Taming the Street

Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism by Diana B. Henriques

This is the story of the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission by FDR in order to try and bring the country out of the great depression. It is hard to believe but before 1933 there were no regulations of the banking and stock exchange industries. This meant insider trading and shady deals were standard operating procedures, and the basis of the 1929 crash where the filthy rich stayed rich and the rest of the country went broke.

There was a lot of objections to FDRs attempts to put in place regulations, and interesting enough FDR was basically part of the social class of all the people who were the corrupt people who were part of the problem. Many insteresting aspects come out in this book, which at first could seem like a really boring economics story, but the personalities involved were complex. Joseph Kennedy was the first commissionar of the Securities and Exchange, which surprised me. He came off as a much more interesting person that I expected he would be.

The Times

The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism by Adam Nagourney

This is a history of the New York Times, more or less since 1970, and documents how the Times made the transition from print to a media/internet company, and all the pitfalls that involved. Mostly the story of how the news side really did not agree with the business side on what direction the company should take. Lots of this books is about the personalities involved, and egos, that shaped the company. I found it interesting that the Times is still a family owned business, owned by the family that acquired it in the late 1800s.

The Doing of the Thing

The Doing of the Thing: The Brief, Brilliant Whitewater Career of Buzz Holmstrom by Vince Welch (Author), Cort Conley (Author), Brad Dimock (Author)

This story of Buzz recounts his experiences as the first person to run the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon as a soloist. As a contemporary of the people in 'Brave the Wild River' he knew some of the same people and their lives intersected. He lead a rather directionless life, but became a skilled boat person. He also achieved some fame for his early exploits, but as river running became more popular his exploits were no longer that unique so he drifted between jobs and adventures. This is a good contrast to the 'Brave' story as it provides different aspects of the same time period.

Why We Love Baseball

Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments. by Joe Posnanski Many of the stories of baseball in this book are ones we have heard before and that have been told a number of times. But being all collected in one place it makes for a pleasant read. I would say that Posnanski's other recent book, "The Baseball 100" was more interesting to me, it seemed more focused, but taken together we get a pretty comprehensive look at baseball.

No Crying in Baseball

No Crying in Baseball: The Inside Story of A League of Their Own: Big Stars, Dugout Drama, and a Home Run for Hollywood by Erin Carlson This is the story of the film, and of course the most famous line from the film that still endures. Also, this is biography of Penney Marshall land the difficulties she had to make the film, but also the success that came along with making the film. Many great behind the scenes stories of the filming and preperation. For many of the actors in the film this had a lasting affect on them and their careers and was not just anoth gig. A companion piece to this would be "The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham". I think between these two books we have descriptions of two of the best movies about baseball, both about obscure teams, one real one fictional. Incidentally "A League..." is the most successful baseball movie of all time.

Daughter of the Dragon

Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History. by Yunte Huang. This biography of the Chinese-American actress covers her life from the early 1900s to her death in the early 1960s. She grew up in Los Angeles, her father owned a laundry where she worked as a teenager, but became interested in the theater and film at an early age. This is of course the story of descrimination in the US, most chinese characters in films were played by white people made to look 'oriental'. She was mostly able to get bit stereotypical parts, with a few successes. She had more success on the stage and did spend several years in China before WW2 studying Chinese theater.

Rocky Mountain High

Rocky Mountain High: A Tale of Boom and Bust in the New Wild West, by Finn Murphy This second book by the auther of Long Haul, which was about the long distance moving business, is about the culture of growing hemp in Colorado as it was legalized several years ago. The author is great at describing the details of the business and the pitfalls involved, the gold rush mentality around legalizing that sent things into the stratosphere. But also he is good at telling the bigger picture story of the history of hemp and the culture that develops around boom and bust economies.