The Bully Pulpit, Doris Kearns Goodwin

 

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the golden age of journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin was recommended by a friend during a discussion group.

Started: 8/29/2020

Completed: 9/10/2020

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: Ann, from the discussion group

Words for which I sought help:

honeyfuggle -- to obtain by cheating or deception

trenchantly -- vigorously or incisively

Review:

I learned so much about these two men and the journalists around them.  It was truly fascinating to see how their lives intertwined and how they both leaned upon and repelled one another over time.  It was good to learn how they negotiated their stormy friendship.  As always, Goodwin's prose is both accessible and clear.  Well read.

Evicted, Matthew Desmond

Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in The American City by Matthew Desmond is a book that my wife saw and thought we should both understand how eviction is effecting America.

Started: 2/18/2020
Completed: 2/21/2020
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: My wife

Review:

This is a hard book to read, pretty much nothing but sad.  Eviction is a horror.

These are individual stories.  This is a tiny fraction of the actual evictions that took place over the period the book covers.  Despite that, each story is characteristic of the broader issue and carries its own nuances.  These individual stories stand on their own, but as a spotlight illuminating a small subset, they give character to the whole problem.

Carrying the knowledge of what happens is hard.  It is our responsibility, however, as Americans.  Utah's Housing First seems like a good answer.  As important as healthcare, and maybe more important, housing issues need to be solved.  A cycle of evictions perpetuates a problem that could be stopped.

The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown

The Boys in the Boat:  Nine American and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown.  I picked this book up based on an NPR story I heard on the radio.  There is an upcoming movie as well.

Started: 3/2/2018

Completed: 3/12/2018

Recommended By: NPR

Recommendation: Really enjoyed it, quick easy book

Review:

I thought I would do crew when I reached college.  I did not.  I could, conceivably, have been the cockswain (as I was quite small), but my university did not have a crew team of which I was aware.  I would have been disappointed to ride and not row, I'm sure.  I did work for a guy who crewed as an adult and he was small, but he was really, really strong.  Anyway, it was not going to happen for me.

This book talks about a young man who is frequently abandoned and found a home in the crew shell.  It is a good story in almost every way I can conceive.  The plot is compelling and moves well.  The rowing terms are gradually introduced so that by the end the terms are familiar.  It is about an American team winning in Hitler's Germany.  All that is great.

The underlying story of one of the oarsman and his early life is nothing short of horrifying.  I was in tears for the boy and young man.  He was not alone as the brutally hard work of rowing a boat competitively can only be done by those with a steel backbone and hardened life.  I am glad I read this book despite the almost absurd beginning (truth is stranger than fiction).  I will look forward to the movie.