Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Getting it Right

Posted on May 26, 2014 by smellincoffee

Getting it Right © 2006 William F. Buckley Jr 2003         Getting it Right is a political history disguised as a love story,  both tales told amid the radically shifting political climate of America’s 1960s, as Americans … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Captain of Rome

Posted on May 24, 2014 by smellincoffee

Captain of Rome© 2010 John Stack400 pages The Mediterranean is awash in blood as the first Punic War steeps in intensity.  Having risen to the challenge and successfully confronted Carthage on the high seas,  the Republic of Rome  is swaggering … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ninety Percent of Everything

Posted on May 21, 2014 by smellincoffee

Ninety Percent of Everything:  Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate.© 2013 Rose George287 pages UK Title: Deep Sea and Foreign Going: Inside Shipping […] What is 1300 feet … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Last Patriot

Posted on May 16, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Last Terrorist © 2008 Brad Thor 352 pages The Last Patriottakes a modern covert-cops thriller and combines it with The DaVinci Code, though the sinister establishment being threatened by some archaeological find is not the Church of Rome, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The White War

Posted on May 15, 2014 by smellincoffee

 The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919©  Mark Thompson 488 pages By 1915, what began as a conflict between Austria and Serbia had broadened into the Great War, whose largest contenders were not parties to the … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Human Scale

Posted on May 15, 2014 by smellincoffee

Human Scale© 1980 Kirkpatrick Sale500 pages             Human Scale is an ambitious assault on big business, big government — the very concept of Bigness. Opening with biology, Kirkpatrick Sale first establishes his basic operating principle:  for … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

This week: commerce, trade, and shipping

Posted on May 12, 2014 by smellincoffee

This past week at the library I’ve been mostly reading into commerce and trade, and reviews are posted or will be for all except for Point of Purchase, a “history of how shopping changed America”.  This was a history of … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

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 →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Conscience

Posted on April 30, 2014 by smellincoffee

Conscience: Two Pacifists, Two Soldiers, One Family© 2012 Louisa Thomas336 pages How does a pious young Presbyterian minister become a six-time candidate for the Socialist party? Such is the story of Conscience,  the story of Norman Thomas and his younger … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment