The History Book Club discussion

Dave K, this is your thread for 2018. I have included the link to the required format thread and an example. If you had a 2017 thread - it will be archived so when you get the opportunity move over your completed books and formats to the 2018 thread - but we will allow time for you to do that.

Please follow the standard required format below - I hope you enjoy your reading in 2018. Here is also a link for assistance with the required guidelines:

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Our Required Format:

JANUARY

1. by Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: January 2018
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review: You can add text from a review you have written but no links to any review elsewhere even goodreads. And that is about it. Just make sure to number consecutively and just add the months.

IMPORTANT - THE REVIEW SHOULD BE SHORT AND SWEET - THERE ARE NO LINKS OF ANY KIND IN THE BODY OF THE REVIEW ALLOWED. NONE. DO NOT REFER TO ANY OTHER BOOK IN YOUR BRIEF REVIEW. THE ONLY BOOK CITED IN YOUR REVIEW IS THE ONE YOU ARE REVIEWING - NO OTHERS. ALL LINKS TO OTHER THREADS OR REVIEWS ARE DELETED IMMEDIATELY - THERE WILL BE NO WARNING. WE CONSIDER THIS SELF PROMOTION AND IT IS NOT ALLOWED AND IS IN VIOLATION OF OUR RULES AND GUIDELINES.

Dave, this is your new 2018 thread. I sent you a PM with a link to this thread and told you that the 2017 thread is still accessible but archived.

JANUARY

1. by Michael Connelly
Finish date: January 3, 2018
Genre: Mystery/Thriller Fiction
Rating: A
Review: This is the second of Connelly's books focusing on reporter Jack McEvoy, now at the LA Times - a world that Connelly knows well. At least that is where McEvoy is at the start of the book, but anyone familiar with the world of print publications knows that world is undergoing upheavals. But that is the least of McEvoy's troubles. He and a reporter charged with learning his job so she can take over when he is let go in two weeks, stumble onto a serial killer that should make you very afraid of putting any personal information on the internet. The scenario sounds all too plausible. Fortunately, McEvoy doesn't have to deal with the killer totally alone. We also see a return of FBI agent Rachel Walling. Between the two of them, they seem ready for anything. So they seem...

2. by Iain M. Banks
Finish date: January 8, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: B
Review: What was I thinking? I've just finished the first book in yet another VERY long series of science fiction books - The Culture Series. It takes place during the Culture - Idiran War. The Culture is a human civilization that has developed and now thrives with an assist from artificial intelligence. The Idirans are alien and quite strong and aggressive about protecting their civilization and religion from anything they perceive as a threat. Interestingly, you don't really get a sense of one side being the "good guys" or the other being the aggressors. I enjoyed the story, but it could have been much shorter. There are elements, some of which were a bit on the gross part in the first third of the book that just didn't seem necessary. But eventually, our protagonist, a shape-shifter, reaches the point where he either fulfills his destiny or dies trying.

3. by Lisa Brochu
Finish date: January 10, 2018
Genre: Museum Studies
Rating: A-
Review: Not exactly a page turner, but an interesting and helpful examination of just what goes into interpretation at a museum, nature center, historic site, etc.

Good progress Dave

4. by Beverly Serrell (no photo)
Finish date: January 14, 2018
Genre: Museum Studies
Rating: A-
Review: Step-by-step instructions on creating exhibit labels that museum visitors will actually read. There is a lot more to it than one might imagine.

5. by Jennifer Egan
Finish date: January 18, 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Manhattan Beach is a historical novel set in the Depression and WWII that includes gangsters, unions, the Merchant Marine, a young girl who grows up to become a US Navy diver - and most of all, the sea. Egan tells a good story and I enjoyed the book to the end - yet somehow still felt a bit dissatisfied. A minor annoyance is her tendency to constantly call a gun a gat or a rod. It got tiring.

6. by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Finish date: January 19, 2018
Genre: History/Science
Rating: B
Review: To call this a book of science is a bit misleading. Yes, it deals with the basic chemical elements' discovery and properties, but it truly is, as the subtitle describes, a cultural history of the elements. How did they infiltrate popular culture, whether in person as jewelry, art and objects of everyday life, or in literature and drama. My only complaint is that the book ran on a little long, but was quite fascinating for the most part. And who knew that Sweden was such a hot spot of elemental discovery?

