Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Murder in the Tropics (Florida Chronicles) Review

Murder in the Tropics (Florida Chronicles)
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Murder in the Tropics (Florida Chronicles) ReviewThe book is easy reading with vignettes of murders staged in Florida. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to readers.Murder in the Tropics (Florida Chronicles) Overview

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Forgotten Philadelphia: Lost Architecture of the Quaker City Review

Forgotten Philadelphia: Lost Architecture of the Quaker City
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Forgotten Philadelphia: Lost Architecture of the Quaker City ReviewTom Keels has produced a treasure of a book. There are many compilations of photographs of old Philadelphia, but Keels supplies what others mostly lack -- a brief but rich history and context for each of the lost buildings he documents. Many of the photographs will be familiar to anyone interested in Philadelphia history, but this should not discourage you from buying the book. You will learn a great deal, thanks to Keels' perspicacious research. Moreover, his prose is graceful and witty, never stodgy.Forgotten Philadelphia: Lost Architecture of the Quaker City Overview

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Remembering the Twentieth Century Limited Review

Remembering the Twentieth Century Limited
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Remembering the Twentieth Century Limited ReviewAs always, Matthew Stevenson's essays -- part travelogue, part history, part literary narrative - are immensely satisfying. With this collection, he adds serious investigative journalism to a unique blend of genres. His fluid prose and humor appear so effortless, that only a writer who is expending a great deal of effort can achieve it. Despite choosing a number of well-covered topics, he dives into each on a unique journey of personal exploration, carrying along readers who, like me, seriously need vicarious travel with a literate guide. He brings his own compelling perspectives to the Alger Hiss story and the war-ending assault on Japan; new historical approaches to Armenia, the Balkans, and Lebanon; and an Intro to Banking in the form of a brief disquisition on the Medicis and their modern successors. Even critics of sports doping will come away with something to think about. The best thing about a collection of good essays is that you can actually read them in pieces - say, on the Amtrak from Baltimore to Penn Station - without losing the flow. On the train, exactly as the author intended.Remembering the Twentieth Century Limited Overview

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Black Diamonds Black Gold: The Saga of Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company Review

Black Diamonds Black Gold: The Saga of Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company
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Black Diamonds Black Gold: The Saga of Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company ReviewI read this book a few years ago and loved it. The story of the Texas and Pacific Coal and Oil company seems so typically American. From the crooked Yankee come South who recognizes the coal that was a nuisance to the farmer scratching out a living, the New York financiers who put the enterprise on a secure financial foundation and did very well by themselves in the process, the immigrant miners, prosperous company town, self-taught geololgist who opened up the Ranger oil field, a gas-pump juckey who earned a raise in the midst of the depression selling lube jobs and treating his wife to a mid-week hamburger, the names which dot Fort Worth buildings and streets, this book covers and links up an America and Texas from frontier to the outlines of its present corporate complexity.Black Diamonds Black Gold: The Saga of Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company Overview

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Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin Review

Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
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Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin ReviewYale-trained historian Hampton Sides hails from Memphis. His father had worked on the MLK trial as a lawyer. So it's no wonder that this fascinating book feels like a personal memoir, an intimate story from the writer. This book is the story of all the characters involved in the murder of Martin Luther King, their characteristics, their habits, their quirks. And, so typical of Hampton Sides, this book is thoroughly researched, well-written, and well-organized.
I was just a child in my single digits when MLK was assassinated. I read this book to learn more about the story. And what a story this is. Sides spoke with every witness, every neighbor of all the people in the book. He traveled thousands of miles to relive the towns and travel routes of the people in this book. He didn't leave anything to the imagination.
And, typical of Sides, chapters are short and ideal for quick readings. Personalities switch often: starting with Eric Galt (James Early Ray) and his penchant for Mexican whores and cheap photographs, to nemisis J Edgar Hoover, President Lyndon Johnson, George Wallace and the man MLK himself (who lived quite a shameful life behind curtains), this book is laden with historical passages never before revealed.
Although we all know how the killing of MLK transpired, Sides does not take sides with anyone. No character in this book is herofied. What the reader experiences is the rising backfrop to the actual focus of this book: the hunt for James Earl Ray. Out of the 400 pages of this book, the first 164 take place before the MLK assassination.
We learn about the distrust J Edgar Hoover had toward MLK. We read about James Earl Ray's shyness, Johnson's rudeness and George Wallace's resoluteness. The reader finally finishes this book not completely wanting to take just one side anymore, but none.
I highly recommend this book for history fans, people fascinated with FBI history and its people, social history of the 1960s and admirers of MLK. It's a hard book to put down once you get started, so happy reading. Your mind will thank you for the intellectual insight.Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin Overview

