And also noteworthy in reminding us that every generation has had cynical views of politics and politicians.
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>1- The problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VII
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>2- We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ~Aesop
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>3- If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these acceptance speeches, there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven. ~Will Rogers
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>4- Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato
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>5- Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev
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>6- When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. ~ Clarence Darrow
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>7- Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. ~Author Unknown
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>8- If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. ~Jay Leno
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>9- Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel ~John Quinton
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>10- Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. ~Oscar Ameringer
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>11- The Democrats seem to be basically nice people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills ofcelery. They're the kind of people who might stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would bereluctant to entrust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy. The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, butthey wouldn't bother to stop because they'd want to be on time at the country club. ~Dave Barry
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>12- The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. TheRepublicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. ~P.J. O'Rourke
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>13- I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. ~Adlai Stevenson,campaign speech, 1952
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>14- A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country. ~Texas Guinan
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>15- Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. ~Gore Vidal
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>16- I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. ~Charles de Gaulle
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>17- Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~Ronald Reagan
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>18- Politics: [Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites"] ~Larry Hardiman
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>19- Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. ~Doug Larson
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>20- There ought to be one day - just one - when there is open season on senators. ~Will Rogers
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| Title |
Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War |
| Author |
Tony Horwitz |
| Tags |
nonfiction, history, john brown, john brown's raid, slavery, harpers ferry |
| Collections |
Your library |
| Rating |
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| Your review |
The story of John Brown is interesting because he was in many ways repulsive and incompetent. yet a man of courage and one of the few white men of his time to treat blacks as equal. Not even the white abolitionists did that often, sad to say.Brown grew up poor, one of many children, and he stayed poor while fathering a large number of children himself. He was not successful in anything he tried, mostly farming. He was deeply religious. and believed he was doing God's work in opposing slavery. When the battle over slavery was being waged so bloodily in Kansas, he and some of his sons fought on the anti-slavery side and in one raid he and his crew murdered several pro-slavery men.Horwitz tells the story of the raid on Harper's Ferry in detail, including the months of preparation which included raising money from a few wealthy abolitionists and recruiting men. He never did manage to recruit as many as he thought he needed, nor raise enough money, but he went ahead with the plan. He believed that by raiding the Federal Armory at Harper's Ferry he could arm slaves who would rise against their masters and begin the war that wound end slavery. His plan was hopelessly unrealistic and poorly done. He didn't have much of an exit strategy. In the end, it failed dismally, resulting in a few casualties to civilians, and the death of many of his small band, including two of his sons. He was captured. and in the few months before his death impressed many in the North with his courage and burning words on the evils of slavery.Would the war have happened without John Brown's raid? Probably. But it was one of the major precipitating factors among other things such as the Fugitive Slave Act, the fight in Kansas and Missouri, the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the Dred Scott decision, etc. Horwitz raises the intriguing possibility that perhaps the raid was so poorly planned because Brown recognized that a martyr to the cause of abolition would increase abolitionist sentiment in the North.Horwitz tells the story in a nice style that never gets in the way of the story. In the end, Brown's story makes me think uncomfortably of those who murder abortion doctors. I view slavery as the worst evil perpetrated by humans, but do not view abortion as murder. Yet I can see a similarity in those persuaded God commands them to murder to stop a great evil.I recommend the book to those interested in a good story, or the history of the U.S. Civil War, or both. |
| Publication date |
2011 |
| Publication |
Henry Holt and Co. (2011), Hardcover, 384 pages |
| ISBN |
080509153X / 9780805091533 |
| Title |
Chicago Lightning : The Collected Nathan Heller Short Stories |
| Author |
Max Allan Collins |
| Tags |
Short stories, nathan heller, private detectives |
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| Rating |
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Max Allan Collins is one of my favorite writers, and Nathan Heller my favorite character of his. Heller is a private detective in stories set from the 1930s to the 1960s. Heller in the course of his work gets to know major historical figures and events. Some of his novels have centered around the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the Lindbergh kidnapping, and the death of Marilyn Monroe. When Heller begins he is in Chicago in the heyday of the mobsters, and Heller knows the mobsters, primarily Frank Nitti - who seems much more interesting than Capone - as well as Elliot Ness. One reason Collins is a favorite of me, the person with two degrees in history, is that his books are meticulously researched. He uses as much as he can of the history, makes reasonable speculations when the facts aren't known, and uses it all in the service of a marvelous story with very human and believable characters.Short stories are not my favorite form of literature, but I'll take all the Heller I can get, and the stories are up to the usual Collins standard of excellence. The stories show Heller at different times and places in his career. If you've never read any of the Heller books, this is a good place to start and try the character on for size. But do then move on to the novels. I envy you the beginning of a terrific reading experience.
