tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33233491411789288792024-03-18T07:26:13.192-04:001776 BooksA Philadelphian reviewing books one at a time...until 1776 (or more) have been reviewed.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger629125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-52980635894115760052024-03-18T07:19:00.005-04:002024-03-18T07:25:41.454-04:00The Romanov Brides (Clare McHugh)<p>In <i>The Romanov Brides: A Novel of the Last Tsarina and Her Sisters</i>, author Clare McHugh offers a meticulously researched book on the lives of Princesses Ella and Alix, who would go on to become a Grand Duchess and Empress of Russia respectively. Both royal sisters made fateful decisions that would change their lives immensely.</p><p>Just two of the many grandchildren of the imposing Queen Victoria, the sisters are brought up with expectations of who they will marry (and this does not include Russians). Despite this, they are drawn to Russia and the Romanovs. Ella defies warnings and marries Grand Duke Serge, and Alix falls in love with Nicky, the heir to the Russian throne. </p><p>I love books about royal families and was especially surprised how interrelated the families were. Members were encouraged to marry for status and country, even when they were first cousins! I imagine that except for the staunchest royalists, it would be a bit difficult to keep all the royal lines straight. However, McHugh does offer some handy diagrams to help with this. It was especially fascinating to see how the real characters in <i>The Romanov Brides </i>were direct descendants of the British royal family. For example, one of the sisters of Ella and Alix (Victoria) had a daughter named Alice, who was Prince Philip's mother. </p><p>Overall, this book is a moving tale that offers deep insights into the lives of two spirited royal sisters. It's a must-read for those interested in the Romanovs and historical fiction in general.</p><p>MY RATING: 4</p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-32603266714453668492024-03-04T07:00:00.000-05:002024-03-04T07:00:23.561-05:00The Globemakers: The Curious Story of an Ancient Craft (Peter Bellerby)<p>Every globe tells a story about the world as it was. While globes quickly date themselves, the stories that each one tells help us learn more about our world and how we got to the place we are today.</p><p>In <i>The Globemakers: The Curious Story of an Ancient Craft</i>, author Peter Bellerby discusses the process of hand-crafting globes and how he himself decided to make a globe for his father's 80th birthday. While he didn't quite make the birthday deadline, he did start a company out of that project and makes hand-crafted globes of various sizes that are shipped throughout the world. One of his most ambitious projects was a replica of a globe that was gifted to Winston Churchill in 1942.</p><p>Globe-making has been around for centuries and was a semi-established craft since the early days of the Renaissance. As printing presses came into greater supply, the ability to produce globes became a bit easier. Bellerby, while discussing the growth of his business, goes into detail about the process of making a globe from start to finish. It requires a patient, steady hand and the ability to paint accurately. Neither of those are traits I possess, but I do possess an appreciation for a great story. <i>The Globemakers </i>accomplishes this with humility and wit.</p><p>MY RATING: 5</p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-448361272041348792024-02-26T07:04:00.000-05:002024-02-26T07:04:04.111-05:00The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I (Steven Ujifusa)<p>Immigration to America in the late 19th and 20th Centuries was a big business, large enough that J.P. Morgan was involved and millions of dollars could be made by funneling Europeans on large steamer ships across the Atlantic. In fact, over two million Jews traveled from Eastern Europe and Russia to escape persecution and search for a better life.</p><p>Steven Ujifusa's <i>The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I </i>chronicles the migration of Europeans in the decades preceding World War I and men who built large businesses and banked huge profits off the transport of those wishing to go to America. It also describes how America gradually turned insular and anti-immigrant due to a number of factors. </p><p>Ujifusa focuses much of the book on Albert Ballin, a Hamburg businessesman who was the managing director of the Hamburg-American line. Ballin created a sprawling network of trains and steamships to funnel migrants west. But his empire came crashing to the ground with the onset of World War I, as migration ceased and Europe and the North Atlantic turned into a war zone. Despite the war's end in 1918, immigration in America was severely restricted due to nativist and racist forces gaining influence in immigration policy.</p><p><i>The Last Ships from Hamburg </i>is a great telling of the story of migration through Europe and to America but through the prism of how business in Europe helped in the mass migration.</p><p>MY RATING: 4.5</p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-87498704908241035252024-02-20T07:18:00.003-05:002024-02-20T07:18:42.654-05:00Sparks: China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future (Ian Johnson)<p>Sharing untold but true stories of a nation's past is important and necessary to help it learn about itself. While this can usually happen in America with little fanfare, it is much more dangerous in places where the state exerts full control. Ian Johnson's <i>Sparks: China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future </i>details the stories of China's underground historians and their quest for truth, sometimes at the price of everything they have.</p><p>Chinese officials have oscillated over the seven decades of Communist control. In Mao's time and increasingly in Xi's time as leader, expressing an opinion different from the party line could find people ostracized or worse. Telling the stories of those who dissented, or weren't ideologically "pure" enough, was a fraught exercise that could end in prison time or death (see the Cultural Revolution as an example of this). <i>Sparks </i>highlights the brave historians who look for ways to bend and ebb around Chinese state control to ensure stories can be told.</p><p>Johnson is greatly effective at detailing several key points in Chinese history: the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Tiannemen protests, and the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan. The tales of the "counter-history" from these points in time and the people who told them are powerful reminders of the need for authentic storytelling before the stories of the past are forgotten.</p><p>MY RATING: 4.5</p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-37958207206437116332024-02-12T07:31:00.005-05:002024-02-12T07:33:07.287-05:00Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations (Simon Schama)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before Covid-19, periodic bouts of contagion ravaged cities and countrysides throughout the world, killing multitudes. Smallbox, cholera, and bubonic plague ebbed and flowed based on movement of people and pests. Combating these diseases, people looked for ways to protect populations and come up with innovative solutions, even in places that didn't seem to be the most innovative for scientific breakthroughs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In <i>Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations</i>, author Simon Schama highlights a number of unsung heroes throughout the centuries, most notably Waldemar Haffkine, a Jewish student in Odessa who became a microbiologist under Louis Pasteur. Haffkine developed a cholera and bubonic plague vaccine that saved millions of lives in British India around the beginning of the 20th Century. He was celebrated by the masses but shunned by the scientific community of the time. Haffkine's innovation in developing mass-produced vaccines helped set the stage for mass innoculations that would protect against a long list of diseases.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Foreign Bodies </i>is ultimately a great story but ends rather awkwardly with its pivot to modern-day anti-vaccine movements. The book's final chapter on Covid-19 seems almost like a rant against those who disliked Anthony Fauci, instead of covering a nearly eight-decade history of vaccine and global communities coming together under the World Health Organization (WHO). Covid-19 produced a wide range of policy decisions for population health, ranging from near "anything goes" to WHO-supported lockdowns similar to those in China. The book would have ended more effectively if it offered less of a political rant, which provided a down ending to a great story.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">MY RATING: 3.5 </span></p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-11982941740171810162024-01-29T07:32:00.001-05:002024-01-29T07:32:02.928-05:00President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier (C.W. Goodyear)<p><span style="font-family: times;">James Garfield's six month presidency is noted more for the reforms that happened after his assassination than for what had happened in the few months he was alive. The assassination brought about long-needed civil service reform in the federal government, which eliminated much of the patronage and "spoils system" that had marked federal government employment in preceding decades. Garfield's life and political career were more noted for his being a leader in the early Republican party and one that pivoted at times from progressive to pragmatic. C.W. Goodyear's book <i>President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier </i>highlights the life and career of a man whose political moderation helped propel him to the highest office in the United States.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times;">The Republicans in the 1870's were divided into two roughly equal factions. The Stalwarts were a more progressive branch of the party that believed heavily in political patronage and rewarding fellow Stalwarts with plum federal jobs. Half-Breeds were the opposing faction that were more moderate but believed in civil service reform. Garfield, a member of Congress from the Civil War through 1880, drifted from the Radical camp into a more moderate position as he rose in leadership within the Republican party. The battle between Stalwarts and Half-Breeds, which had paused during the Hayes administration, exploded in the 1880 Republican Convention as factions between James Blaine and Ulysses Grant vied for over thirty ballots on becoming the party’s nominee for President. Garfield emerged as a compromise candidate and won on the 36th ballot, eventually winning the Presidency. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times;">Garfield was generally known for being a pragmatic moderate and a reasoned voice in the Republican party. Goodyear’s book does a great job of capturing the story of a President that many of us know little about and whose administration is known more for what happened after his death than during it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: times;">MY RATING: 4.5</span></span></p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-78427565667818998202024-01-16T07:46:00.002-05:002024-01-16T07:46:35.630-05:00Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges (John Winsor and Jin H. Paik)<p>The Covid-19 pandemic reset much of what was considered conventional wisdom in the workforce. Many workers left their employers and transitioned into gig work or even started their own ventures. Companies, in response to this shift, have had to adapt to find talent both internally and externally. However, many are struggling to adapt successfully. Harvard Business School's John Winsor and Jin H. Paik discuss how companies can better harness talented workers in <i>Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges.</i></p><p>The authors argue that internal collaboration and leveraging external resources will help companies improve productivity. From a detailed rundown of "gig work" companies to internal strategies that companies can utilize, this book thoroughly details best practices that companies can experiment with, along with case studies that show successful adaptation, improved internal innovation, and reduced employee turnover in recent years.