Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, & technology book reviews, plus social, political, & economic commentary
I have reached four conclusions after reading Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. Conclusion one: Our system of government is much more fragile than I realized. The Founding Fathers had no way to anticipate all of the guardrails that would be needed in the 21st century, nor how easily American democracy could be wrecked … Continue reading America is in ‘Peril’ – #bookreview
Recently, I’ve reviewed several new books for Lone Star Literary Life and for this book review blog. And I keep looking guiltily at the other books I’ve gathered over the months and years before the pandemic hit. I want to be reading them, too. Yet, even when much of life is shut down and “house … Continue reading Book Reflections: 07/2020
Homestead Steel Mill: The Final Ten Years USWA 1397 and the Fight for Union Democracy Mike Stout PM Press Now more than ever, with some 40 million Americans unemployed, the nation’s economy stalled by protests and a deadly pandemic, and federal leadership failing, we need to review and draw again from hard lessons learned during … Continue reading Hard Lessons Learned Inside a Steel Union’s Battles to Save Jobs and Benefits
Staying Sane & Entertained While Forced to Hide from the Coronavirus Charles Dickens likely did not have a deadly global pandemic in mind when he wrote the “best of times, worst of times” opening for his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. He was contrasting life in profitable, peaceful London with grim life in revolution-torn … Continue reading Worst of Times, Best of Times
Journey to the Wilderness War, Memory, and a Southern Family’s Civil War Letters Frye Gaillard New South Books – paperback, Kindle The Civil War ended 150 years ago. Yet, it remains alive in many aspects of American culture and politics. For those of us who grew up in the South in the 1940s and 1950s, … Continue reading Journey to the Wilderness: A family’s Civil War letters about hope, honor, love, sacrifice, and the despair of death and defeat – #bookreview
A Home for Wayward Boys The Early History of the Alabama Boys’ Industrial School Jerry C. Armor NewSouth Books – paperback, Kindle Early in the 20th century, male juvenile offenders in Alabama sometimes were sent to the Alabama Boys’ Industrial School (ABIS), near Birmingham, rather than put into prison with adults. Their crimes ranged … Continue reading A Home for Wayward Boys: Keeping juvenile offenders in line…with God, rifles and a marching band – #bookreview
Soft Skills The Software Developer’s Life Manual John Z. Sonmez Manning – paperback I really wish I had had this book when I started a 14-year career in software development and testing. I was hired back in the days when you could get a software job by having a college degree (in anything), a couple of … Continue reading SOFT SKILLS: A very useful ‘life manual’ for software developers – #programming #bookreview
Cloudera Administration Handbook Rohit Menon Packt Publishing – Kindle, paperback The explosive growth and use of Big Data in business, government, science and other arenas has fueled a strong demand for new Hadoop administrators. The administrators’ key duty is to set up and maintain Hadoop clusters that help process and analyze massive amounts of … Continue reading Cloudera Administration Handbook – How to become an effective Big Data administrator of large Hadoop clusters – #bookreview
The Mob and the City The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York C. Alexander Hortis (Prometheus Books, Kindle, hardcover) Forget The Godfather, its sequels and numerous other, famous “Mafia” movies. This excellent book cuts straight through the hype, fictions, and glamorizations to tell “the hidden history of how the street … Continue reading The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York – #bookreview
Confessions of a Book Burner Lucha Corpi (Arte Público Press – paperback ) In the Mexican state of Vera Cruz, a school teacher who knew the Corpi family let little four-year-old Lucha come to class with her older brother and spend each day sitting quietly at the back of the room. As Lucha watched and … Continue reading Confessions of a Book Burner – A novelist and poet’s engrossing journey to find her creativity and strength – #bookreview
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