Tag Archives: religion

The Ashes of Waco

Posted on June 12, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation© 1995 Dick Reavis320 pages What happened at Waco?  Dick Reavis had an itch to find out, and since no one else at his alternative newspaper was curious, he volunteered as man on the ground … Continue reading →

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The Colonial Experience

Posted on June 5, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Americans: The Colonial Experience© 1967 Daniel Boorstin528 pages               Daniel Boorstin’s The Americans delivers a cultural history of the American colonies, beginning first with profiles on the disparate groups that settled on the eastern seaboard (Puritans, Quakers, and … Continue reading →

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Why Waco?

Posted on June 5, 2015 by smellincoffee

Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America © 1997 James Tabor 254 pages, including text of David Koresh’s manifesto on the “Seven Seals”     In February 1995, Federal forces arrived outside a large home owned … Continue reading →

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Come Rack! Come Rope!

Posted on April 8, 2015 by smellincoffee

Come Rack! Come Rope! © 1912 Robert Hugh Benson 424 pages Dear Miss Manners:       My father, having long been both a leader of resistance against religious tyranny and an inspiration to his countrymen, has surrendered most abjectly … Continue reading →

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Lord of the World

Posted on December 20, 2014 by smellincoffee

Lord of the World © 1908 Robert Hugh Benson 352 pages At the turn of the 21st century, war between the states of Europe and the East threatens; at the midnight hour, however, comes an obscure American politician, a senator … Continue reading →

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Sailing from Byzantium

Posted on December 17, 2014 by smellincoffee

Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World© 2005 Colin Wells368 pages                   Isaac Asimov referred to Byzantium as a forgotten empire, lost and dismissed to the western mind as a decayed remnant of a once-great … Continue reading →

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The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

Posted on December 12, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc © 1896 Mark Twain 455 pages         In 1428,  a young French teenager arrived at the court of Robert Baudricourt and announced that she and he were to be allies in … Continue reading →

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Race with the Devil

Posted on December 3, 2014 by smellincoffee

Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love© 2013 Joseph Pearce264 pages How does a neo-Nazi become a Catholic literary critic?  An act of God?   Joseph Pearce would surely make the claim, his life having … Continue reading →

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A Short History of Byzantium

Posted on November 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

A Short History of Byzantium, John Julius Norwich© 1997 John Julius Norwich431 pages             Rome fell in a.d. 474? Tell that to the Byzantines, who for centuries persisted in being an afterimage of the classical world, … Continue reading →

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Between the Testaments

Posted on October 31, 2014 by smellincoffee

Between the Testaments© 1960 D.S. Russell176 pages             The sudden eruption of Christianity from Judaism is inexplicable when considering only the Protestant Bible.  From nowhere burst the Trinity, Satan as a rebel, and an obsession with … Continue reading →

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