New! Reading Anything Thread 2.0

[indianasmith]

THE EISENHOWER CHRONICLES by Michael Zucker is a very well-done, carefully researched biographical novel about Dwight Eisenhower, the architect of the Allied victory in Europe and America's 34th President.  Told in a series of vignettes, the story begins with Ike as a frustrated colonel in the Philippines reading about Kristallknacht in Germany, and ends with him as a retired former President, advising Kennedy on how to handle the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Engaging and entertaining, but still historically accurate, this book does much to explain why historians rank Eisenhower in the top 5 of American Presidents.

[Rev. Powell]

Dove into a couple chapters of this because I'm going to interview the author--but it's almost 700 pages on ROBOT MONSTER!! 

[indianasmith]

THE POPE AND MUSSOLINI by David Kertzer

Drawing extensively on Italian government archives and the Vatican's own records, this is a fascinating history of the people and idea's that drove Pope Pius XI to sign the famous Vatican Concordat with Italy's fascist dictator.   Pius and Mussolini's alliance was an uneasy one - neither man liked or trusted the other, but Mussolini wanted the support of the Catholic Church, and the Pope wanted legislation that woud make Italy a confessional state again, rathre than a secular one.  But as Mussolini drew increasingly close to Hitler, and adopted anti-Semitic legislation to please his German ally, the Pope became more and more uncomfortable with the alliance and was preparing a powerful anti-fascist encyclical that was suppressed by his successor, Pius XII, after his death.

So many parallels in this story to the politics of today - religious figures embracing a man whose life constantly echoed his contempt for their dearest beliefs, in hopes that he would save them from socialism/communism, and a cynical, godless politician paying lip service to religion in order to garner popular support.  A tale as old as time, but people still fall for it.

A highly recommended read!!

[ER]

If you wanna take up bulimia, this book will help you achieve your regurgiatory goal.

The Future of Rock & Roll, by Robin James.

I grew up listening to the greatest independent modern rock station in the country, 97X, hearing bands I would never have known of had I cut my teeth on cut 'n paste corporate FM channels, and was thrilled to find out someone had written a book about the station, but the trouble was...someone hadn't.

I guess I should have had a clue what I was in for when the author described herself as a professional philosopher----yeah, I laughed too---because the book really isn't a history of 97X so much as about the writer's views on how much she hates capitalism, conservatism, traditions, anything basically but nihilistic communalism. Oh, and victims. She loves victims.

She even spends a puzzlingly large amount of ink attacking Margaret Thatcher (though she grew up in the Midwest after Thatcher was out of office) and Republicans and churches and law enforcement and businesses and anyone who has a thought independent of her own sheltered little enclave, and once in a while drifts back to talking about the station, though almost exclusively through the lens how how the big evil mean world victimized it. (Uh....)

I barely got through its 150 or so pages and felt like I'd just come out of a long joyless Puritanical sermon. Ever listened to a humorless woke warrior, cynical and jealous, tell you what's wrong with the world and nothing you can say will change them from their beloved subject? This was that in book form. The idiots at FOX News have opposites, and this author was one. Frodo Baggins come save us from this darkness.

Maybe someday someone will actually write a history of a station that lived by its own rules and made America great in its own way, one magnificent song at a time.

[ER]

Jamestown: The Truth Revealed.

Our hard-pressed, starving forebears at the first permanent English settlement in the present-day United States endured terrible suffering and even resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.

Forget Clive Barker, for true horror study history!

Couldn't put this book down. Read it in one day.

[indianasmith]

Jamestown: The Truth Revealed.

Our hard-pressed, starving forebears at the first permanent English settlement in the present-day United States endured terrible suffering and even resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.

Forget Clive Barker, for true horror study history!

Couldn't put this book down. Read it in one day.

That sounds like a dandy!!!!

[Jim H]

Jamestown: The Truth Revealed.

Our hard-pressed, starving forebears at the first permanent English settlement in the present-day United States endured terrible suffering and even resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.

Forget Clive Barker, for true horror study history!

Couldn't put this book down. Read it in one day.

That sounds like a dandy!!!!

Reading one you might be interested in Indy, if you haven't yet.

I'm reading Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs.  It's a collection of history, stories and high quality color plate photographs of the various catacomb saints from the 16th and 17th century in Europe.  These are  skeletons of Christians who died in the early Roman era (300-400 AD range), and then were moved and decorated in that time frame.  At some point, the Catholic church became embarrassed about them and most were either hidden or destroyed, so it took a long time for them to be documented and photographed.  In general, it's quite interesting, the photographs are excellent, and the saints are often pretty amazing works of art - it's obvious immense effort and dedication went into them. 

