I enjoy reading your emails. You express yourself so well. I truly appreciate the quality person you seem to be. Sorry I cannot make a donation at this time. Best of luck. I know how important this time is in our history and wish you the best.
Although I have several books I am currently interested in, I would recommend that you take a look at "The Hellhound of Wall Street". An examination of Ferdinand Pecora's investigation/trial held on the floor of Congress, looking for the cause and responsible individuals for the1929 crash on Wall Street.
Possibly you recall more recently, when the Democratic Speaker of the House threatened to initiate "Pecora Hearings" in an effort to get to the essential facts of the 2008 financial crash. The threat turned out to be too little too late, but it was a good idea that somehow was sidetracked.
I recently read the biography of Mark Twain by Ron Chernow, the author of Hamilton. It's great writing, and the audiobook is also terrific. You'll learn a lot about American history in the course of learning about Twain. He was a world traveler. Interesting to think about travel in the 19th century. Also interesting to see the role of literature in society. Much of his income came from tours in which he gave public readings. And, of course, there's his personal and family life, as well as how he felt about the politics of the time.
This summer, I have been in a furious battle with the abundant weeds growing from all the rain we had in West Houston Texas! I just can't get rid of them! 🫤 Otherwise, I have been reading some books on Czech history and the history of Sicily!( I'm half Sicilian and Czech)! I have also been making some delicious meals from the tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, bell peppers and figs that have been growing in my backyard garden! Nothing like fresh produce from your own yard and it saves money from buying produce at the grocery store! I sort of have an old fashioned victory garden like my Grandfather/GRANDMOTHER had when I was child! Otherwise, that's about it for my summer this year! 😊
You mentioning the Lyndon Johnson biographies reminds me of "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro about Robert Moses. It's an amazing story about power, which Moses figured out how to get and, once gotten, how to wield it.
I would recommend "Everyone who is Gone is Here" by Jonathan Blitzer, if you haven't already read it. Great book on Latin American immigration to the U. S. Very well written. Not just a "should read" book but an enjoyable one.
IMPEACH AND DUMP TRAITORS, NAZIS PEDOPHILE PREDATORS AND ENABLERS , IMPERIALIST CRIMINALS, WAR MONGERS, CAREER CRIMINALS, CRIMINAL GRIFTERS, FASCIST PIGS, FRAUDSTERS, RACIST, AND CON REPUBLICONS EVERYWHERE. RELEASE ALL UN-REDACTED EPSTEIN FILES AND JAIL CON RTRUMP. AVOID CON RTRUMP'S AND THE REPUBLICON'S RECESSION AND DEPRESSION. FIX CLIMATE CHANGE, FOR THE FAIR DEAL, NOT THE RAW DEAL. VOTE BLUE AND SAVE DEMOCRACY. STOP THE RTRUMP OLIGARCHY. BOYCOTT CRIMINAL RTRUMP & ELON- THE NAZIS. INVOKE 25th AMENDMENT AND DUMP CON REPUBLICONS.
I am very slowly reading two academic press books (I usually have a few books I'm in the process of reading). I had been reading every night but have needed some time off, to digest. One of the books is Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution: The Making of Cuban New York (Perez, 2018, NYU Press). It is mind-boggling how complicated Cuban history is... I have quite a few books having to do with Cuban history, as a side focus, from wanting to put attention to common culture in some of the islands and South Carolina. I started off thinking about Barbados and South Carolina, couldn't find much (I have seen cultural discrimination, very bad, in South Carolina), and now have a collection of books having to do with a few islands. I lived in Tampa for three years and decided, Ybor City imght be a good focus to help me get more footing, thinking about the islands, and I got this book thinking about Ybor City. It's really a project I'm trying to work on, culture, history, and I'm having to work on it alone. The other book I'm slowly reading is Reinventing Free Labor: Padrones and Immigrant Workers in the North American West, 1880-1930 (Peck, 2000, Cambridge University Press). I got this book partly in conjunction with trying to learn more about child labor in Atlanta, even though the book's emphasis is not this part of the country (I was born in Atlanta, moved back to Georgia in late 2018). In the past several months I realized not only did my maternal grandfather work doing things like selling food his mother cooked, on the street and to railroad workers, and selling paper flowers she made, on the street (in front of the old Rich's downtown). He was a child laborer on the railroad. There is almost no information about that, and I recently read a book about Lewis Hine, written for "children" but really, the way a book for children can be helpful to adults, to read, to start to understand more history. It is overwhelming, I bawled when I realized my grandfather was a child laborer, that was that extreme. He was drafted into the Navy, then he had a very successful electrical construction company, a partnership, and sold his part of it in the mid 1970's or so... It is a really challenging endeavor, trying to see what all was going on. I think about what he talked about, and also what is written that he wrote or that someone transcribed from him speaking (I think he and/or my grandmother likely typed it, but they had friends, a couple a little younger than my mom, their only daughter, and I've thought, they might have helped). There's so much missing, as far as history... there are stories, like his father lost part of one of his legs on the railroad as a child, and I realized, he, too, was a child laborer. That was in Abbeville, South Carolina. He was said to be a "good for nothing," and there's just so much generational mess. I'm trying to sort it out and save myself from the downward spiral the family has taken, and also, fighting for people to be not harmed!
