.
Which is fine, I love those weird sports stories and the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers asks for one. Along with the 1962 Mets, the Bucs were one of the historically worst teams ever. They were an expansion team and they definitely didn’t get much in terms of resources to compete with the established teams.
This one is fun. Like Pearlman, the main focus is on the weird uniqueness of the team, though Vuic does a nice job of summarizing the games too.
It gives a nice background of the area (there’s no real “Tampa Bay�) and the movement to get the team. There’s quite a few characters here. Coach John MacKay obviously. He had some great one liners but the my seemed to be from grim frustration than humor.
Most think of him as the man when asked “what do you think of the team’s execution� famously answered “I am in favor of it�. Vuic tries to track this down and perhaps it’s appcrypal as no one can pin a date to it (and it’s a joke that was old when the Marx Brothers used it) but somehow it’s befitting of the Yucks.
MacKay is funny yet humorless. An elitist coach living in past college football glory. Yet, it can be said McKay was interested in building a competitive team (even more than in winning in the moment) and the record shows he did do that.
The team is a cast of misfits right out of Hollywood football comedies like Necessary Roughness. Yet, let’s not totally pigeonhole a team that had a great defense for most of those terrible two years.
Lee Roy Selmon was a great player. I never really met him but was able to spend some time in his company and he truly was one of the nicest athletes around.
After a winless first season and terrible second season, the team makes the playoffs in their fourth year. A large credit can be given to Doug Williams, probably the first significant African American quarterback to go from college to the NFL. (Warren Moon was great too but he played in Canada first as he was likely going to be sitting on a bench otherwise).
This is where the Hollywood ending would be but Vuic needs that last chapter and epilogue to finish the story. Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse is so notoriously obsessed with profit and low payrolls that he won’t pay Williams even the pay that a decent backup Quarterback would receive.
Williams leaves when the USFL forms and the Bucs return to the lovable losers without the lovable part even with McKay’s best efforts.
The results of the 80s and most of the 90s until Culverhouse dies seem laughable. This counts some awful trades but often times, it simply is there is no money or effort spent on player development.
Post Culverhouse, McKay’s son Rich is in charge of player development and the team acquired coach Jon Gruden. They win the 2002 Super Bowl with a lot of homegrown talent.
The team has had various peaks and valleys since that win, mostly valleys when this book was written. In the epilogue, Vuic discusses what made the 76 Bucs so special and how that the landscape has changed. For starters, they were national jokes on Johnny Carson’s show- a large national viewing unlike the fractured audiences of today. But most importantly, the sports leagues have realized adding an uncompetitive team to the league doesn’t benefit them and they have tried to level the playing field.
Vuic does a good job of writing that fun sports story that is specific to that certain time and place. ...more
I’m a big fan of Algeo. Most of his books deal with quirky lost stories of history and while this one isn’t quirky per se, it is surely a lost detour. I’m a big fan of Algeo. Most of his books deal with quirky lost stories of history and while this one isn’t quirky per se, it is surely a lost detour.
In 1968, Robert F Kennedy went to Eastern Kentucky, the poorest part of the US to see what he could do to help.
I have to admit I wanted to read this as soon as it came out but at that time I just had been gifted Chris Matthews book on RFK and thought it would be too much. (This book, unlike Matthews really isn’t a bio, but would be of much interest to people interested in the man).
This covers a lot of ground and was such an enjoyable read. There’s a variety of topics such as strip mining, George and Lurleen Wallace, the food stamp program and much more.
There’s Kennedy of course - a politician unlike any other. A late 20th Century Democrat born with a silver spoon but with a real knack to listen and talk with blue collar Kentuckians. (A contrast to the foot in mouth failings of Hillary Clinton). Even if people disagreed with him, he was able to communicate in a way that he felt genuine.
And also the life and hardship of the people of Eastern Kentucky and a special focus on the progressive young people who wanted things to be better for their small town (a flight that goes on decades later in a lot of less progressive areas)
Besides the fact it is just a great historical story, I really related to it because I was born just north of Western Kentucky and although things weren’t that dire- it was still a very rural area where coal mining was king.
