Category Archives: history

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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The First World War

Posted on January 18, 2014 by smellincoffee

The First World War© 2000 John Keegan528 pages The dawning of the 20th century seemed to promise nothing but good tidings for the civilized world; telegraphy and steam were knitting it together,  economies were flourishing, and progress was on the … Continue reading →

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The Men Who United the States

Posted on December 27, 2013 by smellincoffee

 The Men Who United the States: America’s Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible© 2013 Simon Winchester496 pages The Men who United the States is a storied account of how the American people came to … Continue reading →

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This week: Christmas reads, science in the city, and social telegraphy

Posted on December 24, 2013 by smellincoffee

Dear readers:             A blessed Yuletide and a merry Christmas to those of you in the northern hemisphere, as we celebrate the rebirth of the Sun – or the birth of the Son, if you prefer. The library is closing … Continue reading →

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The Other Side of Western Civilization

Posted on December 15, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Other Side of Western Civilization: Readings in Everyday Life,© 1979 ed. Stanley Chodorow363 pages The Other Side of Western Civilization collects readings in social history ranging from antiquity to the Renaissance. Its subtitle Readings in Everyday Life is largely … Continue reading →

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A Consumers’ Republic

Posted on November 9, 2013 by smellincoffee

A Consumers’ Republic© 2002 Lizbeth Cohen576 pages What is the meaning of citizenship? To the Romans, and to the early Americans, citizenship was an exclusive state of being that depended on owning land, and so a stake in society. In … Continue reading →

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Zealot

Posted on October 29, 2013 by smellincoffee

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth© 2013 Raza Aslan337 pages Reza Aslan’s Zealot searches for the historical Jesus and finds him as a religious revolutionary, one who anticipated the imminent demise of the Roman Empire. No gentle … Continue reading →

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Bicycle: the History

Posted on October 18, 2013 by smellincoffee

Bicycle: The History© 2006 David Herlihy480 pages Where did the bicycle come from? Bicycle: the History tells the story in exacting detail, beginning in the 19th century. An age of progress  and scientific triumph, wherein everyday life was constantly being … Continue reading →

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The Box

Posted on October 8, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger© 2006 Marc Levinson376 pages It’s not every day an invention completely revolutionizes its industry, let alone the world. And yet that’s what the shipping container, … Continue reading →

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Crabgrass Frontier

Posted on October 3, 2013 by smellincoffee

Crabgrass Frontier:  The Suburbanization of the United States© 1985 Kenneth Jackson432 pages For thousands of years, people lived in either the country or the city, but with the coming of the industrial revolution that changed, and especially in America.   … Continue reading →

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