Tag Archives: history

Lost Enlightenment

Posted on November 28, 2016 by smellincoffee

Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane © 2015 S. Frederick Starr618 pages Lost Enlightenment takes readers back to a time when Central Asia was the crossroads of the world, a hub of both commercial and … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Works

Posted on November 25, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Works: Anatomy of a City© 2005  Kate Ascher240 pages Cities are, for my money, mankind’s most astonishing invention. Their complexity is stupefying — system within system, handling tons of material at any given time, whether the subject is cars … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Motel in America

Posted on November 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Motel in America© 1996 Jefferson S. Rogers, John A Jakle, and Keith A. Sculle408 pages At some point in high school I pulled out a dictionary to find out what, exactly, was the difference between a motel and a … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’

Posted on November 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’: Country Music and the Southern Working Class© 2002 Bill C. Malone432 pages Friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song, and he told me that it was the perfect country-and-western song. I wrote him … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Heretics and Heroes

Posted on November 3, 2016 by smellincoffee

Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Created Our World© 2013 Thomas Cahill368 pages It seems the more I read of Cahill, the less I enjoy his cavalier histories, which at this point border on gossipy. Part of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

West of the Revolution

Posted on October 20, 2016 by smellincoffee

West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776© 2015 Claudio Saunt288 pages In 1776, the bid of thirteen colonies for independence wasn’t the only interesting goings-on in North America.  From Alaska to Cuba, colonial and native powers were fighting, … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Timeless Mexico

Posted on October 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

Timeless Mexico436 pages© 1944 Hudson Strode My knowledge of Mexico consists of a few events with a great many spaces in between: Aztecs, Cortes, independence, war with Texas, Pancho Villa, the PRI, and cartel warfare encapsulate my paltry knowledge. I … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Turbulent Skies

Posted on September 18, 2016 by smellincoffee

Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation© 1995 T. H. Heppenheimer408 pages What a century was the 20th, which turned everyday life into the stuff of yesteryear’s science fiction. Who would believe at its dawning that one day people would … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How the Scots Invented the Modern World

Posted on September 10, 2016 by smellincoffee

How the Scots Invented the Modern World:The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It © 2001  Arthur Herman400 pages An elderly patron at the library has adopted me as his go-to source for … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Rescue Warriors

Posted on September 3, 2016 by smellincoffee

Rescue Warriors: The U.S. Coast Guard, America’s Forgotten Heroes© 2009 David Helvarg384 pages When Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, the Coast Guard was the first on the scene, with helicopters in the air saving lives long before FEMA … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment