Category: America

October 31, 2021

Talking to Strangers *** (of 4) by Malcolm Gladwell

Vintage Gladwell as he describes a seemingly ordinary encounter or observation from which any reasonable person would draw an obvious conclusion and then takes a...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

October 31, 2021

Lush Life by Richard Price *** (of 4)

A nearly 15-year-old period piece that still has legs because the characters are so richly drawn and so authentically New York City. The lower east...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

August 2, 2021

Freedom by Sebastian Junger ** (of 4)

Junger takes a walk along the railroad tracks from somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania to somewhere in the western part of the state, near Ohio. It...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

July 15, 2021

Deacon King Kong by James McBride **** (of 4)

Let’s begin with some of the main characters in The Cause Housing projects of New York City, 1969: Sportscoat, Hot Sausage, Pudgy Fingers; and on...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

July 14, 2021

Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles **** (of 4)

A yarn as wide as the Texas landscape. It is 1864 and Simon the Fiddler makes a living the best he can by playing jigs,...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

November 16, 2017

Darktown by Thomas Mullen **** (of 4)

Following the end of WWII, the Atlanta Police Force reluctantly added eight African American police officers. Their beats were restricted to Darktown, the part of...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

September 28, 2017

March: Book Three by Andrew Aydin, John Lewis, and John Noel Claude Lewis **** (of 4)

This is the final installment of the biography of Congressman John Lewis’s youthful campaign for civil rights for America’s black population. Books One and Two cover...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

September 7, 2017

The Golem and the Jinni *** (of 4) by Helene Wecker

In the year 1899, in New York City, a golem and a jinni chance upon one another. A golem is a a mythical Jewish monster...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

September 7, 2017

The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty ** (of 4)

It is a great idea for research that is long overdue. Michael Twitty explores the role of enslaved Africans in shaping American foodways. Think about...

Book Reviews

0 Comments

August 20, 2017