Post Number:#38 
August 23rd, 2012, 8:22 am
Years have passed ... Probably nobody is going to read this.
I am currently reading:
There Goes My Everything, a history of the American civil rights movement in the later 1950s and 1960s from the point of view of white southerners -- a group whose part in segregation/integration isn't often examined in much detail. Excellent book.
Full Body Burden, a history of the author's relationship with the Rocky Flats plutonium bomb manufacturing plant just outside of Denver. Great book, very bad environment situation. A lot of plutonium has been released into the environment (in the air and water) and some still is being released.
2 novels by Dick; hmmm, can't think of the titles just off hand.
Auschwitz, an account of a Hungarian Jewish doctor who "served" as the resident pathologist under Mengele. The book was drafted while he was still a prisoner at Auschwitz.
Bad Religion, by Ross Douthat -- a conservative columnist at the New York Times. Mostly its a discussion of how religion in America declined changed between 1960 and 2012. I don't usually read books by conservatives, but the historical part of the book is quite good. I am very much one of the heretics he identifies as a consequence of religious change.
Freedom's Forge, another book from a conservative viewpoint, but a fairly good history of war production in the United States during World War II. The author is absolutely terrible on the role of labor, but I found it a good read, none-the-less. The scale of war production was so massive, it is really difficult to grasp -- both how much it was, and how fast it was increased from almost nothing.
Hitlerland, discussion of Germany between 1924 and 1941, particularly, how did journalists and visiting Americans evaluate what they saw in Germany. Quite good.
Mussolini's Rome, a discussion of Fascist architecture; currently reading. Moderately interesting, since I have never been to rome. But it is useful in terms of thinking about modern architecture.
The Great War and Modern Memory, by Fussell. This is part history, part literature, about the cultural impact of WWI.
The Time Machine by Wells. This was on the Nook that I recently started using. Actually, it was a pretty good story.
The White City, a popular book about the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and a serial murderer who was plying his trade at the same time not too far from the fair. Both parts of the history were interesting. The 'building the fair part' was more useful than the 'chopping up bodies' part.
Beasts in the Garden, a history of Ambassador Dodd's tour of duty in Berlin from about 1934-1937. Quite good, another good history about the ambivalence that Americans displayed in their reactions to the Nazis. Some were appalled, others were quite impressed, and favorably.
Most of these I read in the last few months.
I've started using a Nook in preference to paper. I very much like the bound paper book, but I'm finding the enlarged font feature of the Nook to be just very, very helpful. I'm using the basic model -- e-ink, no backlighting. On sale and with a B&N coupon it was about $55 before tax. It has excellent battery life and is easy to use.
I will believe corporations are people when Texas starts executing them.
