Tag: recommended
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Review: Lukas’s Big Trouble
Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America J. Anthony Lukas I’m always surprised more people haven’t read this book about the assassination of Idaho’s former governor and the class war in the courtroom battle that grew out of it. It’s a well written, fast…
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Review: Marable’s Malcolm X
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention Manny Marable A deeply researched, clearly written, important work of scholarship on one of the most fascinating figures in modern American history. Like many, I read Malcolm X’s autobiography in high school and was deeply effected by the story of the hustler turned political activist. I’ve encounter Malcolm’s ideas…
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Literature Reveals the World: Some Quick Thoughts on Finley’s The World of Odysseus
The World of Odysseus M.I. Finley A stunning work of social history which uses what we know about the historical time period which produced the Iliad and the Odyssey to help understand these two classics. We need to remember that even to homer, the events of the Iliad and Odyssey were ancient history. His codification…
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Review: Shah’s Pandemics
Pandemic: Tracking Contagions From Cholera to Ebola and Beyond Sonia Shah I’m not really a science guy, but I have thing for pandemics. There’s something about their lethal power, and how unaffected they are by the human misery they cause, that terrifies me. When I heard the good reviews of Shah’s social history of pandemics,…
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Review: Older’s Infomocracy
Infomocracy Malka Older A science fiction political thriller novel about elections. Meaning, a book written precisely for me. In the future, elections are done on a hyper-local level with major parties looking to piece together large numbers of small districts to achieve global parties. The system is run by a disinterested google-like corporation (Information) determined…
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Fathers and Sons: Some Thoughts on Coates’s The Beautiful Struggle
The Beautiful Struggle Ta-Neshi Coates The first book by one of America’s greatest public intellectuals. The Beautiful Struggle is a coming of age memoir, set in Baltimore and focusing primarily on Coates relationship with his fascinating, complicated father. If you’re interested in what Coates has to say, (and you should be) then you…
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Euripides The Trojan Women and Other Plays
The Trojan Women and Other Plays Euripides The final ancient source I read for the Trojan War reading project I’m working on this year, this collects Euripides works The Trojan Women, Hecuba, and Andromache. Strangely, I’d never read any of these before. That’s what you get with a public education. The obvious point to make…
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A Magical Adventure for Some; a Tale of Return and Venegence for Others: Homer’s The Odyssey
The Odyssey Homer (trans. Robert Fagles) The story of the heroes return from the war. The story of a son in search of his father. The story of a woman using her guile to ward off her suitors and wait for the return of her love. The story of a man through intelligence and strength,…
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A Foundational Text of our Fucked Up World — My Quick Thoughts on Homer’s the Iliad
The Iliad Homer (trans. Fagles) It’s hard to believe that the first time I read the Iliad, I didn’t enjoy. I was in my youth more of an Odyssey guy. That seems insane now. Sure, the first time was in undergrad reading under deadline. It was also the Lattimore edition, well loved by many, but…
Milo and the Calf 