Rick's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 22 Apr 2025 05:40:55 -0700 60 Rick's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[America, Global Military Competition, and Opportunities Lost: Reflections on the Work of Michael W. Wynne (Global Change in Our Time)]]> 231108199
The book champions innovation in various areas, fifth-generation air capabilities, hypersonics, UID and RFID innovations for logistics, cyber warfare, interoperability and partnerships in shaping coalition capabilities, the growing dynamics of change with the OODA loop and decision-making with the crafting of a military kill web, the struggle to overcome the legacy of the land wars, and many other areas of innovation.

The alternative title to the book could have been, Defense Reflections on the Work of Michael W. Wynne.
A key driver for Wynne’s approach in government and out has been what we have referred to as the Wynne ”If you are ever involved in a fair fight; it is the result of poor planningâ€�

As Lt General (Retired) David Deptula wrote in his forward to the “Leadership is more than a title—it is a calling. Few have answered that call with the depth of dedication, intellect, and vision that Michael Wynne demonstrated as the 21st Secretary of the United States Air Force.

“Wynne led with an unwavering commitment to innovation, modernization, and the men and women in uniform who keep our nation safe. His tenure was marked by transformative efforts to ensure the Air Force remained at the forefront of global security, from advocating for advanced air, space and cyber capabilities to emphasizing the integration of cutting-edge technologies into military operations.â€�

The Honorable Edward Timperlake “To me, Mike Wynne was truly a man for all seasons. He always had the courage of his convictions, a true leader that did so much good for American National Security.â€�

And Lt General (Retired) Preziosa “This book is a testament to the enduring importance of leadership, vision, and adaptability in ensuring that the United States maintains its edge in global military competition.

When Wynne and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Mosley were fired in 2008 by the then Secretary of Defense it was an historical turning point in American defense policy. The firing of Mosely and Wynne was not just a personnel move, but the beginnings of a dramatic shift of the U.S. military away from strengthening its global naval and air power projection capabilities in favor of a focus on land operations which would drain the treasury and change the U.S. military for two decades.

When the U.S. woke up to the emergence of the multi-polar world labelled as the “great power competitionâ€� by President Trump, it was late in the day to focus on what was needed. Many of the projects which Wynne had initiated or nurtured now became priorities. But twenty years had been wasted and the magnitude of what needed to be done needed a new strategy and policy elite.

But we are still in the process of doing so.


]]> 290 Robbin Laird Rick 0 to-read 0.0 America, Global Military Competition, and Opportunities Lost: Reflections on the Work of Michael W. Wynne (Global Change in Our Time)
author: Robbin Laird
name: Rick
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Theft 217006044 In his first new novel since winning the 2021 Nobel Prize, a master storyteller captures a time of dizzying global change.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, three young people come of age in Tanzania. Karim returns to his sleepy hometown after university with new swagger and ambition. Fauzia glimpses in him a chance at escape from a smothering upbringing. The two of them offer a haven to Badar, a poor boy still unsure if the future holds anything for him at all. As tourism, technology, and unexpected opportunities and perils reach their quiet corner of the world, bringing, each arrives at a different understanding of what it means to take your fate into your own hands.

]]> 296 Abdulrazak Gurnah 0593852605 Rick 4
I guess I could compare it to "Seinfeld" which essentially was marketed as a comedy show about nothing, even though it stayed on the air for almost a decade. Just as in Seinfeld, Theft brings the reader a number of interesting and mostly relatable happenings ... careers, marriages, children, old age, and the like. This book was quietly engaging from start to finish. ]]> 3.93 2025 Theft
author: Abdulrazak Gurnah
name: Rick
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:
"Theft" was a delightful read ... sort of a family story. The tale is wonderfully written by a Nobel laureate, but not much happens in the narrative other than a series of family episodes over the years. There is no great denouement, no pivotal scenes, no multi-generational themes ... but, rather, just a series of events in the life of this one extended family. So it wasn't riveting, but just old-fashioned good storytelling.

I guess I could compare it to "Seinfeld" which essentially was marketed as a comedy show about nothing, even though it stayed on the air for almost a decade. Just as in Seinfeld, Theft brings the reader a number of interesting and mostly relatable happenings ... careers, marriages, children, old age, and the like. This book was quietly engaging from start to finish.
]]> <![CDATA[The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957]]> 34451566
Drawing on hundreds of previously classified documents, secret police reports, unexpurgated versions of leadership speeches, eyewitness accounts of those who survived, and more, The Tragedy of Liberation bears witness to a shocking, largely untold history. Interweaving stories of ordinary citizens with tales of the brutal politics of Mao’s court, Frank Dikötter illuminates those who shaped the “liberationâ€� and the horrific policies they implemented in the name of progress. People of all walks of life were caught up in the tragedy that unfolded, and whether or not they supported the revolution, all of them were asked to write confessions, denounce their friends, and answer queries about their political reliability. One victim of thought reform called it a “carefully cultivated Auschwitz of the mind.â€� Told with great narrative sweep, The Tragedy of Liberation is a powerful and important document giving voice at last to the millions who were lost, and casting new light on the foundations of one of the most powerful regimes of the twenty-first century.]]> 376 Frank Dikötter 1408886359 Rick 0 to-read 4.15 2013 The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957
author: Frank Dikötter
name: Rick
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mao's Great Famine: The History Of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62]]> 34451579 420 Frank Dikötter 1408886367 Rick 0 to-read 4.20 2010 Mao's Great Famine: The History Of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62
author: Frank Dikötter
name: Rick
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Cultural Revolution 33570478
The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962â€�1976 draws for the first time on hundreds of previously classified party documents, from secret police reports to unexpurgated versions of leadership speeches. Frank Dikötter uses this wealth of material to undermine the picture of complete conformity that is often supposed to have characterized the last years of the Mao era. After the army itself fell victim to the Cultural Revolution, ordinary people used the political chaos to resurrect the market and hollow out the party's ideology. In short, they buried Maoism. By showing how economic reform from below was an unintended consequence of a decade of violent purges and entrenched fear, The Cultural Revolution casts China's most tumultuous era in a wholly new light.]]> 396 Frank Dikötter 1408856522 Rick 0 to-read 4.10 2016 The Cultural Revolution
author: Frank Dikötter
name: Rick
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott]]> 879484 281 Louisa May Alcott 0688003389 Rick 3 put-aside 3.65 1867 Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott
author: Louisa May Alcott
name: Rick
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1867
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: put-aside
review:
In the end this really wasn't my cup of tea. These are four stories written by Alcott in the 1860s ... before her "Little Women" success ... that are styled as gothic thrillers. The first was fairly interesting, but the remainder left me looking for my next book. Admittedly these were written at a time when the "thriller" part was probably a big deal ... but today it pretty much pales and has a hard time holding the readers' interest. The tales also had threads of a bit of feminism to them, showing independent and strong female characters. Glad I tried, but I think this book is only for real fans of Alcott's work.
]]> <![CDATA[All For The Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes]]> 1373276 255 Robert H. Rhodes 0517584271 Rick 5 civil-war, american-history
Rhodes lived a charmed life during the Civil War as he was in service from the first to the last battle of the Army of the Potomac � under four different commanders. He saw action at many of the major sites, such as: Appomattox Court House, First Bull Run, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Petersburg, Spotsylvania, and the Wilderness, among others. Yet in over four years of duty, he was never injured enough to be pulled out of action. He went in as a private and came out as a lieutenant colonel.

Rhodes pretty much spent his entire service with the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, all along attached to the Army of the Potomac, and followed its course throughout the Civil War � from battle to battle to victory. The tale is structured very much like the Band of Brothers story by Stephen Ambrose, where the narrative follows "Easy" Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from training camp, to Normandy, to the occupation of Germany. Highly Recommended.
]]> 4.12 1991 All For The Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes
author: Robert H. Rhodes
name: Rick
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: civil-war, american-history
review:
“All For The Unionâ€� by Robert Hunt Rhodes is an edited version of the near-daily diary kept by the author’s great grandfather—Elisha Hunt Rhodes—during four years of service in the Union Army during the Civil War. This diary was used extensively by Ken Burns in his landmark PBS-TV series on the Civil War.

Rhodes lived a charmed life during the Civil War as he was in service from the first to the last battle of the Army of the Potomac � under four different commanders. He saw action at many of the major sites, such as: Appomattox Court House, First Bull Run, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Petersburg, Spotsylvania, and the Wilderness, among others. Yet in over four years of duty, he was never injured enough to be pulled out of action. He went in as a private and came out as a lieutenant colonel.

Rhodes pretty much spent his entire service with the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, all along attached to the Army of the Potomac, and followed its course throughout the Civil War � from battle to battle to victory. The tale is structured very much like the Band of Brothers story by Stephen Ambrose, where the narrative follows "Easy" Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from training camp, to Normandy, to the occupation of Germany. Highly Recommended.

]]> <![CDATA[The Supreme Court of the United States (The Oxford Guide to)]]> 3940486 1240 Kermit L. Hall 0195340949 Rick 0 to-read 5.00 1992 The Supreme Court of the United States (The Oxford Guide to)
author: Kermit L. Hall
name: Rick
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi]]> 200196206 352 Boyce Upholt 0393867870 Rick 0 to-read 3.98 The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi
author: Boyce Upholt
name: Rick
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Clown in a Cornfield (Clown in a Cornfield, #1)]]> 49046268
Quinn and her father moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs to find a fresh start. But ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.

Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.]]> 346 Adam Cesare 0062854593 Rick 4 3.73 2020 Clown in a Cornfield (Clown in a Cornfield, #1)
author: Adam Cesare
name: Rick
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves:
review:
Delightful read. If a bit corny at times and filled with tropes, it never fails to engage the reader. I thought the tale started pretty slowly, but the last half really pulled me along and made the wait worth the while. Frendo ... the Clown in the Cornfield ... vaguely reminded me of Pennywise, but the split personality caught me by surprise and gave new meaning to the slashing and burning that ensued. The body count built up as the narrative progressed, and we found more surprises in good characters and bad characters. Not much plot, but lots of entertainment.
]]> <![CDATA[Ryan's Woods: A South Side Boyhood Fifty Years Ago]]> 17716297 351 Patrick Creevy 1937484114 Rick 5 chicago
The author was discerning in recounting his first bully, first love, first kiss, and first loss—and the internal struggle he felt when he learned about white flight and his family moving to a new neighborhood. The denouement detailed in the final eighth grade football game against a rival school was especially entertaining. And all the while, it must have been difficult to stay “in characterâ€� as the author replicates the speech patterns and inanity of young boys. Recommended.]]> 4.53 2013 Ryan's Woods: A South Side Boyhood Fifty Years Ago
author: Patrick Creevy
name: Rick
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves: chicago
review:
“Ryan’s Woodsâ€� by Patrick Creevy is a delightful look back at 1960â€�1962 through the eyes of a 12â€�14 year old boy. The author lived in the Beverly neighborhood on the southside of Chicago during those years and recounts his adventures with boyhood friends. The tale is warm, emotional, and introspective. Often humorous, sometimes silly, but never boring—we get to peek into the emotions of a young man on the verge of transitioning into high school.

The author was discerning in recounting his first bully, first love, first kiss, and first loss—and the internal struggle he felt when he learned about white flight and his family moving to a new neighborhood. The denouement detailed in the final eighth grade football game against a rival school was especially entertaining. And all the while, it must have been difficult to stay “in characterâ€� as the author replicates the speech patterns and inanity of young boys. Recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past]]> 178302
What kind of history Americans should read, see, or fund is no longer merely a matter of professional interest to teachers, historians, and museum curators. Everywhere now, history is increasingly being held hostage, but to what end and why? In History Wars , eight prominent historians consider the angry swirl of emotions that now surrounds public memory. Included are trenchant essays by Paul Boyer, John W. Dower, Tom Engelhardt, Richard H. Kohn, Edward Linenthal, Micahel S. Sherry, Marilyn B. Young, and Mike Wallace.]]> 295 Edward T. Linenthal 080504387X Rick 4 world-war-ii
The Enola Gay presentation: was it an exhibit of U.S. technology winning the war and saving thousands of American lives, or a message and warning to the Japanese of the retribution suffered for their surprise attack? Should we celebrate dropping the atomic bomb, or deal with the uncomfortable reality of Japanese people with their burning skin peeling off? This is but one example of converting exhibit space to commemorative space ... which is it?

Other examples: How about ... Wernher von Braun’s role in Germany during World War II which was silenced ... we didn't talk about it in his work in the United States? How about ... Custer’s Last Stand battlefield â€� is it a monument to the Union Cavalry fighting to the death or a slaughter ground for the American Indian? World War II was considered the last "good war." How do we view the Vietnam War?

As it turns out, there really isn’t a hero story for Vietnam â€� like the Chosen Reservoir in Korea or Guns of Navarone during WWII. How do we reconcile the Vietnam War? Vietnam Memorial ... The Wall ... honors veterans without commenting on American Vietnam policy. The warrior is separated from the war. The Vietnam Memorial is one with little story, unlike Iwo Jima.

And thus we see the contested ground between commemoration and exhibit ... History Wars. This book by Ed Linenthal is an excellent primer on the diverging views of some famous exhibits, and how in the end it all depends on one's point of view. Excellent read.]]> 3.68 1996 History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past
author: Edward T. Linenthal
name: Rick
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
This book presents a series of articles on essentially American history subjects ... especially a disputed exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC that featured the airplane the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II ... and how oftentimes these exhibits blossom into wars of commemoration vs exhibit.

The Enola Gay presentation: was it an exhibit of U.S. technology winning the war and saving thousands of American lives, or a message and warning to the Japanese of the retribution suffered for their surprise attack? Should we celebrate dropping the atomic bomb, or deal with the uncomfortable reality of Japanese people with their burning skin peeling off? This is but one example of converting exhibit space to commemorative space ... which is it?

Other examples: How about ... Wernher von Braun’s role in Germany during World War II which was silenced ... we didn't talk about it in his work in the United States? How about ... Custer’s Last Stand battlefield â€� is it a monument to the Union Cavalry fighting to the death or a slaughter ground for the American Indian? World War II was considered the last "good war." How do we view the Vietnam War?

As it turns out, there really isn’t a hero story for Vietnam â€� like the Chosen Reservoir in Korea or Guns of Navarone during WWII. How do we reconcile the Vietnam War? Vietnam Memorial ... The Wall ... honors veterans without commenting on American Vietnam policy. The warrior is separated from the war. The Vietnam Memorial is one with little story, unlike Iwo Jima.

And thus we see the contested ground between commemoration and exhibit ... History Wars. This book by Ed Linenthal is an excellent primer on the diverging views of some famous exhibits, and how in the end it all depends on one's point of view. Excellent read.
]]> <![CDATA[Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory]]> 7029497 Edited by noted historians James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, this collection explores current controversies and offers a bracing analysis of how people remember their past and how the lessons they draw influence American politics and culture today. Bringing together some of the nation's most respected historians, including Ira Berlin, David W. Blight, and Gary B. Nash, this is a major contribution to the unsettling but crucial debate about the significance of slavery and its meaning for racial reconciliation.

Contributors:
Ira Berlin, University of Maryland
David W. Blight, Yale University
James Oliver Horton, George Washington University
Lois E. Horton, George Mason University
Bruce Levine, University of Illinois
Edward T. Linenthal, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Joanne Melish, University of Kentucky
Gary B. Nash, University of California, Los Angeles
Dwight T. Pitcaithley, New Mexico State University
Marie Tyler-McGraw, Washington, D.C.
John Michael Vlach, George Washington University

]]> 288 James Oliver Horton 0807859168 Rick 4 african-america
At one time the Library of Congress put up an exhibit on plantation life, and quickly removed it when employees balked. Southern heritage groups such as the United Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Southern Heritage Coalition worked to block the National Park Service's effort to make its expositions more inclusive of slavery’s role.

All to say, the issue of slavery remains contested ground in that parts of the South retain their beliefs in the "Lost Cause," while parts of the North hold the position that they were the “Saviors of the South.â€� We have yet to find the middle ground.

]]> 3.95 2006 Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory
author: James Oliver Horton
name: Rick
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: african-america
review:
"Slavery and Public History" is a series of papers concerned with the issue of slavery and how different regions of America struggle to remember. The text lays out the history of the topic and concludes with the fact that, even today, we still have not reached a consensus on how the issue of slavery should be handled publicly.

At one time the Library of Congress put up an exhibit on plantation life, and quickly removed it when employees balked. Southern heritage groups such as the United Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Southern Heritage Coalition worked to block the National Park Service's effort to make its expositions more inclusive of slavery’s role.

All to say, the issue of slavery remains contested ground in that parts of the South retain their beliefs in the "Lost Cause," while parts of the North hold the position that they were the “Saviors of the South.â€� We have yet to find the middle ground.


]]> Primitive Rebels 43092 202 Eric J. Hobsbawm 0393003280 Rick 3
The setting for Primitive Rebels is western and southern Europe after the French Revolution, during the 150 years dating from 1800. Hobsbawm presents his case along two broad themes, one through rural mostly agrarian experiences in southern Europe and the other using urban mostly industrial episodes in northern Europe. Hobsbawm presents six articles on different types of social agitation.

The rural theme of Primitive Rebels is voiced through three approaches: peasant protests which usually possessed modest goals and little organization; the slightly better organized mafia families that rented land to the working class in an oligarchy of extortion but lost their import as political consciousness increased; and the millenarian movements that forecast a complete overthrow of the status quo but were unclear on how it would all come about. The urban theme also played out through three devices: unorganized city mobs that rebelled against rapacious prices and unemployment; labor sects with religious overtones standing in as working-class revolts; and ritual symbolism much in the fashion of trade unionism that faded quickly as modern social movements came to the fore. All of these forms of agitation possessed socialist implications, but in microcosm. They were primitive but not random.

Primitive Rebels is an accessible and well-documented read. Hobsbawm brings numerous examples to support his theory of the rise of capitalism provoking rebellious responses in traditional peasant cultures. Hobsbawm does an excellent job painting a picture of social movements outside the classic motives, tracing social agitation during the emergence of capitalism.
]]> 3.71 1959 Primitive Rebels
author: Eric J. Hobsbawm
name: Rick
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1959
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves:
review:
“Primitive Rebelsâ€� is a series of essays casting light on outmoded varieties of social disturbance. It is the author’s belief that his generation of scholars had been steeped in the grander movements of the socialist persuasion and had overlooked some of these archaic forms. In Primitive Rebels Hobsbawm’s research postulates that the advent of capitalism into old-fashioned peasant cultures destroyed their way of life, thus provoking them into primitive rebellious responses. In the end, there was a lot of social agitation, but these interest groups were not able to leverage their activism into something more lasting.

The setting for Primitive Rebels is western and southern Europe after the French Revolution, during the 150 years dating from 1800. Hobsbawm presents his case along two broad themes, one through rural mostly agrarian experiences in southern Europe and the other using urban mostly industrial episodes in northern Europe. Hobsbawm presents six articles on different types of social agitation.