Hi Pat. Thank you very much for your comment, especially the reference to the book "Reinventing Free Labor." I will look for it as part of my own writing about a hero of mine, Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales. He was a poet, a founder of the Chicano civil rights movement (although I am not Latina), and a hero because of how he was a fierce activist who also unified rather than divided--a power much needed today.
And your understanding of your grandparents' humanity is a tribute to them and you. Don't you know they are right there beside you on your journey? Peace!
Thank you for telling me about him! It is a slow process, but I am constantly trying to learn! My dog brings me books, and today, so far, it was The Sweat of Their Brow: A History of Work in Latin America, and to get that, he knocked over Solitary, written by Albert Woodfox. I realize I need to start reading Solitary. (There might be other books in between that he knocked down... this is a daily or almost daily thing, now, Garth browsing the bookshelves, and "what is he going to pick out?" and there are bitemarks, some, but hopefully any signed books are out of his reach... I have ended up with signed used books, sometimes, it's amazing! Several years of social isolation after marital abandonment and having to move states). I love the Denver connection, we lived in Colorado twice when I was a child.
I enjoy reading your emails. You express yourself so well. I truly appreciate the quality person you seem to be. Sorry I cannot make a donation at this time. Best of luck. I know how important this time is in our history and wish you the best.
Although I have several books I am currently interested in, I would recommend that you take a look at "The Hellhound of Wall Street". An examination of Ferdinand Pecora's investigation/trial held on the floor of Congress, looking for the cause and responsible individuals for the1929 crash on Wall Street.
Possibly you recall more recently, when the Democratic Speaker of the House threatened to initiate "Pecora Hearings" in an effort to get to the essential facts of the 2008 financial crash. The threat turned out to be too little too late, but it was a good idea that somehow was sidetracked.
Much success to you
I recently read the biography of Mark Twain by Ron Chernow, the author of Hamilton. It's great writing, and the audiobook is also terrific. You'll learn a lot about American history in the course of learning about Twain. He was a world traveler. Interesting to think about travel in the 19th century. Also interesting to see the role of literature in society. Much of his income came from tours in which he gave public readings. And, of course, there's his personal and family life, as well as how he felt about the politics of the time.
This summer, I have been in a furious battle with the abundant weeds growing from all the rain we had in West Houston Texas! I just can't get rid of them! 🫤 Otherwise, I have been reading some books on Czech history and the history of Sicily!( I'm half Sicilian and Czech)! I have also been making some delicious meals from the tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, bell peppers and figs that have been growing in my backyard garden! Nothing like fresh produce from your own yard and it saves money from buying produce at the grocery store! I sort of have an old fashioned victory garden like my Grandfather/GRANDMOTHER had when I was child! Otherwise, that's about it for my summer this year! 😊
You mentioning the Lyndon Johnson biographies reminds me of "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro about Robert Moses. It's an amazing story about power, which Moses figured out how to get and, once gotten, how to wield it.
I would recommend "Everyone who is Gone is Here" by Jonathan Blitzer, if you haven't already read it. Great book on Latin American immigration to the U. S. Very well written. Not just a "should read" book but an enjoyable one.
