Tag Archives: crime

War, spam, and more war

Posted on November 14, 2015 by smellincoffee

Today I finished Spam Nation, a journalistic takedown of the spam industry which is centered in Russia. The book is a strange collection of memoir and journalism on criminal relationships so entangled that I felt like I was reading about … Continue reading →

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Harvest of Rage

Posted on May 28, 2015 by smellincoffee

Harvest of Rage: Why Oklahoma City is Only the Beginning© 1997 Joel Dyer307 pages In the spring of 1996, the peace of Oklahoma City was shattered when a truck bomb ignited outside a federal office.  Nearly two hundred people were … Continue reading →

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The Fiery Cross

Posted on May 26, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America© 1998 Wyn Craig Wade528 pages Living in the country as I did,  the bus ride to school always lasted over an hour, and in elementary school I remember being utterly petrified … Continue reading →

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The Internet Police

Posted on February 14, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Internet Police: How Crime Went Online (and the Cops Followed)© 2014 Nate Anderson 310 pages  Not since the steam engine has the world been so utterly transformed than by the Internet. Originally a military network, it is now infrastructure, undergirding modern life … Continue reading →

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Green is the New Red

Posted on February 6, 2015 by smellincoffee

Green is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege© 2011 Will Potter256 pages Is passing out flyers the moral equivalent of flying a plane into a skyscraper and killing thousands of people?  Well, in some … Continue reading →

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Wiseguy

Posted on September 4, 2014 by smellincoffee

Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family © 1986 Nicholas Pileggi, Henry Hill 256 pages How does a boy from a nice family grow up to be a gangster? Well, it helps to live across the street from a mob-owned cab … Continue reading →

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Raiders of the Nile

Posted on April 2, 2014 by smellincoffee

 Raiders of the Nile © 2014 Steven Saylor 352 pages   If fortune favors the foolish, young Gordianus of Rome must be foolish indeed. On his 22ndbirthday, he lavishly adorns his slave-turned-love-interest, Bethesda, only to see her kidnapped when she … Continue reading →

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The New Jim Crow

Posted on April 27, 2013 by smellincoffee

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness © 2010 Michelle Alexander 290 pages             In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander argues that the United States’ drug laws, coupled with its law … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (22 October)

Posted on October 22, 2012 by smellincoffee

A day or so ago, I finished the second book in Bernard Cornwell’s King Arthur trilogy, Enemy of God, and realized with a sigh that last year, I only purchased the first two books in the series. Why I didn’t … Continue reading →

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Empire of Illusion

Posted on September 16, 2012 by smellincoffee

Empire of Illusion: the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle© 2009 Chris Hedges232 pages Do we live in a world where images are more important than reality, where perception has supplanted substance? Chris Hedges thinks so, and in … Continue reading →

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