The rural theme of Primitive Rebels is voiced through three approaches: peasant protests which usually possessed modest goals and little organization; the slightly better organized mafia families that rented land to the working class in an oligarchy of extortion but lost their import as political consciousness increased; and the millenarian movements that forecast a complete overthrow of the status quo but were unclear on how it would all come about. The urban theme also played out through three devices: unorganized city mobs that rebelled against rapacious prices and unemployment; labor sects with religious overtones standing in as working-class revolts; and ritual symbolism much in the fashion of trade unionism that faded quickly as modern social movements came to the fore. All of these forms of agitation possessed socialist implications, but in microcosm. They were primitive but not random.

Primitive Rebels is an accessible and well-documented read. Hobsbawm brings numerous examples to support his theory of the rise of capitalism provoking rebellious responses in traditional peasant cultures. Hobsbawm does an excellent job painting a picture of social movements outside the classic motives, tracing social agitation during the emergence of capitalism.

]]> <![CDATA[The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller]]> 71148
For a common miller, Menocchio was surprisingly literate. In his trial testimony he made references to more than a dozen books, including the Bible, Boccaccio's Decameron, Mandeville's Travels, and a "mysterious" book that may have been the Koran. And what he read he recast in terms familiar to him, as in his own version of the creation: "All was chaos, that is earth, air, water, and fire were mixed together; and of that bulk a mass formed—just as cheese is made out of milk—and worms appeared in it, and these were the angels."]]> 208 Carlo Ginzburg 0801843871 Rick 3
While many people would agree the story is charming, two germane questions arise: did Menocchio come to hold many of his beliefs due to a circularity of ideas and communication between the classes, and does the tale present a typical picture of the popular culture of Italian peasants in preindustrial Europe or an isolated instance of an extremist, albeit one with an interesting background? Is Menocchio the exception or the rule?

The inquisition was a ritual tool of the Catholic Church exercised to smother heresy. Meticulous records were kept and preserved in the archives of the particular tribunal or sent to Rome for safekeeping. Years later, researchers such as Ginzburg gained access to the records and were able to grasp clues about the oral culture of those being investigated. It was in such an archive that Menocchio’s story came to light.

Two significant stars aligned in the decades leading up to Menocchio’s lifetime: the printing press and the Protestant Reformation. The printing press arrived around 1440 and became more than just a novelty; books became more than just bibles. The spread of a print culture through dozens of countries in Europe took place, as more people were able to put their thoughts on paper and reprint them for others. The Protestant Reformation also had a part to play as it was in full swing, having come a long way since Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses up on the door to Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517. The Reformation challenged the Catholic Church for the religious stage. Menocchio lived right in the middle of these innovations.

Ginzburg tried to accomplish two things with his essay. First he tried to show that there was a circularity in the transmission of ideas between the upper and lower classes ... driven by the printing press. Second he tried to reveal the popular culture of the time through the inquisition records of a single accused ... testimony achieved when the deposed was under duress. Ginzburg succeeded with the first, but overreached on the second.

The Cheese and the Worms was well-reviewed when translated into English, and continues to be used as a model of micro-history. Ginzburg’s use of records from the educated class to learn about popular culture, beginning with his 1966 book The Night Battles, was an especially novel approach in the 1960s. The Cheese and the Worms continues his thematic approach.
]]> 3.98 1976 The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller
author: Carlo Ginzburg
name: Rick
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1976
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves:
review:
As a 23-year old in 1962 and fresh out of his doctoral program, Carlo Ginzburg was first introduced to our protagonist Menocchio while searching through inquisition records in the archives of the Catholic Church at the Archbishop’s Court in Udine, Italy. Ginzburg’s research interest was peasant life during the Italian Renaissance. That work led to a 1973 seminar on popular religion at Princeton University and, three years later, to the book "The Cheese and the Worms."

While many people would agree the story is charming, two germane questions arise: did Menocchio come to hold many of his beliefs due to a circularity of ideas and communication between the classes, and does the tale present a typical picture of the popular culture of Italian peasants in preindustrial Europe or an isolated instance of an extremist, albeit one with an interesting background? Is Menocchio the exception or the rule?

The inquisition was a ritual tool of the Catholic Church exercised to smother heresy. Meticulous records were kept and preserved in the archives of the particular tribunal or sent to Rome for safekeeping. Years later, researchers such as Ginzburg gained access to the records and were able to grasp clues about the oral culture of those being investigated. It was in such an archive that Menocchio’s story came to light.

Two significant stars aligned in the decades leading up to Menocchio’s lifetime: the printing press and the Protestant Reformation. The printing press arrived around 1440 and became more than just a novelty; books became more than just bibles. The spread of a print culture through dozens of countries in Europe took place, as more people were able to put their thoughts on paper and reprint them for others. The Protestant Reformation also had a part to play as it was in full swing, having come a long way since Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses up on the door to Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517. The Reformation challenged the Catholic Church for the religious stage. Menocchio lived right in the middle of these innovations.

Ginzburg tried to accomplish two things with his essay. First he tried to show that there was a circularity in the transmission of ideas between the upper and lower classes ... driven by the printing press. Second he tried to reveal the popular culture of the time through the inquisition records of a single accused ... testimony achieved when the deposed was under duress. Ginzburg succeeded with the first, but overreached on the second.

The Cheese and the Worms was well-reviewed when translated into English, and continues to be used as a model of micro-history. Ginzburg’s use of records from the educated class to learn about popular culture, beginning with his 1966 book The Night Battles, was an especially novel approach in the 1960s. The Cheese and the Worms continues his thematic approach.

]]> <![CDATA[Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Studies in Environment and History)]]> 983034 408 Alfred W. Crosby 0521546184 Rick 4
Crosby takes the reader on an adventure showing how European imperialism triumphed over all barriers on its way to settling the western world. He reviews and discounts the old paradigms of the colonization, which speculated that whites were more intelligent or the dominant race or had advanced weapons.

In the final analysis, much of European imperialism could be attributed to serendipity, the coalescing of a number of conditions at one time and one place. For years Europeans understood where the new lands were, as Portuguese and Spanish explorers in the Age of Discovery had told them. Even Scandinavian warriors hundreds of years earlier had left inklings of where to seek the future. But discovering and settling were two very different things, as Jacques Cartier in 1534 and Samuel de Champlain in 1608 would illustrate in founding New France.

Crosby has written a wonderfully original book that is very accessible. His concept of European conquest through biological basis rather than military might is imaginative. Crosby rejects the premise that weapons of war were the foundation of European imperialism. They were important but not significant.

In sum, while Crosby does not delve into why the migrations occurred, he does offer a creative explanation for their success. For that alone Crosby deserves much of the credit that was heaped upon more commercialized versions of his theories.]]> 3.98 1986 Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Studies in Environment and History)
author: Alfred W. Crosby
name: Rick
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:
Alfred Crosby was awarded his Ph.D. in 1961 from Boston University, just in time to become immersed in the human rights and civil liberties movements of the 1960s. His interest in civil rights, farm workers, and anti-war causes crystallized into an academic curiosity of subjugated peoples and steered his work to investigating the cause and effect of European imperialism. His theory is that biology is the determining factor.

Crosby takes the reader on an adventure showing how European imperialism triumphed over all barriers on its way to settling the western world. He reviews and discounts the old paradigms of the colonization, which speculated that whites were more intelligent or the dominant race or had advanced weapons.

In the final analysis, much of European imperialism could be attributed to serendipity, the coalescing of a number of conditions at one time and one place. For years Europeans understood where the new lands were, as Portuguese and Spanish explorers in the Age of Discovery had told them. Even Scandinavian warriors hundreds of years earlier had left inklings of where to seek the future. But discovering and settling were two very different things, as Jacques Cartier in 1534 and Samuel de Champlain in 1608 would illustrate in founding New France.

Crosby has written a wonderfully original book that is very accessible. His concept of European conquest through biological basis rather than military might is imaginative. Crosby rejects the premise that weapons of war were the foundation of European imperialism. They were important but not significant.

In sum, while Crosby does not delve into why the migrations occurred, he does offer a creative explanation for their success. For that alone Crosby deserves much of the credit that was heaped upon more commercialized versions of his theories.
]]> <![CDATA[The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 (Contributions in American Studies, #2)]]> 340416 268 Alfred W. Crosby 0837172284 Rick 4
Review most any high school world history book or introductory collegiate text on the subject and one sees that the discussion of the biological implications of the European movement to the West echoes Crosby’s original theses. Crosby was one of the first to formulate and offer an answer to the question: Why were Europeans so successful in settling the New World? Twenty-five years after Crosby’s work, Jared Diamond published "Guns, Germs, and Steel," a popular rendition of mostly similar themes. Diamond’s book, written for the trade rather than scholarly circles, found great commercial success and won the Pulitzer Prize â€� but Crosby had laid the groundwork.

Crosby believed that the Age of Discovery involved much more than the exploration of new lands and the subjugation of indigenous peoples. His theses in The Columbian Exchange posited that there were unforeseen biological nuances, both positive and negative, that had worldwide implications in the shared exchange between the Old World and the New World.

During the Age of Discovery, Spanish brutality was a known factor in the settlement of the Americas. Crosby does not deny that, but he builds a convincing case that there probably was an even more lethal cause for the extinction of the native peoples. Weapons were important but not the determining factor. With a wonderfully accessible style, Crosby has written an original book laying out the thesis that biology rather than military might was the salient feature in the success of the European migration to the New World, and that the migration itself was a reciprocal arrangement.
]]> 3.96 1972 The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 (Contributions in American Studies, #2)
author: Alfred W. Crosby
name: Rick
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1972
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:
In 1972 Alfred Crosby issued what would arguably become his legacy, The Columbian Exchange. This was his first post-doctoral work other than his dissertation to reach book form. Fourteen years later Crosby published Ecological Imperialism and together these two ground-breaking initiatives formed the bookends of Crosby’s intellectual philosophy—that biology was a determining factor in the settlement of the New World. In the 50-some years since The Columbian Exchange reached bookshelves, many of the ideas contained in it have become the accepted standard.

Review most any high school world history book or introductory collegiate text on the subject and one sees that the discussion of the biological implications of the European movement to the West echoes Crosby’s original theses. Crosby was one of the first to formulate and offer an answer to the question: Why were Europeans so successful in settling the New World? Twenty-five years after Crosby’s work, Jared Diamond published "Guns, Germs, and Steel," a popular rendition of mostly similar themes. Diamond’s book, written for the trade rather than scholarly circles, found great commercial success and won the Pulitzer Prize â€� but Crosby had laid the groundwork.

Crosby believed that the Age of Discovery involved much more than the exploration of new lands and the subjugation of indigenous peoples. His theses in The Columbian Exchange posited that there were unforeseen biological nuances, both positive and negative, that had worldwide implications in the shared exchange between the Old World and the New World.

During the Age of Discovery, Spanish brutality was a known factor in the settlement of the Americas. Crosby does not deny that, but he builds a convincing case that there probably was an even more lethal cause for the extinction of the native peoples. Weapons were important but not the determining factor. With a wonderfully accessible style, Crosby has written an original book laying out the thesis that biology rather than military might was the salient feature in the success of the European migration to the New World, and that the migration itself was a reciprocal arrangement.

]]> <![CDATA[Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error (English and French Edition)]]> 1507063 383 Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie 0807608750 Rick 3
Two weaknesses of Ladurie’s work are the family names and the source documents. Since Bishop Fournier’s work involved interviews with scores of people, Ladurie’s narrative is littered with scores of family surnames and this causes the text to be a bit confusing at times. The source documents for the narrative should give the reader pause for thought. Testimony achieved when the deposed is under duress, whether in Montaillou or Guantanamo Bay, should not be taken at face value until corroborated. But Montaillou remains an excellent read.

The story is a glimpse into the medieval world using primary documents rather than folklore and hearsay. Devoting 80 or so pages to the sexual behavior of these medieval people appears a bit excessive at first, but it provides an aperture into the mental state of the people—their attitudes on a number of topics. Ladurie’s work hints that it might have been the peoplesâ€� way of thinking that kept their small pocket of society from advancing faster.
]]> 3.79 1975 Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error (English and French Edition)
author: Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
name: Rick
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1975
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:
In “Montaillou: The Promised Land of Errorâ€� it is the early 1300s AD and a time when heretics are being rooted out of corners of European society. The setting is a small medieval village of two hundred or so inhabitants in the south of France, close to the border with Spain just off the north slopes of the Pyrenees. The district prelate, an overachiever for his era, is carrying out a local installment of the medieval inquisitions in his small diocese of peasants. From 1318â€�25 roughly half the population is formally interviewed, official transcripts of each deposition documented on parchment. While it is estimated that the inquests resulted in a handful of citizens being put to death at the stake, the real surprise is that most of the records from the interrogations survived through the twentieth century. Ladurie’s volume utilizes these primary documents to render a grand narrative of medieval village life from the words of the peasants themselves.

Two weaknesses of Ladurie’s work are the family names and the source documents. Since Bishop Fournier’s work involved interviews with scores of people, Ladurie’s narrative is littered with scores of family surnames and this causes the text to be a bit confusing at times. The source documents for the narrative should give the reader pause for thought. Testimony achieved when the deposed is under duress, whether in Montaillou or Guantanamo Bay, should not be taken at face value until corroborated. But Montaillou remains an excellent read.

The story is a glimpse into the medieval world using primary documents rather than folklore and hearsay. Devoting 80 or so pages to the sexual behavior of these medieval people appears a bit excessive at first, but it provides an aperture into the mental state of the people—their attitudes on a number of topics. Ladurie’s work hints that it might have been the peoplesâ€� way of thinking that kept their small pocket of society from advancing faster.

]]> <![CDATA[Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte]]> 11731353 80 Karl Marx 1461072271 Rick 3
Over all, Marx’s Brumaire is a wonderful if wordy distillation of Louis Napoleon’s rise, and vividly portrays the competition among the classes to advance their parochial causes. Only in passing does Marx touch on the role played by the proletariat. The Brumaire serves as the literary laboratory and launching pad for his later more penetrating works concerning the proletariat. ]]> 2.33 1852 Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
author: Karl Marx
name: Rick
average rating: 2.33
book published: 1852
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:
In the "Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon" Karl Marx reports on the tug of war for control of France among the several classes of French society in the period 1848â€�1852. Marx’s premise is that the populace is energized to the point of “ecstasyâ€� with every revolution but soon calms down and resumes with one tyrant or another, regal or republican, lining his pockets at the expense of the people. To Marx, the extant revolution in France was history repeating itself—working-class proletariat labor once again being ill-used by the multi-layered bourgeois to build wealth for the upper classes.

Over all, Marx’s Brumaire is a wonderful if wordy distillation of Louis Napoleon’s rise, and vividly portrays the competition among the classes to advance their parochial causes. Only in passing does Marx touch on the role played by the proletariat. The Brumaire serves as the literary laboratory and launching pad for his later more penetrating works concerning the proletariat.
]]> <![CDATA[The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice]]> 207294259 From the award-winning author of The Island of Extraordinary Captives, the riveting, untold true story of the botanists at the world’s first seed bank who were faced with an impossible choice during the Second World War’s Siege of eat the seeds to stave off starvation, or protect their life’s work to potentially end world hunger? In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded Leningrad with a plan to besiege the Russian city and starve its citizens into submission. So began the longest blockade in recorded history. By conservative estimates, it would claim the lives of three-quarters of a million people—four times the number killed in the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined. Most died by starvation. At that time, the world’s largest collection of seeds and plants were stored in a converted palace building in the city center. Hand-collected during the previous two decades under the leadership of the world-famous explorer Nikolai Vavilov, the Plant Institute represented the greatest living library of plant matter ever assembled, more than a quarter of a million seeds from every continent. But as the siege wore on, attempts to evacuate this priceless collection failed. Trapped in the city with dwindling supplies, the botanists faced a terrible should they distribute the seeds to the city’s starving population, or preserve them in the hopes that future scientists might use them to breed crops and prevent future famine? Drawing from previously unseen primary sources, The Forbidden Garden tells for the first time the story of the botanists who remained at the Plant Institute during the darkest days of the blockade, many of whom sacrificed their lives in service to their mission. As climate change, wars, and supply chain issues impact food security in today’s times, this fascinating story remains as relevant and urgent as ever.]]> 384 Simon Parkin 1668007665 Rick 3 world-war-ii
Threatened not only by the approaching Nazis who wanted to steal the collection, the employees had to defend against their own countrymen at times, and even some other scientists who held different beliefs (Lamarckism) in the value of the seeds. So they were besieged from within and without. And all the while, just arranging to have a bit of heat and electricity to prevent everything from freezing was an on-going battle.

So why only three stars: While the tale was interesting, the subject matter didn't seem quite deep enough for a book-length treatment; in fact, at times it seemed like the author was stretching his narrative a bit to make it fit book length. All-to-say, it was an interesting tale of but one small facet of World War II that many probably have never heard of. ]]> 4.22 2024 The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice
author: Simon Parkin
name: Rick
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
Very interesting little-known tale about the worlds largest collection of seeds ... accumulated across the world by the geneticist Nikolai Vavilov ... that was trapped in the Siege of Leningrad for over two years. The seeds were stored and cared for in a converted palace, and the employees worked to preserve the collection in order to improve food production through disease-resistant varieties after the war ... which could aid in preventing famine. But as the citizens of Leningrad were slowly starved toward submission, the employees had the choice of using the seeds to feed themselves and others or protecting the collection at the expense of their own lives. This is the story of their choice.

Threatened not only by the approaching Nazis who wanted to steal the collection, the employees had to defend against their own countrymen at times, and even some other scientists who held different beliefs (Lamarckism) in the value of the seeds. So they were besieged from within and without. And all the while, just arranging to have a bit of heat and electricity to prevent everything from freezing was an on-going battle.

So why only three stars: While the tale was interesting, the subject matter didn't seem quite deep enough for a book-length treatment; in fact, at times it seemed like the author was stretching his narrative a bit to make it fit book length. All-to-say, it was an interesting tale of but one small facet of World War II that many probably have never heard of.
]]> The Cold Moons 1187590 333 Aeron Clement 0385296940 Rick 0 to-read 3.82 The Cold Moons
author: Aeron Clement
name: Rick
average rating: 3.82
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The House at Pooh Corner: 2 3189898 180 A.A. Milne 0525323023 Rick 0 to-read 4.45 1928 The House at Pooh Corner: 2
author: A.A. Milne
name: Rick
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1928
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories]]> 23279471
The only available collection that brings together all of Kafka's storiesïżœthose published during his lifetime and those released after his death.]]> 486 Franz Kafka Rick 0 to-read 0.0 1911 Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories
author: Franz Kafka
name: Rick
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1911
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Walter Lippmann and the American Century]]> 1585134 686 Ronald Steel 0316811904 Rick 5 american-history
Lippmann's specialty seemed to be politics, and criticism of same from all viewpoints. His advice was sought out by many, and given nonetheless in his column "Today and Tomorrow" ... from 1931 through 1967, an era when paper still ruled the world. Much of Lippmann’s influence was behind the scenes â€� somewhat like an Ă©minence grise. All to say, this was an engaging book and is recommended.

]]> 4.00 1980 Walter Lippmann and the American Century
author: Ronald Steel
name: Rick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1980
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: american-history
review:
This was a delightful, if long, biography of probably the standout journalist of the 20th century ... and thus is aptly titled. Born in 1889 and passed in 1974, Lippmann's influence covers most of the 1900s ... in large part because he met with a total of 11 US presidents—beginning with Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson all the way through to Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon—and many of the world leaders who helped shape history, such as Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Nikita Khrushchev. He also cultivated relationships with leading jurists of the time, such as Learned Hand and Felix Frankfurter ... all the while living through two World Wars, Korea and Vietnam.