</p><p>As workplaces continue to evolve thanks to the call for flexibility from white collar workers, Paik and Winsor argue that innovation on sourcing talent and breaking down internal silos will help improve company performance. <i>Open Talent </i>advocates for companies opening up to new ideas as critical to success in the coming years.</p><p>MY RATING: 4</p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-29660280004209203422024-01-08T07:32:00.003-05:002024-01-08T07:32:52.457-05:00Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West (Calder Walton)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Espionage is not solely the stuff of James Bond movies. People like Aldirch Ames, Robert Hanssen, and Harold “Kim” Philby have all served the Soviet Union or Russia with information while working for Western intelligence agencies. There’s a long, dubious, and tumultuous history of espionage between the West and Russia that goes back over 100 years. Calder Walton captures this history in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-2ea086e7-7fff-36ae-1bfd-0ccc8ad62982"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Spies</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a detailed, well-researched history of Russia, America, and British intelligence since World War I, with much of its attention paid to the Cold War era through the present day. Russian meddling in Western affairs is nothing recent or new, Walton argues, pointing to various attempts by Russian-influenced groups to run interference on Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980’s. Unlike then, however, Russia’s attempts are more brazen and direct, using new methodologies in an attempt to control minds. Walton also dedicates some of his book to discussing China’s increasing use of spies and espionage in Western politics over the past decade and how China is likely going to be the biggest challenge to the West in the coming decade.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Spies</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a thorough history of West vs. Russia espionage and how it has evolved over the decades and become more sophisticated and subtle. Walton provides practical arguments and lessons for the coming decades and how trusting and funding the intelligence movement is helpful for promoting democratic ideals and countering those who wish to undermine the West.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING: 4</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-77716620118823847602024-01-02T07:32:00.002-05:002024-01-02T07:32:49.553-05:00Amazing Grace: A Cultural History of the Beloved Hymn (James Walvin)<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The song </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Amazing Grace</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> was written in the 18th Century by John Newton, at the time an Anglican minister in a small town. This song has become a staple of American music over the past 200 years, iconic for its message of redemption and forgiveness, sung by audiences of all sorts at various occasions. James Walvin shares its background in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Amazing Grace: A Cultural History of the Beloved Hymn.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-865ba1a9-7fff-ff97-7a8f-4f22f74a3b75"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Walvin’s story is a brisk read - less than 200 pages - all very detailed and powerful. The song is a reflection of Newton's personal experiences. He wasn’t particularly religious as a child and went into the Royal Navy as a young man. After, he captained slave ships and survived a particularly bad storm off the coast of Ireland. He subsequently became religious and eventually ended his seafaring to become a minister. Newton over time became an abolitionist and in his latter years was an advocate for the end of slavery in England, which finally occurred in the year of his death in 1807. The song was written in 1772 and eventually became a staple of American music, particularly in Black and rural churches throughout the South and Midwest, gradually working its way into commercial prominence thanks to several influential musicians. While the hymn didn’t capture the initial and lasting popularity in England that it has in America, recent years have shown a fresh appreciation in the UK.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The author’s research and writing are powerful and compelling. If you’re interested in musical history, religion, and both the human and American experience, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Amazing Grace</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> sums up much of our complex, ever-evolving story.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p></span></span><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MY RATING: 4.5</span></span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-19182031347904442102023-12-18T07:35:00.001-05:002023-12-18T07:35:46.806-05:00Volcanic: Vesuvius in the Age of Revolutions (John Brewer)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mount Vesuvius may be one of the world’s most famous volcanoes, known for its destruction of Pompeii back in AD 79 and other numerous eruptions throughout recorded history. It became a tourist attraction in the 18th and 19th Centuries, partly due to a period of historically high volcanic activity but also the burgeoning of global tourism. John Brewer’s </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Volcanic: Vesuvius in the Age of Revolutions</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> chronicles how global political change and an active volcano seemingly went hand-in-hand in the late 18th and 19th Centuries</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a long, detailed book but has many interesting chapters. The story of developing tourism at the volcano site, specifically the visitors book at a hermitage near the volcano, which was signed by thousands of individuals from throughout the world, is particularly intriguing. Some historical trends that are identified in the guest book ring similar to the verses echoed today. The visitors' books and their stories were symbolic of an era of great global political change: fervent nationalism, occasional revolts, and the various European powers all jostling for parts of European control. Some of the stories of the increasing tourist trade are entertaining; others, such as a soldier who hurled himself into a volcanic vent, more tragic.