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I just finished Jeannette Wall's "The Glass Castle" and I enjoyed every minute of this true story about her childhood growing up with an alcoholic father and mentally ill mother- both of whom were also very intelligent and who both loved their children - with varying degrees of success and failure.
Her writing style is humorous, VERY descriptive, and very perceptive of human nature and what makes people tick.
I read it in just two afternoons, it was so absorbing. It's also an easy read in the sense that it's conversational, and not laden down with footnotes or other sources or notations that some non fiction books are so full of.
I just finished Jeannette Wall's "The Glass Castle" and I enjoyed every minute of this true story about her childhood growing up with an alcoholic father and mentally ill mother- both of whom were also very intelligent and who both loved their children - with varying degrees of success and failure.
Her writing style is humorous, VERY descriptive, and very perceptive of human nature and what makes people tick.
I read it in just two afternoons, it was so absorbing. It's also an easy read in the sense that it's conversational, and not laden down with footnotes or other sources or notations that some non fiction books are so full of.
LOVED that book. DH nagged me to read it over 2 years, and I had little interest. Boy was I wrong!
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Nickel And Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich
She went undercover, working 3 minimum wage/skill jobs in 3 different states. Good read, and it made me - a conservative - a bit more liberal in thought.
Endless frontier : Vannevar Bush, engineer of the American Century / by G. Pascal Zachary, c1997, Free Press, B BUSH.
Subjects
• Bush, Vannevar, -- 1890-1974.
• Electrical engineers -- United States -- Biography.
• Mathematicians -- United States -- Biography.
Length
• viii, 518 pages, [16] pages of plates : index, chapter notes, principal sources
A fascinating man, the architect of much of the research effort in WWII, including the preliminary studies in the US on the atomic bomb. A brilliant mind, a tinkerer, with wide-ranging interests, not a very political man, but very effective in marshalling research & expertise to move technology, manufacturing – especially during the war – along. I’d heard of him before, in relation to WWII, & finally tracked this down. He missed on digital & computers, & on rocketry. But other than that, he was there.
The last stand of Fox Company : a true story of U.S. Marines in combat / Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, c2009, Grove Press, 951.9042 DRUR 2009.
Subjects
• United States. -- Marine Corps. -- Marine Regiment, 7th. -- Battalion, 2nd. -- Company F.
• United States. -- Marine Corps -- Officers -- Biography.
• Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Campaigns -- Korea (North) -- Changjin Reservoir.
• Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Regimental histories -- United States.
• Marines -- United States -- Biography.
• Changjin Reservoir (Korea) -- History, Military -- 20th century.
Notes
• The hill -- The attack -- The siege -- "We will hold" -- The ridgerunners.
• "Includes a powerful new afterword"--P. [4] of cover.
Summary
• This compelling account offers the story of the courageous mission of the Marines of Fox Company who found themselves surrounded and greatly outnumbered by Chinese forces near Chosin Reservoir in North Korea during the Korean War. In subzero weather, these heroic marines fought to secure the Toktong Pass while fending off Chinese troops for five nights. This is the story of those brave men and the major losses they suffered in their desperate struggle before finally being relieved.
• During the Korean War, 234 heroic marines from Fox Company, First Division, held off a force of 10,000 Chinese soldiers in subzero weather to secure the Toktong Pass near Chosin Reservoir. This is their story.
Excellent storytelling, under harrowing conditions in N. Korea. A terrifying story of bravery amidst military confusion, horrible weather, bad strategy & half-trained & inadequately equipped Marines, far from the coast they ordinarily train for, holding off masses of Chinese regulars.
The guns at last light : the war in Western Europe, 1944-1945 / Rick Atkinson, 940.5421 ATKI 2013.
Subjects
World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Western Front.
Summary
Tells the dramatic story of the titanic battle for Western Europe from D-Day to the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich.
This book is the magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson's acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II. It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now he tells the most dramatic story of all -- the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of the European war, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich -- all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. Atkinson tells the tale from the perspective of participants at every level, from presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified teenage riflemen. When Germany at last surrenders, we understand anew both the devastating cost of this global conflagration and the enormous effort required to win the Allied victory. With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson's accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West. - Publisher.
Series
The liberation trilogy ; v. 3
Length - 877 pages : excellent maps, photos
Excellent thus far. This volume concentrates on the ETO, not Africa, not Italy - treated separately. Lots of detail, lots of history (the 2nd landing in Southern France, which went very well - no thanks to PM Churchill). Fascinating history, lots of supporting detail from people who were there. I've read his book on the African campaign, may read the Italian one day - depends on how much time I can devote to it.
Atomic tragedy : Henry L. Stimson and the decision to use the bomb against Japan / Sean Langdon Malloy, 1972- , c2008, Cornell University Press, 940.5425 Mall.
Subjects
• Stimson, Henry L. -- (Henry Lewis), -- 1867-1950.
• Atomic bomb -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- United States.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Japan.
• Hiroshima-shi (Japan) -- History -- Bombardment, 1945.
• Nagasaki-shi (Japan) -- History -- Bombardment, 1945.
• United States -- Military policy -- Decision making.
Notes
• Introduction : "Its use must weigh heavily on our minds and on our hearts" -- The education of Henry L. Stimson -- The road to Pearl Harbor -- "A most terrible thing" -- "The international situation" -- The ordeal of Henry L. Stimson -- Hiroshima and Nagasaki by way of Potsdam -- The last full measure -- "The full enumeration of the steps in the tragedy" -- Conclusion : "a grave and continuing responsibility."
Insight into Sect. War Stimson & the decision to use atomic bombs on Japan. Stimson was a Victorian, he fought against the use of submarines, area bombing, needless attacks on civilians. He was deeply conflicted over the use of the atomic bomb on civilians, but took over the Manhattan Project in 1942. A decent man, WASPish, elitist, hoping for the spirit of Christianity to allow men self-control & preserve the fragile World economy & civilization.
This book is very hard on Stimson & the decision to use a-bombs on Japan - that the a-bomb as configured was intended to attack cities & civilians, rather than military targets. A lot of detail to the decision to bomb Japan with a-bombs. UK alliance, the specter of the Soviets & OPGU, relentless political suppression in E. Europe. Excellent background on a series of decisions that apparently will remain controversial until the heat death of the universe.
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