Lippmann's specialty seemed to be politics, and criticism of same from all viewpoints. His advice was sought out by many, and given nonetheless in his column "Today and Tomorrow" ... from 1931 through 1967, an era when paper still ruled the world. Much of Lippmann’s influence was behind the scenes â€� somewhat like an Ă©minence grise. All to say, this was an engaging book and is recommended.


]]> An Interrupted Life 1138463 Het verstoorde leven, dagboek van Etty Hillesum, was toen het in 1981 voor het eerst verscheen, direct een sensatie. De overweldigende aandacht voor wat Hillesum in de jaren 1941 en 1942 schreef, gaf het boek vleugels. Kunstenaars, musici, scenarioschrijvers, en theatermakers lieten zich door haar werk inspireren. Het werd over de hele wereld vertaald en gelezen, en bracht een stroom reacties op gang die voortduurt tot op de dag van vandaag.

Waarom? Etty Hillesum wordt herkend als een vrouw die het barbarendom het hoofd bood, zonder zelf in wanhoop en haat ten onder te gaan.

Ten onder gaan dééd ze, op 30 november 1943, in Auschwitz. Maar de stem die klinkt uit haar dagboeken, de liefde, haar onverwoestbaar geloof in de menselijke mogelijkheden, haar intens beleden en beleefde vriendschappen, en haar intelligente en sensitieve geest hebben veertig, vijftig, zestig jaar later honderdduizenden lezers bereikt.

Het is te danken aan Hillesums literaire begaafdheid dat haar dagboeken en brieven moeiteloos de tijden weten te doorstaan.]]> 226 Etty Hillesum 0394532171 Rick 0 to-read 4.40 1981 An Interrupted Life
author: Etty Hillesum
name: Rick
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Below The Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica 1699-1839]]> 1591926 336 Alan Gurney 0140272607 Rick 5 naval-tall-ships
This book languished on the shelf for years until finally picked up for study ... and glad for it. Gurney gained most of his knowledge of Antarctica from cruises he took, helping him write a thoroughly engaging tale of these early ventures that aimed to prove the existence of a southern continent. If you enjoy history, especially nautical, and liked the Patrick O'Brian series of books set in the Royal Navy in the early 1800s, you will enjoy this addition to the literature. Recommended. ]]> 3.75 1997 Below The Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica 1699-1839
author: Alan Gurney
name: Rick
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: naval-tall-ships
review:
This was a delightful read about the early explorations of the least populated and coldest continent on earth ... Antarctica. Gurney's book confines itself to the explorations that occurred in the roughly 150 year period from the end of the 1600s through the mid-1800s; all these explorations preceded any actual landing by man on the continent, which landing is thought to date to 1895. The focus of "Below the Convergence" is how each maritime adventure brought to light a bit more about this mysterious area to the far south. Each discovery added a bit more to the mosaic that was slowly revealed.

This book languished on the shelf for years until finally picked up for study ... and glad for it. Gurney gained most of his knowledge of Antarctica from cruises he took, helping him write a thoroughly engaging tale of these early ventures that aimed to prove the existence of a southern continent. If you enjoy history, especially nautical, and liked the Patrick O'Brian series of books set in the Royal Navy in the early 1800s, you will enjoy this addition to the literature. Recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Burma '44: The Battle That Turned World War II in the East]]> 76987772 448 James Holland 0802160581 Rick 3 world-war-ii
With Japan running rampant throughout Southeast Asia, it was only a matter of time before their forces were directed at India ... which would have been a tempting addition to Imperial Japan's empire. But Japan's reach was overextended and it was losing the ability to resupply its forces. The Battle of Admin Box in Burma proved to be Japan's 'bridge too far' as it suffered a defeat that had a far-reaching impact on the course of the war in the theater.

Good book ... reads a bit too much like a simple Order of Battle presentation ... but shines a light on an area that has not been previously explored in detail. ]]> 3.90 2016 Burma '44: The Battle That Turned World War II in the East
author: James Holland
name: Rick
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
Good book about a little known battle pitting British and Indian forces against the Japanese, with the former learning that the latter could be beaten in jungle warfare in the Southeast Asian theater. Holland's take is a nicely woven tale that brings in much of the history that illustrates the strategic importance of Burma in the theater, and how it acted as a blocking force preventing the Japanese from adding India to its list of conquests.

With Japan running rampant throughout Southeast Asia, it was only a matter of time before their forces were directed at India ... which would have been a tempting addition to Imperial Japan's empire. But Japan's reach was overextended and it was losing the ability to resupply its forces. The Battle of Admin Box in Burma proved to be Japan's 'bridge too far' as it suffered a defeat that had a far-reaching impact on the course of the war in the theater.

Good book ... reads a bit too much like a simple Order of Battle presentation ... but shines a light on an area that has not been previously explored in detail.
]]> <![CDATA[Operation Underworld: How the Mafia and U.S. Government Teamed Up to Win World War II]]> 60277155 The never-before-told true story of how mobster Charles “Luckyâ€� Luciano—the U.S. Mafia boss who put the “organizedâ€� into organized crime—was recruited by U.S. Naval Intelligence to turn the tide of WWII.

In 1942, a rational fear was mounting that New York Harbor was vulnerable to sabotage. If the waterfront was infested with German and Italian agents then the U.S. Navy needed a recourse just as insidious to secure it.

Naval intelligence officer, Commander Charles Radcliffe Haffenden had the solution: recruit as his own spies, members of La Cosa Nostra. Pier to pier, no one terrified the longshoremen, stevedores, shopkeepers, and boat captains along the harbor better than the Mafia gangs of New York, who controlled the docks in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Haffenden was prepared to make a deal with the devil–the man who put “organizedâ€� into organized crime. Even from his cell in Dannemora State Prison, former Public Enemy #1, Charles “Luckyâ€� Luciano still had tremendous power. Luciano was willing to wield it for Haffenden. But he wanted something in return—Luciano’s contacts in Italy to track the Nazisâ€� movements.

Operation Underworld is a tale of espionage and crime like no other, the unbelievable, first-ever account of the Allied war effort’s clandestine coalition between the Mafia and the U.S. Government to protect New York, vanquish the Nazis by taking the fight to the enemy in the 1943 U.S. invasion of Sicily. It was an ingenious strategy carried out by some of history’s most infamous, improbable, and unsung heroes on both sides of the law. It was a Faustian bargain that brought homefront enemies together but, as journalist and crime historian Matthew Black reveals, one that ultimately succeeded in helping the Allies win World War II.]]> 336 Matthew Black 0806542152 Rick 0 world-war-ii, to-read 3.81 2022 Operation Underworld: How the Mafia and U.S. Government Teamed Up to Win World War II
author: Matthew Black
name: Rick
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: world-war-ii, to-read
review:

]]> James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett Rick 0 4.46 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Rick
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: african-america, civil-war, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox]]> 15721227 Iliad, a unique work uniting the scholarship of the historian and the high readability of the first-class novelist." —Walker Percy

"I have never read a better, more vivid, more understandable account of the savage battling between Grant's and Lee's armies.... Foote stays with the human strife and suffering, and unlike most Southern commentators, he does not take sides. In objectivity, in range, in mastery of detail in beauty of language and feeling for the people involved, this work surpasses anything else on the subject.... It stands alongside the work of the best of them." �New Republic

"Foote is a novelist who temporarily abandoned fiction to apply the novelist's shaping hand to history: his model is not Thucydides but The Iliad, and his story, innocent of notes and formal bibliography, has a literary design. Not by accident...but for cathartic effect is so much space given to the war's unwinding, it's final shudders and convulsions.... To read this chronicle is an awesome and moving experience. History and literature are rarely so thoroughly combined as here; one finishes this volume convinced that no one need undertake this particular enterprise again." �Newsweek

"The most written-about war in history has, with this completion of Shelby Foote's trilogy, been given the epic treatment it deserves." �Providence Journal]]> 1065 Shelby Foote Rick 5 civil-war, multi-volume-reads 5.00 1974 The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox
author: Shelby Foote
name: Rick
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: civil-war, multi-volume-reads
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York]]> 1111 The Power Broker tells the hidden story behind the shaping (and mis-shaping) of twentieth-century New York (city and state) and makes public what few have known: that Robert Moses was, for almost half a century, the single most powerful man of our time in New York, the shaper not only of the city's politics but of its physical structure and the problems of urban decline that plague us today.

In revealing how Moses did it--how he developed his public authorities into a political machine that was virtually a fourth branch of government, one that could bring to their knees Governors and Mayors (from La Guardia to Lindsay) by mobilizing banks, contractors, labor unions, insurance firms, even the press and the Church, into an irresistible economic force--Robert Caro reveals how power works in all the cities of the United States. Moses built an empire and lived like an emperor. He personally conceived and completed public works costing 27 billion dollars--the greatest builder America (and probably the world) has ever known. Without ever having been elected to office, he dominated the men who were--even his most bitter enemy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, could not control him--until he finally encountered, in Nelson Rockefeller, the only man whose power (and ruthlessness in wielding it) equalled his own.]]> 1246 Robert A. Caro 0394720245 Rick 0 to-read, american-history 4.51 1974 The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
author: Robert A. Caro
name: Rick
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves: to-read, american-history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Second World War, Vol. 1, The Gathering Storm]]> 90228 784 Winston S. Churchill 039534929X Rick 5 4.73 1948 The Second World War, Vol. 1, The Gathering Storm
author: Winston S. Churchill
name: Rick
average rating: 4.73
book published: 1948
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: world-war-ii, multi-volume-reads
review:

]]> Mansfield Park 2381389 429 Jane Austen Rick 0 to-read 3.74 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Rick
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1814
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia]]> 125522764
“Nothing less than a masterpiece. With epic research and mesmerizing narrative power, Judgment at Tokyo has the makings of an instant classic.â€�
—Evan Osnos, National Book Award–winning author of Age of Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

In the weeks after Japan finally surrendered to the Allies to end World War II, the world turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. For Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, Chiang Kai-shek, and their fellow victors, the question of justice seemed Japan’s militaristic leaders needed to be tried and punished for the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; shocking atrocities against civilians in China, the Philippines, and elsewhere; and rampant abuses of prisoners of war in notorious incidents such as the Bataan death march. For the Allied powers, the trial was an opportunity to render judgment on their vanquished foes, but also to create a legal framework to prosecute war crimes and prohibit the use of aggressive war, building a more peaceful world under international law and American hegemony. For the Japanese leaders on trial, it was their chance to argue that their war had been waged to liberate Asia from Western imperialism and that the court was victorsâ€� justice.

For more than two years, lawyers for both sides presented their cases before a panel of clashing judges from China, India, the Philippines, and Australia, as well as the United States and European powers. The testimony ran from horrific accounts of brutality and the secret plans to attack Pearl Harbor to the Japanese military’s threats to subvert the government if it sued for peace. Yet rather than clarity and unanimity, the trial brought complexity, dissents, and divisions that provoke international discord between China, Japan, and Korea to this day. Those courtroom tensions and contradictions could also be seen playing out across Asia as the trial unfolded in the crucial early years of the Cold War, from China’s descent into civil war to Japan’s successful postwar democratic elections to India’s independence and partition.

From the author of the acclaimed The Blood Telegram, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, this magnificent history is the product of a decade of research and writing. Judgment at Tokyo is a riveting story of wartime action, dramatic courtroom battles, and the epic formative years that set the stage for the Asian postwar era.]]> 912 Gary J. Bass Rick 4 world-war-ii
While the tale is very interesting and the narrative is up to the challenge, the book spends too much time delineating the judges proclivities ... so much so that the story is probably 200 pages too long. Much of the story is engaging ... such as the makeup of the court, the selection and classification of the defendants, the appointment of counsel, and the efforts to insulate Hirohito. But the tale gets bogged down in minutia when it wallows in the backstage infighting among judges, the sobriety of some defense counsel, the discussions of "natural law" and "aggressive war," and the influence of General MacArthur. In the end, all of the dissenting opinions made the trial seem somewhat of a failure

Taking out 200 pages and sharpening the focus would have been appreciated. This book gets to four stars, but just barely.]]> 4.39 2023 Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia
author: Gary J. Bass
name: Rick
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/26
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
"Judgement at Tokyo" is a well-researched tale of the Tokyo trials of accused war criminals from the Asian Theater of operations during World War II. Along with the Nuremburg trials, these criminal proceedings formed the bookends of the victors' justice ... but the trials were different. The Nuremburg trials seemed to be much more of a slam-dunk proceeding, while the Tokyo trials began with fits-and-starts and ended with many dissenting opinions. This book details it all, and then some.

While the tale is very interesting and the narrative is up to the challenge, the book spends too much time delineating the judges proclivities ... so much so that the story is probably 200 pages too long. Much of the story is engaging ... such as the makeup of the court, the selection and classification of the defendants, the appointment of counsel, and the efforts to insulate Hirohito. But the tale gets bogged down in minutia when it wallows in the backstage infighting among judges, the sobriety of some defense counsel, the discussions of "natural law" and "aggressive war," and the influence of General MacArthur. In the end, all of the dissenting opinions made the trial seem somewhat of a failure

Taking out 200 pages and sharpening the focus would have been appreciated. This book gets to four stars, but just barely.
]]> Clear 176443690
Against the rugged backdrop of this faraway spot beyond Shetland, Carys Davies's intimate drama unfolds with tension and tenderness: a touching and crystalline study of ordinary people buffeted by history and a powerful exploration of the distances and connections between us. Perfectly structured and surprising at every turn, Clear is a marvel of storytelling, an exquisite short novel by a master of the form.]]> 196 Carys Davies 1668030667 Rick 5
Set in the 1840s on remote islands that resemble the Shetland Islands, one man arrives to evict another during the Scottish Clearances. But the former is injured as he arrives, and must rely on the latter to help him ... and thus we have a wonderful paradox. Davis is well-known for her short stories and this one is just a bit longer, and is eminently satisfying. Highly recommended. ]]> 3.85 Clear
author: Carys Davies
name: Rick
average rating: 3.85
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:
A unique and spare little book that reveals much about human nature, loneliness, and family. An old writing adage reminds writers to not use two words when one will do ... and Davis practices that well. She is concise, but the reader is never left wondering or wandering.

Set in the 1840s on remote islands that resemble the Shetland Islands, one man arrives to evict another during the Scottish Clearances. But the former is injured as he arrives, and must rely on the latter to help him ... and thus we have a wonderful paradox. Davis is well-known for her short stories and this one is just a bit longer, and is eminently satisfying. Highly recommended.
]]> Eats, Shoots & Leaves 7761658 240 Lynne Truss 1616798904 Rick 5
What Truss does for punctuation here is similar to what Edwin Newman did for the English language in his books "Strictly Speaking" and "A Civil Tongue." While those books were produced in the 1970s, they still have a ring of sensibility today. All told, Truss and Newman just might make us a little bit better at writing and speaking.]]> 4.00 2003 Eats, Shoots & Leaves
author: Lynne Truss
name: Rick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:
What a delightful book ... with wit and sarcasm Truss skewers the misuse of punctuation today, beginning with the title where a misplaced comma completely changes the meaning of the phrase. Call me crazy, but this was a great beach read ... one that you can put down and pick up without having to read yourself into a complex storyline each time. Funny and engaging.

What Truss does for punctuation here is similar to what Edwin Newman did for the English language in his books "Strictly Speaking" and "A Civil Tongue." While those books were produced in the 1970s, they still have a ring of sensibility today. All told, Truss and Newman just might make us a little bit better at writing and speaking.
]]> <![CDATA[Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales]]> 644172
Nothing is quite as it seems. Expect the unexpected in this veritable treasure trove of enthralling, witty, dark tales that could only come from the imagination of the greatest storyteller of our time.]]> 459 Stephen King 0743235150 Rick 0 to-read 3.89 2002 Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales
author: Stephen King
name: Rick
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Magnificent Obsession 545936 330 Lloyd C. Douglas 0395957745 Rick 4
This was a delightful read about serving others. The narrative reminded me of a late-1950s TV show—The Millionaire. In that show the reclusive John Beresford Tipton would anonymously give away money to people he did not know
much like “Magnificent Obsession’sâ€� Robert Merrick doing good deeds for others. Good read
]]> 3.84 Magnificent Obsession
author: Lloyd C. Douglas
name: Rick
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/28
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:
"Magnificent Obsession" by Lloyd Douglas was published in 1929 and, because of that dating, suffers some from stilted language and dialogue. Be that as it may, it was an inspirational story about someone who finds God in his life. For the reader, once past the first chapter and by then used to the literary style, the book opens up and the pages fly by. A special layer in the tale is that while the protagonist is finding God, a circular and sweet love story takes place.

This was a delightful read about serving others. The narrative reminded me of a late-1950s TV show—The Millionaire. In that show the reclusive John Beresford Tipton would anonymously give away money to people he did not know
much like “Magnificent Obsession’sâ€� Robert Merrick doing good deeds for others. Good readâ€�
]]> <![CDATA[Rickover: Father of the Nuclear Navy]]> 3212795
Ìę

Authors Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar, whose full-length biography of Rickover (in manuscript in 1981) was consulted by the Reagan Administration during the decision to remove him from active duty, are eminently qualified to write an essential treatment on the controversial genius of Admiral Rickover.]]> 128 Thomas B. Allen 1574887041 Rick 3 3.67 2007 Rickover: Father of the Nuclear Navy
author: Thomas B. Allen
name: Rick
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Windsor Story 1494375 If you thought you knew everything there is to know about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, you are in for a shock...

In this authoritative, entertaining dual biography of Edward VIII and the American woman for whom he sacrificed the crown of England and its Empire, we see the Windsors as they have never been seen before: Wallis as a domineering woman who badgered the King for a bigger title, and the King himself as a slave of love. Through interviews with those closest to them, we observe their marriage not as the sentimental love story but as the nightmare it truly was.

