en-US Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:09:11 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7450103466 Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:09:11 -0700 /review/show/7450103466 Rick gave 4 stars to Theft (Hardcover) by Abdulrazak Gurnah
"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. ]]> Review1065063747 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 05:23:03 -0700 /review/show/1065063747 Rick gave 3 stars to Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott (Hardcover) by Louisa May Alcott
bookshelves: put-aside
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. ]]> Review1055588075 Tue, 25 Mar 2025 09:39:36 -0700 /review/show/1055588075 Rick gave 5 stars to All For The Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes (Hardcover) by Robert H. Rhodes
bookshelves: civil-war, american-history
“All For The Union� 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.
]]> Review7389913296 Sat, 15 Mar 2025 09:35:16 -0700 /review/show/7389913296 Rick gave 4 stars to Clown in a Cornfield (Clown in a Cornfield, #1) by Adam Cesare
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. ]]> Review6963164740 Sat, 15 Mar 2025 08:17:57 -0700 /review/show/6963164740 Rick gave 5 stars to Ryan's Woods: A South Side Boyhood Fifty Years Ago (Paperback) by Patrick Creevy
bookshelves: chicago
“Ryan’s Woods� by Patrick Creevy is a delightful look back at 1960�1962 through the eyes of a 12�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 character� as the author replicates the speech patterns and inanity of young boys. Recommended. ]]> Review238378074 Wed, 05 Mar 2025 07:37:45 -0800 /review/show/238378074 Rick gave 4 stars to History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (Paperback) by Edward T. Linenthal
bookshelves: world-war-ii
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 � 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 � 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. ]]> Review238377608 Tue, 04 Mar 2025 14:50:35 -0800 /review/show/238377608 Rick gave 4 stars to Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory (Paperback) by James Oliver Horton
bookshelves: african-america
"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.� We have yet to find the middle ground.

]]> Review473733042 Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:47:16 -0800 /review/show/473733042 Rick gave 3 stars to Primitive Rebels (Paperback) by Eric J. Hobsbawm
“Primitive Rebels� 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.
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