Saturday, March 30, 2019

Review: They Were Her Property: White Women and the Economy of American Slavery by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

Title: They Were Her Property: White Women and the Economy of American Slavery
Author: Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication Date: February 19, 2019
Edition: Hardcover (320 pages)
Genres:
  • Nonfiction
  • African American History
  • Civil War
  • Slavery
  • United States History
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers presents a compelling and startlingly detailed narrative concerning southern white women and their relationship to slavery in the American South, prior to and during the Civil War, as well as during Reconstruction. She dispels the myth that southern white women were not intimately involved in the slave trade as well as ownership of slaves. The barbaric nature of the institution of slavery is at the forefront of this work.

This book is an emotional read for anyone who, like me, cares deeply about human rights. The inhumanity to man revealed here is of epic proportion, and this book details the nature of slavery, the involvement of women as owners of enslaved people, and their appalling treatment of human beings. I had to pause, often, as I read this book, to get a grip on my emotions. It is difficult to put into words the anger and sadness this book evoked in me. And this narrative is not based on supposition or interpretation. It is based on historical evidence, often in the words of enslaved people themselves.

Friday, March 29, 2019

Lynn's List (March 29, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

  • Evil Angels: The Case of Lindy Chamberlain by John Bryson
  • The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Terror by Alan Prendergast
  • Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders by Greg King
  • Changing Habits by Debbie Macomber
  • Witness to Nuremberg: The Many Lives of the Man who Translated at the Nazi War Trials by Richard W. Sonnenfeldt
  • She's Not There by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith
  • Season In Hell: My 130 Days in the Sahara with Al Qaeda by Robert Fowler
  • American Public Opinion: Its Origins, Content, and Impact by Kent L. Tedin and Robert S. Erikson
  • The Cornwalls Are Gone by James Patterson
  • The 12-year Reich: A Social History Of Nazi Germany 1933-1945 by Richard Grunberger
  • They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
  • Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11 by James Donovan
  • Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream: The Most Revealing Portrait Of A President And Presidential Power Ever Written by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • I'll Be Watching You by Courtney Evan Tate
  • Starvation Shore by Laura Waterman
  • Deadly Pursuit: A 2-in-1 Collection by Lynette Eason
  • The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
  • The Winter People: A Novel by Jennifer Mcmahon
  • The Woman at 46 Heath Street by Lesley Sanderson
  • Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White by William Sturkey
  • The Search for Justice: Lawyers in the Civil Rights Revolution, 1950–1975 by Peter Charles Hoffer
  • The International Law of Belligerent Occupation by Yoram Dinstein

Monday, March 25, 2019

Review: Cemetery Road by Greg Iles

Title: Cemetery Road
Author: Greg Iles
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: March 19, 2019
Edition: ebook (608 pages)
Genres:
  • Fiction
  • Mystery
  • Suspense
  • Thriller
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marshall McEwan, an acclaimed journalist, returns to his hometown in Mississippi because his father is dying, and his mother needs his help. His goal is to get his family's newspaper on solid financial footing so it can be sold. However, a lot more awaits him. Murder. Town secrets. Deception. Betrayal. An old love interest with its own set of killer complications.

Anyone who had read a Greg Iles book knows all about the intensity and fast-paced cornerstone of his writing. This one does not disappoint. I was engaged from the first few sentences to the last. Emotions bubble to the surface so quickly, I barely had time to process one before another crashed into me. Another great read.