The Windsor Story sweeps the reader up into a saga embracing two World Wars, the roaring twenties, the decadent café society of the fifties, and a score of personalities ranging from Cecil Beaton to Adolf Hitler, with major appearances by Winston Churchill, Prime Minster Stanley Baldwin, Queen Mary, the present Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is above all enthralling history, shedding new light on who made the decisions that led to disaster, the court intrigue that swirled around the Abdication (a Watergate-sized foul-up), the gulling of the British press by Lord Beaverbrook, and the royal family's vindictive behavior, which drove the Windsors into the arms of the Nazis and other unsavory and dangerous connections that were to mar their lifelong exile.]]> 639 J. Bryan III 0688035531 Rick 0 to-read 3.92 1979 The Windsor Story
author: J. Bryan III
name: Rick
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Design of Books: An Explainer for Authors, Editors, Agents, and Other Curious Readers (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)]]> 183362913 Ìę
Design is central to the appeal, messaging, and usefulness of books, but to most readers, it’s mysterious or even invisible. Through interiors as well as covers, designers provide structure and information that shape the meaning and experience of books. In The Design of Books , Debbie Berne shines a light on the conventions and processes of her profession, revealing both the aesthetic and market-driven decisions designers consider to make books readable and beautiful. In clear, unstuffy language, Berne reveals how books are put together, with discussions of production considerations, typography and fonts, page layouts, use of images and color, special issues for ebooks, and the very face of each the cover. Ìę
Ìę
The Design of Books speaks to readers and directly to booksâ€� creators—authors, editors, and other publishing professionals—helping them to become more informed partners in the design of their projects. Berne lays out the practical steps at each stage of the design process, providing insight into who does what when and offering advice for authors on how to be effective advocates for their ideas while also letting go and trusting their manuscripts with teams of professionals. She includes guidance as well for self-publishing authors, including where to find a designer, what to expect from that relationship, and how to art direct your own book.
Ìę
Throughout, Berne teaches how understanding the whats, hows, and whys of book design heightens our appreciation of these cherished objects and helps everyone involved in the process to create more functional, desirable, and wonderful books.
Ìę]]> 256 Debbie Berne 0226822958 Rick 3 4.38 The Design of Books: An Explainer for Authors, Editors, Agents, and Other Curious Readers (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
author: Debbie Berne
name: Rick
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves:
review:
This was an interesting read on the design of books. While it is pretty general in nature, it does offer some detail on overall aspects of book design. This is a good primer for one starting out in book design as it shares the general expectations and events in the design of most books ... including ebooks. I thought the best part of the book was the Appendix sections on Type Etiquette, Resources, and Further Readings ... which is where one can find details on the specifics of book design. Good starter book on the subject.
]]> <![CDATA[The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage]]> 199798790
Free speech is a human right, and the free expression of thought is at the very essence of being human. The United States was founded on this premise, and the First Amendment remains the single greatest constitutional commitment to the right of free expression in history. Yet there is a systemic effort to bar opposing viewpoints on subjects ranging from racial discrimination to police abuse, from climate change to gender equity. These measures are reinforced by the public’s anger and rage; flash mobs appear today with the slightest provocation. We all lash out against anyone or anything that stands against our preferred certainty.

The Indispensable Right places the current attacks on free speech in their proper historical, legal, and political context. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights were not only written for times like these, but in a time like this. This country was born in an age of rage and for 250 years we have periodically lost sight of the value of free expression. The history of the struggle for free speech is the story of extraordinary people—nonconformists who refuse to yield to abusive authority—and here is a mosaic of vivid characters and controversies.

Jonathan Turley takes you through the figures and failures that have shaped us and then shows the unique dangers of our current moment. The alliance of academic, media, and corporate interests with the government’s traditional wish to control speech has put us on an almost irresistible path toward censorship. The Indispensable Right reminds us that we remain a nation grappling with the implications of free expression and with the limits of our tolerance for the speech of others. For rather than a political crisis, this is a crisis of faith.]]> 432 Jonathan Turley 1668047047 Rick 0 to-read, american-history 4.29 2024 The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage
author: Jonathan Turley
name: Rick
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves: to-read, american-history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Oxford Shakespeare: Histories, Comedies, Tragedies3-volume cased set]]> 286633 rethinking of the text and presentation of Shakespeare's works ever undertaken, it offered many remarkable innovations features, including a new chronological order, revised stage directions, modern spelling and punctuation, and two full versions of King Lear --as originally written and as revised
later for performance.
The Complete Oxford Shakespeare divides this excellent book into three handy volumes. It contains all the innovative features of the original, including a lucid General Introduction by Stanley Wells, and brief introductions to each work. It has been organized into Histories (including the poems
and sonnets), Comedies, and Tragedies, with the plays grouped in chronological order in each volume.
Attractively bound, with gold stamping on front and spine, and beautifully designed, these handsome volumes will undoubtably become a treasure for lovers of Shakespeare throughout the English-speaking world.]]> 1470 William Shakespeare 0198129726 Rick 0 to-read 4.33 1623 The Complete Oxford Shakespeare: Histories, Comedies, Tragedies3-volume cased set
author: William Shakespeare
name: Rick
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1623
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill Alone, 1932-40]]> 23213855
Praise for The Last Lion: Alone

“Manchester has such control over a huge and moving narrative, such illumination of character . . . that he can claim the considerable achievement of having assembled enough powerful evidence to support Isaiah Berlin’s judgment of Churchill as ‘the largest human being of our time.’â€�â€�The New Yorker

“M±đłŸŽÇ°ùČčČú±ô±đ.â€�â€�San Francisco Chronicle

“Stirring . . . As Manchester points out several times, it’s as if the age, having produced a Hitler, then summoned Churchill as the only figure equal to the task of vanquishing him. The years Alone are the pivotal years of Churchill’s career.â€�â€�The Boston Sunday Globe

“The best Churchill biography [for] this generation . . . Even readers who know the basic story will find much that is new.â€�â€�Newsweek

“A triumph . . . equal in stature to the first volume of the series.â€�â€�Newsday

“Vivid . . . history in the grand manner.â€� —The Washington Post

“Compelling reading.â€�â€�The Times (London)]]> 782 William Manchester Rick 5
Volume one covered the period from Churchill’s birth in 1874 through 1932 ... a period of 58 years. By 1932 Churchill had pretty much been ostracized by Britain’s Parliament. His seeming failures concerning the Dardanelles, the lost elections, and finally India had cost him all of his goodwill. He remained in Parliament because his parliamentary constituency continued to vote him in, but he was not part of the government. He was a "backbencher," relegated to giving speeches but not allowed to make policy. The second volume ... Alone ... picks up right there, with Churchill in Parliament but not in power.

Not able to affect change, Churchill divided his time between writing at his home at Chartwell and giving speeches in the House ... the addresses to Parliament always sounding the alarm about the rise of Hitler. But Parliament (and France) were controlled by "appeasers" who sought to avoid conflict at every cost. They watched and dithered as Hitler would say one thing and do another ... time and time again. Hitler's chess moves began with the Rhineland, then Austria, then the Sudetenland, then Czechoslovakia, and finally Poland. All the while Whitehall in London and the Quai d’Orsay in Paris made excuses; after all, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain supposedly had purchased “peace in our time.â€�

While we all know how the story ends, the narrative of volume two is riveting. Manchester has a real affinity for his subject and has written a page turner. The reader is drawn in immediately to the life and times of these pre-war years in Europe. The strength of the book is that Manchester shows all of Churchill’s faults in living color; he doesn’t “pull his punches.â€� This work is not a hagiography of Churchill. In fact, at times one wonders why Churchill wasn’t run out of politics all together â€� but the tale also answers that question. This tome is a massive undertaking by Manchester, and IMHO a massive success. Highly recommended.]]> 4.67 1988 The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill Alone, 1932-40
author: William Manchester
name: Rick
average rating: 4.67
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves: multi-volume-reads, world-war-ii
review:
“The Last Lionâ€� series by William Manchester is a three volume biography on Churchill. Volumes one (1983) and two (1988) were written solely by Manchester; the third volume was finished by Paul Reid (published 2012) using the notes and outlines of Manchester who had died in 2004. This review is for Volume 2 - "The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940."

Volume one covered the period from Churchill’s birth in 1874 through 1932 ... a period of 58 years. By 1932 Churchill had pretty much been ostracized by Britain’s Parliament. His seeming failures concerning the Dardanelles, the lost elections, and finally India had cost him all of his goodwill. He remained in Parliament because his parliamentary constituency continued to vote him in, but he was not part of the government. He was a "backbencher," relegated to giving speeches but not allowed to make policy. The second volume ... Alone ... picks up right there, with Churchill in Parliament but not in power.

Not able to affect change, Churchill divided his time between writing at his home at Chartwell and giving speeches in the House ... the addresses to Parliament always sounding the alarm about the rise of Hitler. But Parliament (and France) were controlled by "appeasers" who sought to avoid conflict at every cost. They watched and dithered as Hitler would say one thing and do another ... time and time again. Hitler's chess moves began with the Rhineland, then Austria, then the Sudetenland, then Czechoslovakia, and finally Poland. All the while Whitehall in London and the Quai d’Orsay in Paris made excuses; after all, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain supposedly had purchased “peace in our time.â€�

While we all know how the story ends, the narrative of volume two is riveting. Manchester has a real affinity for his subject and has written a page turner. The reader is drawn in immediately to the life and times of these pre-war years in Europe. The strength of the book is that Manchester shows all of Churchill’s faults in living color; he doesn’t “pull his punches.â€� This work is not a hagiography of Churchill. In fact, at times one wonders why Churchill wasn’t run out of politics all together â€� but the tale also answers that question. This tome is a massive undertaking by Manchester, and IMHO a massive success. Highly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America]]> 153776136
In one vitally significant year in American history, the country would experience turmoil, instability, natural disaster, bubbling political radicalism, and a rise of dangerous forces ushering in a new era of global conflict � and emerge both afresh and revitalized.

At the start of 1932, the nation’s worst economic crisis has left one-in-four workers without a job, countless families facing eviction, banks shutting down as desperate depositors withdraw their savings, and growing social and political unrest from urban centers to the traditionally conservative rural heart of the country.

Amid this turmoil, a political decision looms that will determine the course of the nation. It is a choice between two men with very diferent visions of Incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover with his dogmatic embrace of small government and a largely unfettered free market, and New York’s Democratic Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his belief that the path out of the economic crisis requires government intervention in the economy and a national sense of shared purpose.

Now veteran journalist Scott Martelle provides a gripping narrative retelling of that vitally significant year as social and political systems struggled under the weight of the devastating Dust Bowl, economic woes, rising political protests, and growing demand for the repeal of Prohibition. That November, voters overwhelmingly rejected decades of Republican rule and backed Roosevelt and his promise to redefine the role of the federal government while putting the needs of the people ahead of the wishes of the wealthy.

"The story of the 1932 election is well-known, so I wanted to write a book that explores other lesser-known aspects of that tumultuous year," Martelle says. "In the end, I hope the reader comes away with a feel for what life was like for average Americans as they lived in the shadow of highly dramatic events."

Deftly told, this illuminating work spotlights parallel events from that pivotal year and brings to life figures who made headlines in their time but have been largly forgotten today. Ultimately, it is the story of a nation that, with the help of a leader determined to unite and inspire, took giant steps toward a new America.]]> 368 Scott Martelle Rick 0 to-read, american-history 3.64 2023 1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America
author: Scott Martelle
name: Rick
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/01
shelves: to-read, american-history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Treasure (Sandy Steele Adventures, #1)]]> 45888499 193 Roger Barlow Rick 4 ya, multi-volume-reads
This tale of oil drilling in the Far West teaches the reader a smidgen of the lingo and process for finding and drilling for oil. So it is a bit of a history book and an education ... all wrapped into one. The tale touches on a bit of Indian culture, the Four Corners Region of the United States, Kit Carson, and some general knowledge about the Old West. While modern day readers might look for the next Harry Potter series to come along (as do I), or prefer The Hunger Games or Divergent types of futuristic/dystopian books, this little throwback was very entertaining. All in all a nicely produced little tale.]]> 3.50 1959 Black Treasure (Sandy Steele Adventures, #1)
author: Roger Barlow
name: Rick
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/05
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: ya, multi-volume-reads
review:
There is a series of six Sandy Steele Adventure books that were written for the YA crowd back in the late-1950s. The publisher Simon & Schuster contacted with a few established authors, who wrote under the pen name Roger Barlow for this series. Very similar in style and tone to the Hardy Boys Mysteries, Black Treasure was book one in the Sandy Steele Adventure series ... and it was a delight. It did not treat the YA crowd as silly and it did not talk down to them ... and sometimes seemed a bit advanced even for the YA level.

This tale of oil drilling in the Far West teaches the reader a smidgen of the lingo and process for finding and drilling for oil. So it is a bit of a history book and an education ... all wrapped into one. The tale touches on a bit of Indian culture, the Four Corners Region of the United States, Kit Carson, and some general knowledge about the Old West. While modern day readers might look for the next Harry Potter series to come along (as do I), or prefer The Hunger Games or Divergent types of futuristic/dystopian books, this little throwback was very entertaining. All in all a nicely produced little tale.
]]> <![CDATA[Fire at Red Lake (Sandy Steele Adventures, #4)]]> 154397483 0 Roger Barlow Rick 4 ya, multi-volume-reads
Each adventure finds the main character, Sandy Steele, spending his summer vacation with a friend or two at some location far from home. The adventure in book four was that of Sandy and his gang spending the summer camping way up in the north woods, which turns into something else quite quickly. Camping leads to logging camps, to meeting forest rangers, to experiencing a forest fire, and learning all the things forest rangers can do to minimize and/or stop fires. The narrative is written much like a screenplay with a series of unfortunate problems, each of which must be solved by the group. Besides fires, the search for a missing top-secret government A-bomb drives the drama. The narrative has an engaging storyline, and is a nice addition to the series.]]> 4.00 1959 Fire at Red Lake (Sandy Steele Adventures, #4)
author: Roger Barlow
name: Rick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: ya, multi-volume-reads
review:
This was book four in the series of six Sandy Steele Adventure books that were written for the YA crowd back in the late-1950s. The author Roger Barlow was a pen name working for Publisher Simon & Schuster who had contacted with a few established authors for this series. Similar in style and tone to the Hardy Boys Mysteries, Fire at Red Lake was another delight in the series. The first four books in the series have all been a throwback to simpler times ... but that said, this little tale was very entertaining.

Each adventure finds the main character, Sandy Steele, spending his summer vacation with a friend or two at some location far from home. The adventure in book four was that of Sandy and his gang spending the summer camping way up in the north woods, which turns into something else quite quickly. Camping leads to logging camps, to meeting forest rangers, to experiencing a forest fire, and learning all the things forest rangers can do to minimize and/or stop fires. The narrative is written much like a screenplay with a series of unfortunate problems, each of which must be solved by the group. Besides fires, the search for a missing top-secret government A-bomb drives the drama. The narrative has an engaging storyline, and is a nice addition to the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Troubled Waters (Sandy Steele Adventures, #6)]]> 123997100 Vintage Hardcover book 186 Roger Barlow Rick 4 ya, multi-volume-reads
As with the other books in this series, the Sandy Steele Adventures always bring an education on some topic ... in Troubled Waters it was on sailing. The reader learns some sailing lingo, the different kinds of sailboats (sloops, schooners, cutters, etc.), the different types of sails (main, jib, mizzen, spinnaker, etc.), reaching, beating, tacking and other such sailing terms. The adventure for Sandy and his pal is sailing into a dangerous situation, losing their boat, being threatened with a gun, and having to race their sloop to safety. All in all, an engaging tale.
]]> 3.50 Troubled Waters (Sandy Steele Adventures, #6)
author: Roger Barlow
name: Rick
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: ya, multi-volume-reads
review:
This sixth book in the Sandy Steele series was the last one ever published ... thus bringing an end to the series. Hear tell that the six books were all released at the same time in 1959, and may have been an effort to compete with the Hardy Boys-type of adventure books. But apparently the Sandy Steele books did not do well enough commercially to be continued. Since the author Roger Barlow was a pen name working for publisher Simon & Schuster who had contacted with a few established authors for this series, continuity might also have become a growing problem. Troubled Waters was another delight in the series, and another throwback to simpler times.

As with the other books in this series, the Sandy Steele Adventures always bring an education on some topic ... in Troubled Waters it was on sailing. The reader learns some sailing lingo, the different kinds of sailboats (sloops, schooners, cutters, etc.), the different types of sails (main, jib, mizzen, spinnaker, etc.), reaching, beating, tacking and other such sailing terms. The adventure for Sandy and his pal is sailing into a dangerous situation, losing their boat, being threatened with a gun, and having to race their sloop to safety. All in all, an engaging tale.

]]> <![CDATA[Secret Mission to Alaska (Sandy Steele Adventures, #5)]]> 35289641 188 Roger Barlow Rick 5 ya, multi-volume-reads
Book five finds Sandy Steele and his friends spending summer vacation up in Alaska for a dog sled race. The adventure becomes much more involved as Kodiak bears, ghost towns, enemy agents, and rocket fuel additives rise in the narrative. Everything coalesces into a double-cross ... but who is double-crossing whom? This time the narrative was more complex than some of the earlier books. It is hard to believe that Sandy and his pals are high school age kids, but that is how they are drawn. As usual, the narrative has an engaging storyline, and is a nice addition to the series.]]> 4.50 1959 Secret Mission to Alaska (Sandy Steele Adventures, #5)
author: Roger Barlow
name: Rick
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1959
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: ya, multi-volume-reads
review:
This was book five in the series of six Sandy Steele Adventure books that were written for the YA crowd back in the late-1950s. The author Roger Barlow was a pen name working for Publisher Simon & Schuster who had contacted with a few established authors for this series. Similar in style and tone to the Hardy Boys Mysteries, Secret Mission to Alaska was another delight in the series. So far, all the books in the series have been a throwback to simpler times ... but that said, this little tale was very entertaining. In fact, of the first five books this one was the most engaging.

Book five finds Sandy Steele and his friends spending summer vacation up in Alaska for a dog sled race. The adventure becomes much more involved as Kodiak bears, ghost towns, enemy agents, and rocket fuel additives rise in the narrative. Everything coalesces into a double-cross ... but who is double-crossing whom? This time the narrative was more complex than some of the earlier books. It is hard to believe that Sandy and his pals are high school age kids, but that is how they are drawn. As usual, the narrative has an engaging storyline, and is a nice addition to the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Stormy Voyage (Sandy Steele Adventures, #3)]]> 50517224 186 Roger Barlow Rick 4 ya, multi-volume-reads
The adventure in book three was that of Sandy and his friend Jerry spending the summer working freighters on the Great Lakes. The narrative teaches the reader a bit about the Great Lakes and how they are interconnected, and peels back information about Niagara Falls and the locks at Sault Saint Marie. And, of course, to be an adventure we need some drama: and drownings, and fires, and storms fill the bill. The narrative has an engaging storyline, and throws in some surprises along the way. A nice addition to the series. ]]> 4.00 1964 Stormy Voyage (Sandy Steele Adventures, #3)
author: Roger Barlow
name: Rick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1964
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: ya, multi-volume-reads
review:
This was book three in the series of six Sandy Steele Adventure books that were written for the YA crowd back in the late-1950s. Publisher Simon & Schuster had contacted with a few established authors, who wrote under the pen name Roger Barlow for this series. Very similar in style and tone to the Hardy Boys Mysteries, Stormy Voyage was another delight in the Sandy Steele Adventure series. The first three books in the series have all been a throwback to simpler times ... they are not a Harry Potter or a Hunger Games or a Divergent-type of book. That said, this little tale was very entertaining.

