Category: From the armchair
-
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
This book could be summed up in two statements: 1) Revolutions are appeased, co-opted, and absorbed by those in power, so that despite any surface appearances to the contrary, the power structure remains with the status quo. 2) Wars are not fought for freedom or ideology. Wars are fought only for resources.
-
Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith
What did Apollo mean? And for that matter, what does it mean today, decades later? Andrew Smith chooses to ask those questions, with intriguing results and deeply personal insight.
-
Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott
Today, the site on Chicago’s near south side is a neo-expressionist public housing project — but 100 years ago, it was the home of the world’s most famous, lavish, and exclusive brothel.
-
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
For whatever reason, when I’m given books as gifts, I often don’t read them for a very long time afterward. They sit on the “pending” shelf in my library, gathering dust like all the rest, taunting me by tacitly saying, …
-
The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy by Robin Moore
The excellent 1971 film of The French Connection, starring Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider, has been running quite frequently on the Fox Movie Channel of late. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s usually on late at night, so my …