Someplace Like America: Tales from the New Great Depression Review

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Someplace Like America: Tales from the New Great Depression ReviewDefinitely one of the most important books I've ever read and a sobering one at that. It is one I wish all Americans would read, because it reveals the faces of struggling fellow citizens, the likes of which we haven't seen in these numbers since the Great Depression. "Someplace Like America" is like a real-life, modern-day version of the torment Steinbeck laid out in "The Grapes of Wrath" all those years ago, albeit with numerous stories in various places across America.
As Maharidge himself states, this is a journalistic effort, not a wonky policy book, but he deftly weaves in how various political/policy decisions over the years have resulted in the suffering of Americans regardless of class, age race, sex or region of the country. We are all vulnerable, now more than ever.
My only complaint with the book is that due to the structure, it didn't feel like it really flowed and felt "all of a piece" for a while, and that's probably because it builds on previous books/articles and then moves into the present day, so there isn't necessarily a strong continuum in places. It starts in the 1980s, jumps to the 90s and 00s, revisits some of the individuals and families Maharidge and Williamson encountered previously, and then proceeds forward to document more current struggles throughout America.
Regardless of my quibbles, I found this to be a most enjoyable read, even though the subject matter is heavy and hard to take at times. It is a remarkable piece of work, and a true modern-day classic.Someplace Like America: Tales from the New Great Depression OverviewIn Someplace Like America, writer Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael S. Williamson take us to the working-class heart of America, bringing to life--through shoe leather reporting, memoir, vivid stories, stunning photographs, and thoughtful analysis--the deepening crises of poverty and homelessness. The story begins in 1980, when the authors joined forces to cover the America being ignored by the mainstream media--people living on the margins and losing their jobs as a result of deindustrialization. Since then, Maharidge and Williamson have traveled more than half a million miles to investigate the state of the working class (winning a Pulitzer Prize in the process). In Someplace Like America, they follow the lives of several families over the thirty-year span to present an intimate and devastating portrait of workers going jobless. This brilliant and essential study--begun in the trickle-down Reagan years and culminating with the recent banking catastrophe--puts a human face on today's grim economic numbers. It also illuminates the courage and resolve with which the next generation faces the future.

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Kansas City Then & Now 3 Review

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Kansas City Then & Now 3 ReviewVery interesting collection of photographs and information, particularly for someone curious about the development and evolution of Kansas City's urban core.
The book contains photographs and descriptions of many of the downtown intersections as they were at some point in the past and as they were again in 2007. It is interesting to see some of the downtown buildings that remain today as they were decades earlier. The focus is definitly on downtown, though there are a few photographs from areas like Merriam and Waldo.
The book contains a fair amount of Kansas City history -- information about the Blue River (and a photo with hundreds of uniformed sailors, many rowing along the river), the stockyards, the genesis of the Nelson-Atkins, the municipal airport, TWA headquarters, the location of Harry Truman's haberdashery, the Muehlebach family, Katz drugstores, The Savoy Grill, Harzfeld's, Petticoat Lane . . . and more. I think it would be meaningful to someone who already has some minimal understanding of Kansas City history -- someone familiar with the names and places. There narrative supports the photographs, but it doesn't provide a stand-alone history lesson. Nor is it an introduction to KC's hot spots --
The photography is just so-so. Part of the issue is that the photographs are restricted in location -- the photographer is trying to capture the scene from the same angle and vista of the original, decades-old shot, which is no doubt limiting. In my mind, many of the 2007 images don't quite capture the scene as well as they could, but that is perhaps because the photographer is simply trying to capture a specific location rather than the essence of an area.
I also found much of the narrative difficult to follow. Each photograph is captioned with a description of the changes. I sometimes found it difficult to locate what was being described in the caption or to understand what exactly the caption was expressing vis-a-vis the photograph.
Overall, though -- a good book for anyone interested in Kansas City's development, particularly around downtown.Kansas City Then & Now 3 OverviewUntil the 21st century, Kansas City grew outward, gobbling up farms and fields and converting them to stores and shops and subdivisions. Now, the city is also looking to its roots, building a new buzz near the place where it all began - downtown. What better time to take another look at where we've been than today?Kansas City Then & Now 3 does just that. As did its two predecessors in The Kansas City Star's popular series, this volume compares photographs of life long ago with the same scenes today. The "then" scenes remain intriguing as ever, but these days the "now" is often as beguiling. Kansas City Then & Now 3 shows a Kansas City that's turning out as exciting as any time in history. So take a trip through time, and be ready for another fascinating ride.