The adventure in book three was that of Sandy and his friend Jerry spending the summer working freighters on the Great Lakes. The narrative teaches the reader a bit about the Great Lakes and how they are interconnected, and peels back information about Niagara Falls and the locks at Sault Saint Marie. And, of course, to be an adventure we need some drama: and drownings, and fires, and storms fill the bill. The narrative has an engaging storyline, and throws in some surprises along the way. A nice addition to the series.
]]> <![CDATA[Danger at Mormon Crossing (Sandy Steele Adventures, #2)]]> 24292094
The boys had to learn to ride the roaring rapids. They were, however, saved the trouble of going after a mountain lion - he came after them instead. And their most dangerous hunt concerned three Crows - and a hidden cave. It was a month of high adventure.]]> 191 Roger Barlow Rick 4 ya, multi-volume-reads
This tale is about a group, with Sandy and his friend Mike, going west to hunt in the mountains ... specifically in the Lost River Range in Idaho. The narrative gives the reader a wonderful look at the rough and tumble country out west, and breathes life into rafting across rock rapids, fly fishing, cave spelunking, and the like ... so you get a history lesson also. Written in the 1950s, the narrative is not politically-correct all the time but is never offensive in touching on a bit of Indian culture, hunting for wild game, and some general knowledge about the Old West. Throw in some surprises along the way and you have the makings of an engaging storyline. All in all a nicely produced little tale.]]> 3.90 1959 Danger at Mormon Crossing (Sandy Steele Adventures, #2)
author: Roger Barlow
name: Rick
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/16
date added: 2024/03/27
shelves: ya, multi-volume-reads
review:
There is a series of six Sandy Steele Adventure books that were written for the YA crowd back in the late-1950s. The publisher Simon & Schuster contacted with a few established authors, who wrote under the pen name Roger Barlow for this series. Very similar in style and tone to the Hardy Boys Mysteries, Danger at Mormon Crossing was book two in the Sandy Steele Adventure series ... and it was a another delight. This series is a throwback to simpler times ... it is not a Harry Potter series or a Hunger Games or Divergent-type of futuristic/dystopian book. That said, this little tale was very entertaining.

This tale is about a group, with Sandy and his friend Mike, going west to hunt in the mountains ... specifically in the Lost River Range in Idaho. The narrative gives the reader a wonderful look at the rough and tumble country out west, and breathes life into rafting across rock rapids, fly fishing, cave spelunking, and the like ... so you get a history lesson also. Written in the 1950s, the narrative is not politically-correct all the time but is never offensive in touching on a bit of Indian culture, hunting for wild game, and some general knowledge about the Old West. Throw in some surprises along the way and you have the makings of an engaging storyline. All in all a nicely produced little tale.
]]> <![CDATA[Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific]]> 46265392 148 Robert Leckie 107062117X Rick 5 world-war-ii
The author's way of writing will bring a smile to your face one moment ... when he relates something that seems much in the vein of a M.A.S.H. episode, and then depress you the next ... when he relates some of the horrific events that took place on those islands. The author was in theater until the end in 1945, and he wrote and published this tale in 1957. While the presentation could have used a few maps and a rigorous editing ... and is not always politically-correct in its language ... one can see this was written more as a personal memoir rather than for a mass market audience. This is good stuff and highly recommended for its urgency and excitement.
]]> 4.24 1957 Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific
author: Robert Leckie
name: Rick
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1957
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/16
date added: 2024/03/16
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
This personal tale of experiences for a Marine in the Pacific Theater during World War II was excellent in its immediacy and frankness. The author pulls no punches in describing what was happening and how he felt during his tour ... from enlisting to the end of the war. The narrative covers what he underwent from boot camp to Guadalcanal to Peleliu, with digressions into his leave in Australia and the like. This was an era when you went to war and you stayed in war until it was finished ... even if that took years.

The author's way of writing will bring a smile to your face one moment ... when he relates something that seems much in the vein of a M.A.S.H. episode, and then depress you the next ... when he relates some of the horrific events that took place on those islands. The author was in theater until the end in 1945, and he wrote and published this tale in 1957. While the presentation could have used a few maps and a rigorous editing ... and is not always politically-correct in its language ... one can see this was written more as a personal memoir rather than for a mass market audience. This is good stuff and highly recommended for its urgency and excitement.

]]> <![CDATA[The Bear and the Dragon (John Clark, #3; Jack Ryan Universe, #11)]]> 19687 Time and again, Tom Clancy's novels have been praised not only for their big-scale drama and propulsive narrative drive but for their cutting-edge prescience in predicting future events.

In The Bear and the Dragon, the future is very near at hand indeed.

Newly elected in his own right, Jack Ryan has found that being President has gotten no easier: domestic pitfalls await him at every turn; there's a revolution in Liberia; the Asian economy is going down the tubes; and now, in Moscow, someone may have tried to take out the chairman of the SVR--the former KGB--with a rocket-propelled grenade. Things are unstable enough in Russia without high-level assassination, but even more disturbing may be the identities of the potential assassins. Were they political enemies, the Russian Mafia, or disaffected former KGB? Or, Ryan wonders, is something far more dangerous at work here?

Ryan is right. For even while he dispatches his most trusted eyes and ears, including black ops specialist John Clark, to find out the truth of the matter, forces in China are moving ahead with a plan of truly audacious proportions. If they succeed, the world as we know it will never look the same. If they fail...the consequences will be unspeakable.

Blending the exceptional realism and authenticity that are his hallmarks with intricate plotting, razor-sharp suspense, and a remarkable cast of characters, this is Clancy at his best--and there is none better.

]]> 1137 Tom Clancy 0425180964 Rick 3 3.86 2000 The Bear and the Dragon (John Clark, #3; Jack Ryan Universe, #11)
author: Tom Clancy
name: Rick
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/16
date added: 2024/03/16
shelves:
review:
If you like Tom Clancy's writing and his tales of Jack Ryan ... you'll love this one. This adventure pits a relatively innocent Russia against an aggressive China in a story of modern-day conquest, with the United States in between these giants. As usual Clancy puts out a page-turner ... and it was very easy to return to the storyline every time you pick the book back up ... but you have to pick it up pretty often as the book weighs in at over 1,100 pages. To my way of thinking the narrative was too long by half, but still not one that bores you. It keeps up the action all the way through. The last few hundred pages is where you'll get to the military moves and the action ... Clancy's expertise, and it was satisfying. All in all a good read, if a long one.
]]> The Red Badge of Courage 23261413 Alternate cover edition for ISBN 0486264653

First published in 1895, this small masterpiece set the pattern for the treatment of war in modern fiction. The novel is told through the eyes of Henry Fleming, a young soldier caught up in an unnamed Civil War battle who is motivated not by the unselfish heroism of conventional war stories, but by fear, cowardice and finally, egotism. However, in his struggle to find reality amid the nightmarish chaos of war, the young soldier also discovers courage, humility and, perhaps, wisdom. Although Crane had never been in battle before writing The Red Badge of Courage, the book was widely praised by experienced soldiers for its uncanny recreation of the sights, sounds and sense of actual combat. Its publication brought Crane immediate international fame and established him as a major American writer. Today, nearly a century later, the book ranks as an enduring landmark of American fiction.]]> 100 Stephen Crane Rick 0 to-read 2.95 1895 The Red Badge of Courage
author: Stephen Crane
name: Rick
average rating: 2.95
book published: 1895
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> children of ol'man river 16229147 REPRINT OF EARILER MEMOIR 360 Billy Bryant Rick 0 to-read 3.00 1988 children of ol'man river
author: Billy Bryant
name: Rick
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Eisenhower 2: The President 1376842 752 Ambrose 0671499017 Rick 4
This was an engrossing tale but a bit too in-depth at times. The first volume covered 62 years of Eisenhower's life (1890-1952) and this one covers mainly eight years (his two presidential terms) ... each volume weighing in at more than 600 pages in length. I suspect readers who lived through the 1950s will enjoy this tale the most because many of the look-backs to that time will feel somewhat familiar instead of reading like ancient history.

Eisenhower was President through a tumultuous period in history. He served as President during such events as: Senator McCarthy's witch hunt for Communists, the rise of Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution, the unsatisfactory armistice in Korea, the push of post-Stalin Communism throughout the world, the dismantling of colonial empires, the emergence of Soviet leader Khrushchev, the Russian space program, the American over-commitment in Indochina, the failure of American support in the Hungarian revolution, the fall of the French at Dien Bien Phu, and probably most significantly the nascent Civil Rights movement.

In the narrative Ambrose does not fall into the trap of hagiography, but rather takes Eisenhower to task for many periods where he either made the wrong decision or wasn't decisive enough. This objective interpretation makes the work a fair portrait of a complex man in a complex time. Highly recommended.]]> 4.20 1984 Eisenhower 2: The President
author: Ambrose
name: Rick
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/02/21
shelves:
review:
As mentioned in my five-star review for Volume 1 of this two-volume biography on Eisenhower, if you like the writing of Stephen Ambrose you will like this rendering of Dwight D. Eisenhower. This review is for the second volume of the two volume set, and covers Eisenhower's eight years as President.

This was an engrossing tale but a bit too in-depth at times. The first volume covered 62 years of Eisenhower's life (1890-1952) and this one covers mainly eight years (his two presidential terms) ... each volume weighing in at more than 600 pages in length. I suspect readers who lived through the 1950s will enjoy this tale the most because many of the look-backs to that time will feel somewhat familiar instead of reading like ancient history.

Eisenhower was President through a tumultuous period in history. He served as President during such events as: Senator McCarthy's witch hunt for Communists, the rise of Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution, the unsatisfactory armistice in Korea, the push of post-Stalin Communism throughout the world, the dismantling of colonial empires, the emergence of Soviet leader Khrushchev, the Russian space program, the American over-commitment in Indochina, the failure of American support in the Hungarian revolution, the fall of the French at Dien Bien Phu, and probably most significantly the nascent Civil Rights movement.

In the narrative Ambrose does not fall into the trap of hagiography, but rather takes Eisenhower to task for many periods where he either made the wrong decision or wasn't decisive enough. This objective interpretation makes the work a fair portrait of a complex man in a complex time. Highly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps]]> 1085986 208 Robert H. Abzug 0195042360 Rick 4 world-war-ii
This is not an easy read, but is approachable for the general reader. Pictures throughout bring an immediacy and reality to the narrative. This is an excellent start for anyone interested in learning about this facet of World War II. It also should be required reading for Holocaust deniers. I read this during the 2023/2024 war between the Palestinians and Israelis, which made for some thoughtful consideration. In the end, we need to make sure this never happens again. ]]> 4.13 1985 Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps
author: Robert H. Abzug
name: Rick
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
So how do you say nice things about a rich narrative on an absolutely horrible topic. I guess just like that. This effort is a 1985 retelling of a familiar tragedy that happened during World War II ... the Holocaust. This tale focuses on the American soldiers who liberated many of the concentration camps in Germany, such as Belsen, Dachau, Buchenwald, Mauthausen and the like. It does not focus on the extermination camps in the East that the Russians liberated on their sweep to Berlin. While there was a subtle difference between the two types of camps, it was only one of degree and intensity and scale. Both were places where unspeakable things happened to human beings.

This is not an easy read, but is approachable for the general reader. Pictures throughout bring an immediacy and reality to the narrative. This is an excellent start for anyone interested in learning about this facet of World War II. It also should be required reading for Holocaust deniers. I read this during the 2023/2024 war between the Palestinians and Israelis, which made for some thoughtful consideration. In the end, we need to make sure this never happens again.
]]> <![CDATA[For Profit: A History of Corporations]]> 60568507
From legacy manufacturers to emerging tech giants, corporations wield significant power over our lives, our economy, and our politics. Some celebrate them as engines of progress and prosperity. Others argue that they recklessly pursue profit at the expense of us all.

In For Profit , law professor William Magnuson reveals that both visions contain an element of truth. The story of the corporation is a human story, about a diverse group of merchants, bankers, and investors that have over time come to shape the landscape of our modern economy. Its central characters include both the brave, powerful, and ingenious and the conniving, fraudulent, and vicious. At times, these characters have been one and the same.

Yet as Magnuson shows, while corporations haven’t always behaved admirably, their purpose is a noble one. From their beginnings in the Roman Republic, corporations have been designed to promote the common good. By recapturing this spirit of civic virtue, For Profit argues, corporations can help craft a society in which all of us—not just shareholders—benefit from the profits of enterprise.]]> 357 William Magnuson 1541601564 Rick 0 to-read 3.94 For Profit: A History of Corporations
author: William Magnuson
name: Rick
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties]]> 336488 Mark Neely depicts Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus as a well-intentioned attempt to deal with a floodtide of unforeseen events: the threat to Washington as Maryland flirted with secession, disintegrating public order in the border states, corruption among military contractors, the occupation of hostile Confederate territory, contraband trade with the South, and the outcry against the first draft in U.S. history. Drawing on letters from prisoners, records of military courts and federal prisons, memoirs, and federal archives, he paints a vivid picture of how Lincoln responded to these problems, how his policies were actually executed, and the virulent political debates that followed. Lincoln emerges from this account with this legendary statesmanship intact--mindful of political realities and prone to temper the sentences of military courts, concerned not with persecuting his opponents but with prosecuting the war efficiently. In addition, Neely explores the abuses of power
under the regime of martial law: the routine torture of suspected deserters, widespread antisemitism among Union generals and officials, the common practice of seizing civilian hostages. He finds that though the system of military justice was flawed, it suffered less from merciless zeal, or political partisanship, than from inefficiency and the friction and complexities of modern war.
Informed by a deep understanding of a unique period in American history, this incisive book takes a comprehensive look at the issues of civil liberties during Lincoln's administration, placing them firmly in the political context of the time. Written with keen insight and an intimate grasp of the original sources, The Fate of Liberty offers a vivid picture of the crises and chaos of a nation at war with itself, changing our understanding of this president and his most controversial policies.]]> 304 Mark E. Neely Jr. 0195080327 Rick 0 to-read 3.51 1991 The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties
author: Mark E. Neely Jr.
name: Rick
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932]]> 19808 When Winston Spencer Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace, Imperial Britain stood at the splendid pinnacle of her power. Yet within a few years, the Empire would hover on the brink of a catastrophic new era. This first volume of the best-selling biography of the adventurer, aristocrat, soldier, and statesman covers the first 58 years of the remarkable man whose courageous vision guided the destiny of those darkly troubled times and who looms today as one of the greatest figures of the 20th century.

Black and white photos & illustrations.]]> 992 William Manchester 0316545031 Rick 5 multi-volume-reads
Volume one covers the period from Churchill’s birth through 1932, by which time he had pretty much been ostracized by Britain’s Parliament. Churchill had served 30 some years in and out of Parliament by that time, but he had made a lot of enemies with his caustic style and by changing party affiliations. Nevertheless, these fifty-eight years of Churchill’s life covered so much of contemporary European history—during which England declined as an empire, it is worth reading just to realize how many events he had a hand in: the Boar War, the Battle of Omdurman-Charge of the 21st Lancers, First Lord of the Admiralty, one of the fathers of the armored tank, Antwerp, Gallipoli, World War I, the creation of Iraq and Jordan, the groundwork for the state of Israel, the Irish Free State, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and sounding the alarm about the rise of Hitler. And all of this before his rise to Prime Minister.

Volume one is engaging and riveting. Manchester has a real affinity for his subject and has written a page turner. Never boring, the reader is drawn in immediately to the life and times. The strength of the book is that Manchester shows all of Churchill’s faults in living color; he doesn’t “pull his punches.â€� This work is not a hagiography of Churchill. In fact, at times one wonders why Churchill wasn’t run out of politics all together â€� but the tale also answers that question. This tome is a massive undertaking by Manchester, and IMHO a massive success. Highly recommended.]]> 4.59 1983 The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932
author: William Manchester
name: Rick
average rating: 4.59
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/29
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves: multi-volume-reads
review:
“The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932â€� by William Manchester is book one of a three volume biography on Churchill. Volumes one (1983) and two (1988) were written solely by Manchester. The third volume was finished by Paul Reid (published 2012) using the notes and outlines of Manchester who died in 2004.

Volume one covers the period from Churchill’s birth through 1932, by which time he had pretty much been ostracized by Britain’s Parliament. Churchill had served 30 some years in and out of Parliament by that time, but he had made a lot of enemies with his caustic style and by changing party affiliations. Nevertheless, these fifty-eight years of Churchill’s life covered so much of contemporary European history—during which England declined as an empire, it is worth reading just to realize how many events he had a hand in: the Boar War, the Battle of Omdurman-Charge of the 21st Lancers, First Lord of the Admiralty, one of the fathers of the armored tank, Antwerp, Gallipoli, World War I, the creation of Iraq and Jordan, the groundwork for the state of Israel, the Irish Free State, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and sounding the alarm about the rise of Hitler. And all of this before his rise to Prime Minister.

Volume one is engaging and riveting. Manchester has a real affinity for his subject and has written a page turner. Never boring, the reader is drawn in immediately to the life and times. The strength of the book is that Manchester shows all of Churchill’s faults in living color; he doesn’t “pull his punches.â€� This work is not a hagiography of Churchill. In fact, at times one wonders why Churchill wasn’t run out of politics all together â€� but the tale also answers that question. This tome is a massive undertaking by Manchester, and IMHO a massive success. Highly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon]]> 3111000
The youngest in his class at West Point, McClellan was, by age thirty-five, commander of all the Northern armies; he fought the longest and largest campaign of the time and the single bloodiest battle in the nation's history; at thirty-seven, he was nominated for the presidency of the United States by the Democratic party but was soundly defeated by Abraham Lincoln, whom McClellan held in contempt. Believing beyond any doubt that Confederate forces were greater than his and that enemies at his back conspired to defeat him, he equally believed that he was God's chosen instrument to save the Union.

Drawing entirely on primary sources, Stephen Sears has given u the first full picture of the contradictory McClellan, a man possessed by demons and delusions.]]> 482 Stephen W. Sears 0899192645 Rick 4 civil-war, american-history 3.97 1988 George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon
author: Stephen W. Sears
name: Rick
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/29
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves: civil-war, american-history
review:
“George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleonâ€� by Stephen W. Sears is an excellent biography of McClellan, focusing mostly on McClellan’s activities during the Civil War. Sears is precise in working through the campaigns that involved McClellan, and exact in dissecting McClellan’s actions each time. Of course, Sears has the benefit of hindsight and a century of interpreting the strategies and tactics used during the War, but in almost all cases McClellan is shown to have suffered failure to live up to his moment during the war and delusions of grandeur after. McClellan went from being the youngest in his class at West Point to running for president at age 37, and muddled his way through the Civil War in between those benchmarks. Fascinating if maddening tale of a general who apparently just didn’t have what it took to command in war. Recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories]]> 125251
Born in Acre (northern Palestine) in 1936, Ghassan Kanafani was a major spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and founding editor of its weekly magazine Al-Hadaf. His novels, short stories, and plays have been published in sixteen languages. He was assassinated in a car-bomb explosion in Beirut in 1972.]]> 117 Ghassan Kanafani 0894108573 Rick 4
All-in-all well written and nuanced I enjoyed this book. While the author touches on themes related to the Palestinian struggle for its own homeland, the stories never come off as a polemic...they are much more subtle than that. Kanafani uses peasants for most of his characterizations, revealing his themes through their actions and on their level in the Arab world. He obviously felt a kinship with the peasant culture.

The one thing that would have made the reading a bit easier is a map...the stories all take place in various locales in the Middle East and for someone not as familiar with the landscape, a map would have added clarity. This was my first adventure with a Palestinian author and was a winner. I look forward to reading more of Kanafani in the future. ]]> 4.34 1999 Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories
author: Ghassan Kanafani
name: Rick
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves:
review:
Interesting book of short stories by a Palestinian author who was killed by a car bomb in 1972 at age 36. This slim volume was suggested reading for a college course on partition, and the main-titled novella "Men in the Sun" was most directly related to that subject.

