I like economics and economic history, but this book doesn't rate very high on my list. Where Conway should have been more clear (explaining how BretoI like economics and economic history, but this book doesn't rate very high on my list. Where Conway should have been more clear (explaining how Breton Woods functioned/unravelled, and its impact into the current day), he was vague. Where Conway should have been less clear (Keynes' love life), he was proficient and detailed. I was left with a distastefully vague sense of the origin of the IMF and the World Bank, and not much else. ...more
Hampton Sides has done it again, a balanced historical account written in an absolutely compelling fashion. If Sides is not on your must-read list as Hampton Sides has done it again, a balanced historical account written in an absolutely compelling fashion. If Sides is not on your must-read list as a modern historian I don't know who is.
In this work, we find the dramatic account of the last voyage and death of the great British seaman and explorer, James Cook. Sides gives us some context, but largely confines the story to exactly that. We see the ships, the men, the officers, the food, the medical issues, the map issues, all of it. We travel with Cook into the Pacific, partake of the baleful delights of Tahiti, bump into the Hawaiian islands, and taste the useless Arctic quest for the Northwest Passage. Finally, we are back to Hawaii for the gripping account of Cook's reception as a god and murder thirty days later. Lessons abound, in morals and economics and religion and leadership and hubris.
If you haven't read Sides, start. Anywhere, but this work is as good any. And keep reading. He makes history come alive. ...more
I picked up this book with some trepidation. I do not have much use for revisionist history, especially of the left-leaning woke variety. And much of I picked up this book with some trepidation. I do not have much use for revisionist history, especially of the left-leaning woke variety. And much of what gets written about this era of American history recently is precisely that. To my surprise and gratification, this wasn't. Rather, it was a thought-provoking and absolutely balanced view of a wide variety of aspects of this era of history.
Mann does a staggeringly good job of bringing up the original historical take, tracing that historical take along its development, and then applying modern information to that take. It isn't revisionist near as much as it is corrective - of left-leaning revisionism. Whether the discussion is disease or archaeology or economics or politics or weapons or transportation or communication or ethnology or demographics, Mann does an excellent job of showing us the Americas prior to Columbus. The picture that emerges is much more complex than our childhood textbooks showed us, and yet humble at the same time.
Good book, and earned a rare five stars from me. ...more
For a man so hugely pivotal in my youth in the 1980s, he sure seems to have faded from view. Yet in retrospect, I think he is on the whole more importFor a man so hugely pivotal in my youth in the 1980s, he sure seems to have faded from view. Yet in retrospect, I think he is on the whole more important than less. Without him, the Soviet Union would still have ended, but it would have been a more violent, chaotic end, I think.
Taubman's book is a rather good view of the man. He covers the personal alongside of the professional, and brings his wife/daughter into the story nicely which is uncommon in biographies. Taubman also does a good job showing us Gorbachev's intellectual evolution from ambitious communist to restrained socialist. Nor does Taubman shy from discussing his mistakes, an especially valuable exercise in examining the slide of the Soviet Union as Gorbachev sought to transition it in the late 80s. On the whole, the balanced picture that emerges accurately presents that rarest of creatures - a likeable communist.
I don't think you can understand 20th century history without taking Gorbachev into account. Taubman has done us a good turn in offering the world a balanced, deep look at the man. ...more
This is not a bad book. It is just a fairly predictable and vapid one. In an unbalanced way, it elevates cowboys as some sort of life example for the This is not a bad book. It is just a fairly predictable and vapid one. In an unbalanced way, it elevates cowboys as some sort of life example for the rest of us, though it borrows essentially from Hollywood for its illustrations of this fact. Which is problematic at best.
I'm not against the book. It advocates good things, for the most part. But it does so in a surface way. There is no depth here and precious little application. It strikes me like a business man had an idea to go into ethics and is building an entire organization on too skinny of a foundation.
It is a very pretty book, and what it says is good. There's just so much it doesn't say. ...more
I've long been interested in economic history and production. I've read most of Mark Kurlansky's work, for example, on salt and cod and paper, etc. CoI've long been interested in economic history and production. I've read most of Mark Kurlansky's work, for example, on salt and cod and paper, etc. Conway's work here is along the same lines, though entirely up to date. Though not as searing as Siddarth Kara's Cobalt Red, Conway does a good job convincing the reader that each of these items is vitally important. He does show by showing us how much they are used in how many technologies, crafts that we could not live without. Indeed, that seems to be the main thrust of his book. In an age in which we are increasingly disconnected with the physical world, Conway yanks us back into it, and forces us to reckon both with what we didn't know and what we thought we did. If he at times forces/stretches the importance of a commodity, he can be forgiven.
