Review:
I did not expect to enjoy this book. I really enjoyed it. Part autobiography (memoir?) and part call to arms, this book uses the framework of Hill's life to identify, define, and offer solutions to a wide array of public ills mostly focused on the side-effects of abject poverty. Hill grew up in Bishop Aukland which is near the town of Fishburn (my ancestral home) and now lives about 20 minutes from me. There are a variety of other parallels, though I have never reached anything like her level of accomplishment. I enjoyed this framing of the problems that she identifies and I agree with most, if not all, of her approaches to resolving some societal ills, though it is a huge effort. This was an excellent book I will not soon forget.
Review:
In one sense, I fear for New Hampshire. Watch for Libertarian action there. This book addresses why a libertarian utopia is unlikely--in fact, why it is unlikely for outsiders to take over a town. This book is funny and well written. I enjoyed it even if I learned entirely too much about bears.
Review:
The author here makes a good argument that at least 3 and probably 4 of the women killed were not prostitutes at the time of their death. One definitely was (by her own reckoning) and one had been. The extensive research done by the author tells the story (where possible) of these women's lives in rich detail for the most part (the last woman, the prostitute, had a habit of telling people different back stories and was not the pauper that the others were, so her movements were not recorded in poor houses, courts, and the like). These were all daughters, mothers, sisters, and wives (separated and in some cases common law) struggling to live in the desperate circumstances of single women in Victorian London. This book is worth reading just to understand what life was like in Dickens' England (one of the women grew up in the same area where Dickens lived when writing his early works).
Words for which I sought help:
assiduity -- Constant or close attention to what one is doing
perspicacity -- the quality of having a ready insight into things; shrewdness
Review:
In some ways this book feels like an effort to rehabilitate Werner von Braun. The very end of the very last chapter seems to acknowledge that von Braun is no hero, but the rest of the book pretty much sings his praises. I think that he did a lot and wonder about men on the moon without him, but I cannot sing his praises without immediately also echoing his horrible actions. At no point, from what I can see, did he ever take responsibility for his role in the Holocaust.
In general, I find these books a familiar review of the events of the day. This one is that, but nothing exceptional in that regard.
Review:
This book is told from the perspective of those who are damaged by oxy, rather than those who try to hold the Sacklers accountable. Because of that angle, there is no victory. It is hard to take joy in someone fighting through to recovery despite the huge effort involved and how important it is to those around the addict. There is a sort of solemn hope in those who have thrown off the addiction. Most of the book is wrapped in sadness and gradual decay--whether it is to death from the addict or prison for the dealer. It was shocking to me to see that the medical community was unwilling to help fix the problem which they largely created through over prescription and how slow they were to adopt findings that oxy was dangerous.