All-in-all well written and nuanced I enjoyed this book. While the author touches on themes related to the Palestinian struggle for its own homeland, the stories never come off as a polemic...they are much more subtle than that. Kanafani uses peasants for most of his characterizations, revealing his themes through their actions and on their level in the Arab world. He obviously felt a kinship with the peasant culture.

The one thing that would have made the reading a bit easier is a map...the stories all take place in various locales in the Middle East and for someone not as familiar with the landscape, a map would have added clarity. This was my first adventure with a Palestinian author and was a winner. I look forward to reading more of Kanafani in the future.
]]> <![CDATA[How to Be a Pregnant Father (An Illustrated Survival Guide for theFirst-time Father)]]> 882656 Peter Mayle 0818402458 Rick 3 3.00 How to Be a Pregnant Father (An Illustrated Survival Guide for theFirst-time Father)
author: Peter Mayle
name: Rick
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Mortal Friends 2855735 607 James Carroll 0316130095 Rick 0 to-read 3.92 1978 Mortal Friends
author: James Carroll
name: Rick
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Last Days of Hitler 15946685
The Last Days of Hitler tells the extraordinary story of those last days of the Thousand Year Reich in the Berlin Bunker. Besieged in the shattered capital, but still dominating the remains of his court, Hitler reiterated the original alternative of Nazism: either total victory or annihilation. This book is the record of that carefully prepared, ceremonious finale to a terrible chapter of history.

'Brilliantly written and researched, The Last Days of Hitler remains the most vivid account of the final Wagnerian chapter of Hitler's tyranny.'
- Max Hastings

'This is an incomparable book, by far the best written on any aspect of the second German war: a book sound in scholarship, brilliant in its presentation... No words of praise are too strong.'
- A. J. P. Taylor, New Statesman]]> 228 Hugh Trevor-Roper 1447218612 Rick 5 world-war-ii
Written in 1945 and published in 1947, HTR had access to most of the primary sources and people in the travesty that was the World War, mainly because it was before the Nuremburg Trials. Thus was HTR able to produce a relatively contemporaneous account, which he updated with a newer (Third) edition in 1956 incorporating the fresh material that arose out of a number of eyewitnesses being released from Russian imprisonment.

This Seventh Edition of the book, first published in 1995, is broken down into three sections: a mildly-interesting 8 page Preface to the Seventh Edition; an all-important 38 page Introduction to the Third Edition; and finally the thoroughly-engaging 215 page reprint of the original 1947 publication. This is page-turning history—written as it happened and within weeks of when it happened. Recommended. ]]> 4.14 1947 The Last Days of Hitler
author: Hugh Trevor-Roper
name: Rick
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1947
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/13
date added: 2023/09/13
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
If you are interested in what happened in the European Theater during the late stages of World War II, this is an excellent work on the last weeks in Germany ... focusing on the death of Hitler. With the surrender of Germany, the Allied search was on for the Axis dramatis personae, especially Hitler since he did not participate in the denouement. It was reported that he had committed suicide—but there was no proof, no body, no pictures. Hugh Trevor-Roper (HTR), an English historian and scholar who happened to serve in Counter Intelligence during the war, was assigned the task of nailing down what actually happened to Hitler. "The Last Days of Hitler" is his account.

Written in 1945 and published in 1947, HTR had access to most of the primary sources and people in the travesty that was the World War, mainly because it was before the Nuremburg Trials. Thus was HTR able to produce a relatively contemporaneous account, which he updated with a newer (Third) edition in 1956 incorporating the fresh material that arose out of a number of eyewitnesses being released from Russian imprisonment.

This Seventh Edition of the book, first published in 1995, is broken down into three sections: a mildly-interesting 8 page Preface to the Seventh Edition; an all-important 38 page Introduction to the Third Edition; and finally the thoroughly-engaging 215 page reprint of the original 1947 publication. This is page-turning history—written as it happened and within weeks of when it happened. Recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism]]> 62919402
Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement.

Speaking to his lawyers days after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Gulf War veteran expressed no regrets: killing 168 people was his patriotic duty. He cited the Declaration of Independence from “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.â€� He had obsessively followed the siege of Waco and seethed at the imposition of President Bill Clinton’s assault weapons ban. A self-proclaimed white separatist, he abhorred immigration and wanted women to return to traditional roles. As he watched the industrial decline of his native Buffalo, McVeigh longed for when America was great.

New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin traces the dramatic history and profound legacy of Timothy McVeigh, who once declared, “I believe there is an army out there, ready to rise up, even though I never found it.â€� But that doesn’t mean his army wasn’t there. With news-breaking reportage, Toobin details how McVeigh’s principles and tactics have flourished in the decades since his death in 2001, reaching an apotheosis on January 6 when hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol. Based on nearly a million previously unreleased tapes, photographs, and documents, including detailed communications between McVeigh and his lawyers, as well as interviews with such key figures as Bill Clinton, Homegrown reveals how the story of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing is not only a powerful retelling of one of the great outrages of our time, but a warning for our future.]]> 426 Jeffrey Toobin 1668013576 Rick 3
In "Homegrown" the book is mainly a recapitulation of the events surrounding the horrific Oklahoma City bombing that killed almost 200 innocent civilians. Since this was arguably the worst act of domestic terrorism we have ever seen, that story was and is riveting and Toobin has come up with another page turner - even though we know how the story ends.

As Toobin notes, since Timothy McVeigh acted in the pre-internet days, he was not able to connect with other extremists very easily; McVeigh attended gun sales to find kindred spirits. There is also an effort to tie McVeigh's actions to the rise of right-wing extremism, but the correlation is not very persuasive.

This book will appeal most to history buffs (who get to see the whole picture with all the information released since the event) and conspiracy theorists (who may see the connection to right-wing extremism). But all-in-all a very nice read - recommended.



]]> 4.12 2023 Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism
author: Jeffrey Toobin
name: Rick
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/19
date added: 2023/08/19
shelves:
review:
Jeffrey Toobin’s "Homegrown" is similar in style to his “The Nine,â€� meaning both are excellent reads about popular subjects that the public cares about ... but neither narrative brought much new to the tale. That said, with Toobin simply working in a reporter’s role â€� he puts together an appealing package that is easy to read and very approachable.

In "Homegrown" the book is mainly a recapitulation of the events surrounding the horrific Oklahoma City bombing that killed almost 200 innocent civilians. Since this was arguably the worst act of domestic terrorism we have ever seen, that story was and is riveting and Toobin has come up with another page turner - even though we know how the story ends.

As Toobin notes, since Timothy McVeigh acted in the pre-internet days, he was not able to connect with other extremists very easily; McVeigh attended gun sales to find kindred spirits. There is also an effort to tie McVeigh's actions to the rise of right-wing extremism, but the correlation is not very persuasive.

This book will appeal most to history buffs (who get to see the whole picture with all the information released since the event) and conspiracy theorists (who may see the connection to right-wing extremism). But all-in-all a very nice read - recommended.




]]> Brown Dog 17707989 New York Times best-selling author Jim Harrison is one of America’s most beloved writers, and of all his creations, Brown Dog, a bawdy, reckless, down-on-his-luck Michigan Indian, has earned cult status with readers in the more than two decades since his first appearance. For the first time, Brown Dog gathers all the Brown Dog novellas, including one never-published one, into one volume—the ideal introduction (or reintroduction) to Harrison’s irresistible Everyman.

In these novellas, BD rescues the preserved body of an Indian from Lake Superior’s cold waters; overindulges in food, drink, and women while just scraping by in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; wanders Los Angeles in search of an ersatz Native activist who stole his bearskin; adopts two Native children; and flees the authorities, then returns across the Canadian border aboard an Indian rock band’s tour bus. The collection culminates with He Dog, never before published, which finds BD marginally employed and still looking for love (or sometimes just a few beers and a roll in the hay), as he goes on a road trip from Michigan to Montana and back, arriving home to the prospect of family stability and, perhaps, a chance at redemption.

Brown Dog underscores Harrison’s place as one of America’s most irrepressible writers, and one of the finest practitioners of the novella form.]]> 525 Jim Harrison 0802120113 Rick 3
When I started in on Brown Dog I was immediately puzzled â€� probably because I looked for a set-up and a denouement â€� but in Brown Dog it is just a series of occasions. We see Brown Dog do this, and then experience that, and then go here. There is no build up and no tension and no conflict. We don’t have a narrative that has ups and downs with the main character working his way through contentious situations until he succeeds or fails in the end. It is just a series of incidences in Brown Dog’s life laid out for all to see. Since this was my first reading of Harrison I was a bit perplexed â€� and as Brown Dog himself states on page 171, “It was apparent that there was a lot going on but he wasn’t sure what.â€�

That said, Harrison paints wonderful scenes. You’ll fall in love with Brown Dog and his happenstance life. Brown Dog is the kind of character that mates when he can, eats when he is hungry, and fishes at every opportunity â€� much like a woodland creature. He practices these three life skills, all usually washed down with whatever alcohol is available, as he wanders through life â€� from one mundane episode to another. He might even be called aimless â€� always substituting activity for purpose.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Brown Dog series is a thinly-veiled semi-autobiographical narrative of the author’s own life. Harrison is a grizzled old veteran of the woods and waters, and plains and prairies of which he writes so lovingly. In the initial novella in the Brown Dog series (the strongest of the set IMHO), you’ll have everything you need to know of the character.

For those that have never read Harrison or his Brown Dog character, this book will give you everything in one place. For those that have followed the story line, only the last novella is new. The last novella, which contained the most jumbled writing of the set, was satisfying in that it brought some closure to and for Brown Dog.
]]> 4.15 2013 Brown Dog
author: Jim Harrison
name: Rick
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves:
review:
“Brown Dogâ€� (Grove Press, 1013) by Jim Harrison is a compilation of the six novellas he wrote centered on the namesake main character, all showing this personality working his way through a number of everyday life events. This book collects the first five novellas, which were written between 1990 and 2010, into one continuous story and adds a new sixth and probably final chapter.

When I started in on Brown Dog I was immediately puzzled â€� probably because I looked for a set-up and a denouement â€� but in Brown Dog it is just a series of occasions. We see Brown Dog do this, and then experience that, and then go here. There is no build up and no tension and no conflict. We don’t have a narrative that has ups and downs with the main character working his way through contentious situations until he succeeds or fails in the end. It is just a series of incidences in Brown Dog’s life laid out for all to see. Since this was my first reading of Harrison I was a bit perplexed â€� and as Brown Dog himself states on page 171, “It was apparent that there was a lot going on but he wasn’t sure what.â€�

That said, Harrison paints wonderful scenes. You’ll fall in love with Brown Dog and his happenstance life. Brown Dog is the kind of character that mates when he can, eats when he is hungry, and fishes at every opportunity â€� much like a woodland creature. He practices these three life skills, all usually washed down with whatever alcohol is available, as he wanders through life â€� from one mundane episode to another. He might even be called aimless â€� always substituting activity for purpose.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Brown Dog series is a thinly-veiled semi-autobiographical narrative of the author’s own life. Harrison is a grizzled old veteran of the woods and waters, and plains and prairies of which he writes so lovingly. In the initial novella in the Brown Dog series (the strongest of the set IMHO), you’ll have everything you need to know of the character.

For those that have never read Harrison or his Brown Dog character, this book will give you everything in one place. For those that have followed the story line, only the last novella is new. The last novella, which contained the most jumbled writing of the set, was satisfying in that it brought some closure to and for Brown Dog.

]]> <![CDATA[Integration Now: Alexander v. Holmes and the End of Jim Crow Education]]> 70367977
Hustwit traces the progression of the Alexander case to show how grassroots activists in Mississippi operated hand in glove with lawyers and judges involved in the litigation. By combining a narrative of the larger legal battle surrounding the case and the story of the local activists who pressed for change, Hustwit offers an innovative, well-researched account of a definitive legal decision that reaches from the cotton fields of Holmes County to the chambers of the Supreme Court in Washington.]]> 282 William P Hustwit 1469668742 Rick 5
It took 15 years for the path to implementing Brown to be cleared, with Mississippi famously interpreting Brown to be realized with “all deliberate speed”—which indicated a clear intent but allowed for an absence of haste. Finally the U.S. Supreme Court in Alexander v. Holmes in 1969 solved that discrepancy and ordered implementation “now,â€� forcing immediate desegregation â€� and generating the name of this book.

“Integration Nowâ€� is the tale of getting to this point in education and was written to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alexander. It is a fascinating account of how America got here and recommended reading for those interested in this era of American history.
]]> 5.00 Integration Now: Alexander v. Holmes and the End of Jim Crow Education
author: William P Hustwit
name: Rick
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/20
date added: 2023/07/20
shelves: american-history, african-america
review:
“Integration Nowâ€� by William Hustwit is an approachable telling of the difficulty in gaining equal education in Mississippi, dating back to the 1960s Civil Rights movement until today. Contemporary efforts to gain equal education for blacks in Mississippi dates back to the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 (allowed separate but equal facilities) which was effectively overturned by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 (segregation is unconstitutional even if facilities are otherwise equal). The problem was implementing Brown.

It took 15 years for the path to implementing Brown to be cleared, with Mississippi famously interpreting Brown to be realized with “all deliberate speed”—which indicated a clear intent but allowed for an absence of haste. Finally the U.S. Supreme Court in Alexander v. Holmes in 1969 solved that discrepancy and ordered implementation “now,â€� forcing immediate desegregation â€� and generating the name of this book.

“Integration Nowâ€� is the tale of getting to this point in education and was written to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alexander. It is a fascinating account of how America got here and recommended reading for those interested in this era of American history.

]]> <![CDATA[President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier]]> 62919753
In “the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty yearsâ€� ( The Wall Street Journal ), C.W. Goodyear charts the life and times of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to win the Presidency. Progressive firebrand and conservative compromiser; Union war hero and founder of the first Department of Education; Supreme Court attorney and abolitionist preacher; mathematician and canalman; crooked election-fixed and clean-government champion; Congressional chieftain and gentleman-farmer; the last president to be born in a log cabin; the second to be assassinated. James Abram Garfield was all these things and more.

Over nearly two decades in Congress during a polarized era—Reconstruction and the Gilded Age—Garfield served as a peacemaker in a Republican Party and America defined by divisions. He was elected to overcome them. He was killed while trying to do so.

President Garfield is American history at its finest. It is about an impoverished boy working his way from the frontier to the Presidency; a progressive statesman, trying to raise a more righteous, peaceful Republic out of the ashes of civil war; the tragically imperfect course of that reformation, and the man himself; a martyr-President, whose death succeeded in nudging the country back to cleaner, calmer politics.]]> 624 C.W. Goodyear 1982146915 Rick 0 4.25 2023 President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier
author: C.W. Goodyear
name: Rick
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/15
shelves: to-read, american-history, giveaway-reads
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder]]> 61714633 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.]]> 331 David Grann 0385534264 Rick 3 naval-tall-ships
The reason I give it only three stars instead of more, is because it feels like a Patrick O'Brian tale all the way through. With a few changes, this could easily have been O'Brian's 21st complete book in his series on Captain Jack Aubrey and his sidekick physician Stephen Maturin. O'Brian's novels in his series were set during the Napoleonic Wars, and The Wager is also a sea novel but set 60 years earlier in the 1740s. In addition O'Brian usually wrapped his tales around a real event, and The Wager was also an actual historical event. Grann didn't bring much new to the genre.

The Wager was a very good read, familiar but very good. With wide margins and large print size, the text block is a bit small and easy to breeze through ... the book runs less than 250 pages. All-in-all this was a nice read. ]]> 4.14 2023 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
author: David Grann
name: Rick
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: naval-tall-ships
review:
This was a fascinating tale set in the tall ship days about mutiny and murder. While I definitely did not like the ending, the narrative was a page-turner and well-written. The author has found an actual event and done deep research on it to bring it to life for the reader. The characters are well drawn, the setting is wonderfully real, and the action is totally believable. Grann has done an excellent job with The Wager and has put out another New York Times bestseller.

The reason I give it only three stars instead of more, is because it feels like a Patrick O'Brian tale all the way through. With a few changes, this could easily have been O'Brian's 21st complete book in his series on Captain Jack Aubrey and his sidekick physician Stephen Maturin. O'Brian's novels in his series were set during the Napoleonic Wars, and The Wager is also a sea novel but set 60 years earlier in the 1740s. In addition O'Brian usually wrapped his tales around a real event, and The Wager was also an actual historical event. Grann didn't bring much new to the genre.

The Wager was a very good read, familiar but very good. With wide margins and large print size, the text block is a bit small and easy to breeze through ... the book runs less than 250 pages. All-in-all this was a nice read.
]]> From Beirut To Jerusalem 823780 525 Thomas L. Friedman 0374158940 Rick 4
While the troubles in the Levant of which Friedman speaks date back to the end of World War II, the author's time there in the 1980s certainly was a crucial period in its history, and since this book was published, much has gone on in the area yet little has been settled. Friedman's tale reads like a primer on the entire situation and, as such, is an excellent place to start for someone trying to get a feel for the topic.

Towards the end of the book (p.497) Friedman talks about how he believes America - by playing various diplomatic roles - can still play a part in bringing Arabs and Israelis together, and my favorite line of his was: "She (America) must learn to think like an obstetrician, behave like a friend, bargain like a grocer, and fight like a real son-of-a-bitch."

Even though it is a bit dated, this is a good book and worthwhile primer for those wanting to learn more on the subject.]]> 4.11 1989 From Beirut To Jerusalem
author: Thomas L. Friedman
name: Rick
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/08
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves:
review:
Liked this book a lot, mainly because it concerns a topic and an area I have been curious about for some time. It is a tale of a young journalist's (Friedman) early reporting assignments, primarily in the Levant: from his earliest in Beirut to his follow-up in Jerusalem. Talk about a baptism by fire, Friedman's period in the Levant spanned 1980 to 1987 and was a time of great unrest ... not the least of which was the bombing of the Marine barracks and the uprising of Yasser Arafat's PLO.

While the troubles in the Levant of which Friedman speaks date back to the end of World War II, the author's time there in the 1980s certainly was a crucial period in its history, and since this book was published, much has gone on in the area yet little has been settled. Friedman's tale reads like a primer on the entire situation and, as such, is an excellent place to start for someone trying to get a feel for the topic.

Towards the end of the book (p.497) Friedman talks about how he believes America - by playing various diplomatic roles - can still play a part in bringing Arabs and Israelis together, and my favorite line of his was: "She (America) must learn to think like an obstetrician, behave like a friend, bargain like a grocer, and fight like a real son-of-a-bitch."

Even though it is a bit dated, this is a good book and worthwhile primer for those wanting to learn more on the subject.
]]> Where I Was Born and Raised 2556035 0 David L. Cohn 0268002991 Rick 4
The Delta is an oval shaped floodplain between Memphis, TN and Vicksburg, MS containing roughly four million acres of alluvial soil set there over centuries as the Mississippi River flooded and receded. From the late 1880s to the early 1900s, the Delta was cleared of timber and then planted in what would become King Cotton � chiefly through slavery. The western boundary of the Delta is the Mississippi River, and Greenville is on the river roughly hallway between Memphis and Vicksburg.