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Edelbrock: Made in USA Review

Edelbrock: Made in USA
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Edelbrock: Made in USA ReviewEdelbrock: Made in USA is an epic story of a family and a business which, for 70 years, have influenced a uniquely American hobby, hot rodding, and one of our country's quintessential businesses, the high-performance automotive aftermarket.
Through extensive research, rich style and deep understanding of and reverence for the hot rod experience, Author Tom Madigan, provides more than just a profile of the Edelbrocks and their company. It's a wonderful story of automotive culture and history. Not only is it a fascinating sketch of not only how a family business developed, but the reader learns how the car hobby influenced the direction that business took and how the Edelbrock Equipment Company and, later, the Edelbrock Corporation, influenced the direction the hot rod hobby took.
Edelbrock: Made in USA is a people story, too--not just of the book's namesakes but other famed hot rod personalities, too. Wally Parks, Alex Xydias, Bob Peterson, Fran Hernandez, Bobby Meeks, Murray Jensen, Ed Iskenderian, Ed Pink, "Racer" Brown, Bob D'Olivo, Zora Arkus-Duntov, Jim McFarland, Rodger Ward, Tom Medley, Benny Parsons, Smokey Yunick, Junior Johnson, and many others all have parts in this book.
This work is a "manual" on how to build a successful American business. It tells how one generation of a family started a performance parts business in back of a Gilmore service station near the corner of Hoover and Venice in Los Angeles and how the next made that into a hundred-million dollar, world-wide enterprise.
The book is illustrated with a mix of black-and-white and color photos. Its imagery is timeless and beautifully presented, making it not only a wonderful reading experience but intensely pleasing visually, as well. The photography from the 30s, 40s and 50s is outstanding. Clearly a significant amount work went into restoring, enhancing and retouching old photos.
Weaknesses? Well, there are a few. There is an annoying lack of date information in some parts of it. Several times, I found myself reading an interesting discussion of some event then wondering when it happened. There are places where the first mention of important characters is only by last name. Vic Edelbrock Jr.'s lifelong friend, Jerry Herbst, is first introduced to readers simply by surname. Same is true of famed race car builder Bob Joehnick. This name issue had me suspecting that the original manuscript must have been far, far longer and that the Herculean process of editing that to a marketable size might have let a few little problems slip through.
Towards the end of the lengthy project that resulted inEdelbrock: Made in USA, the book was no secret. For a number of months prior to its publication, it had the car hobby abuzz. That Vic Edelbrock Jr. commissioned and funded the project was, also, no secret. While the cost is known only to Mr. Edelbrock, Mr. Madigan and executives at Tehabi Books, it's obvious upon just skimming this work that a large sum must have been invested. For that kind of money, Vic could have made this book his family's own, private, 324-page, self-appreciating shrine, but he didn't. Yes, the Edelbrocks are the main characters but their portrayal is little more than what they deserve. There's much more in this book about the dawn and growth of hot rodding as a hobby and a sport, about the automotive performance aftermarket industry that grew along with it and the people, Edelbrocks and others, who made it all happen.
Edelbrock: Made in USA is a lot in one book. An amazing chronicle of American ingenuity, tenacity and success? You bet. Intriguing biography? Indeed. A fascinating business book? You bet. Absolutely. A captivating story about fast cars? Uh-huh. A book worth reading? Totally.Edelbrock: Made in USA Overview

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Historic Photos of Texas Oil Review

Historic Photos of Texas Oil
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Historic Photos of Texas Oil ReviewWhat do you think of when you hear the State of Texas mentioned? Many of you might say oil. Or, perhaps responses would be cattle, wide open spaces or cotton.Actually, oil is what really brought attention to the Lone Star State when the incredible Spindletop field was discovered in 1901.
Some may think that a gusher and the attendant exhilaration is as pictured in the movie Giant. Not so as you'll find in this assiduously researched volume beginning with a summer day in 1543 when oil was seen floating on the water along the Texas coast through 1942 when major oil companies began building a 1,254 mile pipeline carrying 300,000 gallons of oil a day.
Over 200 historic photos gathered from the archives of the Texas State Archives, the Texas Energy Museum and the Texas Oil and Gas Association among others are remarkable reminders of a storied past. These photos convey more than words exactly how it was whether it's a pretty working girl in Borger, Texas or rigs reaching toward the sky from Upper Galveston Bay.
Author 0f 15 nonfiction books Mike Cox is the perfect guide for a look back at those wild and wooly days when it seemed that fortunes were well within reach for many.
History buffs as well as those with an interest in the oil industry will find much to ponder and enjoy in Historic Photos of Texas Oil.
- Gail Cooke
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Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact (Technical Revolutions and Their Lasting Impact) Review

Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact (Technical Revolutions and Their Lasting Impact)
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Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact (Technical Revolutions and Their Lasting Impact) ReviewI sampled this book on a whim on my Kindle and then bought the whole thing, even though it was a steep $20 plus. Smil does an excellent job describing how critical technologies such as electrical transmission, motors, and lighting actually evolved, far beyond the Edison-invented-the-lightbulb stories we have all heard. I am just a couple of chapters in, but I am confident in saying if you are leaning towards buying this book, you probably should. He goes into more detail than you may want concerning such things as the efficiency of various electrical technologies, yet somehow he makes the story of leaps and steady improvements rather mesmerizing.
Quite striking is his major thesis that the technological revolution before WWI was sui generis, a singularity in its own right. He explains how the technologies developed then are still very much with us and unlikely to be superceded anytime soon. This is a good antidote to the presentism of the Age of Information and AI enthusiasts. Unless you are already an engineer, you are likely to learn a lot about basic technologies we take for granted. IP lawyers may also find the various patent struggles of interest.Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact (Technical Revolutions and Their Lasting Impact) Overview

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Twilight at the World of Tomorrow: Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World's Fair on the Brink of War Review

Twilight at the World of Tomorrow: Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World's Fair on the Brink of War
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Twilight at the World of Tomorrow: Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World's Fair on the Brink of War ReviewI have to admit to having a fascination with the Worlds Fairs in New York and worried this book would either be an overdramatic novelization or a dry as bone read. I was pleasantly surprised, instead, to find a well written and engrossing true-tale - created by using historical documents as the basis upon which to build the story of the Worlds Fair.
After only a few pages, you're hooked as you learn about the persons and personalities behind the 1939 Worlds Fair. Those who thought it up, organized it, worked it, and ultimately the celebrities that visited it. There are a lot of fascinating facts interwoven with the narrative and never once was I bored with the book. The author writes in such a way that you really get a 3-dimensional picture of the people - they are never caricatures or poorly fleshed out. Each feels like someone you might have known and that really makes the read that much more engrossing.
I think it is important to note that this is really about the people behind the fair and not the fair itself. You won't necessarily get a feel of what it was like to be there or experience it - that's for historical or coffee table books. Instead, you'll get a feel of what it was like to live at this time with all the factors that were going on behind the scenes of the build up and then end of the fair.
I was VERY glad to get this and I highly recommend it for history buffs or those who really like the whole idea behind the World Fairs. There is always so much going on behind the scenes and it is clear the author highly researched and really got into the mindset of the people at the time.Twilight at the World of Tomorrow: Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World's Fair on the Brink of War Overview

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Atlanta Architecture: Art Deco to Modern Classic, 1929-1959 Review

Atlanta Architecture: Art Deco to Modern Classic, 1929-1959
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Atlanta Architecture: Art Deco to Modern Classic, 1929-1959 ReviewFirst, let me say I love Atlanta. It is a dynamic town and parts of the city, such as Druid Hills, Ansley Park, and Buckhead are as pretty as any neighborhood in the country. This book does a wonderful job of capturing what makes the city special, its images are very good and text is highly informative, Mr. Craig really know his subject. I had no idea that Atlanta had so many excellent examples of Art Deco architecture, this book is quite eye openning. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Atlanta or the Art Deco style.Atlanta Architecture: Art Deco to Modern Classic, 1929-1959 Overview

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Original Mercedes-Benz Coupes and Cabriolets and V-8 Sedans 1960-1972 (Original Series) Review

Original Mercedes-Benz Coupes and Cabriolets and V-8 Sedans 1960-1972 (Original Series)
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Original Mercedes-Benz Coupes and Cabriolets and V-8 Sedans 1960-1972 (Original Series) ReviewThe "Original" series of books tend to be well-illustrated and replete with the kind of minute detail that lovers of the given vehicles described enjoy poring over. This volume by Tim Slade is on a par with the rest, with the exception of a few typos. If you love these cars, or own one, or just aspire to, it is quite a good literary drive. There are a few typos, and this particular volume does not have the option and color charts that the similar volume on 113 Mercedes does have, but overall it is well done. As a driver, I am familiar with all of the mentioned vehicles and I think Mr. Slade has done justice to a group of automobiles well worth writing about.Original Mercedes-Benz Coupes and Cabriolets and V-8 Sedans 1960-1972 (Original Series) Overview

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Twenty West: The Great Road Across America Review

Twenty West: The Great Road Across America
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Twenty West: The Great Road Across America ReviewTwenty West: The Great Road Across America in an engaging travelogue about journeying upon America's longest road, US Route 20, a coast-to-coast road crossing twelve states as it stretches 3,300 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon. Written by Mac Nelson (Distinguished Teaching Professor of English at SUNY Fredonia) and drawing heavily from his personal experience touring its length, Twenty West gives an up close and personal tour of parks (especially the "peaceable kingdom" of Yellowstone), historical landmarks, Americana and much more. "Yellowstone's famous wildlife doesn't pay much mind to artificial boundaries, so it's wise to start watching for bear and deer and moose as soon as you reach Wapiti, twenty miles west of Cody." A wonderful read for armchair travelers, and the next best thing to touring the length of US Route 20 in person.
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History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers Review

History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers
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History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers ReviewIntroduction: Allan Duffin weaved a fascinating historical survey with threads cast by women in blue who overcame culturally discriminating obstacles and strengthened the fabric of law enforcement professionals in the United States. History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers captivates readers with over 675 references to situations, events, and results detailing challenges women faced as they became police matrons 19th century and rose to police chiefs in the 20th century. Just changing the name from policeman to police officer seems subtle, but is recognition of the great strides women made while achieving higher positions. The story ranges from the 1840's through Civil War, World Wars I and II, the civil and equal rights movements into our current 21st century debate over the legality of same-sex partnerships.
Content Review: History in Blue... tells real events about actual police women clearing barriers in the male dominated field. It validates the cultural challenges women faced. Spanning the United States, from Hawaii to Maine; Alaska to Florida; north, east, south and west, these women wrote a page turning history. It reads fast like a John Grisholm or Joseph Wambaugh novel.
Early accounts as social enforcers separating overly aggressive young lovers, arresting mashers, spooners, and fox-trot dancers progressed through the long uphill battle of the 1950's-1970's and developed into prostitution stings, infiltrating drug rings, sending untold numbers of unsuspecting criminals behind bars. Civil and equal rights laws forced progress through the 1970's and 1980's putting women and race in a pressure cooker enforcing laws against dismissive and defiant men. Policemen's wives increased the pressure with their concerns over policewomen riding shifts with their husbands. Height and weight entry issues, uniforms, bullet-proof vest, and hand gun size - all of these and more reflect the arduous steady movement from more polite times to the brutally blunt current times in 2009. Allan Duffin energized a passive historical review into a tightly packed survey for general readers to learn more about the challenges and contributions women make to the law enforcement profession.
Page after page recount limited duties and little respect to growing acceptance and earned respect. Allan Duffin crystallizes each woman's challenge and contribution by using their names that breaths life to the events and respect to the woman. Beth Bradbury's account from Idaho recalled the six foot "mark on the door frame...If you were shorter that that, they wouldn't hire you as a police officer." Other departments required higher education requirements yet women received lower pay that led to discrimination cases, awards, and equal pay. Riveting accounts from Indiana's Jill Rice in 1993 during a drug sting from Texas to Indiana capturing drug suppliers, and dealers in a well coordinated bust using local, state, federal and military resources. Julia Grimes from Alaska tells about flying her Cessna 185 to Manakotak after an aircraft crashed into the tundra. From the ground to the skies, women's frontline challenges with success and detailed tragic accounts of women and men who lost their lives in the line of duty. All while policewomen endured ridicule, harassment, and dressed in public restrooms because police forces and leadership did not accept or make room for their growing numbers in the ranks. Pressing political and leadership issues highlighted Ella Bully-Cumming's rise from entry to her appointment as Chief of Police in Detroit by a corrupt newly elected Mayor Kilpatrick. And, Cathy Lanier's surprising selection as Washington D.C.'s first woman police chief. The road is paved although still not yet smooth. The direction is as clear yet as unpredictable as a police officer's daily beat - you just don't know what is going to happen next. This cultural history demonstrates women from all walks of life and all ages have surpassed cultural challenges and are prepared to succeed.
Reviewer's Conclusions: Allan Duffin writes with a vivid, broad lexicon making the history leap from the pages and compelling to read. A History in Blue... is the grit behind glitzy dramas like Law and Order, Saving Grace and The Closer. The book seemingly covers every cultural aspect women faced with emotion and professional restraint and maintains historical relevance. A possible woman authorship shortcoming is overcome with respect to documenting situations, actions, and results in a historical context. A man's authorship adds dimension to the women's history by capturing accounts from interviews and research while realizing the complicit and implicit behavior and implications for both women and men. The subjects and stories are real, yet told with more pitch and range than the monotone on Cops. Women and men readers who lived through many of the periods covered in A History in Blue... will easily identify local and national historical events like the Los Angeles Rodney King riots and 9/11 seeded through the history like landmarks along a journey.
A History in Blue is a fast easy read and as entertaining as it is referent, spotted with humor as well as tragedy. It is a reference for all leadership, management, and social studies, and a reference for all police officers. Allan Duffin succeeded recounting a cultural history women wrote to become law enforcement professionals.
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Brazil Handbook, 7th (Footprint - Handbooks) Review

