Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Peter Stark is a page-turning tale full of great adventures and a true story that was once well-known but until now was a forgotten piece of history.
In this remarkable book, Peter Stark tells us Continue reading “Astoria by Peter Stark”
This is the second in a series. I liked the first and reviewed it about a year ago on this blog. I liked it so much I eagerly jumped at the chance to read and review an ARC of Brooklyn Graves: An Erica Donato Mystery by Triss Stein. Continue reading “Brooklyn Graves: An Erica Donato Mystery”
I have been a fan of Gabriel Cohen‘s writing for several years now. So when I received an email that his Jack Leightner crime novels have been published as ebooks by Open Road Media, I thought I should help spread the word. Continue reading “Gabriel Cohen mysteries published as ebooks”
By the mid to late 1800s major cities had become extremely congested. There were several ideas to help ease that problem. From our vantage point today, we see the subway as a fairly obvious solution. But it wasn’t so obvious then.
This is a history of how we came to see the subway as a solution and some of the interesting personalities involved. Continue reading “The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway by Doug Most”
Sarah Ettritch’s The Deiform Fellowship Two: The Cult is the second in the The Deiform Fellowship series. I thought the premise a bit odd but the title of the first intrigued me and so I gave it a try.
I wrote my review of The Atheist: The Deiform Fellowship One less than a week ago and as I was writing I was thinking about how good this book was and that maybe I should try the second in the series.
I should mention (for the benefit of those who haven’t read my review yet) that Deiforms are agents of God (or at least believe that to be true) and the main character in The Atheist is Jillian. And there is an interesting conflict of beliefs since Jillian is an atheist. Continue reading “The Deiform Fellowship Two: The Cult by Sarah Ettritch”
I was just browsing Netgalley looking for something that would be an interesting read when the title The Atheist caught my eye. So I looked a bit further and the description seemed interesting:
“Jillian Campbell doesn’t believe in God. When local pastor Jim Preston claims to be an agent of God called a Deiform, and declares that Jillian is one too, she dismisses him as a kook. Two days later, Preston is dead, and Jillian stands accused of his murder.”
Continue reading “The Atheist: The Deiform Fellowship One by Sarah Ettritch”
I saw My Country, ‘Tis of Thee: My Faith, My Family, Our Future by Keith Ellison on Netgalley and it sounded interesting so I thought I would give it a try. I’m glad I did. I think it was not only fascinating but is an important book. It is certainly important Continue reading “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee: life and politics of Congressmen Keith Ellison”
I came in ignorance. But found a good book anyway. In fact, I found what seems to be a good series. Let me explain.
I had heard of Nero Wolfe. I never Continue reading “2 Nero Wolfe Mysteries by Robert Goldsborough”
I read All Standing: The Remarkable Story of the Jeanie Johnston, The Legendary Irish Famine Ship by Kathryn Miles because of an interest in Irish Genealogy. And then thought I should review this book since I enjoyed it and that is one of the things I do here. So that is how the book review got here and why it is listed under both Book Review and Genealogy.
I guess I should make clear than this is not a genealogy book but rather a history book about one of most important important events to Irish Genealogy.
I read the paperback version of the book and that runs to 214 pages excluding reference, acknowledgements, prologue and that type of thing. The book also comes as a hardback (if you want to spent a bit more) and a kindle version if you want to spend a bit less).
The ships the Irish traveled on to emigrate from Ireland during the potato famine were often called coffin ships because so many passengers died during the voyage. The Jeanie Johnson was an exception. It made many round trips between Ireland and North America carrying passengers one-way and cargo on the return voyage without losing a single passenger.
Although the Jeanie Johnston was called a lucky ship, this record was not just a matter of luck. The Irish passengers were usually malnourished and weak before beginning the journey. Conditions on the ship were not great and many succumbed to disease. But conditions on the Jeanie Johnson were better than usual and even more unusual was the presence of a ship’s doctor to care for the passengers. So the words remarkable and legendary in the subtitle are appropriate.
The book is about much more than the Jeanie Johnston. There is quite a bit on the Irish potato famine or the great hunger. And the inadequate relief efforts. The English who were in charge at the time did very little but did get around to apologizing about 150 years later.
There is also quite a bit about Tralee, the home port of the Jeanie Johnston and home of the owner. And a good bit of general information about ships of the time and the hazards they faced. Then whole story is interlaced with the stories of some of the passengers.
Unlike many history books which can have a tendency to bore you with too many detail, this is a lively history that reads well and quickly. I think in part that is because there is sufficient background to understand why this ship was so remarkable and then there are the remarkable stories of the ship and one of the families that traveled on it.
OK, it is not the whole title. The title is – Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed – a bit too long for a reasonable headline.
Much to my surprise, I liked this book quite a bit. But I’m getting ahead of the story so let me begin where this book ended up on my Kindle. Continue reading “Without Their Permission by Alexis Ohanian”
I enjoyed Intelligently Designed: How Creationists Built the Campaign against Evolution by Edward Caudill but did not finish it.