IMPEACH AND DUMP TRAITORS, NAZIS PEDOPHILE PREDATORS AND ENABLERS , IMPERIALIST CRIMINALS, WAR MONGERS, CAREER CRIMINALS, CRIMINAL GRIFTERS, FASCIST PIGS, FRAUDSTERS, RACIST, AND CON REPUBLICONS EVERYWHERE. RELEASE ALL UN-REDACTED EPSTEIN FILES AND JAIL CON RTRUMP. AVOID CON RTRUMP'S AND THE REPUBLICON'S RECESSION AND DEPRESSION. FIX CLIMATE CHANGE, FOR THE FAIR DEAL, NOT THE RAW DEAL. VOTE BLUE AND SAVE DEMOCRACY. STOP THE RTRUMP OLIGARCHY. BOYCOTT CRIMINAL RTRUMP & ELON- THE NAZIS. INVOKE 25th AMENDMENT AND DUMP CON REPUBLICONS.
I am very slowly reading two academic press books (I usually have a few books I'm in the process of reading). I had been reading every night but have needed some time off, to digest. One of the books is Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution: The Making of Cuban New York (Perez, 2018, NYU Press). It is mind-boggling how complicated Cuban history is... I have quite a few books having to do with Cuban history, as a side focus, from wanting to put attention to common culture in some of the islands and South Carolina. I started off thinking about Barbados and South Carolina, couldn't find much (I have seen cultural discrimination, very bad, in South Carolina), and now have a collection of books having to do with a few islands. I lived in Tampa for three years and decided, Ybor City imght be a good focus to help me get more footing, thinking about the islands, and I got this book thinking about Ybor City. It's really a project I'm trying to work on, culture, history, and I'm having to work on it alone. The other book I'm slowly reading is Reinventing Free Labor: Padrones and Immigrant Workers in the North American West, 1880-1930 (Peck, 2000, Cambridge University Press). I got this book partly in conjunction with trying to learn more about child labor in Atlanta, even though the book's emphasis is not this part of the country (I was born in Atlanta, moved back to Georgia in late 2018). In the past several months I realized not only did my maternal grandfather work doing things like selling food his mother cooked, on the street and to railroad workers, and selling paper flowers she made, on the street (in front of the old Rich's downtown). He was a child laborer on the railroad. There is almost no information about that, and I recently read a book about Lewis Hine, written for "children" but really, the way a book for children can be helpful to adults, to read, to start to understand more history. It is overwhelming, I bawled when I realized my grandfather was a child laborer, that was that extreme. He was drafted into the Navy, then he had a very successful electrical construction company, a partnership, and sold his part of it in the mid 1970's or so... It is a really challenging endeavor, trying to see what all was going on. I think about what he talked about, and also what is written that he wrote or that someone transcribed from him speaking (I think he and/or my grandmother likely typed it, but they had friends, a couple a little younger than my mom, their only daughter, and I've thought, they might have helped). There's so much missing, as far as history... there are stories, like his father lost part of one of his legs on the railroad as a child, and I realized, he, too, was a child laborer. That was in Abbeville, South Carolina. He was said to be a "good for nothing," and there's just so much generational mess. I'm trying to sort it out and save myself from the downward spiral the family has taken, and also, fighting for people to be not harmed!
Hi Pat. Thank you very much for your comment, especially the reference to the book "Reinventing Free Labor." I will look for it as part of my own writing about a hero of mine, Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales. He was a poet, a founder of the Chicano civil rights movement (although I am not Latina), and a hero because of how he was a fierce activist who also unified rather than divided--a power much needed today.
And your understanding of your grandparents' humanity is a tribute to them and you. Don't you know they are right there beside you on your journey? Peace!
Thank you for telling me about him! It is a slow process, but I am constantly trying to learn! My dog brings me books, and today, so far, it was The Sweat of Their Brow: A History of Work in Latin America, and to get that, he knocked over Solitary, written by Albert Woodfox. I realize I need to start reading Solitary. (There might be other books in between that he knocked down... this is a daily or almost daily thing, now, Garth browsing the bookshelves, and "what is he going to pick out?" and there are bitemarks, some, but hopefully any signed books are out of his reach... I have ended up with signed used books, sometimes, it's amazing! Several years of social isolation after marital abandonment and having to move states). I love the Denver connection, we lived in Colorado twice when I was a child.
Hi, thanks for all you do Colin! The Toy Story movie is great!
I just made a donation and a decision to "not give up on giving"
https://jonathanbrownson.substack.com/p/dont-give-up?r=gdp9j