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
Variations of LaborStories & PoemsAlex Gallo-BrownChin Music Press On Twitter, Seattle poet Alex Gallo-Brown (@AlextheGB) modestly calls himself simply a “writer and labor organizer.” But he’s more than that. He has been hailed as “the poet of the service economy” by Valerie Trueblood, a contributing editor to The American Poetry Review. And Washington State Poet … Continue reading Wise words from ‘the poet of the service economy’
The Milli Vanilli Condition Essays on Culture in the New Millennium Eduardo Espina Arté Publico – paperback “When we see Justin Bieber, we do not see a person. We see a haircut,” says Uruguayan poet and writer Eduardo Espina in this insightful and entertaining collection of 13 essays that delve into various aspects … Continue reading THE MILLI VANILLI CONDITION: Faking it, without much consequence, in the 21st century – #bookreview
Black Karma A White Ginger Novel Thatcher Robinson (Seventh Street – paperback, Kindle) Life definitely is not easy for Bai Jiang, San Francisco’s best-known people-finder (souxun). As a beautiful, and single, female investigator, Bai gets hit on a lot, even by her ex-husband. People also try to hit her, shoot her, or otherwise … Continue reading BLACK KARMA: A White Ginger Novel – Mystery and action in San Francisco’s Chinatown – #bookreview
The Valley / Estampas del valle Rolando Hinojosa (Arte Público Press – paperback) The long-turbulent Texas-Mexico border is in the news once again. So this is a timely moment to introduce or reintroduce readers to the famed Klail City Death Trip Series, fifteen books written by Rolando Hinojosa. The series is in a mythical Texas county on … Continue reading The Valley – Estampas del valle: Now in bilingual paperback for the first time – #bookreview
Lunch with Buddha Roland Merullo (PFP/Ajar, Kindle, paperback) To be honest, I was not really aware of Roland Merullo until his publisher contacted me offering a review copy of an enticingly titled new novel, Lunch with Buddha. I could blame my “Who?” reaction on my intense focus toward reviewing technology books over the past two … Continue reading Lunch with Buddha – An entertaining, engrossing, thought-provoking American road-trip novel – #bookreview
The Last Camel Charge: The Untold Story of America’s Desert Military Experiment Forrest Bryant Johnson (Berkley Caliber, hardback – Kindle) The U.S. Army employed camels as transportation and pack animals in the American West during the mid-19th century and tried to create “a U.S. camel cavalry, a true camel corps,” the author of this fascinating … Continue reading The Last Camel Charge – An intriguing look at America’s pre-Civil War desert military experiment – #bookreview
End This Depression Now! Paul Krugman (Norton, hardback, list price $24.95; Kindle edition, list price $24.95) If you’d like to watch some ultra-right conservatives break out in hives, do a St. Vitus Dance or just spontaneously combust, ask them to read End This Depression Now! by Paul Krugman. Most of them won’t read it, of course. They … Continue reading Mitt Romney, Secret Keynesian? Read Paul Krugman’s ‘End This Depression Now!’ – #bookreview #in #economics #politics
Dance All Night: Those Other Southwestern Swing Bands, Past and Present Jean A. Boyd (Texas Tech University Press, hardback, list price $65.00; paperback, list price $39.95) Fans of 1930s and 1940s western swing will find plenty to enjoy in this entertaining book by Jean A. Boyd, a Baylor University music history professor and native of Fort … Continue reading Dance All Night: Those Other Southwestern Swing Bands, Past and Present – #bookreview #in #music
Undefeated: America’s Heroic Fight for Bataan and Corregidor By Bill Sloan (Simon & Schuster, hardback, list price $28.00; Kindle edition, $14.99) Japan wanted to attack the Philippines on the same day as Pearl Harbor. But bad weather kept its planes grounded on Formosa until December 8. Yet even with a day’s warning that war had … Continue reading Undefeated – A well-written new WWII combat narrative by military historian Bill Sloan – #bookreview
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