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We know a lot about the Pompeii eruption through the archeological work done in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Brewer covers this as part of the evolution of tourism and travel, as well as to help tell the tale of a volcano that has been a dramatic part of our history for millenia. Given its proximity to the city of Naples, it will quite likely be a part of our story in the future.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MY RATING: 4</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-41de2d89-7fff-6915-f95a-443a6efbd873"><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-36191673876270816252023-12-11T07:40:00.002-05:002023-12-11T07:40:51.534-05:00The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (Andrew Friedman)<span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you've ever dined at a restaurant that's not a chain and sources its ingredients from local farms, you might have wondered about the journey of your food from farm to plate. Andrew Friedman's <i>The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food </i>takes it one step further, incorporating the lives and labor that go into making that dish you really like.</span><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>The Dish </i>is about not just the journey of the food that goes on your plate but also about those responsible for growing the food, making the dish, and cleaning up after you eat it. Friedman also shares the stories of several purveyors that raise beef, pork, and produce and the journey those ingredients take from regional farms in the Midwest to one specific Chicago restaurant.</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">We learn in <i>The Dish </i>that a restaurant's kitchen is made up of a diverse mix of talent from many different places. We also learn that getting into food service often happens for a specific reason or because of an event from a person's childhood. Most importantly, we learn that behind one plate of food in a restaurant are many people who play a part in bringing that experience to you. <i>The Dish </i>delivers a great reading experience on the restaurant industry.</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING: 5</span></div>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-90226172422219498762023-12-06T07:51:00.002-05:002023-12-06T07:51:08.696-05:00Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Britain and the American Dream (Peter Moore)<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The concept of “liberty” as part of political practice had been an evolving process in England going back to the Magna Carta in the 13th Century. Philosophers and politicians ebbed and flowed with the idea of rights, particularly for white men with property but also gradually extending through the various classes of English society. Liberty became a cause for those coming to America in the 17th and 18th Centuries, whether to seek religious freedom or economic liberty through charting a new course in life. This “export” from Britain to America gradually shaped the concepts of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as espoused in the Declaration of Independence. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Britain and the American Dream, </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">by Peter Moore, shows how those concepts evolved in America over the decades preceding its revolution.</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Moore’s book centers around Benjamin Franklin’s relationship with English publisher William Strahan, as well as Strahan’s relationships with English philosophers and writers such as Samuel Johnson, Catharine Macaulay, and John Wilkes. These individuals, in many respects, helped shape the cause of liberty that the American colonies gradually adopted as their justification for breaking away from England. Interspersed with plenty of correspondence, the book artfully weaves in political events that help shape the gradual deterioration of relations between England and America. While Jefferson ultimately put those famous words to paper in 1776, it was the concept of these philosophers and writers that ultimately shaped American (and even English) thinking in the late 18th Century.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">was a wonderful read – well-researched and full of insight. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MY RATING: 4.5</span></span></p><p></p><p></p><span><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-17436837835971078592023-11-29T07:49:00.003-05:002023-11-29T07:49:36.032-05:00Virtuous Bankers: A Day in the Life of the Eighteenth-Century Bank of England (Anne Murphy)<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Bank of England was established as a private business in the 17th Century and operated as such until the 1940’s when it was nationalized. For centuries, the bank operated for the benefit of its shareholders and customers but became, much like the banks in the United States, an enterprise that was a great economic engine for Great Britain. But just what was a day in the life in the 18th Century Bank of England like? Anne Murphy shows us how this burgeoning financial institution operated in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Virtuous Bankers: A Day in the Life of the Eighteenth-Century Bank of England.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Murphy discusses the various roles of bank employees - tellers, clerks, plate printers, and trustees - over the course of a typical bank day in 1783 or 1784. Much of this book is sourced on the notes from a Committee of Inspection that examined the bank’s finances and its operations in this timeframe, shaping a “day in the life” of banking activities.