Category Archives: history

A Splendid Exchange

Posted on May 6, 2014 by smellincoffee

A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World© 2009 David Bernstein496 pages            History oft moves with the caravans and trade fleets, and its journeys along the routes  of the past and present are given a storied account … Continue reading →

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More Work for Mother

Posted on May 5, 2014 by smellincoffee

More Work for Mother: the Ironies of American Housework © 1985 Ruth Cowan            288 pages        Throughout the 20thcentury,  households were transformed by a new abundance of labor-saving devices, from washing machines to toaster ovens, and processed … Continue reading →

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The Age of Revolution

Posted on April 25, 2014 by smellincoffee

History of the English-Speaking Peoples: The Age of Revolution© 1955 Sir Winston Churchill332 pages The third volume in Winston Churchill’s “History of the English Speaking Peoples” begins with the most dramatic assumption of power in modern English history.  In the … Continue reading →

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The Yellowhammer War

Posted on April 18, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Yellowhammer War: The Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama© 2013 ed. Kenneth NoeUniversity of Alabama press320 pages First home of the Confederacy’s government, and site of some of its final battles, Alabama’s involvement in the Civil War was intense … Continue reading →

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The Redneck Manifesto

Posted on March 17, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Redneck Manifesto: How Hicks, Hillbillies, and White Trash Became Amerca’s Scapegoats© 1998 Jim Goad272 pages Rednecks of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your bills.   Jim Goad’s The Redneck Manifesto is a raucous mixture of southern … Continue reading →

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Daily Life in Anglo-Saxon England

Posted on March 13, 2014 by smellincoffee

Daily Life in Anglo-Saxon England© 2008 Sally Crawford224 pages             Who were the Anglo-Saxons? For a people conquered in 1066, their culture seems strangely dominant;  the land the Normans conquered remains England, not Greater Normandy, and Norman French is only … Continue reading →

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This week at the library: Chimpanzees, El Niño, and simple living

Posted on March 13, 2014 by smellincoffee

This week at the library I’ve been working through a lull, having finished my last Stack o’ Books and having not yet gotten another one. My plans to fetch said stack were modified after I did a twelve-mile hike through … Continue reading →

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Look Away!

Posted on February 26, 2014 by smellincoffee

Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America© 2003 William C. Davis496 pages While most Civil War histories concentrate on military campaigns, Look Away! chronicles the history of the Confederacy from a political and social perspective. Its attempt … Continue reading →

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Forgotten Voices of the Great War

Posted on February 15, 2014 by smellincoffee

Forgotten Voices of the Great War© 2004 ed. Max Author336 pages                         Forgotten Voices of the Great War is a chronicle of the first great war,  a story told not by one author but many. Interviews and written recollections from … Continue reading →

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Poor But Proud

Posted on February 1, 2014 by smellincoffee

Poor but Proud: Alabama’s Poor Whites© 2001 Wayne Flynt488 pages We might be poor but we’re proud And we’re living the best way we know how We don’t have much but we don’t look for pity Cause we’re country poor … Continue reading →

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