Friday, March 22, 2019

Lynn's List (March 22, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

  • A Weird and Wild Beauty by Erin Peabody
  • The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon's Josephine by Andrea Stuart
  • Alger Hiss: A New Look at the Case that Made Nixon Famous by Joan Brady
  • The Long Surrender by Burke Davis
  • The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act by Clay Risen
  • Bulletins from Dallas: Reporting the JFK Assassination by Bill Sanderson
  • Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith
  • South of Broad: A Novel by Pat Conroy
  • American Murder: Three True Crime Classics by Darcy O'Brien
  • Blood and Money: The Classic True Story of Murder, Passion, and Power by Thomas Thompson
  • Fly Away Home: A Novel by Marge Piercy
  • Maori: A Novel by Alan Dean Foster
  • Broken Honor by Patricia Potter
  • Voyage of the Damned: A Shocking True Story of Hope, Betrayal, and Nazi Terror by Max Morgan-Witts and Gordon Thomas
  • Strike!: The Farm Workers' Fight for Their Rights by Larry Dane Brimner
  • My Daughter's Secret by Nicole Trope
  • Leap of Faith: Hubris, Negligence, and America's Greatest Foreign Policy Tragedy by Michael J. Mazarr
  • The Agitator: William Bailey and the First American Uprising against Nazism by Peter Duffy
  • Run Away by Harlan Coben
  • Rising Water: The Story of the Thai Cave Rescue by Marc Aronson
  • The Parade: A Novel by Dave Eggers
  • No Horizon Is So Far: Two Women and Their Historic Journey across Antarctica by Cheryl Dahle
  • Three Mile Island (Images of America) by Erik V. Fasick
  • The Neighbor by Joseph Souza
  • Head Games by Mary B. Morrison
  • The Good Fight: A Novel by Danielle Steel
  • Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea Ritchie
  • The Mafia Hit Man's Daughter by Marc Songini, Linda Scarpa, and Linda Rosencrance
  • At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America by Philip Dray
  • The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner
  • The Data Gaze: Capitalism, Power and Perception (Society and Space) by David Beer
  • It's Up to the Women by Eleanor Roosevelt and Jill Lepore
  • Black and White: Disrupting Racism One Friendship at a Time by Teesha Hadra and John Hambrick
  • Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour by Dennis Davern
  • With Malice: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of Officer J. D. Tippit by Dale K. Myers
  • Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from a Terrifying Cult by Natasha Stoynoff
  • The Salt House: A Novel by Lisa Duffy
  • The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler
  • The Ice Beneath Her: A Novel (Hanne Lagerlind-Schon #1) by Camilla Grebe and Elizabeth Clark Wessel
  • Taking the Stand: My Life in the Law by Alan Dershowitz
  • The Housemate: a gripping psychological thriller with an ending you'll never forget by C. L. Pattison
  • The Oceans Between Us by Gill Thompson
  • The Future of Reading by Eric Purchase
  • Last Kiss Goodnight: A heart-breaking story of lost children and the power of a mother's love by Teresa Driscoll
  • The Next Girl: A gripping crime thriller with a heart-stopping twist by Carla Kovach
  • The Shadow of Death: The Hunt for the Connecticut River Valley Killer by Philip E. Ginsburg

Sunday, March 17, 2019

Review: The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump by Andrew G. McCabe

Title: The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump
Author: Andrew G. McCabe
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: February 19, 2019
Edition: ebook (288 pages)
Genres:
  • Biography
  • History
  • Memoir
  • Politics
  • Presidents
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Andrew G. McCabe joined the FBI in 1996, and served as deputy director from February 2016 to January 2018. He was fired by President Donald Trump hours before his scheduled retirement from the Bureau. This book details Mr. McCabe's career with the FBI and his contacts with the White House--but, more than that, it explains how the FBI investigates cases, solves crimes and works to fight terrorism.

It is well- written and well thought out. Informative. It also provides perspective concerning where we are now, as a country, and what we need to do to regain the ground lost as a result of the conduct of the Trump Administration.

Friday, March 15, 2019

Lynn's List (March 15, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

  • The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel by Heather Morris
  • You All Grow Up and Leave Me: A Memoir of Teenage Obsession by Piper Weiss
  • Simply Clean: The Proven Method for Keeping Your Home Organized, Clean, and Beautiful in Just 10 Minutes a Day by Becky Rapinchuk
  • The Library Book by Susan Orlean
  • An Extraordinary Union (The Loyal League #1) by Alyssa Cole
  • No Turning Back by Nancy Bush
  • The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II #1 (World War II #1) by Jeff Shaara
  • The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou by Maya Angelou
  • The Alchemist's Daughter: A Novel by Katharine Mcmahon
  • The Zanzibar Chest: A Story of Life, Love, and Death in Foreign Lands by Aidan Hartley
  • The Civil War Papers of George C. McClellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865 (Quality Paperbacks Ser.) by Stephen W. Sears
  • A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam by Lewis Sorley
  • Worry Less, Live More: God’s Prescription for a Better Life by Robert Morgan
  • Forgotten Fires of Chicago: The Lake Michigan Inferno and a Century of Flame (Disaster Ser.) by Alex A. Burkholder, John F. Hogan, and Robert Hoff
  • Dear America: The Story of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
  • On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
  • The Widows: A Novel by Jess Montgomery
  • Under the Midnight Sun: A Novel by Keigo Higashino
  • The Other Girl: A Novel by Erica Spindler
  • Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis
  • The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson
  • Snooze: The Lost Art Of Sleep by Michael McGirr
  • Finding Magic: A Spiritual Memoir by Sally Quinn
  • When You're Gone: A heartbreaking page turner full of family secrets by Brooke Harris
  • Hearts in Harmony (An Amish Journey Novel #1) by Beth Wiseman