Cohn (1890-1960) was born and raised in Greenville, educated at Yale and the University of Virginia, and earned a law degree. He settled in the New Orleans area for two decades working in department stores such as Sears, and after moving back to Greenville, he started another career � writing. Besides authoring scores of essays for Atlantic Monthly, over time he published 10 books, two of which concern this title.

In 1935 Cohn released his tale "God Shakes Creation," and in 1948 published a revisiting of the same subjects (especially Greenville) under the title "Where I was Born and Raised": the first half of the book being a reprinting of "God Shakes Creation" and the second half being the revisiting. Both these narratives deal with the culture of the Delta and his view of the African-American experience in the south. (Notes taken from the Finding Aid for the David L. Cohn Collection in the Archives and Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, at The University of Mississippi; and the Mississippi Writers and Musicians website.)

The book delves into many themes of the south, and especially the Delta. It covers Cohn’s impressions of race relations, the World Wars, the economy, crime, Greenville culture and growth, migration, housing, wages, the phase out of mules in favor of the tractor in mechanization, the slow transition to an industrial base, and the changeover from cotton in favor of synthetics such as rayon. The tale is a fine social research study in the evolution of the Delta.

The particular edition reviewed here is a library bound copy of a paperback imprint published in 1967 by the University of Notre Dame press â€� the first paperback edition of Cohn’s 1948 work. Excellent book albeit with language that sometimes feels inappropriate when judged by today’s standards, but highly recommended.
]]> 4.20 Where I Was Born and Raised
author: David L. Cohn
name: Rick
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/24
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: african-america, american-history
review:
“Where I was Born and Raisedâ€� by David L. Cohn is a tale of his time in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta region of Mississippi, and represents his remembrances of the life and culture of the Delta. Since so little is covered in GR about David L. Cohn, let’s set the time and place.

The Delta is an oval shaped floodplain between Memphis, TN and Vicksburg, MS containing roughly four million acres of alluvial soil set there over centuries as the Mississippi River flooded and receded. From the late 1880s to the early 1900s, the Delta was cleared of timber and then planted in what would become King Cotton � chiefly through slavery. The western boundary of the Delta is the Mississippi River, and Greenville is on the river roughly hallway between Memphis and Vicksburg.

Cohn (1890-1960) was born and raised in Greenville, educated at Yale and the University of Virginia, and earned a law degree. He settled in the New Orleans area for two decades working in department stores such as Sears, and after moving back to Greenville, he started another career � writing. Besides authoring scores of essays for Atlantic Monthly, over time he published 10 books, two of which concern this title.

In 1935 Cohn released his tale "God Shakes Creation," and in 1948 published a revisiting of the same subjects (especially Greenville) under the title "Where I was Born and Raised": the first half of the book being a reprinting of "God Shakes Creation" and the second half being the revisiting. Both these narratives deal with the culture of the Delta and his view of the African-American experience in the south. (Notes taken from the Finding Aid for the David L. Cohn Collection in the Archives and Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, at The University of Mississippi; and the Mississippi Writers and Musicians website.)

The book delves into many themes of the south, and especially the Delta. It covers Cohn’s impressions of race relations, the World Wars, the economy, crime, Greenville culture and growth, migration, housing, wages, the phase out of mules in favor of the tractor in mechanization, the slow transition to an industrial base, and the changeover from cotton in favor of synthetics such as rayon. The tale is a fine social research study in the evolution of the Delta.

The particular edition reviewed here is a library bound copy of a paperback imprint published in 1967 by the University of Notre Dame press â€� the first paperback edition of Cohn’s 1948 work. Excellent book albeit with language that sometimes feels inappropriate when judged by today’s standards, but highly recommended.

]]> <![CDATA[An Honourable Englishman: The Life of Hugh Trevor-Roper]]> 11255447
With incisive knowledge of the man and access to never-before-published letters, Adam Sisman paints a fascinating portrait of this charismatic, contentious, contradictory character. Sisman examines Trevor-Roper’s middle-class upbringing in a house so empty of affection that it caused, as he put it, his “almost physical difficulty in expressing emotion.â€� He traces Trevor-Roper’s career from his early academic triumphs to his later failure to produce the big book expected of him.

Sisman also provides riveting new details of the high drama of Trevor-Roper’s World War II intelligence work—in which he boldly blew the whistle on bureaucratic infighting that imperiled British code-breaking—and the exclusive investigation of Hitler’s death that inspired his bestselling postwar triumph, The Last Days of Hitler . As never before, Trevor-Roper’s personal life is explored, including his passionate affair with an older, married woman. Finally, An Honourable Englishman reveals the truth behind his public substantiation of the false Hitler diaries in 1983, a misstep (encouraged by his impatient employer Rupert Murdoch) that forever tainted his reputation.

Profoundly bright and brutally acerbic, Hugh Trevor-Roper was a literary lion like no other, and in An Honourable Englishman he receives the absorbing biography he deserves.]]> 672 Adam Sisman 1400069769 Rick 4
The biography is complete, from Trevor-Roper's birth in 1914 to his death in 2003. We get to see the subject's ascent from his middle-class upbringing into academic circles few achieve. I was not sure I was going to like this tome when I was gifted a copy, but I gave it the old college try and it was well worth the effort. It is well-written, absorbing, and the author has a nice style of writing to bring you along on the journey. Recommended.


]]> 4.11 2010 An Honourable Englishman: The Life of Hugh Trevor-Roper
author: Adam Sisman
name: Rick
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/06/22
shelves:
review:
This was a delightful read about a scholar/essayist/historian whose particular fields of interest were 16th and 17th Century England and Nazi Germany. Now while these two topics appear disconnected, they stem from Trevor-Roper's educational background in the first instance and his work as an intelligence officer in the secret service during World War II in the second. In fact, the book he is most remembered for is "The Last Days of Hitler" where he solves the mystery of what actually happened to Hitler in September 1945 as Berlin was besieged.

The biography is complete, from Trevor-Roper's birth in 1914 to his death in 2003. We get to see the subject's ascent from his middle-class upbringing into academic circles few achieve. I was not sure I was going to like this tome when I was gifted a copy, but I gave it the old college try and it was well worth the effort. It is well-written, absorbing, and the author has a nice style of writing to bring you along on the journey. Recommended.



]]> <![CDATA[The Death and Life of Malcolm X]]> 395804 For this paperback edition of a major work on one of the most important black leaders of this country, the author, a senior editor of Newsweek, has added a substantial epilogue which argues convincingly that three of the five accomplices in Malcolm X's assassination in 1965 are still free, while a fourth is serving a short sentence for an unrelated offense. Meanwhile, despite the efforts of William Kunstler and others, two men who are probably innocent remain in prison, "wasted like pawns sacrificed in somebody else's wild chess game," as one of them puts it.

]]> 476 Peter Goldman 0252007743 Rick 0 african-america 4.05 1973 The Death and Life of Malcolm X
author: Peter Goldman
name: Rick
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1973
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/01
shelves: african-america
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Vol 3]]> 23256454 686 Carl Sandburg Rick 0 to-read 4.00 1939 Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Vol 3
author: Carl Sandburg
name: Rick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1939
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:
One of Carl Sandburg’s life works was writing the definitive biography of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. With the encouragement of his publisher Harcourt Brace, Sandburg began in the 1920s to write about Lincoln’s early years. The resulting two-volume Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years was published by Harcourt Brace in 1926. Sandburg followed this with a four-volume treatment of Lincoln’s service during the Civil War â€� Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, which was published in 1939. Eventually, Sandburg condensed his six-volume masterpiece into a single volume on Lincoln’s life â€� 762 pages published in 1954.
]]> <![CDATA[Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller]]> 59571984 From Alec Nevala-Lee, the author of the Hugo and Locus Award finalist Astounding, comes a revelatory biography of the visionary designer who defined the rules of startup culture and shaped America's idea of the future.

During his lifetime, Buckminster Fuller was hailed as one of the greatest geniuses of the twentieth century. As the architectural designer and futurist best known for the geodesic dome, he enthralled a vast popular audience, inspired devotion from both the counterculture and the establishment, and was praised as a modern Leonardo da Vinci. To his admirers, he exemplified what one man could accomplish by approaching urgent design problems using a radically unconventional set of strategies, which he based on a mystical conception of the universe's geometry. His views on sustainability, as embodied in the image of Spaceship Earth, convinced him that it was possible to provide for all humanity through the efficient use of planetary resources. From Epcot Center to the molecule named in his honor as the buckyball, Fuller's legacy endures to this day, and his belief in the transformative potential of technology profoundly influenced the founders of Silicon Valley.

Inventor of the Future is the first authoritative biography to cover all aspects of Fuller's career. Drawing on meticulous research, dozens of interviews, and thousands of unpublished documents, Nevala-Lee has produced a riveting portrait that transcends the myth of Fuller as an otherworldly generalist. It reconstructs the true origins of his most famous inventions, including the Dymaxion Car, the Wichita House, and the dome itself; his fraught relationships with his students and collaborators; his interactions with Frank Lloyd Wright, Isamu Noguchi, Clare Boothe Luce, John Cage, Steve Jobs, and many others; and his tumultuous private life, in which his determination to succeed on his own terms came at an immense personal cost. In an era of accelerating change, Fuller's example remains enormously relevant, and his lessons for designers, activists, and innovators are as powerful and essential as ever.]]> 672 Alec Nevala-Lee 0062947222 Rick 0 to-read 3.60 2022 Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller
author: Alec Nevala-Lee
name: Rick
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service]]> 55057586 The first definitive account of the rise and fall of the Secret Service, from the Kennedy assassination to the ongoing scandals under Obama and Trump--by Pulitzer Prize winner and #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of A Very Stable Genius

Carol Leonnig has been covering the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the gaffes and scandals that plague the agency today--from a toxic work culture to outdated equipment and training to the deep resentment among the ranks with the agency's leadership. But the Secret Service wasn't always so troubled.

The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but its story begins in earnest in 1963, with the death of John F. Kennedy. Shocked into reform by their failure to protect the president on that fateful day, this once-sleepy agency was rapidly transformed into a proud, elite unit that would finally redeem themselves in 1981 by valiantly thwarting an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan. But this reputation for courage and efficiency would not last forever. By Barack Obama's presidency, the Secret Service was becoming notorious for break-ins at the White House, an armed gunman firing at the building while agents stood by, a massive prostitution scandal in Cartagena, and many other dangerous lapses.

To expose the these shortcomings, Leonnig interviewed countless current and former agents who risked their careers to speak out about an agency that's broken and in desperate need of a reform.]]> 560 Carol Leonnig 0399589015 Rick 3
The focus is primarily on the errors and the politics in the Service: what happened and what failed to prevent it. For example, why was a person able to jump the White House fence and enter the "most secure building" without ever being seen? Presidents have long used the Service for their own personal needs, not the least of which were Nixon and Trump, and that is another facet brought out in the book. Also, the author's description of the good old boys network is telling.

All this and more is laid out in an easy-to-read journalistic style, which should be expected as the author is a notable journalist for the Washington Post.]]> 4.17 2021 Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service
author: Carol Leonnig
name: Rick
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/23
date added: 2023/02/23
shelves:
review:
Very entertaining read, although I wouldn't call it a book that reveals anything new to the reader. It is a serial accounting of the deeds and misdeeds of the Secret Service from the time of JF Kennedy to today. As such it is a wonderful accumulation and summary of the last 60 years history of the Service.

The focus is primarily on the errors and the politics in the Service: what happened and what failed to prevent it. For example, why was a person able to jump the White House fence and enter the "most secure building" without ever being seen? Presidents have long used the Service for their own personal needs, not the least of which were Nixon and Trump, and that is another facet brought out in the book. Also, the author's description of the good old boys network is telling.

All this and more is laid out in an easy-to-read journalistic style, which should be expected as the author is a notable journalist for the Washington Post.
]]> <![CDATA[A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and The Creation of the Modern Middle East]]> 78107
In our time the Middle East has proven a battleground of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and dynasties. All of these conflicts, including the hostilities between Arabs and Israelis that have flared yet again, come down, in a sense, to the extent to which the Middle East will continue to live with its political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed upon the region by the Allies after the First World War.

In A Peace to End All Peace , David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies came to remake the geography and politics of the Middle East, drawing lines on an empty map that eventually became the new countries of Iraq, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all-even an alliance between Arab nationalism and Zionism-seemed possible he raises questions about what might have been done differently, and answers questions about why things were done as they were. The current battle for a Palestinian homeland has its roots in these events of 85 years ago.]]> 635 David Fromkin 0805068848 Rick 4 world-war-i 4.19 1989 A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and The Creation of the Modern Middle East
author: David Fromkin
name: Rick
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: world-war-i
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets]]> 61612252
Karl Gönner was an elementary school teacher and father of four when the war began. In 1940, he was posted to a village in Alsace, in occupied France, and ordered to reeducate its children—to turn them into proper Germans. He was a loyal Nazi when he arrived, but as the war went on his allegiance wavered. According to some villagers, he risked his life shielding them from his own party’s brutalities. According to others, he ruled the village with an iron fist. After the war, Gönner was charged with giving an order that led police to beat a local farmer to death. Was he guilty or innocent? A war criminal or just an ordinary man, struggling to do right from within a monstrous regime?

Fatherland is the story of Bilger’s nearly ten-year quest to uncover the truth. It is a book of gripping suspense and moral inquiry—a tale of chance encounters and serendipitous discoveries in archives and villages across Germany and France. Long admired for his profiles in The New Yorker , Bilger brings the same open-hearted curiosity to his grandfather’s story and the questions it raises. What do we owe the past? How can we make peace with it without perpetuating its wrongs? Intimate and far-reaching, Fatherland is an extraordinary odyssey through the great upheavals of the past century.]]> 336 Burkhard Bilger 0385353987 Rick 4 world-war-ii
I had a hard time rating this book. On the one hand it is wonderfully written and deeply researched—you can tell the author is an accomplished journalist, yet on the other hand the author sometimes comes off as an apologist for his grandfather. The grandfather was a German man (Nazi Party member) who had been sent to manage a part of Alsace, an area that had been overrun by Germany. (Alsace was a region in eastern France that bordered Germany, and over the years had been ruled by the French and then the Germans and back again as various wars passed through.)

In the end the author’s research came down to a he said he said: two men (the family’s grandfather and his village rival) with opposing views back when Alsace was being liberated and returned to France. That period ended up one of French purification and German denazification, and the author’s grandfather experienced both.

While the author sometimes comes off as an apologist, imagine yourself trying to explain away a member of the Ku Klux Klan or a mass murderer or some such family secret in your background. The author took on a hard topic to explore, and did a commendable job doing so. Thanks to Random House for the ARC.
]]> 4.00 2023 Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets
author: Burkhard Bilger
name: Rick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/24
date added: 2023/01/24
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
“Fatherlandâ€� written by Burkhard Bilger is a very personal tale of a one man’s family, a family that embraced a shadowy figure during World War II—a grandparent with ties to the Nazi Party. The tale is how the history of this figure and his activities during the war effected the family going forward â€� how the succeeding generations ended up with contradictory stories about him being a good man who saved others and/or a loyal Nazi Party Chief who may have caused others to lose their lives. The book is about the author researching his grandfather’s past.

I had a hard time rating this book. On the one hand it is wonderfully written and deeply researched—you can tell the author is an accomplished journalist, yet on the other hand the author sometimes comes off as an apologist for his grandfather. The grandfather was a German man (Nazi Party member) who had been sent to manage a part of Alsace, an area that had been overrun by Germany. (Alsace was a region in eastern France that bordered Germany, and over the years had been ruled by the French and then the Germans and back again as various wars passed through.)

In the end the author’s research came down to a he said he said: two men (the family’s grandfather and his village rival) with opposing views back when Alsace was being liberated and returned to France. That period ended up one of French purification and German denazification, and the author’s grandfather experienced both.

While the author sometimes comes off as an apologist, imagine yourself trying to explain away a member of the Ku Klux Klan or a mass murderer or some such family secret in your background. The author took on a hard topic to explore, and did a commendable job doing so. Thanks to Random House for the ARC.

]]> <![CDATA[Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945]]> 50896142 Twilight of the Gods is a riveting account of the harrowing last year of World War II in the Pacific, when the U.S. Navy won the largest naval battle in history; Douglas MacArthur made good his pledge to return to the Philippines; waves of kamikazes attacked the Allied fleets; the Japanese fought to the last man on one island after another; B-29 bombers burned down Japanese cities; and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were vaporized in atomic blasts.


Ian W. Toll’s narratives of combat in the air, at sea, and on the beaches are as gripping as ever, but he also takes the reader into the halls of power in Washington and Tokyo, where the great questions of strategy and diplomacy were decided. Lionel Barber of the Financial Times chose the second volume of the series (The Conquering Tide) as the preemiment book of 2016, calling it “military history at its best.â€� Readers who have been waiting for the conclusion of Toll’s masterpiece will be thrilled by this final volume.]]> 944 Ian W. Toll 039308065X Rick 5 4.74 2020 Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945
author: Ian W. Toll
name: Rick
average rating: 4.74
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/15
date added: 2023/01/15
shelves: world-war-ii, multi-volume-reads
review:
"Twilight of the Gods" is the concluding book in Ian Toll’s Pacific War Trilogy, and easily another of his 5-star efforts. This narrative focused on the war in the western Pacific between 1944 and 1945. He touched all the highpoints—Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, etc.—but also made some notes from the following list of remote island groups along the wayâ€�"the Solomons, the Gilberts, the Admiralties, the Marshalls, the Bismarcks, the Palaus, the East Indies, the Marianas, the Ryukyus, the Bonins, the Volcanoes...â€� This tale breathes life into the war in the Pacific, with massive detail that is never tedious. The book is a page turner in every sense of the term. Highly Recommended â€� as is the entire trilogy.
]]> Healing by Brother André 16175067 131 Leo Ouellette 2895391270 Rick 4 canadian-heritage
This book, which pre-dates the canonization, is a man’s tale of receiving blessings due to his devotion to Brother AndrĂ©. You can’t really rate a personal tale such as this â€� you either believe or you don’t. All to say, this was a heart warming (pun intended) tale of one man’s journey.
]]> 4.50 2006 Healing by Brother André
author: Leo Ouellette
name: Rick
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/15
date added: 2023/01/15
shelves: canadian-heritage
review:
“Healing by Brother AndrĂ©â€� written by LĂ©o Ouellette is a very personal tale of a man who believed deeply in and felt he was touched by Brother AndrĂ©, a saintly religious Holy Cross brother. Over the years many others have claimed that they were touched by the power of faith in this little brother, so much so that the Catholic Church did canonize him in 2010. He is now referred to as St. AndrĂ© Bessette, and his feast day is January 6 each year.

This book, which pre-dates the canonization, is a man’s tale of receiving blessings due to his devotion to Brother AndrĂ©. You can’t really rate a personal tale such as this â€� you either believe or you don’t. All to say, this was a heart warming (pun intended) tale of one man’s journey.

]]> <![CDATA[The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III]]> 57240632 The last king of America, George III, has been ridiculed as a complete disaster who frittered away the colonies and went mad in his old age. The truth is much more nuanced and fascinating--and will completely change the way readers and historians view his reign and legacy.

