Category Archives: Reviews

The Art of Deception

Posted on August 21, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security© 2005 Kevin Mitnick352 pages The Art of Deception is interesting at first, but very repetitive. Mitnick, who claims his career as a hacker was passed solely on manipulating people to gain … Continue reading →

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Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination Of Your Child

Posted on August 18, 2017 by smellincoffee

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination Of Your Child © 2010 Anthony Esolen 256 pages In the spirit of The Screwtape Letters comes this, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination Of Your Child.  Anthony Esolen opens by observing that the … Continue reading →

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Civics Literacy Test

Posted on August 18, 2017 by smellincoffee

Within the last few weeks I stumbled across a pdf  labelled “1960s Alabama Literacy Test”.  The host is a state university that has put it in a ‘jimcrow’ folder, so I assume it is presented as an example of the … Continue reading →

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The End of Civilization, or the story thereof

Posted on August 18, 2017 by smellincoffee

Seven years ago, I began reading Will Durant’s epic  Story of Civilization series.  I use ‘epic’ deliberately, for each of the eleven volumes in this series neared a thousand pages, and they covered not just politics but every aspect of … Continue reading →

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The Age of Napoleon

Posted on August 17, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Age of Napoleon© 1975 will Durant870 pages Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me – or didn’t.  Will and Ariel Durant intended for Rousseau and Revolution to be the final volume in their epic … Continue reading →

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The Gulag Archipelago, Vol I

Posted on August 12, 2017 by smellincoffee

Archipeleg GULag / The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Volume I (of III) © 1973, 1974 Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn 660 pages   Such was my desire to read The Gulag Archipelago that when I found it on the shelf and observed … Continue reading →

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The Gulag Archipelago, Volume I

Posted on August 12, 2017 by smellincoffee

Archipeleg GULag / The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary InvestigationVolume I (of III)© 1973, 1974 Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn660 pages Such was my desire to read The Gulag Archipelago that when I found it on the shelf and observed that it … Continue reading →

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The Tragedy of Liberation

Posted on August 10, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957 © 2013  Frank Dikotter 400 pages Readers who approach Frank Dikotter’s histories of Maoist China (The Tragedy of Liberation, Mao’s Great Famine, and The Cultural Revolution) should brace themselves … Continue reading →

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The Irish Soldiers of Mexico

Posted on August 6, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Irish Soldiers of Mexico© 1997 Michael Hogan298 pages And it was there in the pueblos and the hillsidesThat I saw the mistake I had madePart of a conquering army, with the morals of a bayonet brigadeAnd amidst all these … Continue reading →

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Cities of Gold

Posted on August 3, 2017 by smellincoffee

Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado© 1992 Douglas Preston (Walter Nelson, Photographs)480 pages Sometimes, history has got to be pursued from the back of a horse.  Douglas Preston wasn’t sure what took him … Continue reading →

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