Monday, March 11, 2019

Review: Diana of the Dunes: The True Story of Alice Gray by Janet Zenke Edwards

Title: Diana of the Dunes: The True Story of Alice Gray
Author: Janet Zenke Edwards
Publisher: History Press
Publication Date: July 1, 2010
Edition: ebook (163 pages)
Genres:
  • Nonfiction
  • Biography
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the story of Alice Gray, a Chicago woman, who left her life there and moved to the sand dunes of Indiana, in 1915, to live a mostly solitary life in an abandoned fisherman's shack. She died there in 1925. The media reported her story with a relentlessness that both confounded and angered her. So much so that she took legal action which she did not live to see completed.

I had never heard of Alice Gray until I read this book. I read it because I've long been interested in people who make the choice to live a solitary life. I found it interesting and well written. A good read.

Friday, March 8, 2019

Lynn's List (March 8, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

  • Divine Collision: An African Boy, An American Lawyer, and Their Remarkable Battle for Freedom by Bob Goff
  • At Any Cost: Overcoming Every Obstacle to Bring Our Children Home by Hayley Jones and Mike Jones
  • The Family Next Door: A Novel by Sally Hepworth
  • Star of the North: A Novel by D. B. John
  • Stopping Hitler: An Official Account of How Britain Planned to Defend Itself in the Second World War by G. C. Wynne
  • Lincoln's Greatest Journey: Sixteen Days that Changed a Presidency, March 24–April 8, 1865 by Noah Andre Trudeau
  • The Final Service by Gary W. Moore
  • In the Enemy's House: The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian Spies by Howard Blum
  • Enemy of the People: Trump's War on the Press, the New McCarthyism, and the Threat to American Democracy by Marvin Kalb
  • The Necessary Marriage by Elisa Lodato
  • Friends Like These: A gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist by Sarah Alderson
  • The Orphan Sisters by Shirley Dickson
  • The Last Thing She Told Me by Linda Green
  • How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
  • How to Save a Constitutional Democracy by Aziz Z. Huq and Tom Ginsburg
  • The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It by Yascha Mounk
  • It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics by David Faris
  • Ransom Canyon (Ransom Canyon, #1) by Jodi Thomas
  • The Collaborator: The Trial & Execution of Robert Brasillach by Alice Kaplan
  • The Cuckoo's Calling (A Cormoran Strike Novel #1) by Robert Galbraith
  • Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff
  • Welcome to Marwencol by Chris Shellen and Mark E. Hogancamp
  • Wish You Well by David Baldacci
  • Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli
  • Lost Children Archive: A novel by Valeria Luiselli
  • Bowlaway: A Novel by Elizabeth McCracken
  • Leading Men: A Novel by Christopher Castellani
  • Henry and Clara: A Novel by Thomas Mallon
  • Dewey Defeats Truman by Thomas Mallon
  • Fellow Travelers: A Novel by Thomas Mallon
  • Mrs. Paine's Garage and the Murder of John F. Kennedy: and the Murder of John F. Kennedy by Thomas Mallon
  • Watergate by Thomas Mallon
  • Landfall: A Novel by Thomas Mallon
  • A Cold Dark Place (An Emily Kenyon Thriller #1) by Gregg Olsen
  • It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promise to Black America by Reniqua Allen
  • Two Souls Indivisible by James S. Hirsch
  • The Sisters Antipodes: A Memoir by Jane Alison
  • The Amateurs: The Story of Four Young Men and Their Quest for an Olympic Gold Medal by David Halberstam
  • Escape to Pagan: The True Story of One Family's Fight to Survive in World War II Occupied Asia by Brian Devereux
  • Jeffersons Second Revolution: The Election Crisis Of 1800 And The Triumph Of Republicanism by Susan Dunn
  • The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism by Upton Sinclair
  • George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon by Stephen W. Sears
  • Murder Over Kodiak: An Alaska Wilderness Mystery Novel by Robin Barefield
  • The Fisherman’s Daughter: Is a serial killer stalking women on Kodiak Island? by Robin Barefield
  • Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire by John N. Maclean
  • Murder on Shades Mountain: The Legal Lynching of Willie Peterson and the Struggle for Justice in Jim Crow Birmingham by Melanie S. Morrison
  • Fifty Years Below Zero: A Lifetime of Adventure in the Far North by Charles D. Brower
  • Notes From The Warsaw Ghetto: The Journal Of Emmanuel Ringelblum by Emmanuel Ringelblum
  • Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor’s True Story Of Auschwitz [Illustrated Edition] by Olga Lengyel
  • And Social Justice for All: Empowering Families, Churches, and Schools to Make a Difference in God's World by Lisa Van Engen
  • The Lost Night: A Novel by Andrea Bartz
  • Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
  • Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest by Angela Stent
  • Nervous States: Democracy And The Decline Of Reason by William Davies
  • Lightly: How to Live a Simple, Serene, and Stress-free Life by Francine Jay
  • The Irishman's Daughter by V. S. Alexander
  • Forgiveness Road by Mandy Mikulencak
  • Backlash by Lisa Jackson
  • The Reconciliation by Susan Lantz Simpson
  • The Homecoming by Andrew Pyper
  • American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt by Karen Harper
  • The Third Wife: A Novel by Lisa Jewell
  • A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America's Schools by Rachel Devlin
  • Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt
  • The Housewife: A completely addictive and gripping psychological thriller by Valerie Keogh
  • The Family at Number 13 by S. D. Monaghan
  • Tell Me No Lies by Alex Sinclair
  • The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson
  • The Ice House by John Connor
  • In the Valley of the Sun: A Novel by Andy Davidson
  • Daddy's Gone A Hunting by Mary Higgins Clark
  • Terror by Rail: Conspiracy Theories, 238 Passengers, and a Bomb Train: The Untold Stories of Amtrak 188 by Lynn Radice
  • 1942: The Year That Tried Men's Souls by Winston Groom
  • Blood and Money: The Classic True Story of Murder, Passion, and Power by Thomas Thompson
  • Survival in the Shadows: Seven Jews Hidden in Hitler's Berlin by Barbara Lovenheim
  • One Dark Night by Tom Bale
  • A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago's Southside to the Ivy Leagueand Beyond by Craig Robinson
  • The Huntress: A Novel by Kate Quinn
  • Waking the Frog: Solutions for Our Climate Change Paralysis by Tom Rand
  • Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie
  • The Liars' Gospel by Naomi Alderman
  • Disobedience: A Novel by Naomi Alderman
  • The Power by Naomi Alderman
  • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff
  • Prosecutors in the Boardroom by Rachel E. Barkow and Anthony S. Barkow
  • Dear George, Dear Mary: A Novel of George Washington's First Love by Mary Calvi
  • Brown White Black: An American Family at the Intersection of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion by Nishta J. Mehra
  • Secrets of a Marine's Wife: A True Story of Marriage, Obsession, and Murder by Shanna Hogan
  • The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump by Andrew G. McCabe
  • Aroused: The History Of Hormones And How They Control Just About Everything by Randi Hutter Epstein
  • Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham
  • The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner
  • The Stone Frigate: The Royal Military College's First Female Cadet Speaks Out by Kate Armstrong
  • In All the Wrong Places by Donna Anders
  • All the Wrong Places: A Life Lost and Found by Philip Connors
  • The Object of Your Affections by Falguni Kothari
  • Brass Ring by Diane Chamberlain
  • Crying is for Babies: Based on a True Story by Tricia McGill
  • Lonely Vigil by Walter Lord
  • Diana of the Dunes: The True Story of Alice Gray by Janet Zenke Edwards
  • In Another Time: A Novel by Jillian Cantor
  • Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson
  • The Real Wallis Simpson: A New History of the American DivorcĂ©e Who Became the Duchess of Windsor by Anna Pasternak
  • Before She Knew Him: A Novel by Peter Swanson
  • Cemetery Road: A Novel by Greg Iles
  • A Woman Is No Man: A Novel by Etaf Rum
  • The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood
  • The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit in by Ayser Salman
  • This Much Country by Kristin Knight Pace
  • Shadow Chasing: A Novel (Debbie Macomber Classics) by Debbie Macomber
  • After the Eclipse by Fran Dorricott
  • The People's Republic of Walmart: How the World's Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialismby Michal Rozworski and Leigh Phillips
  • Dangerous People: A Library of America eBook Classic by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Holocaust: The Human Tragedy by Martin Gilbert
  • Nature's Mutiny: How The Little Ice Age Of The Long Seventeenth Century Transformed The West And Shaped The Present by Philipp Blom

