Published April 19, 2008
in Books.
Received
Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I finished Before The Storm.
Reading
The Race Beat - About how the media, especially black media, affected the Civil Rights struggle
Crusader Nation - I currently have a fascination with the pre-WWI era, especially with regards to TR, trust-busting, and the muckrakers. One of these days I’ll get into reading about the Civil War, but I’m not there yet. Considering where I was born and the area I live in I should be more interested. But I’m not.
All the Money in the World - Rich people also fascinate me
Book Suggestion Request
So, my all time favorite historical period is WWII. I love all things about the era, and I’m looking for a book that tells the story of the entire conflict - from the rise of Hitler to the liberation of France and on to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The closest I’ve come so far is Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich which is good, but gets way into the weeds about German diplomacy. There are a ton of books on the individual slivers of WWII - D-Day, The Pacific War, The Concentration Camps, etc. but besides books of military tactics I can’t seem to find the right narrative history. Does anyone know of one?
Weird
I checked this book out today: Don’t Blame It on Rio: The Real Deal Behind Why Men Go to Brazil for Sex. I didn’t buy it and I confess the cover photo is what first caught my eye, but I had no idea black professional men were running down to Brazil for erotic adventures. You learn something new every fricking day.
On a related note, I am going on vacation to Brazil. Just kidding. Though I would like to go some time. For the nature and stuff. Right.
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Published April 3, 2008
in Books.
Recently sent to me
Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics by Glenn Greenwald of Salon and blogosphere fame
Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors by Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint
Recently read
God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (And How We Can Get It Back) by Deadspin’s Will Leitch. Rating: 3.5/5. Hilarious, funny rants that can be appreciated by people like myself who are sports fans but not to the level of the kind of sports junkie who calls into radio shows.
The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi. Rating: 4/5 - Weird and perverted, like her other great book Chemical Pink
Reading right now
True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society by Farhad Manjoo. Explains using science why Republicans (and others) are dumb enough to accept what they watch on Fox News or read on some random guys blog without question.
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Published July 22, 2007
in Books.
I pre-ordered Harry Potter months ago (I became a huge fan of the books a year ago when I read the previous 6 books in a vacation week bender) but I have it delivered to work because I’m never home when UPS delivers. But of course, they release the darn book on a Saturday! So now I have to wait until Monday to get my hands on the book. Still, anticipation is high.
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Published July 5, 2007
in Books.
Feingold: A New Democratic Party
"Sanford D. Horwitt writes in this timely, compelling independent
biography that Russ Feingold "represents the progressive side of the
Democratic divide more clearly and authentically than any successful
politician on the national stage." The third-term senator’s willingness
to take bold stands — he was the first in the Senate to call for a
timetable for redeploying U.S. troops from Iraq — has inspired a
growing number of rank-and-file Democrats across the country."
Should be an interesting read.
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Published May 24, 2007
in Books.
Published April 19, 2007
in Books.
Amen to this a thousand times.
What if Harry Potter was a black kid?
That’s the question that author Troy CLE initially tried to answer when he created his character, Louis Proof.
But it would be simplistic to paint Louis as simply a black version of the beloved Harry. Louis is a very different character. The brainchild of Troy, Louis loves listening to hip-hop, racing radio-controlled cars, and hanging out with his best friend, Brandon. If he sounds a little normal, maybe it’s because he is meant to be.
Of his character, Troy says, “I couldn’t find any action hero kids who looked like me in popular literature. That’s what sparked me to write this book.”
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Published March 30, 2007
in Books.
First, buy this book.
Monkey Girl is a detailed and lively chronicle of the Dover, PA case that decided whether or not Intelligent Design (Creationism) should be taught in science class in a public school. Edward Humes, who is a Pulitzer winner, distills complex scientific data into language that the average person can understand. The two most startling elements of the book are just how slick yet bankrupt the forces pushing ID are (the Discovery Institute and the Thomas More Law Center - both bankrolled by the same people running the GOP). They preach the idea of “teaching the controversy” when any scientist will tell you there is none, and the ideas espoused by ID do not even remotely qualify as science. Yet, they were able to convince a school board to implement their ideology and provoke more than one federal case (the book also discusses the Kansas School Board case).
In the epilogue, the judge at the center of the case John E. Jones III (a conservative, Christian, Republican, Bush appointee), laments the atmosphere in his own Republican party that is creating an atmosphere of hatred towards judges (and in some instances encouraging violence to the point of murder against them). Judge Jones also shares this about Ann Coulter, who lamely tried to attack evolution in her book Godless: “Ann Coulter foments a kind of civic stupidity, in my opinion”.
That’s worth the price of purchase alone.
Rating: 5/5
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Published February 22, 2007
in Books.
I am something of an insane reader. At any given time I’m usually reading 3-4 books at a time, plus about 10 magazines a month. Here are a couple books I’ve read recently of note.
Fame Junkies by Jake Halperin
Want to know what kind of culture produces the around the clock fascination with Idol, Britney, and the dead Playboy model? Jake Halperin gets to the root causes of it in this book that goes to the source to explain the psychological underpinings of why people want to be famous and the lengths they’ll take their families and children to in order to get it. Apparently my generation was the last to raise children who aren’t complete idiots.
Something in the Air by Marc Fisher
Marc Fisher is the Metro and Radio columnist for the Washington Post, and he’s written the first book about radio that’s enjoyable and readable. It’s a history, but not dry and boring, like myself Fisher is a radio fan (I like talk, not music) and it shows in the portraits he’s written of the legendary Top 40 folks, the suits who have squeezed all the life out of the radio and the talkers including NPR, Limbaugh, and Tom Leykis. A great read.
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Published August 29, 2006
in Books.
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