Blogroll

Book Review: Ballad of the Green Beret by Marc Leepson

Decades, years even, are roller coasters. They undulate, smoothly at times, precipitously at others. You can catch a glimpse of America’s dizzying ride in the 1960s in about a six month period on the Billboard music charts. On September 25, 1965, Barry Maguire’s version of “Eve of Destruction” (“You’re old enough to kill but not […]

Other people’s lives

“Live your own life.” How many times have we heard or said that? But yesterday I was reminded of an exception to that rule, albeit in a nonliteral sense.

When I was picking up a couple books from the library, I realized both were biographies. That in and of itself is not unusual. What got […]

Book Review: Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin

Like perhaps most everyone, occasionally something strikes you that makes you think about those three or five people, dead or alive, you would invite to dinner if your could. Now anyone who reads this blog might well think that Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are on the “must invite” list. To be honest, though, I […]

Book Review: The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr by H.W. Brands

I grew up in an era when people still wrote letters. In fact, I remember my mother sitting down at least once a week writing to friends and relatives out of town, many on a weekly or biweekly basis. Today, though, letters are more rare. We tend to rely on email or text messaging to […]

Reading Impressions: Two biographies

Although I’ve only read three books this year, my early effort at spontaneity over planning in my reading selections means two of those books were biographies of two women at about the same time. They resulted in impressions as different as the subjects.

On the disappointing end of the spectrum was Eva Braun: Life with […]