I also very much related to the young people whose only choice might seem to leave.
The topic of poverty never went away but this book talks about things LBJs administration did. There’s no clear answers of course but you can see some of the things that were tried and worked, and some of the things we had that were ended or changed over the years.
It’s a quick read but it is very enjoyable. Recommended
This is the book that is recommended if you go to the Mount Rushmore gift shop. This book is also where Bill Bryson pulled from for One Summer America This is the book that is recommended if you go to the Mount Rushmore gift shop. This book is also where Bill Bryson pulled from for One Summer America 1927.
If you have read Bryson’s book, you have probably laughed at how they lured President Coolidge to South Dakota and kept him by filling the ponds with fish and him thinking he must be the best fisherman in the world.
If you have visited Mount Rushmore, you have heard Gutzon Borglum’s incredible and impossible dream to sculpt four life size presidents as well as all the important US Historical documents into rock.
Even then, you will still love this book. Rushmore is surely one of those ideas that seem so big that there is almost no way it could succeed and yet it has.
Borglum sounds like a Hollywood character almost. Someone who was extremely talented and yet his visions bigger than reality. And as you know in reality, things cost money and only fools would offer an open checkbook.
I am not sure Smith wrote more than a couple of books but this one is a masterpiece and I doubt I can describe it on detail to sell it.
Rushmore is an almost impossible dream and Borglum is only the most colorful character in a decades long drama where nature is an enemy and time and money are enemies. But the stories of the masterful workers and the back and forth with the US and South Dakota governments are compelling.
Borglum sculpted Stone Mountain and as this story tells part of that tale (along with the Ziolkowski family plan to memorialize Crazy Horse) shows how difficult this project could have been.
Yet of course we know the ending, it succeeds if maybe not in total imagined form. The story ends with Borglum’s death and the start of World War 2 closing the book with the tourist attraction it is today.
I cannot recommend this enough to history and non fiction fans, even if it doesn’t sound like a subject you might have much interest in, it’s a fascinating tale. ...more
The 1986 Mets made me a fan of the team for life. They were incredibly talented on the field, and off the field they were notorious partiers and prank The 1986 Mets made me a fan of the team for life. They were incredibly talented on the field, and off the field they were notorious partiers and pranksters. Since the team has not met those heights since, many books have covered them.
This being Pearlman his style is to focus on the latter over the former. Also since the off field action is soap opera level, that is not necessarily a bad way to write a book.
The Mets really were the bad guys but in a time of Mad Men style social mores meets 80s excess and pre-internet, that swagger was applauded in some quarters. Whether that makes the reader nostalgic or appalled, it still builds up drama.
Of course, the talent on the field peaked and fell in 1986 and there is a quick epilogue. But even given those post 86 bad decisions - the seeds were sown and show out- drug use, bad behavior, ego.
In many ways, I appreciate Pearlman, a fan first then a writer, able to wreak havoc at his childhood hero turned heel Dave Kingman in the books intro.
This book is an easy read and is slanted towards a more tabloid approach and not a dry balls and strikes book. That will annoy some but it also makes it juicy. I find myself liking the book more than not, and the story of the 86 Mets has now been oft told, but the wild atmosphere surrounding them is captured ...more
This is a 40 page booklet that would be good for Catholic groups, new Catholics or anyone really. Most specifically for parents and for learning aboutThis is a 40 page booklet that would be good for Catholic groups, new Catholics or anyone really. Most specifically for parents and for learning about the Eucharist. I like that the style is easily readable and relatable. It’s a fairly quick read if you want that or broken into sections if you want discussion. Especially recommended for parents of kids who are going to be going through their first communion ...more
I visited the Shiloh battlefield last year. It is upheld really well and I was very much impressed. I would certainly recommend it to any fan of Ameri I visited the Shiloh battlefield last year. It is upheld really well and I was very much impressed. I would certainly recommend it to any fan of American history
I asked the clerk at the bookshop what book he would recommend and he said this one.
This is a pretty in depth look at the battle that seemingly from its notes is a pretty important new perspective.
