notanotherbookreview

The Cold War was first an earsplitting siren, my first grade teacher urging us to crawl under our worktables and cover our heads. Hiding from "Nukes" was only a drill but real to me. Our teacher standing tall was very brave, as she waited--for what? The end of the world, wasn't a concept but many of us had seen mushroom clouds on TV, unsure what the images meant. We learned the BOMB brought peace, that our government protected us. But it was scary, threatening, a weird weapon in some global Western--bad guys behave or else?   Ideas are powerful after the unthinkable. COLD WARRIORS: Writers Who Waged The Literary Cold War by Duncan White (Aug. 27, 2019, Custom House/William Morrow) is an  exciting read of huge scope, showing how literature was  weaponized by both sides in an ideological conflict (western capitalist vs.eastern communist). Establishing "spheres of influence" meant survival for competing systems of government. The information battlefield: ...

I am  not exactly a royal watcher, though I grew up with Elizabeth Captive Princess: Two sisters one throne . I was 14 and so was she as the book opened. Ialso had a difficult older sister.  But Elizabeth I's angst wasn't just about wanting freedom. She wanted to stay alive. Her half-sister, Mary Tudor, who had ascended the throne, was jealous. Though Liz's mother was beheaded by Henry VIII, branded a whore and witch, the young princess's beauty and lively personality, meant she was a threat to the ailing "Bloody Mary." Young Liz was shut up in the tower, lost her first boyfriend to the ax, and had to deal with treacherous advisors--far worse than interfering parents. I remain interested in how being a royal can make your life better or worse. How does a royal have a personal life, when all actions are scrutinized by Buckingham Palace (the firm as Harry calls it) and the media? What happens when one's actions create official mayhem? Is there any sl...

THE LYNCHING: The Epic Courtroom Battle that Brought Down the Klan  (William Morrow Hardcover) is an exciting and impressive read, a page turner that is also a history of a pivotal event in the Civil Rights struggle. As a Northerner, the Southern attachment to slavery and later segregation, as part of "traditional values" has always been a personal disconnect. I once publicized Klan-Destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan by Daryl Davis, a Grammy award winning musician, who risked his life on a mission to understand hate. Were these people monsters or would he find a common humanity? Davis found shared ground but didn't address the origins of hate crimes. In Laurence Leamer's THE LYNCHING, racial hatred is explained in the context of the personal histories of those involved in a horrific hate crime in 1981, when Jim Crow was a fading memory. The incident was sparked by a trial of a black man accused of murdering a white Police Sergea...