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Besides the basic financial roles of bank employees during the day, night watchmen patrolled the bank after hours and of course, someone had to clean up after the various horses and humans that needed to use the facilities outside of the bank during the day. Eighteenth-Century London certainly lacked the cleanliness and charm that it has today; however, it had all of the financial importance and hustle of a major global city. The Bank of England played a critical role in financing Britain’s growth, and Murphy captures how the bank operated over 200 years in great detail. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Virtuous Bankers </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is a great read for anyone with a financial and history inclination.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MY RATING - 4.5</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f505f37e-7fff-4001-67ec-1c1c71466cb4"><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-44968526698329299982023-11-11T08:55:00.004-05:002023-11-11T08:55:51.728-05:00The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived: Tom Watson Jr. and the Epic Story of How IBM Created the Digital Age (Ralph Watson McElvenny and Marc Wortman)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thomas Watson Jr. was the 2nd generation CEO and leader of IBM, taking over from his father in the 1950’s and guiding the organization for nearly 20 years. Coined “the greatest capitalist in history” by Fortune magazine in 1984, Watson’s success at IBM helped drive the technological revolution that Microsoft, Google, and countless other companies have used to guide even more substantial innovation and wealth. The story of Watson’s life and his career are told in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived: Tom Watson Jr. and the Epic Story of How IBM Created the Digital Age</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Ralph Watson McElvenny (Watson’s grandson) and Marc Wortman.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a35b9fce-7fff-4a35-0d29-508d7299a76e"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The authors chronicle the history of IBM and both Watson Sr. and Jr. over a several decade timeframe. IBM was born shortly before Watson Sr. was fired from NCR in 1914, renamed in 1924 from the original founding name of CTR (Computing-Tabulating-Recording). Watson Sr. guided the company until 1952, when he handed the reins to his son. For over 20 years, Watson’s leadership helped grow the company into a multibillion dollar enterprise and revolutionized IBM by pivoting the company into computers. While the move initially almost bankrupted the company, Watson’s leadership and executive team helped steady the initially turbulent period in the midst of the rollout of System360 and System370.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">dives into Watson’s battle with his father while moving up through the ranks at IBM, along with his struggles in working with his brother Dick, also an executive with IBM. There were also diplomatic efforts that Watson undertook, helping provide guidance and advice to several presidents and serving as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union in the 1970’s. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">McElvenny and Wortman do a great service in chronicling Watson Jr. through this book and any business-inclined individual would likely benefit from reading it.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4.5</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-31185077198756512542023-11-08T07:55:00.000-05:002023-11-08T07:55:00.387-05:00One Fine Day: Britain's Empire on the Brink (Matthew Parker)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The British Empire reached its peak in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, covering large swaths of the world’s land footprint. The English also boasted arguably the world’s best and most formidable navy in the years leading up to World War I. September 29th, 1923 marked the British Mandate for Palestine taking effect after League of Nations approval. Matthew Parker uses this date as the basis of his book </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One Fine Day: Britain’s Empire on the Brink.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e75f9ffe-7fff-9bef-6180-c0bfffbda96c"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One Fine Day </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is a global walkabout through the British Empire in late 1923: the challenges it is facing and the events that are slowly developing that will eventually cause the Empire to fall apart over the next several decades. The British Empire at this point had 14 million square miles of real estate (including its independent dominions in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) and 460 million people were subjects of King Geoge V. However, there were many challenges: developing nationalist movements in India and numerous African and West Indies colonies are given significant coverage. A story of the exploitation of Ocean Island’s (also known as Banaba) natural resources shows one element of the dark side of British business interests in this era. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Parker pays great attention to the economic issues facing Britain and the world during this time, much of it aftershocks of World War I disrupting the economic order of the late 19th Century. The author also pulls in observations from Orwell and Forster, both of whom were working in India at various points and writing about their experiences in Asia. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One Fine Day </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is a fine book, full of detailed and insightful stories about an Empire that was about to undergo a dramatic reduction and transformation in its next several decades.