Travels With George

Travels With George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy by Nathaniel Philbrick. The author retraces the route that Washingto took at the beginning of his presidency to traverse the original 13 states, test the attitude of the country and promote his federalists ideas. Interesting travelogue and comparisons of Washington's time and now, seeing what is still the same, which is more than you would think, but of course what has changed.

The Car

The Car by Bryan Appleyard. This comprehensive book is a history of, well the car. The author takes us from the early 1800s when the horse was dominant, through the present day and the advent of the electric car. In many ways this is a rehash of stories that we have heard before if you followed the story of autos, Benz, Ford, Chevy, all the names we know. But the writing style is friendly and engaging. Every age has its issues, from the tons of horse manure that inundated cities before the car, to the environmental issues that are coming to light with the rise of the electric car. This book is best read while sitting in front of a computer so you can google the names of cars that the author brings up for different eras. Cars in culture, as status symbols, as liberating machines, in war, as style setters, cars in film, as changing the makeup of how we live and work. While there may be nothing new in this volume, it is comprehensive and weaves together a story that is ever changing and that we are in the middle of living.

No Ordinary Time

No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Supposedly about the US home front in WW2, this is really about Franklin and Eleanor during the war. Which is ok but it gets to be a bit much of them. Many stories of the amazing energy they had, in many ways astounding. It would been nice to have more of other peoples stories. An interesting companion to the books 'Citizens of London' and 'The Splendid and the Vile'.

Citizens of London

Citizens of London by Lynne Olson. This book covers the same time period as "The Splendid and the Vile", 1940 and 1941 London. But where Spendid focuses on Churchill and the British leadership and their set, Citizens focuses on the Americans who were in London for this period. Specifically Averill Harriman, Lend Lease coordinator, Gil Winant, American Ambassodor to Britain and Edward Murrow, war correspondent. Of course Churchill shows up in this book, since he was everywhere during the blitz. The author focuses on the different personalities of the main charecters, and the contrast between living in London with its deprevations and the American experience of the War on the home front, which were basically polar opposites.

The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham

The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham by Ron Shelton. This is the account of the making of the film by the screenwriter and director Shelton. It can be interesting at times, Shelton gives his background as a minor league baseball player when he was in his twenties, an experience that let him mine for the development of the script. There are lots of stories of the studio not supporting the film, which has gone on to become a classic. Shelton is very generous to the actors in the film. He does become bogged down at time with some of the details of the eperience, which feels like it might be a positive thing for him to get off his chest, but slows things down. I skipped over several parts, basically in the second half of the book.

A Prayer for the City by Buzz Bissinger

A Prayer for the City by Buzz Bissinger is a chronicle of the mayorship of Ed Rendell as mayor of Philadelphia in the 1990s, basically the Clinton years. As mayor he came into a city that was a mess, broke, losing jobs, crime ridden and he was able to turn a lot around, but this is a complicated story that is told in a way that you can take apart the pieces and get it. Also the story of the many people in his administration who did the foot work to make things happen.

In addition to the specifics of what was happening in Philadelphia, there is an analysis of the state of the American city, the flight to the suburbs and all the implications of the loss of manufacturing jobs and how that had vast implications for social conditions and the consequences that were involved. This is woven into the larger picture of the Clinton era and how this affected many people.

This is also told from the perspective of many people, not just the mayor, but average people, some who worked for the city, inner city residents of various socio-economic backgrounds, professions from lawyers to clergy to long shoremen.

The Palace Papers

The Palace Papers, by Tina Brown. As the cover image illustrates, this book is focused on the women of the royal family, but not exclusively. Everyone gets dished about equally. I did learn some new things about some of the royal family, much abour Meghan. But at a certain point I really did not want to spend more time with these people. A lot the writing about Prince Andrew I just skipped over. Ok the guy is an ass, I didn't need to know how his assiness manifests itself.

But Tina Brown is an excellent writer, and I was at times amazed by her vocabulary. This does not happen often with modern writers. In all I was really left with the 'what happens after she is gone', which is a major theme of the book.