7. by Nina Simon
Finish date: January 24, 2018
Genre: Museum Studies
Rating: B-
Review: This book probably deserves a higher rating than I gave it. It is loaded with examples for museums, historic sites, libraries and other institutions of how to go beyond the typical one-directional information sharing process with its visitors. Some of the suggestions are strictly for larger venues, employing expensive high tech equipment and services. Others are as simple as markers and sticky notes.

Perhaps it was a little overwhelming for me in one take, and there was definitely a fair amount of repetition. It's a book that I know will prove useful to me, but it is not an easy read.

Wow Dave you are going strong

Bentley wrote: "Wow Dave you are going strong"

Thanks. Yes, definitely a good start this year.

8. by Aldous Huxley
Finish date: January 26, 2018
Genre: Museum Studies
Rating: B-
Review: I just re-read this classic for a book club and my rating holds steady. It is obviously a classic and set high marks for future dystopian novels. Yet I just couldn't get absorbed in it. I was grateful that it was relatively short. At times, though, the writing shone but it just wasn't consistent enough (says the nobody, critiquing one of the great English writers). Ah well. Quoting another often-dystopian writer, "So it goes."

9. by C. Vann Woodward (no photo)
Finish date: January 30, 2018
Genre: African American History
Rating: A
Review: The Strange Career of Jim Crow is an absolutely classic history book that deserves to be read now, more than 60 years after its first publication. First published in 1955, the short book is a collection of lectures by Woodward which he then updated twice in the 1960s and 1970s. But don't let the word "lecture" scare you off. This is an eye-opening history of black and white relations immediately after the civil war to the late twentieth century. It reads easily and will probably take you by surprise.

FEBRUARY

10. by Samantha Chmelik (no photo)
Finish date: February 3, 2018
Genre: Museum Study
Rating: B
Review: This book covers scenarios for museum managers that range from exhibits and education to fiscal management. It will get you thinking about practical and ethical situations you might run into as a museum manager or board member. They are open ended, giving advice on what questions to consider but leaving the actual possible solutions up to your contemplation or class discussion. In a few cases, I think we don't quite get all the information we need to reach solid conclusions, but for the most part these case studies offer good learning opportunities.

11. by Leslie Bedford (no photo)
Finish date: February 6, 2018
Genre: Museum Study
Rating: B
Review: This book gets pretty philosophical about museum exhibitions and sometimes goes right over my head. But the main message is clear: when developing exhibitions, always keep in mind that you want to tell a story that allows the visitor's imagination some room to play. Keep that in mind, along with the always important question, "So what?" That puts you well on the way to a memorable and successful exhibition.

12. by Christopher Moore
Finish date: February 7, 2018
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Humor
Rating: B+
Review: (NOTE: I received an advanced copy of this book in a publisher giveaway.)

You know, several times while reading Noir, I thought that this is not Moore's best effort. Yet he managed to make me laugh out loud often enough, and sometime - just when you were sure where he was going - he threw in a fun twist. So by the end of the book, I was smiling and realizing that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a classic noir setting in San Francisco shortly after WWII. There was one anachronism that I notices, but even that was fun and, I suspect, intentional. There are two primary points of view: Sammy, a sort of gimpy bartender, and...well, that would be a spoiler to reveal the other point of view. You'll just have to read the book and enjoy the ride as Moore takes you all around postwar San Francisco - Chinatown, Dark Town, the Fillmore, Nob Hill, the Embarcadero and other sites.

13. by J.G. Ballard
Finish date: February 12, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: B
Review: This disturbing novel, written in 1975, is like Lord of the Flies for adults and on steroids. It also has one of the most , shall I say, interesting first lines. Nope. No spoilers here. You'll have to at least open to the first page if you're intrigued.

It tells the story of a high-rise apartment building whose last resident has just moved in. It's a luxurious building on the edge of London with swimming pools, schools, a shopping concourse and more within its walls. All is not well, however, as minor inconveniences related to the infrastructure - elevators, power outages, poor air conditioning and such - begin to grow. Meanwhile, a class hierarchy has already started to build between the tenants on the top floors and those on the lower floors. These two elements cascade to unbelievable results. And yet, when you read about real world accounts of road rage and other violence by otherwise intelligent, "normal" people, maybe it isn't so far-fetched.

14. by Wayne C. Booth (no photo)
Finish date: February 17, 2018
Genre: Reference, How-To
Rating: A
Review: This is the 4th edition of a classic book for students. It is a thorough guide to writing a research paper, from developing a theme to final organization and writing tips. I've been writing for a long time and I picked up some excellent ideas and reminders.

