Tag Archives: Gilded Age

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Posted on September 12, 2013 by smellincoffee

Satisfaction Guaranteed: the Making of the American Mass Market© 2004 Susan Strasser348 pages America was born of the frontier, its citizens people who by necessity often manufactured their own household requirements.  This was the case throughout most of the 19th … Continue reading →

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Blood, Iron, and Gold

Posted on April 7, 2012 by smellincoffee

Blood, Iron, and Gold: How the Railways Transformed the World© 2009 Christian Wolmar376 pages Outside of the wheel, the railways may be the single most influential form of transportation ever invented by human beings. This is a bold claim, but … Continue reading →

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Unfamiliar Fishes

Posted on August 13, 2011 by smellincoffee

Unfamiliar Fishes© 2011 Sarah Vowell238 pages For those accustomed to Sarah Vowell’s usual approach to history — one offering contemporary political allusions and biting wit — Unfamiliar Fishes will seem decidedly straightforward. Her introduction describing 1898 as a perhaps more pivotal … Continue reading →

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Disaster 1906

Posted on April 21, 2011 by smellincoffee

Disaster 1906: the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire© 1967 Edward F. Dolan Jr.172 pages If, as some say, God spanked the town For being over-frisky Why did He burn the churches down And save Hotaling’s whisky? -p. 175 Years ago … Continue reading →

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Electric Universe

Posted on January 31, 2011 by smellincoffee

Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity© 2005 David Bodanis308 pages When you’re in the dark, and you want to see, you need Electricity, E-LEC-TRICITY! (School House Rock, “Electricity“) Every now and again, I misjudge a book and find … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (29 December)

Posted on December 29, 2010 by smellincoffee

Aside from the books I’ve already done full comments on, I also finished The Great American Wolf and The Golden Door.  My observations about them were shortish, so I decided to include them here instead of making seperate, strangely short … Continue reading →

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The Imperial Cruise

Posted on October 26, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War© 2009 James Bradley387 pages They may be sovereign countries, but you folks at home forget That they all want what we’ve got, but they don’t know it yet. (Billy Bragg, … Continue reading →

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The Spanish-American War

Posted on September 2, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Spanish-American War© 1991 Albert Marrin182 pages While still a sophomore in high school, I spotted a book titled The Airman’s War in my school library and checked it out. It become a favorite, one of the first history books I … Continue reading →

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Around the World in 80 Days

Posted on June 6, 2010 by smellincoffee

Around the World in 80 Days© 1872 Jules Verne160 pages Like most highly-praised  western literature, I first read Around the World in 80 Days through the Great Illustrated Classics series, along with other Verne works. I’ve never read Verne as … Continue reading →

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The Iron Heel

Posted on May 11, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Iron Heel© 1907 Jack London354 pages (Mysteriously, my public library’s 1907 copy of this book has survived a century of use, although its tattered pages testify that the years have been harsh on it. If it ever had a … Continue reading →

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