For me, I found it fascinating though the claim it perfectly balances the highly readable and in depth didn’t quite reflect to me, more latter than former.
That said, I do love the details and that it really gives a sense of what happened during the battle in a relatable way.
There is an incredible list of people who show up here- Grant, Sherman, Albert Sidney Johnston, John Breckridge, Braxton Bragg, PGT Beauregard, Nathan Bedford Forest, Ben Hur author Lee Wallace and others.
Conventional wisdom always held a thought that it was a bloody war that Grant simply had more men.
The book does a good job of the ebb and flow and the final result, which took time to show some perspective to. The confederates did make some strategic mistakes and they are detailed here. Reputations are made- including the battle for its bloodiness and the generals with Grant initially getting criticized. The battle itself also not necessarily considered a Union triumph though with perspective, it certainly was as important as General Albert Sidney Johnston (whose quote of conquer or perish makes the books subtitle) made it to be.
I would recommend this for someone interested in the Civil War. The more causal the reader, the more challenging it is. But the details are fascinating and it’s not so dense that it would be unenjoyable. I love the numerous quotes and diary passages that it pulls from. I am glad I read it. ...more
This is my first time reading Friedman though I was aware of some of his songs and his reputation. This seemed (and probably was) an easy jumping on p This is my first time reading Friedman though I was aware of some of his songs and his reputation. This seemed (and probably was) an easy jumping on point as you don’t really need to know anything except maybe who Willie Nelson is.
It was an easy jumping on point - Willie is missing amid a slew of death threats) and maybe I should have dove deeper for a first read. But it’s a fun (attempted) murder mystery.
It’s a very quick read with the kind of humor that never makes you laugh out loud but smirk throughout. I know Friedman has been doing this since the mid 80s and the style (exaggerated autobiography) is nowhere near as fresh as it could have been back then. His style here is not a million miles away from Hiassen, Lansdale, Leyner or even, say Christopher Moore.
That probably softens the effect. I did enjoy the book and I do want to read Friedman again. ...more
I Doll is the autobiography of Arthur Killer Kane- bassist for the New York Dolls. It is probably not a book for everyone. It’s no doubt that it’s Kan I Doll is the autobiography of Arthur Killer Kane- bassist for the New York Dolls. It is probably not a book for everyone. It’s no doubt that it’s Kane’s words- very conversational, cracking jokes. Online reviews are harsh but it is a fun read and shows his personality.
I personally don’t find the endless puns (and attempts to be clever) annoying,but other online readers did. It captures his personality. Clearly, he is a man that wanted to capture the most exciting time of his life- which here is the formation of the New York Dolls, their early New York City gigs and their trip to the UK. The story ends with Billy Murcia dying and ends where the normal Dolls story would start to pick up. (So anyone looking for any of those stories will only get a few in bits and pieces from flashbacks. This is only focused on the early years)
Kane does stake his claim as important to the band- the tall stoic figure who wrote the song “Private World� and was key in the band’s formation and early sound with Johnny Thunders. That said, Kane never fulfills those early promises later in life and comes off as bitter (rightly or wrongly) about David Johansen (who did go to greater fame). Manager Marty Thau and various handlers, record label men and so on. He’s also bitter (rightfully) at bands that became successful by ripping off or borrowing from the Dolls - KISS, Aerosmith, Motley Crue and he has kept the receipts.
Kane’s personal issues also stand in his way. He joins forces with Blackie Lawless in the late 70s who has clutched on to the final embers of the Dolls- and the ultimate result is Lawless going on to bigger fame in WASP.
The book is appended by a lengthy epilogue written by Kane’s widow Barbara who had been with him for 30 years. it’s a perfect postscript as she lovingly tells his post Dolla stories and it’s highs and mostly lows- playing with Sid Vicious then Lawless but ultimately through alcoholism and poverty then finding the Church of Latter Day Saints. This is a nice way to complete the story.
After all this, it’s not necessarily a bitter old man but strangely uplifting. Kane did get the Hollywood ending with a 2004 make up and reunion with Johansen a month before his passing, and a much loved 2005 documentary called New York Doll.