15. by Chris Enss
Finish date: February 18, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: C
Review: (NOTE: I won an advance copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway)

This book is composed of a series of anecdotes about several women who worked for Allan Pinkerton's detective agency and several who acted as Union spies during the Civil War. The title is a bit misleading because the greatest focus is on the Civil War spying. Dangerous as that was, the few stories about the detective work were actually more interesting - although their techniques would never hold up in today's law courts. Times have changed, generally for the better. Part of the problem is that the Pinkerton records were destroyed in a fire, so Enss is mostly dependent on the memoirs of Pinkerton, written long after the events. The style of the writing and the events themselves make it difficult to tell whether the author or Pinkerton himself may have gotten a little carried away with embellishment.

All in all, these are entertaining stories, but I would be hesitant to call them pure history.

16. by Virginia Scharff
Finish date: February 20, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: A-
Review: Virginia Scharff was the first historian to look closely at women and the early days of the automobile. She tells a great story that most of us are not aware of. Cars are generally associated with masculinity so it was interesting to read about exceptions to the rule.

17. by Carl Hiaasen
Finish date: February 23, 2018
Genre: Fiction, Humor
Rating: A-
Review: There are some things that you can predict in most of Carl Hiaasen's fiction. The natural environment and threats to it will be featured. The protagonists are real people, if a bit off kilter. You will laugh. In spite of these consistencies, you will always find surprises. In this particular book, you get a wonderful blend of reality TV, the mob, restaurant cleanliness, a woman with a unique money-making scam, and a former cop trying to get his job back, save his home's pristine view, and solve a mystery. What's not to love?

MARCH

18. by Anna Johnson (no photo)
Finish date: March 5, 2018
Genre: Museum Studies
Rating: B
Review: Another good how-to book for anyone who has thoughts about working on the exhibit or education side of a museum.

19. by Rebecca Skloot
Finish date: March 7, 2018
Genre: Medical History
Rating: A
Review: I finally got around to reading this book, which I heard so much about from so many people. It is fascinating from the standpoint of medical history and heartbreaking in terms of human empathy. Henrietta Lacks suffered greatly from a particularly virulent form of cancer and her cells live on in testing labs around the world. The story that Skloot tells of how her family learned of Henrietta's fate and that of her cells is well told.

20. by Judy Diamond (no photo)
Finish date: March 17, 2018
Genre: Museum Studies
Rating: B-
Review: This is a solid, step-by-step guide to evaluating exhibits and other educational efforts at museums, historic sites, nature centers, etc. It covers work prior to creating the exhibit, during the construction and after it is done. Many of the methods are really designed for larger institutions with larger budgets, which accounts for the middle rating.

21. by Peter F. Hamilton
Finish date: March 19, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: B
Review: I am now two-thirds of the way through this LONG science fiction series. I am enjoying it, but it is not without its faults. It spans the galaxy and as more worlds and people are introduced, it is getting more and more difficult to keep people, planets and subplots straight. But the subtitle, "Conflict," is appropriate as the conflicts build and we are heading for quite a conclusion. And what is the answer? If the dead are returning from some kind of mysterious afterlife and taking over the bodies of the living, what is the point in killing them? They will only come back, right? Two books left to sort out this conundrum.

22. by Jean V. Matthews (no photo)
Finish date: March 21, 2018
Genre: Women's History
Rating: A
Review: This book is an excellent summary of the history of the "New Woman," the women who first began to declare their independence and step out into the world unaccompanied by men. The women who fought for the vote and eventually won it. This covers the period roughly from just before the Civil War to the 1920s.

23. by Erving Goffman
Finish date: March 22, 2018
Genre: Advertising
Rating: A
Review: Erving Goffman presents analysis of gender roles and general treatment in the print advertising of the 1970s. He studies everything from relative positioning of men and women to even the cant of a woman's body indicating subordination to men. One of the most surprising conclusions from his research is that even well into the second wave of feminism in the late 20th century, women are treated as inferior to men by advertisers. Way to win over half of your audience!

24. by Helen Woodward (no photo)
Finish date: March 25, 2018
Genre: Advertising
Rating: B
Review: Helen Woodward was among the first women to achieve success in the man's world of advertising. In this book, written in 1960, she gives a history and critique of women's magazines. Her first person account and criticisms are fascinating even if her biases are obvious. She had plenty of reason to be biased in her era.

25. (no image) "Are They Selling Her Lips?": Advertising And Identity by Carol Moog
Finish date: March 28, 2018
Genre: Advertising
Rating: B
Review: Written in the 1980s, this book analyzes advertising of a variety of products from cars to cosmetics during that decade, pointing out the positive and negative in how women are portrayed in these ads.

