Category Archives: history

The Debutante

Posted on June 15, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Debutante: From High Society to White Supremacy© 2023 Jon RonsonAudible original, 3 hrs The Debutante is Jon Ronson’s investigation into the rumors and contradictions surrounding Carol Howe, a young woman who became interested in white nationalism and associated with … Continue reading →

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Angels, barbarians, Trump, and boring Klansmen

Posted on June 12, 2023 by smellincoffee

Short rounds time! Angels, Barbarians, and Nincompoops is a wonderful romp through a few score words in the English language. Esolen has always impressed me as a man deep in word & song, saturated by the beauty of language — … Continue reading →

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Faces Along the Bar

Posted on June 5, 2023 by smellincoffee

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 →

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America’s untouchables and baseball

Posted on June 2, 2023 by smellincoffee

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 →

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Log Cabin Pioneers

Posted on May 18, 2023 by smellincoffee

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 →

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Tales from the Deadball Era

Posted on May 17, 2023 by smellincoffee

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 →

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Breaking Bad & Bama Baseball

Posted on May 11, 2023 by smellincoffee

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 →

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The War as the South Saw It

Posted on May 10, 2023 by smellincoffee

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 →

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Our Man In Charleston

Posted on May 9, 2023 by smellincoffee

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 →

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Of Cicero and base-ball

Posted on May 5, 2023 by smellincoffee

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 →

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