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Review: This Much Country by Kristin Knight Pace

Title: This Much Country
Author: Kristin Knight Pace
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: March 5, 2019
Edition: Hardcover (336 pages)
Genres:
  • Nonfiction
  • Autobiography
  • Alaskan Wilderness
  • memoir
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kristin Knight Pace graduated from high school and set out on the adventure of a lifetime, culminating in both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod sled dog races. She tells her story, falling in love with a man she met on the Internet, moving to Montana, and then to Alaska. She shares her personal heartbreaks and triumphs and the magical and primal beauty of Alaska, its people and its topography.

The descriptions in this book are beautifully written. As I read, I could see the mountains, rivers, and the splendor of the land in my mind's eye, as if seeing a picture. Kristin's love for her dogs and the land beckoned me on as I read. I was enthralled by the lifestyle and solitude of the wilderness. The dichotomy of Alaska became clear as I read--the beauty and awesome expanse--and the force of nature that takes skill to survive.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Review: The Ice House by John Connor

Title: The Ice House
Author: John Connor
Publisher: Orion
Publication Date: June 18, 2015
Edition: ebook (320 pages)
Genres:
  • Fiction
  • Thriller
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Carl Bowman's job is to do what he's hired to do, kill! When he is on site, he finds he cannot kill ten-year-old Rebecca Martin. So, instead, he takes her away with him. Her home has exploded, and he wants to keep her safe until he can reunite her with her mother. But when he turns to family for help, he's left to figure out who is friend and who is foe.

John Connor has penned a fast-moving and intricately put together tale. One that begins by asking why would anyone want to kill a child? And, finally, how can anyone hate so much? This was a good read.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Lynn's List (March 1, 2019)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

  • The Wahhabi Code: How the Saudis Spread Extremism Globally by Terence Ward
  • The Gestapo: A History of Horror by Jacques Delarue
  • The Promise: A Tragic Accident, a Paralyzed Bride, and the Power of Love, Loyalty, and Friendship by Rachelle Friedman
  • Stroke of Luck (Sterling's Montana) by B. J. Daniels
  • Missing Daughter by Rick Mofina
  • They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
  • The Next to Die by Sophie Hannah
  • The Secret of Clouds by Alyson Richman
  • Close to Home (Di Fawley Ser. #Bk. 1) by Cara Hunter
  • The FBI Profiler Series 6-Book Bundle by Lisa Gardner
  • The Detective D. D. Warren Series 5-Book Bundle by Lisa Gardner
  • Do Less, Be More: The Power of Living Fully Engaged by John Busacker
  • 150 Survival Secrets: Advice on Survival Kits, Extreme Weather, Rapid Evacuation, Food Storage, Active Shooters, First Aid, and More by James C. Jones
  • Gideon's Call: A Novel by Peter Leavell
  • The Valley of Dry Bones: A Novel by Jerry B. Jenkins
  • Josiah's Treasure by Nancy Herriman
  • Daughter of Jerusalem by Joan Wolf
  • The Power of an Ordinary Prayer: The Extraordinary Power Of An Ordinary Prayer by Michael W. Smith
  • Hello, My Name Is: Discovering Your True Identity by Matthew West
  • 2 Chairs: The Secret That Changes Everything by Bob Beaudine