Category Archives: Politics and Civic Interest

Who Killed Homer?

Posted on May 29, 2014 by smellincoffee

Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom© 1998 Victor Davis Hanson290 pages For hundreds of years, the study of the classics was at the heart of a liberal education, thought essential to the … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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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This week at the library: war, commerce, and cities

Posted on April 14, 2014 by smellincoffee

Last week was taken up with Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity and  The Yellowhamer War: Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama. Considering that my leisure reading was Fire on the Waters, a naval novel set amid the … Continue reading →

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The Long Loneliness

Posted on March 28, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Long Loneliness© 1952 Dorothy Day288 pages (Harper Collins, 2009(             Dorothy Day came of age amid the Great War, a child of struggling parents whose labors to make ends meet stayed with her even after they had achieved some … Continue reading →

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Look Homeward, America!

Posted on March 6, 2014 by smellincoffee

Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists© 2006 Bill Kauffman250 pages “The Little Way. That is what we seek. That — contrary to the ethic of personal parking spaces, of the dollar-sign god — is the … Continue reading →

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An Officer and a Spy

Posted on February 1, 2014 by smellincoffee

An Officer and a Spy© 2013 Robert Harris496 pages    In the late 19th century, the Dreyfuss Affair shook France when one Captain Alfred Dreyfuss, accused of selling French military secrets to the Germany General Staff.  Declared guilty, publicly disgraced, … Continue reading →

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Toward a Truly Free Market

Posted on January 18, 2014 by smellincoffee

Toward a Truly Free Market: A Distributist Perspective on the Role of Government, Taxes, Health Care, Deficits, and More© 2011 John C. Medaille  282 pages  “I been a-wonderin’ why we can’t do that all over. All work together for our own … Continue reading →

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Starship Troopers

Posted on January 16, 2014 by smellincoffee

Starship Troopers© 1959 Robert Heinlein263 pages The worlds of the Terran Federation are under constant assault by the malicious Bugs, whose hideousness drives dogs insane and who don’t even have the decency to build their civilization out of buildings that … Continue reading →

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The Liberty Amendments

Posted on January 13, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Liberty Amendments:  Restoring the American Republic© 2013 Mark Levin257 pages The United States Constitution was written by men who appreciated their lack of omniscience, and who therefore included in Article V means for amending their handiwork, for fixing through … Continue reading →

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