Tag Archives: Politics-CivicInterest

Fighting Traffic

Posted on July 22, 2014 by smellincoffee

Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City© 2008 Peter Norton396 pages Stroll into the middle of any American city today, and provided you are not in Detroit, odds are better than not you will be … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Small Mart Revolution

Posted on July 16, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition© 2007 Michael Shuman285 pages Independence has long ceased to be the American credo, supplanted by another: efficiency. Throughout the 20th century, small businesses supporting towns and families were devoured … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Common Sense

Posted on July 4, 2014 by smellincoffee

Common Sense© 1776 Tom Paine After the battles of Lexington and Concord that scotched any idea of peaceful reconciliation between Britain and its former colonies, but before the Declaration of Independence that stared the colonies on their march toward united … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The American Tory

Posted on July 2, 2014 by smellincoffee

The American Tory© 1972 ed. Morten Borden, Penn Borden 141 pages American colonists yearning for independence from Britain called themselves Patriots, not in opposition against the not-yet-arrived royal army, but to set their cause against that of the Loyalists. Not … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Posted on June 29, 2014 by smellincoffee

A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass© 1845 Frederick Douglass144 pages Although modern readers take for granted the idea that slavery is “bad”, its horrors can only be fully appreciated  by the shared experience of those who were subjected … Continue reading →

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

Power, Inc

Posted on June 18, 2014 by smellincoffee

Power, Inc: the Epic Rivalry between Government and Big Business© 2013 David Rothkopf448 pages      Historians of western civilization are used to viewing its late medieval and early modern period through the lens of a church versus state battle; the … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Global Weirdness

Posted on June 10, 2014 by smellincoffee

Global Weirdness: Severe Storms, Deadly Heat Waves, Relentless Drought, Rising Seas, and the Weather of the Future© 2013 Climate Central224 pages           Global Weirdness is a climate briefing for the civic body; short, well-organized, and to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Anthem

Posted on June 7, 2014 by smellincoffee

Anthem© 1938 Ayn Rand128 pages In a dark future, the triumph of collectivism has created a global society deteriorating to near-medieval conditions.  Man is utterly broken by the state, dominated by institutions from birth onward. Raised in cohorts in government … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Burden of Southern History

Posted on June 2, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Burden of Southern History © 1960, 1968, 1970 C. Vann Wordward 250 pages Louisiana State University Press The publication of these essays on southern character and its tragic history, from Civil War to the abandoned civil rights efforts of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews, Society and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Who Killed Homer?

Posted on May 29, 2014 by smellincoffee

Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom© 1998 Victor Davis Hanson290 pages For hundreds of years, the study of the classics was at the heart of a liberal education, thought essential to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments