Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Howdy ....!
(11:00am) - A thousand apologies to my loyal (well, two, anyway!) fans ... I've been rather down lately and I'm sorry to have left this blog alone. Well, I've got some interesting stuff I've found over the last month that I'm going to be sharing over the next few days. So buckle up - there's more coming!
First, here's a couple of books I read about in the NY Times book review email. I'd buy 'em, but I think I should have a *job* first :) ... :
1) The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788-1800
"Fresh and brilliant, this is the book that completely redefines the founding era."
The book's premise is that the Revolution is misunderstood if only taken as some colonies breaking away from a tyrannical mother country; when you consider the entire world during the 1790's, it's clear that it was not just a national revolution, but an entirely revolutionary way of thinking about us. The French Revolution, Catherine the Great's vast imperial power, and the Islamic world ( i.e., the "shores of Tripoli" in the Marine Corps hymn) combined with this new American experiment to change the world in much bigger ways than most people know today.
Find the book here at Amazon.com.
2) Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
"For all the joy Charlie Brown and the gang gave readers over half a
century, their creator, Charles Schulz, was a profoundly unhappy man."
I was fascinated by this book because although I had known Schulz was ... melancholic ... to some degree, this book posits that he was much unhappier than that. For example, the lingering effects of the death of his mother interfered with his first marriage, and his relationship with his children. The Times review stated that Schulz's family was surprised at the book's portrayal of the "Peanuts" creator - upset, even. Also, lots of strips are in the book, and I love the cover!
It's here at Amazon.com.