I’m just finishing Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror by Richard A. Clarke (Free Press, 2004). Richard Clarke spent almost 30 years in government under seven presidents. He was appointed the first National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism (aka the Terrorism Czar, a term he hated) by President Bill Clinton, and
In our rise to today’s modern, civilized world, which advance was the most important? Many think it was the use of tools, the discovery of controlled fire, or development of language. But a new book by neuroanthropologist John S. Allen argues our move out of the elements and into dwellings may have been the key.
I have always seen pictures of the Frankenstein monster, and film clips from various productions, but that was the extent of my exposure. Lately I’ve gotten interested in classic literature (see my earlier piece on The Phantom of the Opera), and decided to read the original novel, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft
Upon meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1862, Abraham Lincoln supposedly said “Is this the little woman who made this great war?” I found a secondhand paperback edition of Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin awhile back and decided to read it since it is one of the key books in U.S. history. It’s actually pretty short, 180
Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The Hunger Games never sounded like my kind of literature. Yet I couldn’t help noticing the popularity of the books and movies, and the more I thought about it, the more the story’s premise became so repulsive it became intriguing. How to write something like this? Someday I would have to
Why do almost all of the historical romance novels seem to be set in the South and West? And usually during the time of the Civil War? This weekend I met a personable young lady named Jeanette Watts who is trying to change that. She has written a historical novel about life among the privileged
A major nation’s use of power is always an interesting topic, and seems especially relevant in this day and age. That’s why I found the book The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power fascinating. The book begins with the wars against the Barbary pirates in 1801 and continues
You may have heard of the rapper Notorious B.I.G. Biggie or Biggie Smalls. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Notorious_B.I.G.) Despite having died in 1997 at the age of 24, a victim of a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, he’s still considered one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. This was quite an accomplishment for someone with
While I was out running today, I was listening to NPR and I happened to catch an interview with Eileen Pollack, author of The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is Still a Boy’s Club. The author grew up in the 1960s and ’70s dreaming of a career as a theoretical astrophysicist. Although she got
Every once in a while, something piques your curiosity. I saw the stage play The Miracle Worker at Wright State University in September 2012. It was billed as the true story of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan. Personally I can’t imagine navigating the world without sight or hearing, and I know certain compromises/adjustments