Brazil Handbook, 7th (Footprint - Handbooks)
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Brazil Handbook, 7th (Footprint - Handbooks) ReviewThis guide includes everything you need know about Brazil. Very detailed descriptions. The author goes beyond the basics and gives you an interesting perspective of the country. A no-brainer.Brazil Handbook, 7th (Footprint - Handbooks) Overview

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Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture Review

Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture
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Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture ReviewThis book is a collection of articles written by Paul Goldberger and published in the New Yorker and Metropolis magazines between 1997 and 2009. This makes for very short, eminently readable chapters. They are not grouped chronologically but thematically : People and Places, Museums, Buildings that Matter, etc.
Though not groundbreaking, this provides an enthralling critical overview of architectural production, exhibitions and books over that period, not only in New York City but throughout America and around the world.
The author is very respectful of his sources and generally soft-spoken, though far from colourless. On certain subjects, such as the Westin Hotel on 42nd Street, he is actually quite vehement.
True to the New Yorker tradition, illustrations are not this book's strongpoint and, regrettably, at most one black and white photograph is provided for each chapter.
Overall, this book is strongly recommended to architecture and urban aficionados. For more detailed information on New York City's development in recent decades, one may wish to refer to the massive «New York 2000», where Mr. Goldberger is deservedly much quoted.
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Chicago From The Sky: A Region Transformed Review

Chicago From The Sky: A Region Transformed
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Chicago From The Sky: A Region Transformed ReviewIf you know someone who loves Chicago -- don't hesitate to give them this spectacular book! And once you see it, you will want one for yourself as well. The photography is spectacular; the city looks as beautiful from the air as it does from the ground. But more than that, Okrent has a keen eye for unusual perspective and interesting juxtapositions. The photographs are paired, "then and now" with just enough text to inform but not distract from the pictures. Yes, it is a "coffee table book" in some ways. But it is one you will actually read from cover to cover and pick up more than once. And Okrent's unifying thesis about change ties it all together without pedantics.Chicago From The Sky: A Region Transformed Overview

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El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City Review

El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City
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El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City ReviewJohn Ross, the venerable veterano of US expatriate writers in Mexico City has written a very readable history of Mexico City -- "El Monstruo" -- from the pre-Columbian era to the present day. Ross himself has lived in El Centro -- the heart of the city -- since the earthquake of 1985 and in the past quarter-century has been an eyewitness to some very remarkable events. Among these have been two stolen presidential elections, a devastating earthquake, the awakening of civil society among the masses and other major and minor upheavals in the political sphere. He has witnessed the day-to-day struggle of the average person in the city and surrounding areas, knows them well and can discuss their situations with passion and empathy -- and with good humor all at once.
Some other reviewers have noted slight inaccuracies, but all told, and while I agree they exist and that his editor should have caught them, I don't think they take much away from this book. In his words, Ross takes you there -- whether it's in the midst of the Revolution of 1810, or the revolutionary chaos of first quarter of the 20th Century, to the immense protests in the Zocalo subsequent to the election fraud of the 2006 presidential election. He almost seems to have been an eyewitness to these events and it makes for page-turning reading.
One thing that Ross's book shows is the incredible, unrelenting violence in the city -- and the country at large -- resulting from extreme class inequalities and the corruption that these inequities have fomented. I find it remarkable that the Mexican people continue to persevere -- even when they know from bitter, first-hand experience that the deck is stacked against them. You gotta have a sense of humor to live in that giant city -- and a whole lotta soul, too.
And speaking of corruption? People in the US, who think that the government is broken and can't get anything done? That think our politicians are crooks will have their eyes opened wide to what corruption and injustice really look like. Ross gets into this aspect in great detail.
Also, Ross discusses the extreme environmental situation in the Mexico City metro area. This is a city that's probably the most dangerous to your health in the world in terms of environmental degradation. And there's the distinct possibility that this immense metro area of 30 million-plus people could actually run out of water -- adds to the living on the environmental edge aspects of this place.
I'd love to see a documentary film or PBS-type television series based on this book. A project such as this would really help folks on the US side to better understand how and why Mexico is what it is.
For all the above reasons and more, I recommend this book for anyone to read who wants/needs a basic, but never boring, background on the history and people of Mexico City. Use it as a point of departure for further research into the details of this amazing city. Five stars.El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City Overview