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| Publication date |
2011 |
| Publication |
Thomas & Mercer (2011), Paperback, 398 pages |
| ISBN |
1612180914 / 9781612180915 |
| Title |
A Perfect Blood (The Hollows, Book 10) |
| Author |
Kim Harrison |
| Tags |
paranormal, inderland, rachel morgan, witches, elves, pixies |
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| Rating |
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In this tenth entry in Harrison's The Hollows series, protagonist and narrator Rachel Morgan has become a demon. She wears a bracelet that blocks her from doing almost all magic because without it she would become visible to the her demon mentor, Al, and she fears if he knew she was alive he would drag her into the demon dimension and she would be unable to escape.Meanwhile bodies of witches are being found by Inderland, the paranormal law enforcement agency. Someone has been experimenting and trying to turn the witches into demons and failing, causing the witches to die partially mutated and in great pain. Inderland brings Rachel into the investigation in part because they believe she is behind it. Other evidence points to a human hate group that had been believed wiped out.I've read all this series though I have mixed feelings about it, and always have. Rachel has guts, but she's too impulsive and does dangerous things without sufficient backup, thought, and preparation, or when she is wounded. In this book she more than once gets rid of her bodyguard and of course gets into trouble. By now she should be dead.Another irritating factor is how often another character is her best bud or lover and then becomes her enemy, or is her enemy but becomes her ally and this happen with several characters. Even worse, it cycles through several times with the same character. It call Rachel's judgement into even more question. The final irritation is that some characteristics of Harrison's paranormal world just don't seem sensible. Any demon magic Rachel does, no matter the purpose, even if it is to save someone's life, adds smut to her soul. Meanwhile the bad guys behave horribly without such consequence.I have kept reading, though. Mainly for some of the characters. Rachel is annoying but courageous and warm-hearted. Ivy, her living vampire business partner, is interesting as is Trent Kalamack, a wealthy elf. Perhaps most vital is Jenks, a pixie and third partner in the business. And I have a crush on a Bis, the teenage gargoyle, who, in my opinion, isn't used enough.I would recommend this particular book in the series. Good story, not as much that irritated me as some of the other books. |
| Publication date |
2012 |
| Publication |
Harper Voyager (2012), Hardcover, 448 pages |
| ISBN |
0061957895 / 9780061957895 |
What did happen at the first Thanksgiving?
Revisiting the feast
http://articles.boston.com/2011-11-17/news/30411261_1_wampanoag-leader-thanks...
Plymouth Rock: More Than A Homely Boulder
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/editors-blog/2011/1119/Plymouth-Rock-more...
Thanksgiving History: Plimoth Plantation
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/MRL/read/thanksgiving-history
Dining Together
http://www.archive.org/details/DiningTo1951
The Food Timeline: Thanksgiving Food History
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodthanksgiving.html
Nature: My Life as A Turkey
http://video.pbs.org/video/2168110328/
What exactly did happen on the first Thanksgiving? What did the Pilgrims and Wampanoag say to each other? How did they interact? Perhaps most importantly, what did they eat? As Americans gather to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, these are but a few of the questions that curious folks might be asking at the dinner table. Well, the folks at Plimoth Plantation have been looking into such matters as of late, and they have come to a few conclusions regarding the bounty served at this historic first Thanksgiving in 1621. To begin, there were no forks, no cranberry sauce, no apple pie, and no pumpkin. The beverage of choice? Water. Many of the dishes probably contained deer heart, liver, and lung. Commenting in a recent Boston Globe article about the Thanksgiving, Plimoth Plantation's Kathleen Wall noted that the feast lasted three entire days. Food historian Alexandra Pocknett remarked that the natives would have most likely contributed stews, soups, and succotash, which consists of corn, beans, and squash. It is also likely that the activities around this feast included an intense version of football (think 45 on 45, rather than 11 on 11) and some stoolball, which is an archaic English sport akin to cricket. Even with information provided by several eyewitness accounts, there remain many more questions than answers about this rather historic event.
[KMG]
The first link will take visitors to a recent news article from the Boston Globe about the research conducted by Plimoth Plantation staffers into the food of the first Thanksgiving. The second link leads to a nice meditation on Thanksgiving and Plymouth Rock from John Yemma, the editor of the Christian Science Monitor. The third link will whisk users away to a very thorough site on the history of Thanksgiving, provided courtesy of Plimoth Plantation. The fourth link leads to a fun instructional film from 1951 designed to teach young people about Thanksgiving dining etiquette. The fifth link leads to a thorough timeline of Thanksgiving culinary history, courtesy of the Food Timeline website. Finally, the last link leads to a recent Nature episode, My Life as A Turkey, which chronicles a man’s remarkable experience raising a group of wild turkey hatchlings to adulthood.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Something about mysteries I enjoy is often that they introduce me to what it is like to follow different careers and so expand my understanding of the world. Of course, law and law enforcement are the most logical and thus the most common careers for the protagonist in a mystery, but there's plenty of scope for people of other professions and there are mystery writers everywhere to fill the niche. Forensic anthropologists, who study bones, are another natural match for mysteries. Archaeologists are less of a natural match, but there are several good mystery series out there with archaeologist protagonists and I love them in part because I considered archaeology as a possible career as a child. I also took exactly one class in cultural anthropology and one class in physical anthropology while an undergraduate at Duke. Loved both of them, but didn't have time enough for other anthro classes.
