Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
This post is a part of the Ancient Greeks Classics Circuit. See the other stops on the tour here. Aristotle’s own Poetics was a nice introduction to my self-imposed classics unit on Ancient Greek theater. I choose to read Poetics was my chosen text to read by the man himself, mostly because it’s the shortest but also because I am
This post is a part of the Ancient Greeks Classics Circuit. See the other stops on the tour here. I really enjoyed the Oxford University Press Very Short Introduction I read a few months ago. So, as I thought about my Classics Circuit visit to some Aristotle, I decided to find the VSI on the
I have not been in the mood for blogging or reading blogs lately, mostly because it’s been an emotional month (I suppose I could say year) for me so far. Among other things, my grandma passed away peacefully on January 1, 2011 at age 87. She is survived by five children (one other passed away
In the introduction to A Moveable Feast (published 1964), his memoir of the years between the wars during which he lived in Paris, Ernest Hemingway writes: If the reader prefers, this book may be regarded as fiction. But there is always the chance that such a book of fiction may throw some light on what has
At nearly 800 pages, The Fate of Africa by Martin Meredith is overwhelming in scope. Subtitled A History of Fifty Years of Independence, the book attempts to capture the histories of all the countries on the African continent. Yet, such an ambitious subject cannot adequately be captured in less than 800 pages: each country has
Brigham Young: American Moses (by Leonard Arrington, first published in 1985) captures the unusual personality and able leadership of the controversial second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church). Although I did not find Mr. Arrington’s text to be fascinating, the stories about Brigham Young were noteworthy, and I
According to the tradition of the Dinka, the people who live in southern Sudan, after God created the world and the first man (a Dinka), he gave the first man a choice. “You can have either these cattle, as my gift to you, or you can have the What,” he said. The Dinka chose the
A fellow blogger asked recently for a book that might give a general introduction to Mormonism, and I’m pleased to suggest the Oxford University Press Very Short Introduction on the subject (Mormonism by Richard Bushman, published in 2008). Colombia professor of History (emeritus) Richard Bushman does a wonderful job of introducing and blending the doctrinal
As a mother raising a child in a world of video games and television, electronic gadgets and noise makers, I have often wondered how to encourage my son’s imagination. This seems to be a challenge even now when he’s a toddler, and it may be even more so as he grows. Society’s emphasis on after-school
Victorian London was smelly, and that is where Ms Picard begins her nonfiction summation of the city from 1840-1870 (Victorian London by Liza Picard, published 2005). From her detailed descriptions of the polluted Thames to the horrors of being a “maid of all work” to the entertainments of the great capital, the city of London
From my limited perspective (that is, having read Undaunted Courage), the life of Meriwether Lewis was tragedy. He was a very good leader in the midst of an unknown wilderness, yet the results of his expedition were little because of his subsequent drunkenness and ineptitude at producing his results, governing, and otherwise assimilating back in
As much as I love to read, I am not a book buyer, and I especially I don’t have any special feelings for independent book stores, which I equate with less selection and higher prices. I buy used books online via various marketplaces because, even with shipping, it’s normally cheaper than buying a new or
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