I write reviews for lots of organizations including
The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (no longer taking reviews as of 2018)
The Book Loft of German Village - and their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bookloftcolumbus
Ohioana Library Association
Audiofile Magazine (Audiobooks)
And several professional journals.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Learning about Politics and How it Works
The birth of the modern political campaign
The Triumph
of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters by Karl Rove
This is the year for politics, judging candidates,
and deciding who will be the next president. Karl Rove’s newest book The Triumph of William McKinley was
released in paperback just in time for the Republican National Convention in
Cleveland Ohio. In this fascinating history, Rove describes how McKinley ran
the first modern political campaign using newspapers, social networking, and
public opinion. Wait a minute! McKinley campaigned for president in 1896, stomping
and barnstorming for votes at the Republican National Convention in Chicago,
then on to the White House. Today’s politicians still campaign using McKinley’s
techniques.
Read about this staunch Republican, an Ohio native,
a US Representative, Ohio Governor, and the last president to have served in
the Civil War. He was a master at working the political machine, at networking,
and currying favor across the state and later the country. McKinley stood for
protectionism, for keeping import tariffs high and buying American. As a
politician, he weathered the Depression of 1873 and the Panic of 1893, long
years of unemployment, failed banks, and failed businesses in the midst of
rising monopolies and industrialization. Sound familiar? McKinley faced many of
the economic problems we face today and he campaigned successfully throughout
it all.
You don’t have to be a Republican to read this
book. Rove’s book is fascinating no matter your political persuasion. Election
buffs will love the political wrangling, horse-trading, and maneuvering.
Historians will delight in the history of political, economic, and societal
issues of the United States from the end of the Civil War to the end of the
century. Readers will savor the details Karl Rove provides about this
Progressive Era politician who is still relevant in the 21st
century.
Shakespeare on the stage and off
In the spirit of Shakespeare, Mary Sharratt’s The Dark Lady’s Mask is an enchanting
fictionalized biography featuring Shakespeare and Amelia Lanier, a Renaissance
poet. In 1593, the life and fortunes of Amelia Bassano Lanier, the great female
Renaissance poet, intersects with Shakespeare's. They collaborate on his early
plays while traveling in Italy, she seeking her inheritance, Shakespeare, an
adventure. The enchanting work of historical fiction is full of poetry and
passion; Shakespeare’s passion for plays and Lanier’s for poetry. The sumptuous
language and descriptions will draw you into Lanier’s life and loves in
Elizabethan England.
Karen Harper’s Mistress
Shakespeare (NAL, 2010) is another
book about Shakespeare with a feminine twist. In 1583, Shakespeare marries
first Anne Whateley, whom he loves dearly and the very next day, Anne Hathaway
who is carrying his child. Whateley, a merchant’s daughter, moves to London to
escape her broken heart and run the family business. Of course, her life
intersects with Shakespeare and the theater and, their smoldering love affair
sparks passion and great poetry. Grab your book of Shakespeare Sonnets and read
along as Shakespeare and Whateley spout phrases and poems at one another.
Timeless and beautiful, the poetry is at the heart of this romance.
If you are in the mood for mystery, check out The Roaring Boy: A Nicholas Bracewell Mystery by Edward Marston. It features a play about a recent murder.
When an actor dies in the first scene, then another, the Roaring Boys are
forced to continuously rewrite their play and solve the mystery. Here,
playwrights who compose plays and edit on the fly, and imagine that Shakespeare
did the same until his plays were ‘perfect.’
These books provide wonderful descriptions of
London of the late 1500s, from cold rooms and warm clothes, to theater and
romance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)