Category Archives: history

Glimpses of World History

Posted on December 26, 2016 by smellincoffee

Glimpses of World History© 1942 Jawaharlal Nehru1192 pages In 1930,  a man who would later become the first prime minister of India was thrown in jail for a period of two years. There, removed from his family and regretful that … Continue reading →

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Sapiens

Posted on December 7, 2016 by smellincoffee

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind443 pages© 2014  Yuval Noah Harari In Sapiens, Yuval Harari presents a natural history of the human race from its flowering across Eurasia to a worried reflection on the prospects of of technohumanism. The book’s … Continue reading →

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Lost Enlightenment

Posted on November 28, 2016 by smellincoffee

Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane © 2015 S. Frederick Starr618 pages Lost Enlightenment takes readers back to a time when Central Asia was the crossroads of the world, a hub of both commercial and … Continue reading →

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The Works

Posted on November 25, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Works: Anatomy of a City© 2005  Kate Ascher240 pages Cities are, for my money, mankind’s most astonishing invention. Their complexity is stupefying — system within system, handling tons of material at any given time, whether the subject is cars … Continue reading →

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The Motel in America

Posted on November 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Motel in America© 1996 Jefferson S. Rogers, John A Jakle, and Keith A. Sculle408 pages At some point in high school I pulled out a dictionary to find out what, exactly, was the difference between a motel and a … Continue reading →

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Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’

Posted on November 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’: Country Music and the Southern Working Class© 2002 Bill C. Malone432 pages Friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song, and he told me that it was the perfect country-and-western song. I wrote him … Continue reading →

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Heretics and Heroes

Posted on November 3, 2016 by smellincoffee

Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Created Our World© 2013 Thomas Cahill368 pages It seems the more I read of Cahill, the less I enjoy his cavalier histories, which at this point border on gossipy. Part of … Continue reading →

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West of the Revolution

Posted on October 20, 2016 by smellincoffee

West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776© 2015 Claudio Saunt288 pages In 1776, the bid of thirteen colonies for independence wasn’t the only interesting goings-on in North America.  From Alaska to Cuba, colonial and native powers were fighting, … Continue reading →

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Timeless Mexico

Posted on October 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

Timeless Mexico436 pages© 1944 Hudson Strode My knowledge of Mexico consists of a few events with a great many spaces in between: Aztecs, Cortes, independence, war with Texas, Pancho Villa, the PRI, and cartel warfare encapsulate my paltry knowledge. I … Continue reading →

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Turbulent Skies

Posted on September 18, 2016 by smellincoffee

Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation© 1995 T. H. Heppenheimer408 pages What a century was the 20th, which turned everyday life into the stuff of yesteryear’s science fiction. Who would believe at its dawning that one day people would … Continue reading →

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