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In the Victorian Style Review

In the Victorian Style
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In the Victorian Style ReviewThis book is AMAZING. As a San Francisco history / real estate / city planning buff, I like to search for information regarding the original surveys of the land and how the street plans came to be. I also like to know how land was sold and how the Victorian row house came to be so popular in San Francisco. It's also useful to know why the floor plans were designed the way they were, given how Victorian-era families lived. It's very difficult to find information like this online because a lot of it isn't accurate and certainly does not have images. This book has all of this and more. It is literally my ideal book, I am so glad I bought one. Getting to know how the land in San Francisco was divided up, the measurements (Spanish 'vara'), architecture, interior design, everything is absolutely thorough and amazing. I commend the author for putting this masterpiece together.
My only minor criticism is that the pictures in a couple of the sections are very dated. This doesn't detract from the core of the subjectmatter in any way, but none of the cars on the street are newer than about 1985 and things have changed a lot in San Francisco since then. It would be nice to see how even more of these historic homes have been restored to their original splendor.In the Victorian Style Overview

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Pittsburgh: A New Portrait Review

Pittsburgh: A New Portrait
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Pittsburgh: A New Portrait ReviewFranklin Toker has written a series of books about the architecture of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania, and each is clearly a labor of love. About 3/4ths of this book is about the city proper, and about a hundred pages cover outlying communities - not nearly enough to even scratch the surface of the outlying municipalities and suburbs.
For each neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh, Toker describes a bit of its history and what makes it special, with an emphasis on specific historic structures of note. I found it was helpful to have the Google Streetview feature open on my computer while reading the book, so I could see the building in question. An 11-page appendix lists the significant buildings, with addresses, dates, and architects' names.
Quite apart from the textual element of the book, this book is visually beautiful. Nearly every two-page spread has a color photograph, and the numerous maps are of a higher caliber than one would expect in a book of this nature.
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In Search of Burningbush: A Story of Golf, Friendship and the Meaning of Irons Review

In Search of Burningbush: A Story of Golf, Friendship and the Meaning of Irons
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In Search of Burningbush: A Story of Golf, Friendship and the Meaning of Irons ReviewI just finished In Search of Burningbush and felt compelled to write. The author's true voice and passion for golf come through in every chapter, and many of the passages describing the Scottish links and countryside are simply beautiful.
I was also drawn to the spiritual aspects of the author's quest as I am in a mid-life search for my "Burningbush". In Hinduism, I have read, the main thrust of the belief system is that people think they want certain things such as pleasure and worldly success. But ultimately, in this life or another, even noble life pursuits become unfulfilling. What people really want is something else - infinite being, infinite awareness, and infinite bliss. We can only get brief spatterings of true joy; we feel as though some great harmony exists in the world, then our bodily limitations take over.
Golf is like that. We feel the sensation of perfect body and soul in a golf shot, but then it is instantly extinguished as we remember the double bogey on the last hole. I wish the feeling would last forever. As I read this book, I sensed the same longing. I think what many of us are looking for is there, just past our conscious selves. When our bodies are quiet and our minds are still, the door opens for an instant. In that instant is an eternity that we simply cannot comprehend.
As I write this review, I am looking at a picture of the Old Course at St. Andrews hanging on the wall of my den. I bought the picture many years ago because it looked like a great den picture. But now, after reading In Search of Burningbush, I think something else may have drawn me to that picture - a type of "connection" I am sure Don (the main character in the book) would say. Someday I hope to play the Old Course and discover, if only for an instant, the metaphysical connection explored so beautifully in this book.In Search of Burningbush: A Story of Golf, Friendship and the Meaning of Irons Overview

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