Tag Archives: biography

Flags of our Fathers

Posted on September 22, 2023 by smellincoffee

More Marines were killed in the first four days of the Battle of Iwo Jima than perished in Guadacanal over the course of five months, and the battle accounts for over a third of Marine casualties sustained in the entire … Continue reading →

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Selected quotes from “41: A Portrait of my Father”

Posted on August 5, 2023 by smellincoffee

41 is a biography of George H.W. Bush by his son, George W. Bush, and is written with affection, not objectivity. Bush offers that as a disclaimer at the very beginning. This is a tribute, written by a man who … Continue reading →

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The Last Republicans

Posted on August 3, 2023 by smellincoffee

I was interested in reading this book even before my unexpected presidential reading tangent of this last month, in part because of my age: George H.W. Bush was the first president I remember, and holds that title somewhat fixedly in … Continue reading →

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July 2023 in Review

Posted on July 31, 2023 by smellincoffee

While it’s conceivable that I could finish a book today (I’m halfway through The Last Republicans, and ditto for Off the Planet: Five Months on Mir), I doubt it. I spent the weekend saying goodbye to a friend: the Harmony … Continue reading →

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Carrying the Fire

Posted on July 22, 2023 by smellincoffee

Yet a higher call was calling, and we vowed we’d reach it soonSo we gave ourselves a decade to put fire on the moonAnd Apollo told the world, we can  do it if we try —There was One Small Step, … Continue reading →

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Forever Young

Posted on July 20, 2023 by smellincoffee

If ever the title “Mr. Astronaut” was given out, it would not go to John Glenn, despite his being the posterboy of Mercury; it wouldn’t even go to Neil Armstrong, who fifty-four years ago today became the first human to … Continue reading →

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Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

Posted on April 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

Will the Circle Be Unbroken? A Memoir of Learning to Believe You’re Gonna be Ok© 2020 Sean Dietrich261 pages A memoir about a boy growing up in the deep shadow cast by his father’s suicide has no right to be … Continue reading →

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Pompey and Caesar

Posted on March 17, 2023 by smellincoffee

And do you now strew flowers in his wayThat comes in triumph over Pompey’s blood? Be gone! The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare The narrative of Julius Caesar and the fall of Rome that we get in elementary school … Continue reading →

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Revolutionary Characters

Posted on January 24, 2023 by smellincoffee

Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different© 2006 Gordon S. Woods352 pages Revolutionary Characters reviews the lives of several of the United States’ founding fathers to examine how the personal strengths and ambitions of these men allowed them to play … Continue reading →

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Adventures with Ed

Posted on January 17, 2023 by smellincoffee

Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey© 2003 Jack Loeffler308 pages “He walked across the desert at least a thousand times,” Tom Russell sang of Abbey in his “Ballad” thereof. Jack Loeffler was with him many of those times, as … Continue reading →

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