I am a huge Dolls fan so I think this was definitely a good addition and worthwhile. I hope new fans find an appreciation for Kane who isn’t nearly known as his band mates or followers ...more
This book was a gift and I am guessing that is how most copies would be sold. It’s a fun if basic discussion that sports fans generally love
The idea This book was a gift and I am guessing that is how most copies would be sold. It’s a fun if basic discussion that sports fans generally love
The idea of the book is to make a Rushmore of each decade. It then gives a profile of why each player chosen was chosen, though there is little or no discussion of those who might have just missed the cut. That makes it fun for nostalgia for old fans and some history for younger fans.
What I like about the book is that it also provides an alternate Rushmore for each decade- which is chosen by picking two hit prospects who never panned out and then two players who started in the Mets organization but only had success after leaving. These sometimes lesser told stories were interesting to me.
It’s an opinion book and so you can always make arguments. There’s no wrong answers of course, though I would have liked to add Al Leiter and am not sure where I would have landed with the fourth 80s Met (Darling, HoJo, Mookie?). But it is a fun gift book for Mets fans. ...more
Ok, for starters, if you like the idea of this book, you will like it. If you think it’s silly, well you won’t.
Next, if I was younger, this might be Ok, for starters, if you like the idea of this book, you will like it. If you think it’s silly, well you won’t.
Next, if I was younger, this might be my favorite book ever. But I am middle aged and probably should say it’s something by Harold Holzer, David McCullough or Doris Kearns Godwin but I do wish I had written this book.
The writer of this book was the brains behind Cracked.com and I don’t mean to suggest that it’s still not great, but it does feel like it was printed at a certain time. In this case, 2014, which was just a couple of years after books like “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter� and his website’s peak years.
It’s still great. A mix of humor and some trivia. It probably helps to know a bit about the Presidents, but what a fun book. I mean it’s got inappropriate jokes, but somehow you should expect that.
Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot. He doesn’t tell you how to fight any living Presidents (because that’s kind of problematic) but if you enjoyed those Cracked articles that went viral a decade ago then it’s worth picking up. ...more
I try to avoid fights on the internet but a memorable one to me was against someone who didn’t believe that in 1939, 20000 members of an organization I try to avoid fights on the internet but a memorable one to me was against someone who didn’t believe that in 1939, 20000 members of an organization called the German American Bund held a rally in Madison Square Garden dwarfed by a picture of George Washington and Nazi Swastikas.
This person was not an intellectual giant but denying info that was easily available was particularly annoying. True, the Bund was a forgotten piece of American History but in the last few years has been explored on PBS, NPR and the History Channel, most famously on 2017s A Night At the Garden.
It’s an interesting “lost� history which led me to pick up this book.
The Bund formed out of some earlier German American groups, but really became a force when Fritz Kuhn became its leader.
Kuhn saw himself as an American Hitler. Born in Germany, he would state that he took part in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch (he likely didn’t), relocated to the United States, employed by Henry Ford.
Even as Kuhn’s fame grew and he traveled to Berlin to meet Hitler, the Bund were never really supported by the Nazis except in the most superficial of ways.
The Bund’s rise and fall was rapid -1936 to 1939. In less than 10 months from the date of the rally, Kuhn was being sentenced to prison for tax evasion and embezzlement. The entry of America into World War 2 in December of 1941 also bringing proceedings to an end.
There are some interesting side stories. Walter Winchell waging a war of words. Gangsters like Meyer Lansky and Mickey Cohen fighting an unofficial war against the Bund. Nazi “summer camps� in New Jersey and near Milwaukee. Fiorello LaGuardia and Tom Dewey also feature.
When Bernstein published this in 2013, he surely had no idea what was to come, only touching on David Duke, William Pierce and a few others, but his book does apply to the present environment.
For starters, Kuhn’s success was surely due to his charisma. Also, the far right audience was susceptible to plenty of hucksters (of which Kuhn was one). Lastly, far right Nazism disguised itself as American patriotism and found an enemy in a Jewish boogeyman.
It is a fascinating story of a lost part of American history. ...more
I picked this book up because it looked fascinating and had a lot of praise. I was a few years too late for his peak, but everyone knew Bobby Fischer I picked this book up because it looked fascinating and had a lot of praise. I was a few years too late for his peak, but everyone knew Bobby Fischer as the greatest chess champion- who in the Cold War beat Boris Spassky.
No one would have guessed his life’s path. He became a JD Salinger style hermit before emerging once again to play Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992. This match violated US Sanctions and led to Fischer not only becoming an emigre but appearing in the news periodically to badmouth his homeland. The end of his life being punctuated by a 2004 arrest in Japan and an exile in Iceland.
It’s probably human to want to try and explain this unusual life. I tend to think of Fischer in terms of Britney Spears and other childhood stars who reached a depth of fame before the age he could handle it
I can’t think of too many intellectual celebrities in recent years (which sounds like a problem) but I think of Ken Jennings who has not been without controversy but seemingly has been old and mature enough to deal with his fame.
There are a great deal of family problems and one wonders about mental health (bipolar? Paranoia?) and perhaps even those genius / insanity cliches. If nothing else, those issues of youth only compounded when he became an adult and removed himself from society.
The book does a great job of telling the story. The chess games are described in a way that is fascinating but not overdone with detail. Fischer rises through the ranks and the Cold War animosity is real.
The road culminates with Fischer famously winning the 1972 World Championship and becoming a celebrity but in the following years, never able to agree to terms to defend the title- the beginning of the unusual fall for a chess legend.
Fischer fascinates and Brady writes about him compellingly. The publishing promo states Brady whose paths crossed with Fischer at various times in his life was probably the only person who could do this story justice. Of note, there is at least one review of this book that takes offense to Brady’s claims of knowing the main subject.
I don’t know but Brady tells a compelling story and in the epilogue seems to detail how he got so much description into a book of such a reclusive subject.
It’s hard not to pity Fischer. Then there’s always the fact the Enfant Terrible might have been right in his thinking. To mishandle a cliche, just because he was paranoid, doesn’t mean FIDE wasn’t working against his best interest. Tragic hero is also cliche but he is at one hand - the man who made chess popular in the US. We also might see part of us in him and we can perhaps argue he wasn’t compensated fairly.
I dont intend to make excuses for his later life but we may recognize some people we know in him. I also can’t help but think he would be home in modern day Twitter.
A story that one can’t turn their eyes off of, written in a way that isn’t trivial nor laborious- that is as compelling as its subject was.
(In a weird coincidence, I have actually read both of Brady’s major books. His Orson Wells bio is a sprawling mess but the Fischer bio is definitely worth its plaudits)...more
A book with this kind of “forgotten history� is right down my alley. It is subtitled a “comic interlude� and it really is a lightly comic story in the A book with this kind of “forgotten history� is right down my alley. It is subtitled a “comic interlude� and it really is a lightly comic story in the absurdity of politics that also is dropped in the deadly serious era of the Cold War.
In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev made a tour of the United States at the invitation of President Eisenhower. The image most of us have of Khrushchev is a dictator with a short temper and some unintentionally comic looks. This matches the image of the book, but Nikita was also very clever and intelligent. He loved verbally sparring with Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge.
It starts with Nixon’s trip to the Soviet Union and the famous Kitchen Debate, then gets into the trip which takes Khrushchev to Washington DC, California, Iowa, Pittsburgh, New York City and Camp David.
This leads to the unlikely scenario of the Soviet Premier at a Twentieth Century Fox luncheon crossing paths with Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra. Khrushchev wanted desperately to go to Disneyland but is unable to.
The fun fact for me is that I have stayed on the Roswell Garst farm in Western Iowa- one of the stops on the tour.
I really enjoyed the book which is a bit fun trivia, a bit political weirdness and a bit of real Cold War insight. It ends with Nikita returning to New York and his famous stint at the UN of banging his shoe on the table.
The only possible drawback being the story does get a bit heavy at times for an otherwise breezy story. But if this a topic that interests you, it is well worthwhile ...more
Mississippi Nights was a nightclub in St Louis that closed this month 17 years ago.