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4.5</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-281877426608986092023-10-25T07:41:00.002-04:002023-10-25T07:41:18.845-04:00Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects (Harold Schechter)With podcasts developing like <i>My Favorite Murder </i>and <i>Serial</i>, the popularity of the true crime genre seems to have had a comeback in recent years. Although with older books such as <i>Helter Skelter</i> and <i>In Cold Blood</i>, I'm not sure it ever really <i>wasn't</i> popular.<div><br /></div><div>Harold Schechter's <i>Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects </i>is an interesting look at 100 true crime cases in a few pages each. Of course there are the standard cases most people have heard of like the Black Dahlia and the Manson murders. But there are some cases that may have been infamous in their time but are probably more obscure to modern-day people.</div><div><br /></div><div>Schechter begins each case with an image of an object that has to do with it (such as the shotgun used in the Clutter family murders). I thought that more could have been woven in about each object in the case (sometimes it's barely mentioned), but all in all, I did find <i>Murderabilia </i>a worthwhile book for true crime readers.</div><div><br /></div><div>MY RATING - 4</div>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-10127773472000846862023-10-10T07:25:00.004-04:002023-10-10T07:25:51.580-04:00Once a Giant: A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football (Gary Myers)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The 1986 New York Giants were one of the best Super Bowl champions in history, winning all but two of their games and only losing those two games by a combined eight points. The Giants’ first championship since the 1950’s set the stage for another Super Bowl championship four years later. Gary Myers’s book </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Once a Giant: A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is an account about how these football players and coaches bonded off the field and have continued to maintain strong friendships over 35 years after their Super Bowl championship.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-16f8e0e7-7fff-b25c-c645-5ec75f804286"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Myers interviews a number of Giants players and coaches, including head coach Bill Parcells and star players Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor. These interviews cover their time as teammates as well as their lives after football. For many of them, the toll of playing the game and the repeated hitting that is a part of the sport caused nagging long-term effects that included some former players contemplating suicide. Through it all, many of the 1986 Giants have been able to confront and survive these challenges together.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Once a Giant </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is a great read for Giants fans. The book is balanced, enjoyable to read, and provides several good laughs from some of the anecdotes.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4.5</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-27531226872453202192023-10-05T07:06:00.004-04:002023-10-05T07:06:30.588-04:00Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks -- a Cool History of a Hot Commodity (Amy Brady)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many of us have the ability to get an ice cube on demand from our refrigerator or are within a reasonable drive or walk to get ice cream from a stand or grocery store. The ability to chill and produce frozen concoctions of some sort is one of the modern conveniences that has had a long, winding evolution to get to its current state. Author and historian Amy Brady chronicles the frozen journey in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks – a Cool History of a Hot Commodity.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e8f9373f-7fff-2542-31fe-325a30e2acf0"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Brady’s book is a mostly entertaining story of how ice evolved from a regional means of keeping things cold to how we use ice today - not just keeping items chilled but also a key ingredient in any chilled drinks and desserts, as well as the year-round recreational pursuit of skating in an indoor rink. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ice</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> shares the invention and technological advancement of ice making and refrigeration and the good (and bad) that resulted from it. Early pioneers in the field of artificial ice making were scoffed upon and ridiculed for their attempts at “playing God” while their technology was eventually co-opted and used in further advancements in refrigeration that became more widespread.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some individuals who are prominent in the history of America’s ice trade and evolution of ice aren’t included in the story - many in Washington, DC, and in Ohio may know of Mike Uline’s business interests in both the production of ice and the indoor arena that had his name on it in our nation’s capital. However, other unique and even entertaining stories are included. Ice has played a powerful role in transforming American life and our economy over the centuries and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ice</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (the book) captures much of that story in an effective way.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-76623718398572027392023-09-29T07:30:00.002-04:002023-09-29T07:30:47.847-04:00Just Like Home (Sarah Gailey)<p>Ahh, it's almost October -- my favorite time of year. As soon as Labor Day is over, my thoughts turn to spooky reads. I thought that's what I was getting with Sarah Gailey's <i>Just Like Home</i>. Instead, I got a book that seriously missed its mark by the end.