Most Americans dismiss George III as a buffoon--a heartless and terrible monarch with few, if any, redeeming qualities. The best-known modern interpretation of him is Jonathan Groff's preening, spitting, and pompous take in Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway masterpiece. But this deeply unflattering characterization is rooted in the prejudiced and brilliantly persuasive opinions of eighteenth-century revolutionaries like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, who needed to make the king appear evil in order to achieve their own political aims. After combing through hundreds of thousands of pages of never-before-published correspondence, award-winning historian Andrew Roberts has uncovered the truth: George III was in fact a wise, humane, and even enlightened monarch who was beset by talented enemies, debilitating mental illness, incompetent ministers, and disastrous luck.

In The Last King of America, Roberts paints a deft and nuanced portrait of the much-maligned monarch and outlines his accomplishments, which have been almost universally forgotten. Two hundred and forty-five years after the end of George III's American rule, it is time for Americans to look back on their last king with greater understanding: to see him as he was and to come to terms with the last time they were ruled by a monarch.]]> 784 Andrew Roberts 198487926X Rick 0 to-read 4.21 2021 The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III
author: Andrew Roberts
name: Rick
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The World Within War: America's Combat Experience in World War II]]> 3751320 416 Gerald F. Linderman 0684827972 Rick 4 world-war-ii
The author broke his story down into the contingent parts: expectations of going to battle, coping with combat, fighting the Germans, fighting the Japanese, discipline, the appeal of battle, and returning home. Wonderful if painful-to-read-in-parts storyline that will breath much more life into combat than the usual heroic tales of the martial arts during World War II. Recommended.]]> 4.00 1997 The World Within War: America's Combat Experience in World War II
author: Gerald F. Linderman
name: Rick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/05
date added: 2022/12/05
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
Excellent narrative of the experiences of combat soldiers during World War II. While the book has the feel of a text book here and there, one cannot underestimate the impact of looking at and hearing about battle through the eyes and feelings of the combat soldiers themselves. Sourced from personal letters and memoirs, the tale has realism and immediacy.

The author broke his story down into the contingent parts: expectations of going to battle, coping with combat, fighting the Germans, fighting the Japanese, discipline, the appeal of battle, and returning home. Wonderful if painful-to-read-in-parts storyline that will breath much more life into combat than the usual heroic tales of the martial arts during World War II. Recommended.
]]> Son of the Morning Star 2883689
Custer's Last Stand is among the most enduring events in American history - 130 years after the fact, books continue to be written and people continue to argue about even the most basic details surrounding the Little Bighorn. Evan S. Connell, whom Joyce Carol Oates has described as 'one of our most interesting and intelligent American writers', wrote what continues to be the most reliable - and compulsively readable - account of the subject. Connell makes good use of his research and novelist's eye for story and detail to re-create the heroism, foolishness and savagery of this crucial chapter in the history of the West.]]> 480 Evan S. Connell 0060971614 Rick 3 ]]> 3.53 1984 Son of the Morning Star
author: Evan S. Connell
name: Rick
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/10/03
shelves: the-great-west, american-history
review:
This critically-acclaimed retelling of Custer at Little Big Horn was the basis for a mini-series ... roughly 3 hours spread over two episodes in 1991. Everyone knows the result of the meeting at Little Big Horn, so this tale focuses a bit more on the personalities and what led up to the massacre. The reader should be warned that this is not a linear narrative. In fact, it begins with a section that starts after the Little Big Horn massacre. To me it came across as disorganized, and some might find this presentation distracting. All to say I just could not get into the flow of the tale. While it is written by an accomplished author and is deeply researched, it just wasn't my cup of tea. So many books, and so little time. On to others ...

]]> <![CDATA[Mississippi in the Civil War: The Home Front (Heritage Of Mississippi Series)]]> 11187728 280 Timothy B. Smith 1604734299 Rick 5 civil-war
The book is organized by major subject area. Thus religion in Mississippi has its own chapter, as does transportation and the economy. Politics is also treated in depth, especially since it was a political action that separated Mississippi from the Union. Set up in this fashion, the reader is allowed to see the detail surrounding each facet as played out in Mississippi. If you are looking for a detailed account of the impact of the Civil War on a single state, this just might be your book. What happened during the Civil War in Mississippi set the stage for most everything that followed during the next century, as typified by the Civil Rights movement in the state.

In the end, after the Civil War and Reconstruction Mississippi was left in ruins, something from which it really hasn't recovered even 157 years later. The state of Mississippi remains poor, with the lowest per-capita income in these United States. This was a good read and very approachable. Recommended.

]]> 4.67 2010 Mississippi in the Civil War: The Home Front (Heritage Of Mississippi Series)
author: Timothy B. Smith
name: Rick
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/03
date added: 2022/10/03
shelves: civil-war
review:
This was a delightful although niche tale of the state of Mississippi's fortunes during the Civil War. While many states were eventually involved, Mississippi was one of the original seven Confederate States to secede and suffered particularly during the war. Many readers are aware that Vicksburg was a seminal chess piece in the Civil War, but may be unaware that other Mississippi cities such as Corinth, Grenada, Holly Springs, Jackson, Meridian, Oxford, Raymond, and Yazoo City also played a part in this western theater. This narrative touches on each.

The book is organized by major subject area. Thus religion in Mississippi has its own chapter, as does transportation and the economy. Politics is also treated in depth, especially since it was a political action that separated Mississippi from the Union. Set up in this fashion, the reader is allowed to see the detail surrounding each facet as played out in Mississippi. If you are looking for a detailed account of the impact of the Civil War on a single state, this just might be your book. What happened during the Civil War in Mississippi set the stage for most everything that followed during the next century, as typified by the Civil Rights movement in the state.

In the end, after the Civil War and Reconstruction Mississippi was left in ruins, something from which it really hasn't recovered even 157 years later. The state of Mississippi remains poor, with the lowest per-capita income in these United States. This was a good read and very approachable. Recommended.


]]> <![CDATA[Cotton Railroad Through Mississippi: The Mississippi Central and the Illinois Central]]> 57829016 124 Robert Milton Winter Rick 0 0.0 Cotton Railroad Through Mississippi: The Mississippi Central and the Illinois Central
author: Robert Milton Winter
name: Rick
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/19
shelves: illinois-central-rr, other-railroads, currently-reading
review:

]]> Inferno 15645
A groundbreaking bilingual edition of Dante's masterpiece that includes a substantive Introduction, extensive notes, and appendixes that reproduce Dante's key sources and influences. Of the great poets, Dante is one of the most elusive and therefore one of the most difficult to adequately render into English verse. With this major new translation, Anthony Esolen has succeeded brilliantly in marrying sense with sound, poetry with meaning, capturing both the poem's line-by-line vigor and its allegorically and philosophically exacting structure, yielding an Inferno that will be as popular with general readers as with scholars, teachers, and students. For, as Dante insists, without a trace of sentimentality or intellectual compromise, even Hell is a work of divine art.

Esolen's edition also provides a critical ntroduction and endnotes, with appendices containing Dante's most important sources—from Virgil to Saint Thomas Aquinas and beyond —that deftly illuminate the religious universe the poet inhabited.

Verse Translation by Anthony Esolen
Illustrations by Gustave Doré]]> 490 Dante Alighieri 0812970063 Rick 0 to-read 4.02 1320 Inferno
author: Dante Alighieri
name: Rick
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1320
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sayonara 42956 208 James A. Michener 0449204146 Rick 0 to-read 3.77 1953 Sayonara
author: James A. Michener
name: Rick
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Children of Crisis, Volume 2: Migrants, Sharecroppers, Mountaineers]]> 958924 653 Robert Coles 0316151769 Rick 0 to-read 4.33 1973 Children of Crisis, Volume 2: Migrants, Sharecroppers, Mountaineers
author: Robert Coles
name: Rick
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1973
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Who's on First (Blackford Oakes Mystery #3)]]> 129887 259 William F. Buckley Jr. 1888952288 Rick 0 to-read 3.74 1980 Who's on First (Blackford Oakes Mystery #3)
author: William F. Buckley Jr.
name: Rick
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cassell's French Dictionary: French-English, English-French]]> 2289966 1180 Denis Girard 002522610X Rick 0 to-read 4.00 1977 Cassell's French Dictionary: French-English, English-French
author: Denis Girard
name: Rick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Caravans 12662 320 James A. Michener 0812969820 Rick 0 to-read 4.02 1963 Caravans
author: James A. Michener
name: Rick
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Blood for Blood 5067420 302 Julian Gloag 0030060125 Rick 4
Gloag paints wonderful scenes and has a gift for characterization in this murder mystery. Someone is stabbed to death and a sometimes writer takes it upon himself to solve the mystery. The usual web of scheming is uncovered, and it is left to the writer turned detective to find the patterns and piece together the plot. If you like murder and mayhem mysteries, this might be a good one to try on � that is if you can find it anywhere.
]]> 3.56 1985 Blood for Blood
author: Julian Gloag
name: Rick
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/17
date added: 2022/08/17
shelves:
review:
“Blood for Bloodâ€� by Julian Gloag was very entertaining. We noted that there are a lot of books in GoodReads with a similar title, and at least three different series. Maybe that’s why this little effort by British-born Gloag seems lost with pretty much no reviews and only a handful of ratings. Be that as it may, we really enjoyed this tale.

Gloag paints wonderful scenes and has a gift for characterization in this murder mystery. Someone is stabbed to death and a sometimes writer takes it upon himself to solve the mystery. The usual web of scheming is uncovered, and it is left to the writer turned detective to find the patterns and piece together the plot. If you like murder and mayhem mysteries, this might be a good one to try on � that is if you can find it anywhere.

]]> <![CDATA[The Crossing (The Border Trilogy, #2)]]> 744388 The Crossing--the second volume of the Border Trilogy--Cormac McCarthy fulfills the promise of All the Pretty Horses and at the same time gives us a work that is darker and more visionary, a novel with the unstoppable momentum of a classic Western and the elegiac power of a lost American myth.

In the late 1930s, sixteen-year-old Billy Parham captures a she-wolf that has been marauding his family's ranch. But instead of killing it, he decides to take it back to the mountains of Mexico. With that crossing, he begins an arduous and often dreamlike journey into a country where men meet like ghosts and violence strikes as suddenly as heat-lightning--a world where there is no order "save that which death has put there."

An essential novel by any measure, The Crossing is luminous and appalling, a book that touches, stops, and starts the heart and mind at once.]]> 426 Cormac McCarthy 0679760849 Rick 3
Now don't get me wrong ... this was beautifully written and wonderfully painted - but in essence it was a repeat. The author's voice remains a wonder. If you are looking for more of the beautiful first book ... you've come to the right place. On the other hand, if you were looking for a different slant or take of the fast-receding Old West, this probably isn't your cup of tea.]]> 4.17 1994 The Crossing (The Border Trilogy, #2)
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Rick
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/17
date added: 2022/08/17
shelves: multi-volume-reads, the-great-west
review:
This was my second adventure with Cormac McCarthy in The Border Trilogy. I loved his 1st in this series, but this one pretty much just repeats the same storyline. A couple of guys travel across the border, get in a fix, and maybe come back to the Unites States much worse for wear. Once again, not too much happens in this narrative.

Now don't get me wrong ... this was beautifully written and wonderfully painted - but in essence it was a repeat. The author's voice remains a wonder. If you are looking for more of the beautiful first book ... you've come to the right place. On the other hand, if you were looking for a different slant or take of the fast-receding Old West, this probably isn't your cup of tea.
]]> <![CDATA[All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, #1)]]> 469571 302 Cormac McCarthy 0679744398 Rick 4 4.04 1992 All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, #1)
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Rick
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/08/10
shelves: multi-volume-reads, the-great-west
review:
This was a delightful read, but hard to review since it has over 100,000 ratings and 7,000 reviews already. I enjoyed this story and will soon start the second book - The Crossing. I do have to say that not much happens in "All The Pretty Horses" ... John Grady Cole and his pal ride horses from Texas to Mexico and eventually come back after experiencing some rough times. This is another tale that seems to be an elegy to the Old West. What made the read enjoyable was the author's voice, not really the storyline. McCarthy doesn't waste words, paints wonderful scenes, and presents a romantic view of the west. While McCarthy might have benefitted from reading "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" ... this tale will still keep you coming back for more. Recommended.
]]> Man's Fate 2150079
Man's Fate, first published in 1933 and now reissued as a Penguin Modern Classic, is a gripping story of conflict, free will and our power to shape our destiny.]]> 359 André Malraux 0394543793 Rick 3
The narrative was interesting but suffered some with the passing of the years. Malraux wrote this when he was but 33, and it was published in 1934 - so it was a timely story then. It was written as an existential inquiry ... how all the characters in the story were made to feel and what they did about it. For me the tale was a bit too much philosophy and angst, but I see the beauty Malraux was looking for. ]]> 3.57 1933 Man's Fate
author: André Malraux
name: Rick
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1933
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/06/29
shelves:
review:
Interesting if dated telling of a brief between-the-World-Wars-period when Chiang Kai-shek and his Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang), temporarily aligned with the Communist Party, was fighting the warlords to unify China under a Nationalist government. During this episode in the mid-1920s the alliance broke down and Chiang's troops began massacring the newly-out-of-favor communists. All of this took place at what was arguably the beginning of the Chinese Revolution, what would become China's version of the American Civil War. Sitting here today, we know how the story ends ... but back then it was all undecided.

The narrative was interesting but suffered some with the passing of the years. Malraux wrote this when he was but 33, and it was published in 1934 - so it was a timely story then. It was written as an existential inquiry ... how all the characters in the story were made to feel and what they did about it. For me the tale was a bit too much philosophy and angst, but I see the beauty Malraux was looking for.
]]> Whistle 5837174 457 James Jones 0440095484 Rick 3 world-war-ii
James Jones never finished this book, passing away before it was complete ... but he left detailed notes and recordings and someone finished it for him. It is entertaining and the pages turn easily. When the tale sticks to the PTSD of the veterans and their adjustment, it is engrossing and sad. ]]> 3.76 1978 Whistle
author: James Jones
name: Rick
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1978
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/14
date added: 2022/06/14
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
Entertaining tale, and the third installment in James Jones' World War II trilogy. The narrative concerns four servicemen who ship back to the States on a hospital ship after participating in the war in the Pacific - months before the Normandy Landing in Europe. It is a tale of four guys returning, each with some form of PTSD. We see their adjustment or lack thereof on coming home. My main complaint is that the author seemed to fill the pages with sexual encounters ... many gratuitous. I suspect a lot of returning servicemen actually might have had a thought of something other than booze and sex, but apparently not in "Whistle."

James Jones never finished this book, passing away before it was complete ... but he left detailed notes and recordings and someone finished it for him. It is entertaining and the pages turn easily. When the tale sticks to the PTSD of the veterans and their adjustment, it is engrossing and sad.
]]> Train Dreams 12991188 116 Denis Johnson 1250007658 Rick 4 the-great-west
I suspect a similar tale could be written about an "average man" during the most recent 50 years (1970-2020), describing progress brought about by science and computers. While it probably would not revolve around as limited a geographic area because the world has become (seemingly) much smaller, it would still show the vast change any lifetime experiences ... no matter what period of time the narrative begins. This was a delightful little book.
]]> 3.91 2002 Train Dreams
author: Denis Johnson
name: Rick
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/22
date added: 2022/05/22
shelves: the-great-west
review:
Delightful novella about the "average man" during the first half of the twentieth century. But this average man was situated in the west and lived through the flowering of that region as progress supplanted exploration of the frontier. The tale has his life events - birth, death, children, happiness, loss, etc. - ranging around his labor on the railroad; how the march of time impacted him or not, sometimes welcome but always inexorable. How he experienced or didn't experience events (World Wars, the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, etc.) within his isolated life. Let's call it modernity comes to the Old West.

I suspect a similar tale could be written about an "average man" during the most recent 50 years (1970-2020), describing progress brought about by science and computers. While it probably would not revolve around as limited a geographic area because the world has become (seemingly) much smaller, it would still show the vast change any lifetime experiences ... no matter what period of time the narrative begins. This was a delightful little book.

]]> A Family Matter 4259024 316 James Roosevelt 0671246216 Rick 4 world-war-ii
Was this a biography and true story from the Yalta events, and did FDR actually give secrets to Stalin? If so, why has this tale seemingly been brushed under the rug by historians? ...OR... Was this a fictionalized account from the Yalta events, and really just a good tale with some accurate touchstones by someone who had been on site? And if so, maybe that answers the question of why it has been ignored by historians.

Whatever it is, it is all laid out for the reader to decide. I thought the book a very good tale, whether you believe it or not. And what was especially endearing was that there is enough fact on each side of the equation to keep you guessing, even after you finish. Well worth going to the trouble to find this lost gem. ]]> 3.50 A Family Matter
author: James Roosevelt
name: Rick
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/05/21
shelves: world-war-ii
review:
We have seen sons be counselors to their fathers who were U.S. Presidents before, the Trump family being but the latest. In the case of "A Family Matter" James Roosevelt, FDR's eldest son, serves as his closest advisor. This tale is about conversations at Yalta among the Big Three - Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin. Essentially, as the book cover states, FDR secretly decided to share results of the Manhattan Project with Stalin. Plausible, but is it true? This is where the excellent narrative leads the reader.

Was this a biography and true story from the Yalta events, and did FDR actually give secrets to Stalin? If so, why has this tale seemingly been brushed under the rug by historians? ...OR... Was this a fictionalized account from the Yalta events, and really just a good tale with some accurate touchstones by someone who had been on site? And if so, maybe that answers the question of why it has been ignored by historians.

Whatever it is, it is all laid out for the reader to decide. I thought the book a very good tale, whether you believe it or not. And what was especially endearing was that there is enough fact on each side of the equation to keep you guessing, even after you finish. Well worth going to the trouble to find this lost gem.
]]> <![CDATA[The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao]]> 2629628 This is an alternate cover edition for 9781594483295

Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukĂș—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.]]> 335 Junot DĂ­az Rick 4 pulitzer-winners
I very much enjoyed "Wondrous Life," but I can't say it was because of the storyline - it was because of the Voice of the author. I thought Diaz's voice was spectacular. It was fresh, novel, and in your face. Sometimes racist (no cultural appropriation), sometimes vulgar, but always direct and to the point, and never gratuitous. Very good book and recommended for those looking for a change of pace.]]> 3.84 2007 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
author: Junot DĂ­az
name: Rick
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/05/21
shelves: pulitzer-winners
review:
Liked this book a lot. It is about a character, in every sense of that word. I thought the character drawing very much like another I read a few months ago - "A Confederacy of Dunces� by John Kennedy Toole. Both Ignatius J. Reilly in the "Confederacy" and Oscar Wao in "Wondrous Life" were true individuals, and both books won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. As I wrote for the former, "Wonderous Life" is a probable tale about an improbable character. While Oscar is the anchor, the reader will meet a number of secondary characters that revolve around him.

I very much enjoyed "Wondrous Life," but I can't say it was because of the storyline - it was because of the Voice of the author. I thought Diaz's voice was spectacular. It was fresh, novel, and in your face. Sometimes racist (no cultural appropriation), sometimes vulgar, but always direct and to the point, and never gratuitous. Very good book and recommended for those looking for a change of pace.
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