26. by Thomas E. Ricks
Finish date: March 31, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: B
Review: This parallel biography of Winston Churchill and George Orwell offers some interesting historical and biographical info which I enjoyed, but I wound up at the end wondering the same thing that I did at the beginning: Why put these two together in a book. I almost get the feeling that Ricks was eager to write about Churchill but there is so much already written about the man that he was desperate to find a new hook. That hook was Orwell, but it didn't really work. As one member of a book club I'm in put it, their lives were parallel but never intersected.

Dave, in message 30, when there is no picture of the book cover, use the link and precede it with "(no image)", like so -

(no image) "Are They Selling Her Lips?": Advertising And Identity by Carol Moog

APRIL

27. by Steven Johnson
Finish date: April 5, 2018
Genre: History, Technology
Rating: A
Review: Wonderland is a book by an author that I have enjoyed in the past so I was really looking forward to this book. And I enjoyed it, but I can't help feeling a bit misled by the subtitle and the synopsis inside the front cover. One chapter focused on toys and games, the other chapters described other non-essential activities that had an impact on other more essential inventions or discoveries. It would have been more accurate for the subtitle to be "How Our Search for Pleasure Made the Modern World." Apart from that, though, it is a fascinating book following early inventions developed long ago and tracing their evolution through history to become something essential or at least very important in the modern world.

28. by S.M. Stirling
Finish date: April 12, 2018
Genre: Alternate History Fiction
Rating: B-
Review: NOTE: I received an advanced reader copy of this book through a publisher giveaway.
Black Chamber is the first volume in a new alternate-history series by Stirling in which Teddy Roosevelt gets his second full term, Mexico has become part of the United States and the U.S. operates a clandestine organization called the Black Chamber. Our heroine is an agent for this group, trying to avert disaster as Roosevelt debates whether to enter the Great War. It's a fun story, and as long as that's the main thing you're looking for, the book holds up well. But our heroine is just a bit too perfect, as are her parents and other mentors. Her skills are almost superhuman, her luck too good to be true. But some days, this is exactly the kind of escape from reality that you want, so enjoy.

29. by Julia Rose (no photo)
Finish date: April 19, 2018
Genre: Museum Studies
Rating: B+
Review: This book is part theory, part practice, in dealing with the subject of difficult history - and a lot of history can be described as difficult. In the U.S., the obvious topic is slavery which can lead to difficulties around Civil War memorials. But there are plenty of other difficult topics - Rose says that anything dealing with trauma or violence will have challenges in its interpretation. Native American historical sites, internment camps for Japanese-Americans during WWII, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan, medical trials on unknowing patients, the treatment of the mentally ill. All of these and many more represent difficult histories that museums and historic sites need to interpret - or ignore, as has often been the case.

Much of Rose's book focuses on working with museum staff to do more thorough research in order to tell a more complete story. She also provides suggestions based on case histories and psychological theory on overcoming resistance, both from museum workers and the public.

30. by Neal Stephenson
Finish date: April 23, 2018
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B-
Review: Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galiland have written a fun, if overlong novel about time travel, not through science, but through magic. D.O.D.O. is a small government agency working to bring magic back to the world. Yes, back to the world. In their alternate world, magic once existed until it was crowded out by science. But the US Government has learned that an unnamed foreign power is working on bringing magic back and weaponizing it so an arms race begins.

The small agency grows into a huge bureaucracy (that is very fond of acronyms, which Stephenson and Galiland have a lot of fun with). Vikings invading a Wal-Mart, arming themselves with hunting rifles all to gain access to GPS maps - well, that is just one of the crazy scenes you'll experience...if you have the patience to get through the slower parts.

31. by Garry Wills
Finish date: April 24, 2018
Genre: Religion
Rating: A
Review: This short but enlightening book is a must-read for non-Muslims in America today. Unfortunately, the people who most need to read it are the people least likely to do so. As one of those very people might say, "Sad." Wills makes it eminently clear through quotes from the Qur'an and his analysis and interpretation that, just as Christian fundamentalists have sometimes twisted the words of the Bible, Muslim fundamentalists have done the same to the Qur'an. The result: ample documentation that Islam is the religion of peace that the vast majority of its believers claim it to be. He also blows up other myths, such as Islamophobes' fears of Sharia law. Knowledge, such as provided in this book, would go a long way to reducing fear, but as I said, the ones most in need of this book are the very ones least likely to read it.