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The Song of the Whales Review

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The Song of the Whales ReviewThe book is for children. So, I gave it to my 10 year old daughter (her reading comprehension is at a high school level though) for her thoughts on the book. After she got over the fact that she wasn't going to get paid for the review and we settled on the word review rather than report, she was fine with reading the book to review. She loves to read. Her head is always buried in a book. Her first reaction to the story was that it was kind of cliche (her word). She saw the list price on the book and commented on that also. But, here is her review in her own words:
My Review on the Songs of Whales
The book "The Songs of Whales" in my opinion is alright, but is not worth the $16.00 they're trying to sell it for. There isn't much of a plot, and is not action filled which is what I personally look for in a book. There is a little language*, and is appropriate for only kids ages ten and up. I do not advise having kids any younger read this book, unless they are very mature. I would say this book is an ok read, but not the best I've had.
* she told me the word "damn" is in the book.
The Song of the Whales Overview

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The Organ Grinder And The Monkey Review

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The Organ Grinder And The Monkey ReviewInspired by the work of Sam Moffie, after reading NO MAD, I was extremely pleased to find that THE ORGAN
GRINDER AND THE MONKEY is as descriptive, and intelligent. The author is one of a kind, a master in creating unique characters, who come to life, with personalities the reader will remember. Seymour's dream is to
be a veterinarian, after he graduated college, he takes a trip to New York to fulfill his dream. Irving decides that he wants to join the New York City Police Department, after his haunting memory of being lost
on a field trip in his younger days, and being rescued by a police officer. Although Constance has a wealthy
family, the good fortunes were never shared with her. Her dream in life is to become a Rockette, but after
moving to New York City, she dances in a strip-club, where survival is the name of the game. With perfection,
the author weaves the lives of these three characters into an outrageous, humorous story in non-stop action, page-after-page. The life of each character and how they react to challenges and struggles is blended with
precision into the unfortunate of today's society as they venture out into the real woorld, and learn through
experience the difference between dreams, and reality. I highly recommend this novel to contemporary fiction
lovers, and anyone who enjoys an interesting story, packed with emotion, and humor. Sam Moffie has an
incredible imagination as he paints his creativity into an unforgettable dialogue, while the fast-paced
storytelling moves along with delight. Does Constance survive New York City? What factors in Seymour's life
left him emotionally traumatized? Do the three characters share anything in common? How did Irving's upbringing influence his attitude on the solutions to life's problems? As we read on, the author invites you
to step into a roller-coaster-ride of mixed-emotions, broken dreams, and psychological twists-and-turns
through the lives of dysfunctional personalities. The more you read, the more addicted you become to Sam Moffie's distinctive, refreshing, and hilarious voice. "THE ORGAN GRINDER AND THE MONKEY" is as entertaining as TRADING PLACES and as funny as ANALYZE THIS, with Robert De Niro, and Billy Crystal.The Organ Grinder And The Monkey OverviewSeymour Petrillo, Irving Hanhart and Constance Powers. Three private protagonists from vastly different backgrounds ultimately share a very public secret. From Steubenville, Ohio (Petrillo) to Boardman, Ohio (Powers) to Brookline, Massachusetts (Hanhart)-the three protagonists' imaginative and individual experiences are detailed. From humorous to outrageous to tragic, the reader is taken on a journey that finds an ending in New York City.

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The Organ Grinder: A Dutchman Historical Mystery (Five Star First Edition Mystery) Review

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The Organ Grinder: A Dutchman Historical Mystery (Five Star First Edition Mystery) ReviewMaan Meyers's "The Organ Grinder" is a mystery story set at the end of the 19th century. This page turner, the seventh in their Dutchman Historical series, revolves around a fortune to come to a prostitute, Irene Hull, aka Delia Swann who doesn't live to see, let alone enjoy, her coming inheritance, but neither do a half dozen others, some involved with the young woman as well as others who just happened by at the wrong time. To heighten the tension, in addition to Delia's death, subplots include a missing gold heart-shaped locket of special significance to the victim and her stalkers.
Maan Meyers is expecially talented at characterization both in physical and personality attributes, and though there are a dozen or so, Meyers clearly distinguishes them one from the other without demeaning the reader with trite, cardboard portraits. One of the strengths of the book is its effective use of dialogue to portray character. In that process, the language is often coarse and racist, painful to read, but I never felt it was gratituitous vulgarity or out of character. That was 1899 and that's the way it was in working class 1899. The ugliness of that language also caused me to be grateful for the progress of 110 years.
There were also other moments of the use of language that cause one to perceive things in fresh ways, e.g., "watching fireflies having themselves a light flashing party"; (re: automobiles) "You didn't have to feed it anything but gasoline and oil. You didn't have to clean up after it. And it didn't bite you"; "cooler, damper air blew through the woods bearing mixed perfumes;" etc.
A joy of "The Organ Grinder" also lies in its great sense of place and time; never tedious, the novels shows you the environment of the era, its architecture, the burst of energy prompting developing corporations and inventions, e.g, the motor car and the National Automobile Association. This book is jam-packed with history on every page, presented through descriptions of clothing, whorehouses as well as silk hat brothels, etc.
Finally, I found it interesting that the book is written in short, dated and timed chapters which accelerate the pace of an already fast-moving novel. In that development the authors can hold separate six or eight characters and six points of view, all roiling around death and dying, simultaneously victims and heroes desperately struggling to find the locket, escape with the money, bring justice or revenge to the killer. "The Organ Grinder" is a page turner so addictive you won't be able to put it down. Only in the denouement does it falter where the final pages seem to wander and lack some of the clarity of all that has come before.The Organ Grinder: A Dutchman Historical Mystery (Five Star First Edition Mystery) Overview

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