</p><p>One day, Vera receives a phone call from her mother, Daphne. Daphne is dying and wants Vera to come home to sort things out in the Crowder House. The problem -- beside the fact that Vera has long been estranged from Daphne -- is that this is a house where her serial killer father murdered his victims. </p><p>This is all that happens for the first 2/3 of the book, and actually, I found this part really interesting and suspenseful. It's the ending that's a bit of a mess, and I think I figured out why. At least for me, even the most far-fetched horror book has to have some semblance of reality in it. Think of Stephen King's <i>It -- </i>the way it is written, I truly believe that a deranged clown could be in the sewer. But by the end, <i>Just Like Home</i> goes beyond far-fetched into the ridiculous, which ruined the book for me.</p><p>MY RATING - 2</p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-52017741271687311062023-09-25T07:21:00.001-04:002023-09-25T07:21:20.481-04:00In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy (Jeff Biggers)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Mediterranean island of Sardinia is one of the more unique places in all of Europe with a fusion of Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Phoenician, and North African influences having blended into the island over its rich history. While Sardinia has been a part of Italy since the country’s unification in 1861, it maintains a very distinct identity much like its Sicilian neighbors to their southeast. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4600c903-7fff-e9af-0eb9-03d587ff699a"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Author Jeff Biggers embarked on a long journey around the island to experience its cuisine, its literature, and its history. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey In Italy</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is the culmination of those travels. What I appreciated the most about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Sardinia</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is that the chapters are short and generally focused, and I felt that the book took me on both a geographic journey around the island and a journey through time. While I was a bit disappointed in the lack of pictures within the book, Biggers’s descriptive writing was a very apt substitute and helped my imagination capture what Biggers experienced in his time in Sardinia.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The author’s storytelling and ability to paint the picture of a beautiful island has helped ensure that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Sardinia</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> will not be the last travel book I read anytime soon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4.5</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-85673957800599498012023-09-02T13:34:00.000-04:002023-09-02T13:34:00.851-04:00Just Like Mother (Anne Heltzel)<p>The creepy doll face on Anne Heltzel's <i>Just Like Mother</i> tells you all you need to know about what's inside these pages. This is a disturbing, spine-chilling story for the most part, but falls flat in some places.</p><p>Maeve and Andrea are close cousins who grew up in a cult run by "mothers." After Maeve escapes, she is adopted by a loving family and tries to have a normal life. She always wonders, however, what happened to her cousin. When they're both adults, Maeve is happy when Andrea finally contacts her. Andrea is a wealthy woman who made her money in the fertility industry. But childhood memories run deep -- this book doesn't have the aforementioned creepy doll face on the cover for no reason. </p><p>While the story itself was horror personified, I felt it didn't go deeply enough into the cult aspect. Who were the mothers? What was the purpose of Boy? There were a lot of questions that left me wondering. </p><p>That being said, it's been a long time since I actually gasped while reading a book, but <i>Just Like Mother</i> made me do so in many places. It's scary, and above all, one could see a story like this happening in real life (but let's hope not). </p><p>MY RATING - 3</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-90467718608919217462023-08-29T07:38:00.002-04:002023-08-29T07:38:20.170-04:00Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain (Dasha Kiper)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Taking care of loved ones with dementia is emotionally draining on the best of days. The caregiver tries in vain to help that loved one with basic day-to-day recollection of events, place, space, and all things living as the loved one’s memory slips and their behavior changes. Dasha Kiper’s book </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> examines not so much the loved one with dementia but the caregiver, specifically how the workings of the caregiver’s “healthier” brain prevents them from adapting to and understanding the loved one that is suffering from dementia.</span></span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kiper highlights several stories of parents and children along with husbands and wives: A man believing his spouse is an impostor, a woman who has imaginary friendships, and a woman whose childhood trauma emerges to torment her son. These are all too common examples of dementia in various forms, not just Alzheimer’s Disease that many of us are more familiar with at a high level. Despite “knowing better” that one’s memory is suffering, all too often the caregiver will slip up and resort to confrontation and taking these symptoms personally. Kiper’s book showcases these struggles.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Travelers to Unimaginable Lands </span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is thoughtful and insightful. Dementia not only directly impacts the individual suffering from it but it also produces downstream, indirect impacts on the people who care for and support the loved one. While </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Travelers</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> does not answer the question “how do you easily fix that,” it does help the caregiver sense that they are not alone and that they can and should find support and solace with others who are going through the same situation.