32. by Kevin Peraino (no image)
Finish date: April 30, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: B+
Review: This book focuses on the events of just a little more than one year - 1949 to early 1950 - and a lot happened in that time. It marked the final takeover of mainland China by Mao and his communist followers, the start of the Korean War, and even early efforts to halt the spread of communism into southeast Asia. With today's relations with China in flux, it can be helpful to understand the very earliest relations - or lack thereof - between the People's Republic and the USA. We also get a brief hint of China's earlier contacts with western powers, and that, combined with the events of 1949, make it clear just why tensions have been so high between the US and China.

MAY

33. by David Gerrold (no photo)
Finish date: May 2, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: This is a short science fiction classic first published in 1973 that explores the possibilities of time travel, including alternate timelines and parallel universes. Unlike so many time travel stories that warn you against meeting yourself when traveling, Gerrold revels in that scenario, even describing a non-stop poker game involving multiple versions of himself at various ages playing against each other. When one gets tired and pops out to return to his own time, another usually pops in.

There is one element that is a little predictable, but I certainly won't hold it against Gerrold. Chances are that he was among the first to introduce the kind of twist that I will avoid mentioning due to spoilers, and it is only predictable because it has been copied many times since 1973.

34. by Colson Whitehead
Finish date: May 5, 2018
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: This book by Colson Whitehead has won many awards, and deservedly so. The characters are wonderfully drawn and the time period vividly recreated. Cora, a slave on a Georgia plantation, is about to discover that life can get even worse as a brutal new owner takes over the plantation. As a result, she decides to emulate her mother's feat of many years ago and escape. She joins another slave, Caesar, in bolting to a station on the underground railroad - a literal railroad that runs in hidden underground tunnels. A very persistent slave catcher is on her trail, forcing her to keep moving. The book may have elements of an adventure, but its strength is in its character development and Whitehead's pacing in doling out information in small parcels, adding to the drama.

35. by Louise Erdrich
Finish date: May 10, 2018
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B
Review: If you follow this author, you've probably already heard that this is not your typical Louise Erdrich novel. Yes, it takes place in the upper Midwest and some of the characters are Native Americans living on a reservation, and the characters are like real people you might know in your own life. But Erdrich takes a stab at a dystopian novel with the world facing a genetic de-evolutionary crisis that threatens all life. It eventually becomes sort of a "Handmaid's Tale Lite." Not that there is anything light about the threat to women posed by government or nature. After a relatively long build-up, the action reaches a head rather abruptly and the book concludes almost before we are ready for it to end. "Leave them wanting more," I guess.

36. by Nickolas Butler
Finish date: May 12, 2018
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B-
Review: Nelson Doughty, the Eagle Scout, an outcast in youth, a Vietnam War hero in the late '60s, a Boy Scout camp leader later in life, and one of the very few men in this book with a moral compass. We meet him in 1962 at a Boy Scout Camp in northern Wisconsin. The book then follows him and three generations of his only friend's family to a climax at that same camp that proves to be the only disappointing part of the book. It started so well, and it ends a bit sourly. We know something bad is going to happen to Rachel, one of the few strong and well-drawn female characters in the book. But the incident and its aftermath are handled so badly that it tarnishes the rest of the book. And Butler blatantly violates Chekhov's rule about a gun over the fireplace. Ah well. Still, I enjoyed reminiscing about my days at Boy Scout Camp in the sixties.

37. by James Ellroy
Finish date: May 18, 2018
Genre: Noir Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Written in the 1980s, this book creates a 1940s noir atmosphere as Ellroy spins a tale based on a real crime. There are so many twists and turns that you start to take everything with a grain of salt until the conclusion. It is written in the first person voice of LA police officer Bucky Bleichert, and I am torn between admiration for Ellroy in consistently maintaining this voice and a desire to scream "Will you please ease off the period slang!" It really did get distracting for me and sometimes slowed down my reading too much. Despite the fact that I counted only one normal, sane-acting person in the whole book, I am curious to read the other books in Ellroy's LA Quartet.

38. (no image) Chain Stores in America: 1859-1962 by Gedgrey M. Lebhar (no photo)
Finish date: May 23, 2018
Genre: Business History
Rating: B-
Review: This book, written in the mid 1950s and updated in 1962, is written by the publisher of the trade periodical Chain Store Age. Most of the book is dedicated to a history of chain stores in America, starting with early grocers like A & P and Kroger, variety stores like Woolworth's, and drug stores like Walgreen's. His history ends with the beginning of the discount store era, but he doesn't really get very far into that topic because three key discount chains - Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target - coincidentally all were established in the year his book went to press, 1962. representing the chain store industry, he is unapologetic about his bias toward the chains. While that may be expected, the degree to which he takes that biased reporting is surprising. In his view, there are no finer men than those who work in the chains and independent store owners are often portrayed as selfish or incompetent or both. In fact, anyone who opposes them is simply against the American way. It gets old after a while. But it is a fascinating look into the first half of the 20th century through the view of main street retailers and their competitors.

