Where is your nonfiction section please.
Book review: If Only They Didn't Speak English, by Jon Sopel (Amazon / Book Depository) BBC journalist Jon Sopel, the network's North America editor, writes about US history, politics, culture and personal impressions through a UK-US comparative lens while working in both Obama's and Trump's America. Sopel got called out by Trump at a press... Continue Reading →
Book review: South and West, by Joan Didion I am trying to place myself in history. I have been looking all my life for history and have yet to find it. The resolutely "colorful," anecdotal quality of San Francisco history. "Characters" abound. It puts one off. In the South they are convinced that they are capable... Continue Reading →
Book review: Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse, by John Nichols "Presidents can often be inconsequential - or foolish, or erratic, or incomprehensible. But presidencies are never any of those things. They are powerful, overarching, definitional. They shape more than policies; they shape our sense of what the United States can be...Donald Trump's presidency will make America something different than it... Continue Reading →
Book review: The Best Land Under Heaven, by Michael Wallis (Amazon) For as much true crime as I read and watch, I draw the line at cannibalism and anything near it. I mean, you have to have a line, you know? I'm fine with my extreme squeamishness about it. I feel like it would be... Continue Reading →
Book review: Salvation on Sand Mountain, by Dennis Covington "Snake handling didn't originate back in the hills somewhere. It started when people came down from the hills to discover they were surrounded by a hostile and spiritually dead culture." At some point last year, I read an article, I think either about a preacher getting arrested or else bitten and... Continue Reading →
Book review: Al Franken, Giant of the Senate, by Al Franken Al Franken would argue that, despite the title of his new book, he's not a giant of the Senate. That label is for the likes of Ted Kennedy and Mike Mansfield. But he certainly provides a lot of evidence in the book that argues... Continue Reading →
Book review: The Truth About Belle Gunness, by Lillian de la Torre On a spring day in 1908, police were called to the scene of a fire in a farmhouse in La Porte, Indiana. In the ruins of the house, they discovered four bodies: three children and a headless adult believed to be the farm's proprietress,... Continue Reading →
Book review: Theft by Finding, by David Sedaris Book Depository "In order to record your life, you sort of need to live it. Not at your desk, but beyond it. Out in the world where it's so beautiful and complex and painful that sometimes you just need to sit down and write about it." David Sedaris, beloved... Continue Reading →
Book review: The Destruction of Hillary Clinton, by Susan Bordo Professor, scholar, and Pulitzer Prize-nominee Susan Bordo is, like many others, astounded at the events of the past year that culminated in Donald Trump assuming power in Washington instead of Hillary Clinton. And like many, she's struggled to make sense of it all: of the... Continue Reading →
Book review: Glass House, by Brian Alexander Journalist Brian Alexander is a native of Lancaster, Ohio, a city highlighted by Forbes in 1947 with the shining, post-war pride declaration, "This is America." Now it's one of many towns in America's Rust Belt that's fallen victim to plagues of misfortune in recent decades - the restructuring and eventual closures of big companies,... Continue Reading →
Book review: The Sound of Gravel, by Ruth Wariner (Amazon) I came across The Sound of Gravel while perusing the Goodreads choice nominees, where it was a finalist in the Memoir category. I read the synopsis and couldn't get my hands on it fast enough. Ruth Wariner grew up in one of the Mormon polygamist sects that escaped American... Continue Reading →
Book Review: Eight Flavors, by Sarah Lohman (Amazon / Book Depository) For a crash course in American trade and immigration, read this book. Sarah Lohman is a gastronomist with a deep interest in the flavors and recipes that shaped American cuisine. According to her website, she "recreates historic recipes as a way to make a personal... Continue Reading →
What's Nonfiction? 