St. Augustine: Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany
Posted on 09/29/2008 7:19:37 AM PDT by MplsSteve
It's time again for my quarterly "What Are You Reading Now?" thread!
It can be anything...a NY Times bestseller, a technical journal, a trashy pulp novel...in short, anything!
DO NOT answer by saying "I'm Reading This Thread". It stopped being funny a long time ago.
Here's what I'm reading. I'm just about finished with "Blockaders, Refugees & Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast 1861-1865."
It's a very interesting book about how the US Navy was able to turn a substantial portion of Florida's Gulf Coast population against the Confederacy, creating a civil war within that part of Florida.
So tell me...what are YOU reading now?
Just finished “The Color of Water” and starting “The Intellectuals” - “The Extreme Future” is on deck.
I read the entire second book in this two book bio as well: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. Both were good. If I were only going to read one of them, however, I’d read Theodore Rex.
I’m trying to read at least one biography of each president. I’ve still got a lot of them to go. The one I’m having a problem with finding a balanced book is Franklin Roosevelt.
I’m waiting for Robert Caro to finish his fourth volume on Lyndon Johnson since I’ve read the other 3. They are a little repetitive. If you are only going to read one of those that are published so far then I recommend Master of the Senate.
I’ve heard about this book. It’s on my wish list.
Now reading THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT.
Just finished ‘Obamanation’, Jerome Corsi; ‘John Adams’, David McCullogh
Now reading ‘Federalist Papers’
My what a long, strange road we’ve come down. Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves.
St. Augustine: Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany
Just finished “Prince of Fire” by Daniel Silva.
Tsar by Ted Bell
The Kaisho (A Nicholas Linnear Novel) by Eric Van Lustbader
Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg
The Life of George Washington by Washington Irving
I just reread Payne's "The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler", in order to better observe the Zer0Bama Campaign, and to prepare myself.
When someone with a dodgy and obscure past rises to the top of his party, out of nowhere, it is time to look at History again.
Now I must confess that when I first picked up this book, I expected it to be yet another anti-Nixon book penned by a Watergate-obsessed liberal. But this book hardly mentions Watergate at all (except towards the end) as it focuses on the 1964-1972 years, beginning with the Goldwater landslide defeat and ending with Nixon's landslide re-election eight years later.
The book was surprisingly even-handed with no cheap shots taken at Richard Nixon, who is the most part sympathetically portrayed as a man who felt he was done wrong by the establishment and who went a little too far in "getting even." Also, Vietnam is correctly blamed on the two people most responsible for getting us into that mess in the first place - JFK and LBJ. Though Nixon is also portrayed as keeping the war going for political purposes.
The them of the book is the fracturing of America into "Left" vs "Right" and that pretty much continues today. I was struck by how much things are the same today as they were back then. For example, in 1972, the usual Hollywood celebrity crowd as well as the media were completely in the tank for George McGovern and Nixon took real pleasure in ensuring that McGovern was defeated on a massive scale. I kind of wish George W. had some of that spunk in him (without having to break into Democratic headquarters).
But Nixon blew his opportunity to capitalize on his victory by refusing to campaign for his fellow Republicans. As a result, Republicans lost ground in the Congress and they never forgave him for it, which is why Nixon had to resign in the end - even his fellow Republicans turned against him. Contrast this to Bill Clinton who also would have been forced to resign had he not had his fellow Democrats sticking up for him and blocking his impeachment.
Anyway, the book is fascinating and I'm just about done with it. I never realized that there were so many riots back in those days. Entire sections of cities were burned down and campuses across America were in full riot and had to be shut down entirely at times. Now I heard of Watts and I heard of Kent State but I never realized until reading this book just how widespread the rioting and civil unrest was in this country - during the 1966-1970 period especially - because I was too young.
Anyway, a very good read and a little chilling as well, because if we can end up beating Obama next month, some folks may very well take to the streets again.
I think you’d like Mexico a History by Robert Ryal Miller and specifically on Mexico City’s history La Capital: The Biography of Mexico City by Johnathan Kendal.
In the non-fiction department:
Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, by W.D. Davies
Rereading Jewish Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
The Discovery of Genesis by Kang and Nelson
The Pillars of the Earth. - Actually very good.
From the web:
The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge, England. It is set in the middle of the 12th century, primarily during the time known as The Anarchy, between the time of the sinking of the White Ship and the murder of Thomas Becket.
For entertainment, I am reading Stone Cold by David Baldacci
I read “The Wost Hard Time” earlier this year. What a great book that was.
I just finished “Feeding the Hungry Heart” and am currently working on “Why Weight?” both from Geneen Roth. Highly, highly, highly recommended for women with food/eating issues.
“Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond. Perhaps some of you remember the PBS series, it is a brief treatment of the points made in the book. It attempts to answer how certain areas of the world prospered, while other areas remained stagnant until the prosperous parts of the world conquered them.
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