Vladimir Bukovsky passed away this past weekend at the age of 76. Before he was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1976, Bukovsky spent 12 years in prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and labor camps. Vladimir Nabokov said of Bukovsky, “Bukovsky’s heroic speech to the court in defense of freedom, and his five years of martyrdom in […]
Tag: Biography
Several years ago I posted on Women of the Gulag: Portraits of Five Remarkable Lives by Paul R. Gregory. A moving and powerful book, Gregory detailed some of the problems that five Soviet women faced when victimized by the gulag system. I believe I first found out about the book from Cynthia Haven at The […]
Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alexandra Popoff Yale University Press, 2019 Hardcover, 424 pagesStalingrad by Vasily Grossman is officially released today. While I’m waiting for my copy to arrive by mail, I wanted to share a little about this outstanding biography. Alexandra Popoff has written several literary biographies and is a former Moscow […]
I wanted to wait until I had a released copy of Be Like the Fox to quote anything from it. Here’s a lengthy excerpt about an episode late in Machiavelli’s life. The setting: the Medici successfully returned to Florence in 1512 and Machiavelli was removed from office. He remained in political exile until 1521 when […]
Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli in His World by Erica Benner W. W. Norton & Company, 2017 Erica Brenner’s study of “Machiavelli in his world” is being released today. I obtained an advance reading copy secondhand and wanted to pass on a few of my thoughts about the book since I found it helpful and […]
Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet by Daisy DunnHarper, 2016Hardcover, 336 pages An attempt to get back in the swing of posting… Catullus’ Bedspread by Daisy Dunn, released to coincide with her translation titled The Poems of Catullus (also from Harper) looks at the life and work of the poet […]
…and bid them that they shall make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, […]
Loch, J. N. K. (1968). A fringe of blue: An autobiography. New York: Morrow. Related posts A Fringe of Blue: A Fringe of Blue 1918 – 23 I’m hoping this marks the end of the blog’s hiatus. Things have been… challenging. But I’ve really missed posting here and being part of the online book community. […]
The Death of Caesar by Barry Strauss Simon & Schuster, 323 pages, $27I’m rushing through this post since I want to post it on the Ides of March (and I just finished the book)… Barry Strauss, professor of history and classics at Cornell University, has provided an insightful study of the actions, motivations, and fallout […]
Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S. C. Gwynne ISBN: 978-1451673289 (Scribner, 2014, hardcover) It is a matter of record that, a mere fourteen months earlier [than June 1862], the man everyone from Charlottesville to Washington was so breathlessly concerned about had been an obscure, eccentric, and unpopular college professor […]
Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James Romm Alfred A. Knopf (March 2014) ISBN: 978-0-307-59687-1 Seneca was born in 4 B.C. on the Iberian peninsula to the son of a accomplished rhetorician (Seneca the Elder). The young Seneca moved to Rome to study rhetoric and was introduced to Stoic philosophy. Entering […]
The Volga Rises in Europe by Curzio Malaparte Translated by David Moore Birlinn Limited: Edinburgh (1951) ISBN 0-7394-1930-7 I enjoyed Curzio Malaparte’s novel Kaputt and his recently translated writings. When I stumbled across this collection of dispatches he wrote during World War II I grabbed it without a second thought, wanting to see some examples […]
Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden(Viking: New York City, 2012)ISBN: 978-0-670-02332-5 I had planned on reading three nonfiction books on North Korea this winter but everything got shuffled out of order when I impulsively grabbed Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s […]
Women of the Gulag: Portraits of Five Remarkable Lives by Paul R. Gregory Hoover Institution Press: Stanford, California, October 2013 Hardcover, 264 pages ISBN 9780817915742I have not posted on much of the non-fiction I’ve read this year, something I’m determined to correct starting with this marvelous history/memoir by Paul Gregory. Links: There is plenty of […]
I wanted to make a short post after listening to the audiobook version of Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn. Highly recommended. OK, maybe I should add a little bit to that… I knew very little about Henry VII before listening to the book, which probably reflects his position between the […]
Joseph Roth: A Life in Letters Translated and Edited by Michael Hofmann W. W. Norton & Company, Hardcover, 512 pages ISBN-10: 0393060640 / ISBN-13: 978-0393060645 Albert Einstein to B. W. Huebsch (24 February 1935) Esteemed Mr. Hübsch, I am truly grateful to you for sending me this consoling book [Job] by a real mensch and […]
The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander Edited by James Romm, Series Editor Robert B. Strassler, Translation by Pamela Mensch, Introduction by Paul CartledgeIf you haven’t noticed by now, I am a huge fan of the Landmark series, created by Robert B. Strassler. If you haven’t picked up a volume in the series, check out […]
Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire by James Romm Knopf, 341 pp., $28.95 This book covers in gripping detail the events that began on June 1, 323 B.C., when Alexander the Great became ill with what would be a fatal fever, and ended seven […]
Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard by Fan Shen (University of Nebraska, 294 pp.) From the University of Nebraska Press page: In 1966 twelve-year-old Fan Shen, a newly minted Red Guard, plunged happily into China’s Cultural Revolution. Disillusion soon followed, then turned to disgust and fear when Shen discovered that his compatriots had […]
Coin portraying MithradatesThe Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy by Adrienne Mayor For audiobooks I’ve rarely gone beyond a couple of sentences on my reviews. I’m still feeling my way out on expanding any comments for a book I’ve listened to instead of read, but I’ll give it a try […]