I've read various series that fit this category over the years, and this year have added a couple more excellent ones that are among my favorite series ever. So I've been deliberately seeking out more. This is made easier by the wonderfully well-designed web site Stop You're Killing Me (SYKM). The site is about mystery, thriller, and suspense books. The main part of the site is an alphabetical index of authors and an alphabetical index of characters. But there are other nifty feature such as lists of award winners, a location index to where mysteries are set, and, ta-da, a job index, which has a category for Archaeologists and Anthropologists.
Perhaps the most popular forensic anthropologist series is the one by Kathy Reichs whose main character is Temperance Brennan. The TV show Bones is loosely based on it. I only read a couple of these and wasn't particularly inspired to read more, but I might pick them back up later.
However ther are other series I in this category that I like far more and think deserve to be better known. I'd like to share them with you.
Perhaps my favorite is the Diane Fallon series by Beverly Connor. I had read a few of Connor's Lindsay Chamberlain series back in the 90s, but lost track of the series. When I bought my Nook Color ebook reader and was looking for new books to read, I saw the Fallon series listed on SYKM and tried the first one, and was hooked. Read the whole series through obsessively. Fallon is a forensic anthropologist and director of a natural history museum in a small fictional town in Georgia. Through the course of the series she winds up setting up a crime lab and is director of it as well as the museum. The back story of the series is that she spent a few years in a Latin American country investigating mass graves for a human rights group. While there she adopted a little girl. While she is out of her compound one day it is attacked, several of her colleagues are massacred, and her daughter is missing. She searches but cannot find her daughter and after an emotional breakdown for some months takes the job as museum director. Diane is smart, extraordinarily competent, and she and her colleagues and her FBI agent significant other are richly drawn, interesting characters. One strange thing is that all 9 books in the series are available as ebooks except the fifth one. Bizarre.
Another series I've been reading as they come out and really love is the series about Bill Brockton by Jefferson Bass. Jefferson Bass is the pseudonym of the writing team Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Jefferson is a professional writer and Bass is a forensic anthropologist who founded and runs the Body Farm attached to the University of Tennessee Knoxville. The Body Farm is a several acre facility designed to scientifically study the process of human decomposition in various environments, and has made major contributions to the forensic sciences. Brockton is a fictionalized version of Bass. I love the books primarily because I love the character of Brockton. Since he narrates the books we are inside his character, that of a mature, thoughtful, intelligent, and very decent character. We see his loves, his fears, his interactions with other well-drawn characters, his mistakes, and how he deals with them, and how much he cares.
One of the series I found this year through SKYM is the series about archaeologist Faye Longchamp by Mary Anna Evans. Evans' degrees are in physics and engineering, interestingly enough. We first see Faye as a student trying desperately to earn enough money to stay in school and pay to keep her ancestral home on a small island off coastal Florida. She is half black and half white, descended from both the owners and the slaves of her home Joyeuse, and as a child was rejected by schoolmates of both races. The only other person who lives on her island is Joe Wolf Mantooth, part Native American, who lives very much on the land. He is almost a Noble Savage stereotype, but Evans is a good enough writer to make him a fully believable, interesting character. Turns out over the course of the series he is very intelligent but with severe learning disabilities. He is an expert on making flint tools and so useful to an archaeologist. Once again it is the characters that make well-plotted books into something extraordinary.
SKYM also reminded me of another series I had really liked but had lost track of, the Gideon Oliver series by Aaron Elkins. I have now happily caught up with this excellent series, which, according to Elkins' web site, pioneered the modern forensic mystery. Oliver is a professor of forensic anthropology who more often than not stumbles into mysteries. At other times he gets called into them because of his expertise.
SKYM also reminded me of another series I really liked, the Penny Spring and Toby Glendower series by Margot Arnold. Sadly the last of this series was published in 1995 and I don't remember a lot about them except I very much enjoyed them
The other really well-known series about archaeology is the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. Peters is one of the pseudonyms of Barbara Mertz, who has a Ph.D. in Egyptology. She writes nonfiction books on Egyptology as Mertz, gothics as Barbara Michaels, and 3 series plus stand alones as Elizabeth Peters. The Peters books are notable for having strong women characters and for their humor. Amelia is, in 1884, an English spinster whose father has left her enough money to indulge in a zest for travel. In Rome she meets Evelyn, an English woman who is down on her luck and considers herself disgraced. They continue traveling together and in Egypt meet archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson and his philologist brother Walter. The series follows the adventures of the Emerson family into the 1920s. Some dislike the series for the over-the-top qualities of the characters. I have just reread the whole series and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time, which is quite a lot. In the hands of a less talented writer the series would have turned out to be a Mary Sue, but Peters is too skillful. She creates characters who are marvelouly larger than life - and you get the impression the author knows it, is magnificently unrepentent, and invites you along for the ride. Apparently the intellectual ancestor is the equally improbable adventures of H. Rider Haggard.
Finally I'll mention the Emma Fielding series by Dana Cameron. I've only read the first book in the series so far, about a young archaeologist looking for any remains of a colony that predated Jamestown. It was very good and I look forward to reading the other books in the series.
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