Category Archives: Book Reviews

Savage Wars of Peace

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

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The Rapper and the Supreme Court Justice

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

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Some Thoughts About Helen Keller

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

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The Political Impact of Watergate

During a recent trip I read Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate by Bob Woodward, the reporter who was instrumental in investigating the original Watergate scandal under President Nixon.  This book analyzes the impact of that scandal on Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton. Of course, we should demand the

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“The Secret History of Wonder Woman”

Did you know Margaret Sanger was an inspiration for Wonder Woman? I’ve just finished reading The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore, and it really was a complicated tale bound in secrecy. “The story of Wonder Woman’s origins wasn’t a neglected history, waiting to be written.  It was a family secret, locked in a

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Richard Nixon on Leaders

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been reading Leaders by Richard Nixon (Warner Books, 1982).  It included an introductory chapter, chapters on Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Douglas MacArthur and Shigeru Yoshida, Konrad Adenauer, Nikita Khrushchev, and Zhou Enlai, plus a chapter on a collection of lesser leaders, like India’s Nehru and Egypt’s Nasser. Finally was

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The Original Gremlins

Early in World War II, a Royal Air Force pilot wrote an explanation for some of the mechanical glitches that plagued airplanes — they were being caused by little creatures called Gremlins.  That pilot was Roald Dahl, later to be a famous children’s author.  His tale came to the attention of Walt Disney, and pre-production work

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