My favorite I've seen is St. Pancratius

[indianasmith]

DESTINED TO BE A HAMILTON: TRUE LIFE STORIES OF MARY ANNE HAMILTON, GREAT-GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF U.S. FOUNDING FATHER ALEXANDER HAMILTON by Mary-Anne Hamilton and Helena Reynolds

I met Mary-Anne Hamilton two years ago, shortly before my alternative history novel PRESIDENT HAMILTON was published. She was very enthusiastic about my book, since it dovetailed with her mission as a Hamilton advocate - to remember and celebrate the life of America's "ten dollar Founding Father." As we got to know each other better and she shared her remarkable biography with me, I told her she needed to write her story down for future generations. At one point she even asked me to help her organize and edit her memoir, but I was already hip-deep in my next novel and had to defer.
Helena Reynolds stepped into the gap magnificently, and helped Mary-Anne edit and arrange her life story. The result is this book. Whether your interest is in Alexander Hamilton specifically, or the Hamilton family, or just American history in general, I think you will find this story a delightful read. Lavishly illustrated with family photographs, this book tells the story of a 31 year old divorcee who married a man 34 years older than herself - the great-great grandson of Alexander Hamilton and the grandson of famed financier and "robber baron" J.P. Morgan, Laurens Morgan Hamilton! Mary-Anne describes in sprightly detail how she came to appreciate her husband's life-long effort to restore the reputation of America's first Treasury Secretary, long-maligned and slandered by his enemies, nearly all of whom survived him by decades. After seeing the Broadway musical HAMILTON and meeting Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary-Anne revived her husband's work with a vengeance. Joining forces with Rand Scholet, the founder of the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society, she traveled all over America and the Caribbean, speaking about Hamilton and his remarkable contributions to our country.
From 15 year-old unwed mother to champion of one of America's Founders, Mary-Anne's story is an entertaining and inspiring read! After watching her publish her first book at age 89, I will admit I find myself wondering what this remarkable old lady is going to do next. (I'm thinking either skydiving or maybe swimming the English channel?) Anyway, this is a great book. Get yourself a copy today!

[lester1/2jr]

How Jesus Became God by Bart Ehrman - There was 10 minutes left until library closed so I grabbed this and a John Le Carre novel. I've read a bunch of Ehrman's book and I like this one so far. How can a preacher from rural Galilee end up being thought of as God in human form? Is he really the "Son of God" or is it more like how Hercules' Dad was Zeus and his mother was a human, or how Roman Emperor's were worshiped as Gods yadda yadda. I believe in God but I've never understood the supernatural aspects of any of the major religions. Can't I just say "Yeah I think animal sacrifices are weird and that we should treat even the worst people well" and not have to believe in some miraculous act I never myself saw. Apparently not

Our library no longer does late fees so I can read these without having to re check them out 5 times.

[ER]

How Jesus Became God by Bart Ehrman - There was 10 minutes left until library closed so I grabbed this and a John Le Carre novel. I've read a bunch of Ehrman's book and I like this one so far. How can a preacher from rural Galilee end up being thought of as God in human form? Is he really the "Son of God" or is it more like how Hercules' Dad was Zeus and his mother was a human, or how Roman Emperor's were worshiped as Gods yadda yadda. I believe in God but I've never understood the supernatural aspects of any of the major religions. Can't I just say "Yeah I think animal sacrifices are weird and that we should treat even the worst people well" and not have to believe in some miraculous act I never myself saw. Apparently not

Our library no longer does late fees so I can read these without having to re check them out 5 times.

The thing I've found in Ehrman's scholarship and assertions is they don't stand up well against vetting, and even something as shallow as a rebuttal on YouTube is usually enough to undermine most of the theories he expands into entire books. He's someone who gets taken more seriously than I think he deserves.

But then again I find it's the conservative theological scholars whose work bears up to the deepest scrutiny, despite their being little glam in their message. Iconoclasts tend to grab the headlines.

[lester1/2jr]

have you ever read any of his stuff?

[ER]

Years ago, Lester, I read one called Misquoting Jesus, and felt two things. One was a spitefully immature: "Ha, good, I hope he upsets fundamentalists!"

The other was surprise that he was getting away with the leaps of conjecture he was passing off as hard scholarship, because I'm not sure most of my professors would have let us get away with so much speculation dressed up as solid fact, and we were undergraduates.

Don't ask me for specific citations, please, it was about twenty years ago and I no longer have the book, only recall that being my feeling.

I think he is coasting on sensation and a sense in too many people that Christianity cannot stand on its own claims, which it can.

[lester1/2jr]

bah

[ER]

I thought you might find this interesting, lester.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8enwoGIas8

[lester1/2jr]

ER - it confirms that the places that Paul and Luke visited existed, but I've never heard anyone challenge that they went places and saw things. To say that it "confirms the Book of Acts" implies that therefore everything in the Book of Acts, like the prison somehow falling down around but not on the group and their chains became magically unfastened, is accurate.

I have no doubt Jesus, Paul, and Luke were all real historical figures.