Tag Archives: essays

Poetry Night at the Ballpark

Posted on February 3, 2018 by smellincoffee

Poetry Night at the Ballpark and Other Scenes from an Alternative America © 2015 Bill Kauffman 442 pages  “Lift up your hearts, friends – America ain’t dead yet.”  For thirty years, Bill Kauffman has been blowing raspberries at or haranguing … Continue reading →

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A Devil’s Chaplain

Posted on September 6, 2017 by smellincoffee

A Devil’s Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love© 2003 Richard Dawkins263 pages Charles Darwin mused that a devil’s chaplain might write quite a book on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low, and horridly cruel works of nature.  A Devil’s … Continue reading →

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From Narnia to a Space Odyssey

Posted on April 29, 2017 by smellincoffee

From Narnia to a Space Odyssey: The War of Ideas between Arthur C. Clarke and C.S. Lewis ed. Ryder Miller © 2003 175 pages First of all, reader, understand that the title of this book is overstated. It is not … Continue reading →

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The Journey Home

Posted on July 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West© 1977 Edward Abbey242 pages The desert is no place for decent men, which is why Edward Abbey likes it so much. Born on the eastern seaboard,  on a farm … Continue reading →

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The Wild Weird World of Biology

Posted on February 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

So, it turns out The Lives of a Cell has little to do with cells.  I checked it out figuring to learn something about how cells work, since I’m a ways removed from fifth-grade life science, or even freshman bio.  I … Continue reading →

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The Partly Cloudy Patriot

Posted on June 18, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Partly Cloudy Patriot© 2003 Sarah Vowell197 pages           The Partly Cloudy Patriot sees cheeky Yank Sarah Vowell muse on history, politics, and American life in general through a series of essays written in 2001. Her familar … Continue reading →

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The Burden of Southern History

Posted on June 2, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Burden of Southern History © 1960, 1968, 1970 C. Vann Wordward 250 pages Louisiana State University Press The publication of these essays on southern character and its tragic history, from Civil War to the abandoned civil rights efforts of … 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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I’ll Take My Stand

Posted on March 29, 2014 by smellincoffee

I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition © 1930 various authors. 410 pages  “There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called The Old South…Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow…Here was the … Continue reading →

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Black Rednecks and White Liberals

Posted on December 22, 2013 by smellincoffee

Blacks Rednecks and White Liberals© 2005 Thomas Sowell360 pages Thomas Sowell’s provocatively-titled Black Rednecks and White Liberals casts a critical eye toward  conventional understandings of race, class, and history, collecting a half-dozen extensive essays in one volume. Although each essay … Continue reading →

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