Because it’s the nightclub I most associate with youth as well as Mississippi Nights was a nightclub in St Louis that closed this month 17 years ago.
Because it’s the nightclub I most associate with youth as well as probably the one where I saw the most bands, it is my ideal layout for seeing live music. Having been to many venues now, though I still stand by that
Then perhaps it just was, it entertained every genre of music and was both intimate and big enough for most national bands. Its parking lot the only place I can think of where I got into a fistfight as an adult.
I was shocked when the place was closed down to make room for a riverfront Casino space. I mean I understand, and even now, I am a bit shocked and disappointed all these years later.
The Enloes� book is the tribute the club needed. A colorful coffee table book filled with anecdotes and ticket stubs. It is near perfect in that its main issue is that it could just go on forever with stories.
As it stands, it’s probably the perfect size. The story of the St Louis music scene is woven throughout in a fair amount of detail. Author Garrett Enloe has a rather vanilla taste of FM Rock bands, but is smart enough to fill in some of the other genres with guest contributors
You will find unique stories throughout about Michael Stipe, Nirvana, Melissa Ethridge, Public Enemy, the Police and others. It is the nostalgia rush I needed. There’s also a reference of bands who played (I am pedantic so I noticed a couple of misses but it’s still nice to have).
I saw a wide variety of bands there - Cramps, Ramones, Gwar, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Type O Negative and it was nice to see some of those names referenced.
My prime concert going years were 1993 to 2003 but the club ran from 1976 to 2007. The scope of a book like this is it likely won’t appeal outside of the St Louis area (I know there is probably a small secondary audience of people who just love musical venue history) but the club surely had the kind of impact that if you lived in the region and went there, this book will be meaningful
And if you do fine the club meaningful then this book nails that memory. I would love to see a sequel though it would be pointless (this is the book to own) though there’s still probably enough St Louis history, the Enloes could find other routes to explore...more
There is really only one problem with this book and that since it has come out, seemingly everyone has wrote about it.
There was an ESPN minj series dThere is really only one problem with this book and that since it has come out, seemingly everyone has wrote about it.
There was an ESPN minj series dramatization of the book which took some shots from critics but was quite good with John Turturro, Daniel Sanjata and Oliver Platt. But VH1 had NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell a couple of years after this book was published and of course there’s plenty of docs on the late 70s Yankees.
Which makes sense- there’s plenty to hear cover. Baseball was changing with free agency and Reggie Jackson -one of the most outspoken athletes signed a big contract with the Yankees. Meanwhile, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and Yankees manager Billy Martin were huge feuding personalities
There was also the summer blackout/power grid failure and the looting that followed, and this was also the summer of the Son of Sam murders- a seemingly random unstoppable force that was targeting couples in cars and sending taunting letters to the press.
The city is in bankruptcy and Mayor Abe Beame is challenged by Ed Koch, Mario Cuomo and the colorful liberal Bella Abzug
So it’s hard to beat the list of these colorful characters and the events of the year
The book is pretty dang perfect. Ostensibly, it’s advertised that it’s a book about the Yankees first of all, and that’s probably an issue if you are only here for one thing- as it bounces between baseball and social history.
I don’t think if you are not a sports fan, you would be too annoyed with that, but maybe you would.
Other reviewers mention the fact it swings back and forth but it doesn’t seem to be an issue for me
The only thing I would have added would have been nice to see what happened to everyone after the year was over. It’s not surprises (baseball fans will know Thurman Munson died in a 1979 plane accident) or you could hit Wikipedia to see what happened to Bess Myerson or how the David Berkowitz saga played out.
Still it’s a great story and a fascinating read...more
This book is highly acclaimed (Pulitzer Prize finalist) and I get it, the book is irresistible- The time of the Civil War in the Western US- and three This book is highly acclaimed (Pulitzer Prize finalist) and I get it, the book is irresistible- The time of the Civil War in the Western US- and three forces- The United States, the Confederacy and Native Americans
In some ways, the ambition of the books title is misleading. It is sort of a regional history of New Mexico and Arizona during the Civil War. Additionally, the book focuses on nine main characters and each chapter is assigned to one. While these characters are diverse and interesting, I think the book would have flowed better if it wasn’t boxed into that format.
