Tag Archives: history

Zealot

Posted on October 29, 2013 by smellincoffee

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth© 2013 Raza Aslan337 pages Reza Aslan’s Zealot searches for the historical Jesus and finds him as a religious revolutionary, one who anticipated the imminent demise of the Roman Empire. No gentle … Continue reading →

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Bicycle: the History

Posted on October 18, 2013 by smellincoffee

Bicycle: The History© 2006 David Herlihy480 pages Where did the bicycle come from? Bicycle: the History tells the story in exacting detail, beginning in the 19th century. An age of progress  and scientific triumph, wherein everyday life was constantly being … Continue reading →

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The Box

Posted on October 8, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger© 2006 Marc Levinson376 pages It’s not every day an invention completely revolutionizes its industry, let alone the world. And yet that’s what the shipping container, … Continue reading →

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Crabgrass Frontier

Posted on October 3, 2013 by smellincoffee

Crabgrass Frontier:  The Suburbanization of the United States© 1985 Kenneth Jackson432 pages For thousands of years, people lived in either the country or the city, but with the coming of the industrial revolution that changed, and especially in America.   … Continue reading →

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Sky Walking

Posted on September 15, 2013 by smellincoffee

Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir© 2007 Tom Jones384 pages Although the exploration of space has a scientific edge, the first astronauts were not scientists: they were military pilots. Thomas Jones is no exception, establishing the foundation for his career in … Continue reading →

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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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Two Sides of the Moon

Posted on September 5, 2013 by smellincoffee

Two Sides of the Moon© 2006 Alexei Leonov and David Scott448 pages Remember the fifties, those fat complacent days when the Future seemed a century away? Then up went Sputnik, gave the world a butt-kick, and made it clear tomorrow … Continue reading →

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Radicals for Capitalism

Posted on September 1, 2013 by smellincoffee

Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement© 2008 Brian Doherty740 pages Libertarianism has been in the news recently: Julian Assange referred to its rising wave in the Republican party as America’s best hope for halting … Continue reading →

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This week at the library: France, airborne chivalry, and Wendell Berry

Posted on July 29, 2013 by smellincoffee

Dear readers: This past week saw the conclusion of my annual tribute to France after reading An Outline of French History, by Rene Sedillot. The work is translated from French, but bears no weakness on that account: it is as … Continue reading →

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Getting There

Posted on July 19, 2013 by smellincoffee

Getting There: the Epic Struggle  between Road and Rail in the American Century© 1996 Stephen Goddard366 pages Regardless of the status of George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and William Pitt, each man of power traveled at the same speed as the … Continue reading →

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