Tag Archives: goods/services

Cattle

Posted on December 13, 2012 by smellincoffee

Cattle: an Informal Social History© 2001 Laurie Winn Carlson321 pages Consider…the cow. A humble creature, its dopey expression reveals no vast intelligence, and its barrel of a body gives it virtually no athletic ability, but it is remarkable if nothing … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on Building Strong Towns

Posted on October 20, 2012 by smellincoffee

Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume I© 2012 Chuck Marohn174 pages$9.95  In California, school districts are being forced to suspend their bus routes. In Alabama,  Jefferson County – home to the state’s largest city, Birmingham – has gone bankrupt. Basic … Continue reading →

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Waste and Want

Posted on October 3, 2012 by smellincoffee

Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash© 2000 Susan Strasser368 pages      Consider your trash can. In all likelihood, you cannot imagine not using it. What else would you do all with the trash generated in the course … Continue reading →

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No Logo

Posted on September 29, 2012 by smellincoffee

No Logo: the Case Against the Brand Bullies  © 1999, 2009; Naomi Klein 544 pages The political and financial turmoil of the past few years have seen a rising tide of anger targeted against the political power of wealthy corporations. … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (25 September)

Posted on September 25, 2012 by smellincoffee

Germany’s national holiday, Der Tag der Deutschen Einheit, falls this next Wednesday, so this week my reading will be oriented toward ‘das Land der Dichter und Denker’,  just as in July I celebrated the American and French revolutions. On the … Continue reading →

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The Great Good Place

Posted on June 24, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and the Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community© 1989 Ray Oldenburg336 pages In Our Oriental Heritage, Will Durant wrote that man is not willingly a political animal, … Continue reading →

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Something from the Oven

Posted on June 24, 2012 by smellincoffee

Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America 306 pages © 2004 Laura Shaprio      The latter half of the 20th century saw the United States convulsed with social change. Millions of women and blacks who found their … Continue reading →

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Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Posted on June 10, 2012 by smellincoffee

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture© 2012 Peggy Orenstein260 pages When did every little girl become a princess to be bedecked in pink and fawned over? Such is the question posed by … Continue reading →

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Cheap

Posted on June 8, 2012 by smellincoffee

Cheap: the High Cost of Discount Culture © 2009 Ellen Ruppel Shell  296 pages  A few weeks ago I read Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, which is a critical history of  the 20th-century trend in business toward cheaper … Continue reading →

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So Sexy So Soon

Posted on May 30, 2012 by smellincoffee

So Sexy So Soon:  the New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids© 2008 Diane E. Levine, Jean Kilbourne226 pages For me, the filthiest show on television is Toddlers and Tiaras. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned: I’m generally … Continue reading →

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