While the book itself is very dry and dense inside, the overall theme is fantastic. This is history that generally doesn’t get covered and is very interesting. The book is a fairly short read in terms of page count. Also I recently binged Yellowstone and 1883 and I would definitely recommend it in conjunction for anyone looking to related reading because it’s perfect for that.
The first part of the book is interesting in that it covers some of the Confederacy’s ambitions in the early years of the Civil War, while the second focuses on the displacement and relocation of the Navjoes. Both topics are illuminating. The latter with post War cameos from William Sherman and Ulysses Grant. Additionally, Kit Carson features toward the beginning. ...more
I have tried to add some Agatha Christie mysteries into my reading diet. I knew this was one of her most famous titles.
For me, this was a mix of good I have tried to add some Agatha Christie mysteries into my reading diet. I knew this was one of her most famous titles.
For me, this was a mix of good and bad. I loved the set up and I loved the ending. Those parts were very readable.
I do feel like the book went on too long and there were a lot of characters. I realize the more characters, the more possible suspects.
I also will concede that if Christie wasn’t the first mystery writer, she certainly was among the most influential and I think that also has to be bore in mind.
I do wish I loved this one a bit more but I did find it a fun read. ...more
This book was on my radar since it had such universal acclaim. That tracks since the second I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down.
The phrase “We WerThis book was on my radar since it had such universal acclaim. That tracks since the second I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down.
The phrase “We Were Eight Years In Power� is the seeming reference to the Obama administration, but is actually from the time of Reconstruction- the eight post Civil War years where numerous African Americans were elected at local, state, and national levels-which only lasted until the end of the era when via violence and racist laws, these elected officials were ousted.
It is also, of course, a reference to Obama. Coates gives us eight essays - one for each year of the administration as it happened- each with a forward on his thoughts since
Coates is a fantastic essayist. I was entertained and educated.
The book is filled with many angles on the discussion of race in America - some not easy - and in no particular order - reparations, redlining, Jim Crows laws, Incarceration, Malcolm X, Booker T Washington, Marcus Garvey, Michelle Obama, Bill Cosby, Daniel Patrick Monaghan and much more.
I don’t know that I can do it Justice but it will certainly make you think and reassess your thoughts. For sure, it’s not always the Conservative view on race, but the Liberal ones that need to be questioned hard. There are no easy answers in my mind, but Coates will make you see different views.
The discussions- reparations, housing, incarceration, Cosby’s “Pound Cake� activism- are necessary and intense.
Coates is a terrific essayist. By its nature, this kind of collection can get repetitive, though I didn’t feel like this often felt that way. Also, we get a peak on Coates life and that’s interesting too....more
In 1995, Garth Ennis wrote a book called The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe- an over the top one shot story that does what it says on the cover. A In 1995, Garth Ennis wrote a book called The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe- an over the top one shot story that does what it says on the cover. Almost 30 years later, it has been republished on the regular, Ennis has given us an extremely over the top yet somehow now mainstream story in The Boys, and Mark Millar and others have continued to push comics to the extreme.
Poetry of Madness is the BRZRKR one shot prequel maybe no one asked for. It is also BRZRKR destroys everything
Steve Skroce replaces the creative team of Matt Kindt and Ron Garney. BRZRKR is always a tough sell because it’s such a generic action adventure. Mike Mignola has been tossing off better stories and he should be out of ideas by now. Jim Zub and Jason Aaron have been bringing fresh ideas to Conan, of all characters.
Kindt did bring some sense of nuance to the story. There no nuance in Poetry of Madness, which is I guess is the point. I do really like Skroce’s art which looks very Keanu-istic. I mean most of the art is just pretty mindless and senseless gore but at least it’s well rendered gore.
This got really good reviews online. I’m not saying BRZRKR can’t or shouldn’t be silly, but this wasn’t really for me. It really felt like Ennis’s throw away stuff like Crossed he did for Avatar press. There really isn’t any nuance at all here, though maybe that will be the appeal for some. ...more
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