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-90aa3a67-7fff-e15f-759a-ce1914353025"><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-66577234592845680652023-08-17T07:51:00.001-04:002023-08-17T07:51:13.740-04:00A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South (Peter Cozzens)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">by Peter Cozzens details the impact the Creek War of 1813 had on American history. The Muscogee, as the Creek nation is more properly referred to as, had lived in what is now Alabama and Georgia for centuries. Many Muscogee accommodated and adopted White customs, including individual property rights and even slavery. Some Muscogee intermarried with Whites, and factions soon developed within the Muscogee nation between traditionalists, who wanted to purify their land and rid it of increasing White influence, and those who were willing to adopt and adapt to the encroachment of Americans.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5f710d08-7fff-89b0-21ca-4aa214d90443"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cozzens weaves two histories into </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Brutal Reckoning. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First: The Muscogee’s own history and its eventual cessions of land throughout the American Southeast through the course of unfair treaty and warfare with militias. Second: The rise of Andrew Jackson and his tendency for brutal reckonings and high capacity for violence. Jackson’s nickname, “Old Hickory,” was a devotion to his steadfastness under harsh conditions; he also earned the name “Sharp Knife” from Indian allies because of his ruthlessness.Both of these histories, complex in their own right individually, are woven together effectively throughout the book. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Fort Mims massacre and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend were not large battles in the annals of American history, but Cozzens highlights the importance of these battles. Within 25 years of these battles, the whole of the Southeast was effectively cleared of tribal nations thanks to a successive series of land grab treaties and forced relocations, with the result being millions of acres of land that could support agriculture (and thus slavery). </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A Brutal Reckoning</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> highlights this lesser known war, which raged while the War of 1812 was capturing the nation’s attention, but was arguably much more significant than “Mr. Madison’s War” in the course of American history.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4.5</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-20247721371663429712023-08-07T07:25:00.003-04:002023-08-07T07:25:33.963-04:00Easy Money: American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency (Dror Goldberg)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Paper currency has existed in various forms since the 7th Century, having first been developed in China. Within European realms, the first paper banknotes were developed by the Swedes in the middle of the 17th Century as a means of payment. The system lasted three years before the central bank that backed the notes went bankrupt. However, the concept that currency could be backed by the faith of the government eventually was tried again.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4352fc78-7fff-6046-a13e-658e470191f8"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dror Goldberg’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Easy Money: American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">traces the development of currency in Massachusetts in 1690 to help finance a frontier war the colonists were fighting against the French. In this book, Goldberg explains the mix of circumstances that allowed this experiment to take place, including political instability in England, a lack of coin-based money in Massachusetts, and the economic heft that the colony had within New England and the rest of the developing American East coast.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Goldberg does a wonderful job explaining the evolution of money and the early stages of modern economic thinking in the 17th century and how Massachusetts' actions helped keep the peace domestically but also helped shape how money was thought about and used in the centuries to come.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4.5</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3323349141178928879.post-12208961740732793022023-07-28T07:41:00.004-04:002023-07-28T07:41:55.365-04:00Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues (Jonathan Kennedy)<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Conventional historical wisdom suggests that human progress has been due to intellect and technological superiority, ably outfoxing and outsmarting any threat to its existence from neanderthals to foreign powers. Author Jonathan Kennedy, however, argues that microbes win wars, topple empires, and hellp change the course of history. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ed37f165-7fff-b149-ae04-c25d6303111f"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">tracks human history from the development of homo sapiens through COVID-19, diving into eight major outbreaks of disease that shaped the modern world. From the demise of the neanderthals to the Black Plague in the Middle Ages to European conquests of the Americans, viruses have often played a critical role in shaping the outcome of history. Kennedy notes how religions have become mainstream because of pandemics on more than one occasion, and also talks about the role of economics in shaping modern pandemic outcomes.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In general, Kennedy makes a lot of good points about how viruses and bacteria have been an unseen and, until now, underrated force in shaping our history. While little attention is given to improving human health in the future, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pathogenesis </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">offers a strong case to show us that human health has had a strong role in shaping our overall story.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MY RATING - 4</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12387505268905424059noreply@blogger.com