Tag Archives: journalism

War

Posted on June 17, 2025 by smellincoffee

War  takes us into the Biden White House and its foreign policy challenges.    Biden had no shortage of  heavy issues coming into office amid a pandemic,  but the changing global scene would create far more.   Woodward’s narrative sews … Continue reading →

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American Carnage

Posted on November 12, 2024 by smellincoffee

I fell out with both wings of the old uniparty in the mid-2000s over the war on terror and its attendant police state, which both parties supported despite some gum-flapping on the part of the Dems during the Bush years. … Continue reading →

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The Dead Beat

Posted on October 16, 2024 by smellincoffee

Searching for obituaries is the most frequent kind of local history request I field at the library, and I like to joke when I’m disappearing into the archives room that I’m off hunting for dead people. I’ve noticed over the … Continue reading →

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Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries

Posted on October 7, 2024 by smellincoffee

I’ve been wanting to revisit Jon Ronson and Will Storr, whose books visiting extremists and cranks were both amusing and thought-provoking: October seemed an appropriate month to do so, given their tendency to visit the strange. This collection of pieces … Continue reading →

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First into Nagasaki

Posted on August 28, 2024 by smellincoffee

George Weller, a reporter for the Chicago Daily News, arrived in Japan only to be told that its southern islands were off-limits to reporters, dashing his hopes of being able to see what this new super-bomb had done to Nagasaki. … Continue reading →

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al Khamissi’s Taxi

Posted on May 7, 2024 by smellincoffee

Step into a Cairo taxi, circa mid-2000s, and listen to the rumblings of revolution. I can’t remember how this book appeared on my radar — only that it happened recently, and that I bought a used copy almost immediately — … Continue reading →

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The Outlaw Ocean

Posted on November 6, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Secret Life of Groceries was a disturbing wake-up call for me last year, exposing as it did how slavery is a core part of the fishing industry that supplies seafood the world around — in which men are trapped … Continue reading →

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Naked at Lunch

Posted on July 1, 2023 by smellincoffee

Naked at Lunch: Adventures of a Reluctant Nudist© 2015 Mark Haskell Smith288 pages Beware all enterprises which require new clothes, Henry David Thoreau opined. Say what you will about naturism, or nudism – it’s the only hobby I can think … Continue reading →

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The Psychopath Test

Posted on June 21, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry© 2011 Jon Ronson290 pages Jon Ronson’s journalistic niche is the weird, so when he learned that numerous intellectuals across the western world had received identical volumes of the same modified book … Continue reading →

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The Debutante

Posted on June 15, 2023 by smellincoffee

The Debutante: From High Society to White Supremacy© 2023 Jon RonsonAudible original, 3 hrs The Debutante is Jon Ronson’s investigation into the rumors and contradictions surrounding Carol Howe, a young woman who became interested in white nationalism and associated with … Continue reading →

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