Thirty-fifth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. Amartya Sen is the benevolent, wise and knowledgeable grandpa that I never had. He talks of some of the stickiest issues and suggests solutions that sound beguilingly simple, mainly because he explains them in that tone of a wise old man. He talks of secularism, poverty, hunger, gender inequality, the nuclear arms race, the identity of India and the idea of Indian culture. These are quite drab topics to write about, and indeed, to read about. […]
Would you lease your house to this species?
There are a lot of things going wrong in the world, but it is difficult to downplay the ecological crises we are currently witnessing. Repeated studies have been published describing a loss of biodiversity happening at a rate never seen before. Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History describes the extinctions that are occurring around us in the context of five major extinctions in Earth’s history. Unlike so many books about environmental crises, Kolbert stays even-keeled, with a journalist’s approach to describing what, why, […]
With malice toward none, with charity for all.
If you’ve ever asked yourself, Abraham Lincoln, what is with that guy? This is the book for you. The answer to that question is both simple and complex. It’s complex because all people are complex, and the political landscape that Lincoln navigated–although lacking 24 hour news cycles, talking heads, and loudmouthed pundits–was nevertheless a treacherous and multi-faceted one. Team of Rivals is in large part Doris Kearns Goodwin’s attempt to illustrate just exactly how it was that he navigated those treacherous waters: gaining the presidency, winning the […]
Sexism and Murder: Women Pioneers in Atlanta in 1974
Before reading Cop Town (2014), I was unfamiliar with Karin Slaughter and not looking to read any bestselling thrillers. But then I happened to see the author on television, talking about her latest book. Slaughter mentioned that she set Cop Town in Atlanta, Georgia in 1974 because she was interested in the restrictions and challenges facing women in that period. She talked about women not being able to find housing or even get a credit card without their husband’s approval. A restrictive society, indeed, and […]