Perhaps the greatest thing I appreciate about the book is how even-handed Conway is with climate change. Although he assumes it is happening, and has to be dealt with, he is unsparing in bringing in aspects that the climate change nazis want to ignore. Facts, as someone has once said, are stubborn things. All in all, a rather good book. If you want to understand our supply chains, and the pressing economic and technological issues of the day, this book will go far toward enlightening you. ...more
This book came to my attention via the accompanying PBS series. I haven't watched the series; I have now read the book. Rather good. Miller shows us tThis book came to my attention via the accompanying PBS series. I haven't watched the series; I have now read the book. Rather good. Miller shows us the breadth and depth of the air war over Europe during WWII. In the process, he discusses various technologies such as aircraft design and history, weapons, flight suits, and bombing. He deals evenhandedly and well with the moral questions of bombing a civilian populace, and shows us how fierce those debates were even back in the day. He discusses all types of strategy from single combat all the way up to the strategic differences between the British and the Americans. He traces the arc of the development of that grand strategy, and how the Americans finally hit on a winning combination of targeting fuel and transport. Nor does he leave out prisoners, ending his book with a lengthy section on how the Germans (and the Swiss, that was an eye-opener) treated airmen, and then develops that naturally into their liberation at the end of the way.
Having said all that, I must needs also add this book is not just a big, albeit detailed, picture. He leavens it throughout with numerous stories of individuals, of their fear, sorrow, pain, courage, and heroism. He displays almost as deft of a touch in this aspect of the work, and for this deserves true praise.
Just this side of excellent. If you're a WWII buff you're sure to find it a treat. ...more
I've read Reju before, and I had heard good things about this book. To put it bluntly, I was rather disappointed. It isn't that Reju gives bad advice I've read Reju before, and I had heard good things about this book. To put it bluntly, I was rather disappointed. It isn't that Reju gives bad advice here, it is that Reju gives simplistic advice. This is the kind of a book you give a new Christian, but it sells itself as the book to solve the problems endemic in the single populations of evangelical churches. If that is indeed the case then those populations have practically zero biblical teaching.
In essence, Reju discusses ten specific kinds of men a Christian woman shouldn't date. He fluffs out this set of instructions with story illustrations. Along the way, he gives basic advice like go to church, be pure, trust God. If there is one particular area in which the book shines it is in the latter thought. He dwells repeatedly upon the wisdom of waiting, and of trusting God, and of examining your own heart to see if your godly desire for marriage has become an ungodly idolization of it. He also has one section I've never seen in a book anywhere of most helpful practical advice on how to break up.
So, not bad advice, just basic advice. Stuff kids should be taught by their parents when they are in junior high. But, apparently, according to all the blurbs on the cover, this is revolutionary stuff.
What a delightful discovery this book was. I've read thousands of history books. Eckert wrote history in such a way that it seems a series of connecteWhat a delightful discovery this book was. I've read thousands of history books. Eckert wrote history in such a way that it seems a series of connected short stories ala Louis L'Amour. And he did a staggeringly good job of it. This particular work traces the settlement of Kentucky and Ohio, and the Indian wars in which they were birthed. Eckert does this via a focus on two individuals primarily, Simon Kenton on the American side, and Tecumsah on the Indian side. In the process we see religion, warfare, technology, torture, economics, geo-politics, geography, massacre, and nature. Most of all, we see the human interest side of it all. What a generation that was, a generation of struggle and loss and triumph.
I finished it this morning. As I sit here, the superlatives that come to mind are many. I will resist the urge to spill them across the page. I read fifty books, give or take, in a typical year. Suffice it to say, it is the best book I have read so far this year. Simply superb. ...more
Jones' book, while unashamedly simple, is thoughtful, helpful, and revealing. It is thoughtful in taking ordinary people, situations, and comments andJones' book, while unashamedly simple, is thoughtful, helpful, and revealing. It is thoughtful in taking ordinary people, situations, and comments and drawing life lessons from them. It is helpful in that it does exactly what it sets out to do - teach young men things they need to know. It is revealing in that it shows us who Jones is as a man, and what made him that way. It is in the latter category the book really shines. The man we thus find is careful, passionate, determined, and wise.
Helpful book. I'll buy another couple for my sons. And that's high praise from me....more
I always cringe a little bit when I know I'm about to write an unflattering review for an author who is a good man. Such is the case here. In no way dI always cringe a little bit when I know I'm about to write an unflattering review for an author who is a good man. Such is the case here. In no way does this review reflect his wider ministry, but the fact is this is not a well written book. The wording is clunky. He includes enormous sections of quotations from diaries and histories, sections that would have been better summarized. There are some rather large (and telling) gaps in the life of the subject such as practically scream, "This is a puff piece biography rather than a serious one." In short, it is a badly written, badly designed biography.
...but it is still the best biography on Myron Cedarholm simply b/c I don't think another one exists. And since I wanted to learn more about the man I read it. I did learn more about the man, and about the various ministries that he led/birthed, and that knowledge gives me some insight into the DNA and interplay of various Minnosota and Wisconsin fundamentalist institutions. I also came to largely respect Myron Cedarholm, and appreciate his contribution to the work of Christ in the previous century.
The subject was a good man. The author is a good man. But this isn't a good book. ...more
Loading...