I liked this book and believe that evolution is by far the superior theory but that creationists are often winning the argument in the United States. At least winning much more often than the evidence would support. I am a scientist so I find it shocking Continue reading “Intelligently Designed: How Creationists Built the Campaign against Evolution”
I had mentioned last month that I had subscribed to the Wilson Quarterly for years and enjoyed it. They stopped printing paper copies so now I can get the articles on-line or on my Kindle. Continue reading “Wilson Quarterly, Pacific Standard, Frustrated Blogger, and Expanding Social Security”
I mentioned before that I subscribed to the Wilson Quarterly by mail for several years. There were long articles and almost always several were interesting. There were shorter articles (maybe a page or so) which summarized longer articles often published in scholarly journals or more popular magazines of the intellectual or policy type. And Book Reviews that I found interesting.
The Wilson Quarterly was a very thought provoking and often gave me a look and differing perspectives on various issues. But a while back, they stopped printing on paper and published the Quarterly on the web.
I was trying to decide if I wanted a web subscription. I enjoy reading in my easy chair and was looking for something that would allow me to read the Wilson Quarterly without sitting at my computer. Of course I could get a web subscription and read at my desk or on my laptop or Chromebook.
I also noticed they have subscriptions via iPad, Nook, Kindle Fire, Kindle, Android Tablets and Sony but I had none of these except an old Kindle. So I thought I would give the Kindle subscription a try.
I was a bit skeptical since the Kindle was several years old (no touch) and I was unsure how easy it would be to maneuver around the Wilson Quarterly as there are several sections and several articles withing each section. So far it seems fairly easy to move around and read articles of interest.
Amazon has a try it policy. I am now trying out the Kindle version for a 30 day trial. You order and give credit card info but they won’t start charging while you are in the trial period. What could be fairer than that?
For many years I subscribed to the Wilson Quarterly and enjoyed it when it landed in my mailbox. There were almost always several articles worth reading and shorter articles including Book Reviews that I found interesting. It was a very thought provoking and often gave me a look and differing perspectives on various issues. But they stopped printing and I miss it.
These articles are still published but on the web. Since I still get email from them, this morning, I decided to read an article pointing how our government still works and why the founders designed it the way they did. It was interesting reading since so much of the news around our government lately has been about the gridlock in Washington that led to the recent government shutdown and debt crisis.
The article The Gridlock Illusion by R. Shep Melnick which is subtitled “If Washington seems to get much less done than it once did, it is partly because it is trying to do so much more” is well-worth reading.
The Wilson Quarterly is published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. They list several subscription options on their website. I’ll be doing a little thinking about which makes makes sense for me.
I read Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles by James Goodale for several reasons. First there was a radio interview with the author on Radio Times and I listened to the podcast. It I found it very interesting and wanted to buy the book as soon as I could.
Second, I was in college at the time of the Pentagon Papers battles and it was interesting to re-visit this history and learn more about it. And third, this battle over the publication of the Pentagon Papers by the New York Times and other papers during the Vietnam War is very relevant to the freedom of the press disputes today.
James Goodale was the New York Times general counsel at a time when the Pentagon Papers were leaked to the NY Times. The Pentagon Papers was classified Top Secret, although that classification now seems excessive. After internal discussions at the Times, the paper battled Richard Nixon’s Department of Justice for the right to publish and won.
Why was this so important? The Pentagon Papers were a history of our involvement in Vietnam prepared for the government and classified ‘Top Secret’. Thousands of young men were being killed in the Vietnam War and the country was being torn apart with political protests, bombings, etc.
The Pentagon Papers showed that the case the government made for going to war was a pack of lies. These papers were leaked (stolen secrets) and the New York Times wanted to publish and, of course, the Nixon administration wanted to keep the secrets away from the public. It was a great story and is told well in this book.
So this is an insider’s story of what may have been the most important case on First Amendment and freedom of the press. I was expecting the book to be dry and legalistic in parts or even much of the story. I was surprised and pleased and it was not. Although this is a true story, it reads more like a legal thriller and kept me reading.
Most of the book discusses The Pentagon Papers case and other cases related to Richard Nixon’s war on the free press. The last few chapters move us into the present. And there is an extensive set of references. The G.W. Bush and Obama administrations have not been good for ‘freedom of the press‘ issues.
So who would I recommend read this? First, there are journalists and lawyers. Although I must repeat again the book is not at all bogged down by any technical aspects of the law or journalism that would detract from the experience of the general reader. Then anyone with an interest in the time period or freedom of the press issues. I find this last particularly important today since the balance of security, surveillance, privacy, and press freedom is so essential to our society,
Looking at the Amazon page, there are both Kindle and Paperback Editions and the Kindle version is much less than the paperback. I went with the Kindle edition since it was much cheaper and delivery was almost immediate.