Category Archives: history

This week: the usual suspects

Posted on February 8, 2016 by smellincoffee

Well, dear readers, it’s another month! I have a serious itch for science and science fiction at the moment, so I have no less than five potential science reads stacked up now, and three potential SF books. Among the numbers…Domesticated: Evolution in … Continue reading →

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Ain’t My America

Posted on January 31, 2016 by smellincoffee

Ain’t My America:  The Long and Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle Class Antimperialism ©  2008 Bill Kauffman 304 pages “You can have your hometown, or you can have the empire. You can’t have both.” You don’t have to … Continue reading →

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Taxi!

Posted on January 30, 2016 by smellincoffee

Taxi! A Social History of the New York City Cabdriver©  2007 Graham Russell Gao Hodges225 pages No film set in New York City is complete without scenes of Manhattan traffic, dense with yellow cars — the patrolling ranks of the … Continue reading →

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Destiny, Disrupted

Posted on January 12, 2016 by smellincoffee

Destiny, Disruted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes© 2009 Tamim Ansary416 pages When Tamim Ansary was a boy, he loved history. Specifically, he loved narrativehistory, the kind of drama that brought the past to life.  The problem was that the … Continue reading →

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Adieu to you, and you and you and you —

Posted on January 5, 2016 by smellincoffee

As 2015 was ending I finished up a couple of works which merit mentioning. Firstly is Jane Austen’s Emma.  I have read Austen before (Pride and Prejudice), intrigued by mention of Darcy as a model gentleman,  Emma was thus my … Continue reading →

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Horses at Work

Posted on December 23, 2015 by smellincoffee

Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America© 2008 Ann Norton Greene322 pages The quintessential image of horses in American history is the cowboy, of rough men moving cattle in the wilderness on horseback. But follow the cattle, and their … Continue reading →

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Forgotten Ally

Posted on December 19, 2015 by smellincoffee

Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II© 2013 Rana Mitter467 pages Two years before a mad painter’s schemes plunged the world into war, China was fighting for its life.  It began the 20th century at a crossroads; the old imperial order … Continue reading →

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We Band of Angels

Posted on December 12, 2015 by smellincoffee

We Band of Angels© 2001 Elizabeth M. Norman325  pages When Japan invaded the Philippines and besieged the Bataan peninsula,  the Filipino-American army wasn’t the only entity enduring months of dwindling supplies and attritive warfare. Stationed alongside soldiers and sailors were … Continue reading →

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Bataan: March of Death

Posted on December 10, 2015 by smellincoffee

Bataan: March of Death© 1962 Stanley J. Falk256 pages Japan’s strike at Pearl Harbor was not a solitary military move, but the opening play in a Pacific strategy. Having disabled the American Pacific Fleet,  Japanese forces would be free to … Continue reading →

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Horse

Posted on December 8, 2015 by smellincoffee

Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Human Civilization© 2006 J. Edward Chamberlin288 pages How do I love thee, O horse? Let me count the ways.   J. Edward Chamberlin’s Horse begins with one lonely native American mare separated from her tribe … Continue reading →

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