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Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures with the Ever-Living Poet by Edward Wilson-Lee William Collins; London: 2016 One of the most striking things I found as I followed Shakespeare on his travels through East African history was the fact that the works were present at every stage of life in the region during the very period when […]
Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes by Ronni Lundy Photography by Johnny Autry Penguin Random House, 2016 Hardcover, 320 pages 2016 seems to be be the year of the redneck, at least when it comes to books. Or is it the hillbilly? White trash? Given the news, literary and otherwise, it looks like I’m up […]
How to Catch a Russian Spy: The True Story of an American Civilian Turned Double Agent by Naveed Jamali and Ellis Henican Scribner, 2015 Hardcover, 304 pages I’m not sure where I heard about this book or what caused me to place a hold on it at the library, but it followed me home one […]
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 commonly known […]
Lost Children of the Empire by Philip Bean and Joy Melville The Untold Story of Britain’s Child Migrants Unwin Hyman Limited (London); 1989 ISBN: 0-04-440358-5 In 1618, a group of orphaned and destitute children left Britain for Richmond, Virginia in the United States. It was the start of an extraordinary era in British history, formally […]
The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead by Meg Groeling Emerging Civil War Series Savas Beatie; Fall 2015 192 pp.; 211 images ISBN: 978-1-61121-189-4 I first became aware of this book when our local bookstore was touting an upcoming talk by its author, Meg Groeling. I wasn’t able to make that […]
The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead by Meg GroelingEmerging Civil War SeriesSavas Beatie; Fall 2015192 pp.; 211 imagesISBN: 978-1-61121-189-4 “After the battle, what did they do with all the bodies?”— common question from U.S. Civil War battlefield visitors I recently stumbled across the Emerging Civil War Series, which […]
Killing Eratosthenes: A True Crime Story from Ancient Athens by Debra Hamel CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform: 2016 (978-1523995691) My first introduction to Debra Hamel was with Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors, and Crazy Tyrants of The History, a great introduction to one of my favorite books, The Histories (and […]
…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 […]
Judging by recent publications, there has been a resurgence in interest about William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (c. 1146 – 1219). Marshal will be the focus of several posts, so I wanted to have something masquerading as an introduction before I cover books and a TV program about him. My planned posts will be […]
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 […]
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck Ballantine Books (paperback, 277 pages) ISBN 978-0-345-47232-8 I ‘ve rewritten a post on this book several times because I couldn’t get it right. This post doesn’t get it right either, but I want to pass some notes on this book because it has been an […]
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 […]
Paul Cartledge spoke at the SPHS Autumn Lecture, Tuesday November 12th 2013 held at The Hellenic Centre in London. Thanks to David Meadows at rogueclassicism for posting a link to this lecture. My post on the book can be found here. “The story I have woven…is one of commemoration, of rivalry, classically ancient Greek rivalry […]
Primo Levi’s Universe: A Writer’s Journey by Sam Magavern Foreword by Jonathan Rosen, Afterword by Risa Sodi Palgrave Macmillan: New York City, 2009 ISBN 978-0-230-60647-0 [W]hen we read all of Levi’s writings together, we find that he has woven a great and terrifying testament, one of the most vital bodies of work in modern literature. […]
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 […]