39. by Adam Hochschild
Finish date: May 31, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: B+
Review: King Leopold II of Belgium wanted a colony. Who could blame him? All the European nations had colonies, even tiny Netherlands. He wanted one in the worst way. And when he finally got one, he ran it in the worst way - at least for the natives. This book tells the story of how he managed to gain territory around the Congo River in Africa that was many times the size of his small country. And he gained this territory not for Belgium, but for himself personally. In Belgium, he was answerable to Parliament, but in Belgium, he RULED., and his dictates resulted in an estimated ten million African deaths in just over ten years, from 1894 to 1907. Ten million!

It's a tragic story that was repeated around the world (although perhaps not always as extremely) by other colonial powers who saw non-white natives as less than people. There are a few good guys in this story who became aware of the murder and abuse and tried to tell the world. This is their story too.

JUNE

40. by Stacy Mitchell (no photo)
Finish date: June 5, 2018
Genre: Business
Rating: A
Review: Stacy Mitchell doesn't mince words when she attacks big-box retailers for the damage they do, not just to the local communities where they locate, but to the entire U.S. economy. Not only have they driven small retailers out of business, but they have forced manufacturers to shift production overseas in order to meet their low-price demands. She backs her claims up with pretty solid numbers. She also ends the book on a hopeful note for local businesses with the development of "buy local" movements in towns and cities across the country. Written in 2005 before online retailing became a major threat to chains and independents alike, she has nothing to say about how to survive that. It is likely that some strategies for survival of local business in the battle against chains will be of use in the battle with e-tailers. We'll see.

41. by S.M. Stirling
Finish date: June 6, 2018
Genre: Alternate History
Rating: B-
Review: The northern hemisphere is nearly destroyed by a series of comet impacts in 1879, followed by a nuclear winter. England, under the leadership of Benjamin Disraeli, manages to evacuate some of its population and its government to India. By 2025, the year of the action of this book, England rules about 40% of the remaining people (including much of Southern Africa, Australia/New Zealand, and colonies that are rebuilding in North America) with smaller empires in Japan/China, Russia and France (moved to northern Africa) vying for power. Russia is the literal evil empire here as the czar (who never lost power) has turned the nation to devil worship, human sacrifice, and cannibalism. No problem figuring out who the villain is here. The book isn't deep and neither are the characters, but it's fun.

42. by Raymond E. Murphy (no photo)
Finish date: June 11, 2018
Genre: Business History
Rating: B-
Review: Written in 1972, Murphy examines the downtown areas - the central business districts - of nine mid-size cities along with glances at several international cities and a few major metro areas. Much of the book is spent clearly defining these districts so he and others can make apple-to-apple comparisons. He also gets into the challenges that were facing downtowns in the 1960s and 1970s, and what the future held for these areas. Spoiler alert - he got much right about the future but it didn't always come ab9out in the way he expected.

43. by John Scalzi
Finish date: June 14, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: A
Review: A plague eventually named Haden's disease hits the world and millions of people's minds are "locked in" to their body. Technology is developed that allows them to live a life in an artificial robotic body. So far, so good. One of those Haden sufferers is just starting his first week as an FBI agent, and what a week it turns into: murders, apparent suicides, political maneuverings, healthcare debates reminiscent of today's real world, corporate espionage and various other skullduggery that Scalzi blends into an entertaining story that also manages to include his trademark humor. It isn't directly related to this story, but reading in this book of what might be possible in hacking the latest technology ought to make us very cautious about embracing driverless vehicles too quickly.

44. by Nancy Isenberg
Finish date: June 26, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: A
Review: This is a well-researched look at what many people would like to ignore - the issue of class in America. At times, I lost the thread of the argument or claim that Isenberg was making, but even then, the story itself was compelling. From the earliest indentured servants who had little chance to advance in society to today's "trailer park trash," Isenberg tells of how so many opportunities were denied to poor, uneducated Americans. She also highlights several success stories of poor whites who rose up to become leaders. Or did they? As she points out, some of these stories were pure PR.