an early populist
The early populist inside Frontier Queen Willa Cather, a 20th century great. Click below link to article at The Miami Independent: An Early Populist: Willa Cather
Reviews
church degrading the nation’s health
A root cause of the country’s decline is the malaise of the church in America. Read about another area where the American church has let us down – with grave consequences for both church and society. How The Church Is Degrading The Nation’s Health – Miami Independent
dark voyage
Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys My rating: 2 of 5 stars British writer Jean Rhys, best known for Wide Sargasso Sea, wrote an autobiographical novel Voyage in the Dark in the late 1930’s. It was picked up as a brave, female opus in the 1960s (surprise!) but, worse […]
war of the worlds
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells My rating: 2 of 5 stars H.G. Wells’s classic tale is a minor one in the Western canon, and an outdated, reprehensible one at that. Upfront I should admit I have never seen much value in science fiction, even before I was […]
thurber’s hard times
My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber My rating: 5 of 5 stars James Thurber was the major humorist – a term he derides as “loose-fitting and ugly” – of mid-20th century America. He also wrote for The New Yorker for many years. Ever since Tina Brown degraded the […]
the fifth column
The Enemy Within: How a Totalitarian Movement is Destroying America by David Horowitz My rating: 5 of 5 stars David Horowitz is one of the cleanest writers and clearest thinkers about contemporary politics. Like me, he is what used to be called a neo-con, that is, someone with the […]
a funeral dirge for atheism
Is Atheism Dead? by Eric Metaxas My rating: 3 of 5 stars The question of the title Is Atheism Dead? is rhetorical. The answer to anyone with a modicum of common sense and awareness is affirmative. In fact, atheism was still-born from the start. It took the stage with twisted […]
the real anthony fauci – part 1 2
The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. My rating: 5 of 5 stars Imagine a dystopian future where a leviathan federal bureaucracy is captured by a colossal global industry and, corrupting all of society’s major […]
quirky post-war italian gem
The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Little Virtues is a little and mildly disturbing gem. The quirky Italian novelist Natalia Ginzburg compiled a group of short essays, ranging from political internal exile in 1944 through the postwar period to 1962. Her writing […]
orwellian prophecy in catalonia
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell My rating: 1 of 5 stars The Wolf Book Club recently debated Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, with its “fight against Fascism” motivating much of the group to enthuse despite major flaws. The book is horrendously outdated, of null literary value, and only of interest […]
faustian death in venice
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann My rating: 4 of 5 stars My book club is on a morbid roll. This past ominous year we have, coincidence I’m sure, read and discussed several death-themed classics. Earlier this year Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and now Mann’s Death in […]
the trial & modern sensibilities
The Trial by Franz Kafka My rating: 5 of 5 stars Book clubs are interesting things. More so when you’re Christian and the others are not. The Trial is not a Christian book (by most accounts, Kafka was a mildly deranged ethnic Jew) but has a Christian message nevertheless – […]
the razor’s dull edge
The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham My rating: 1 of 5 stars Described on the back cover as “Maugham’s greatest and most enduringly popular novel,” that makes the author a feeble writer and the reading public lacking in discernment. I recently reviewed his A Writer’s Notebook, calling is a […]
the death of ivan ilyich
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy My rating: 5 of 5 stars This may be the best novella period. It is shockingly modern, and appropriate to our times, as if written yesterday instead of 140+ years ago. We just left – if you believe media reports – one […]
murder, inc.
A Brotherhood Betrayed: The Man Behind The Rise And Fall Of Murder Inc. by Michael Cannell My rating: 4 of 5 stars New York may never represent the best in America, but it has long been the most colorful. Michael Cannell, a former editor at the New York Times, has […]
the wide road to serfdom 2
The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek My rating: 5 of 5 stars This 1944 classic was the post-war clarion call against collectivism and its glide path to totalitarianism. Controversially for the time, it declared that socialism, communism, and fascism all float in the same collectivist (or Leftist) swamp, […]
wisdom of crowds vs experts’ pride: review of surowiecki’s masterpiece 2
The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki My rating: 5 of 5 stars Bill Buckley famously quipped that he would rather be lead by “the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than the faculty of Harvard,” a populist observation which still brings a smile to our faces. […]
deep south, superficially: review of caldwell’s hit job
Deep South: Memory and Observation by Erskine Caldwell My rating: 2 of 5 stars Caldwell (1903-1987) was a reasonably well known novelist in mid-century America, whose name has slipped into the fog of history. I had never read any of his works – those that might ring a bell include […]
unreadable bard?
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman My rating: 1 of 5 stars Last May, for the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth, saw a plethora of tributes to – some say – America’s greatest poet. I had an old edition of Leaves of Grass kicking around for ages, most recently […]
what haunts paris?
Haunting Paris by Mamta Chaudhry My rating: 4 of 5 stars The book is a beautiful and compelling mystery/ghost story/historic account about Paris and her many ghosts. At a recent book club meeting, we hosted the first time novelist and long-time writer, Mamta Chaudhry, who shared some of her and […]