Category Archives: history

Faces Along the Bar

Faces along the Bar: Lore and Order in the Workingman’s Saloon, 1870-1920© 1998 Madelon Powers331 pages Men’s thinking on this issue seems to have involved an interesting mixture of solicitude and defiance. On the one hand, decent women should be … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

America’s untouchables and baseball

Shortly after the financial implosion of the late 2000s and the beginning of the ‘great recession’, physicist & banker Chris Arnade began long walks around New York City to contemplate the ramifications of his and his ‘industry’s’ reckless speculation and … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Log Cabin Pioneers

Log Cabin Pioneers: Stories, Songs, and Sayings© 2001 Wayne Erbson184 pages Few things are more evocative of the American frontier than a log cabin. This isn’t a new thing, either: log cabins entered American iconography as early as the 1840s, … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tales from the Deadball Era

Tales from the Deadball Era: Ty Cobb, Home Run Baker, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and the Wildest Times in Baseball History© 2014 Mark S. Halfon, narrated by Michael Butler Murray 240 pages | Audible 8 hrs 4 minutes George Carlin once … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Breaking Bad & Bama Baseball

If you’re an obsessive fan of Breaking Bad — and is any fan of Breaking Bad not an obsessive one? — this little book is a quick treat, consisting of summaries with commentary of each respective season, along with character … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The War as the South Saw It

The Confederate Reader: The War as the South Saw It© 1999 Richard B. Harwell416 pages Mention ‘The War’ in the South without any context, and most anyone will understand which one  you’re referring to – the only War that has … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Our Man In Charleston

Our Man in Charleston© 2016 Christopher Dickey416 pages Our Man in Charleston is a fascinating history of British diplomacy in the South, 1850s-1865, about a British consul working to defend Her Majesty’s interests in the erstwhile colonies, focusing specifically on … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Of Cicero and base-ball

This week I’ve been finishing up a couple of audiobooks. The first is How to Grow Old, a short one by Cicero written during the early part of his retirement from Rome, before the odious Mark Anthony sent men to … Continue reading

Posted in Classics and Literary, history, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Of British invasions and medieval haunts

As a followup to Hitler’s Armada, I read Frank McLynn’s Invasion from the Armada to Hitler, a history of planned attempts to invade the British isles, and has an interesting mixture of deep background and absurd simplification.  McLynn begins by … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hitler’s Armada

Hitler’s Armada: The Royal Navy & the Defence of Great Britain© Geoff Hewitt246 pages Summer 1940. Britain stands alone, its ally France having lain down her sword and surrendered to the German blitzkrieg, which has already consumed Norway, the Low … Continue reading

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments