Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Reviews of new books

Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Reviews of new books
Goebbels: A Biography

Book Review: Peter Longerich’s ‘Goebbels: A Biography’ is Excellent, Appalling, and Instructive

REVIEW: Yes, it's true: Joseph Goebbels Helps today's GOP. Often considered the father of modern propaganda, Goebbels foreshadowed the GOP playbook in terms of distortion, deception, and dishonesty. Peter Longerich's "Goebbels: A Biography" (ISBN: 9781400067510) is excellent, appalling, and instructive.
The Influence Machine

Book Review: In Katz’s ‘The Influence Machine’ Taxpayers Foot the Bill for The USCC

REVIEW: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a tool for the forces of evil. Don't believe it? You can read about their anti-American and anti-humanity actions in "The Influence Machine: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life" (ISBN: 9780812993288), an excellent modern-day piece of muckraking by Alyssa Katz.
Simmons Illustration: America Ascendant

Book Review: Greenberg’s ‘America Ascendant’ Gives Us Hope for the 21st Century

REVIEW: Positive feelings about the USA can sometimes be in short supply but Stanley B. Greenberg's “America Ascendant: A Revolutionary Nation's Path to Addressing Its Deepest Problems and Leading the 21st Century” (ISBN: 978-1250003676) offers optimism and the promise of a better future. Wouldn't it be great if he's correct?
Felicia Day

Book Review: Take Heart, Felicia Day, Because ‘You’re Never Weird on the Internet’ Miss Nerd

REVIEW: Fun, breezy, and ultimately uplifting, Felicia Day's "You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) [A Memoir]" (ISBN: 9781476785653) is good for chuckles, guffaws, and a shipload of laughs. I'm not a gamer. I don't watch webisodes. I've never tuned in to see Supernatural, Eureka, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And up until this week I had never heard of Felicity Day. Oops, I mean Felicia Day.
The Dark Net

Book Review: Shining a Light on the Digital Underground of ‘The Dark Net’ and It’s Not Very Pretty

REVIEW: You can find anything on the Internet. Proving that in “The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld” (ISBN: 9781612194899) is author and social media analyst Jamie Bartlett. Turns out that a lot of the online netherworld is pretty wild (and often not very pretty).
The Big Short

Book Review: ‘The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine’ is fast-paced and fact-packed

REVIEW: A modern-day horror story of how people in our financial system "fiscally raped" us, “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” (ISBN: 9780393338829) is a fast-paced and fact-packed book made exciting by the superb writing of Michael Lewis.
Why the Right Went Wrong

Book Review: So Many Reasons ‘Why the Right Went Wrong’ in Conservative Politics

REVIEW: Greed, bigotry, and treason head the list of “Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond” (ISBN 9781476763798), the generally helpful new book from E.J. Dionne, Jr.
The Shock Doctrine

Book Review: Fiscal Rape in ‘The Shock Doctrine’

REVIEW: Naomi Klein reveals how the United States exports disaster capitalism in her powerful classic 'The Shock Doctrine' (ISBN: 9780312427993), a book that should be required reading for every government official and knowledgeable voter
Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

Book Review: ‘Saving Capitalism’ by Robert Reich is a Capital Idea

REVIEW: Almost everyone who examines capitalism comes away with finger-and-thumb firmly pinching the nose. Taking a positive approach, Robert Reich exposes the faults but also recommends solutions in his superb "Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few" (ISBN: 9780385350570).
Killing the Messenger: The Right-Wing Plot to Derail Hillary and Hijack Your Government

Book Review: ‘Killing the Messenger’ Skewers Hillary Haters

REVIEW: David Brock goes after the American Taliban hate machine in 'Killing the Messenger: The Right-Wing Plot to Derail Hillary and Hijack Your Government' (ISBN: 9781455533763). Debunking the anti-Clinton memes and fake scandals is a never-ending job, so let us give thanks that Brock is willing to tackle it.
Dark Money - Book

Book Review: Dark Souls with their ‘Dark Money’

REVIEW: Jane Mayer will get your blood boiling in her superb 'Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right' (ISBN: 9780385535595). Every chapter reveals monsters who are perverting the ideals of America.

Book Review: Numbers in the Raw Equal ‘Naked Statistics’

REVIEW: Before fleeing in horror from a book about numbers and mathematics, take a moment to consider the humor of Charles Wheelan's “Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data” (ISBN: 978-0-393-34777-7). Odds are you'll enjoy it. Well, at least sixty or seventy percent of it.

The post Book Review: Numbers in the Raw Equal ‘Naked Statistics’ appeared first on MuseWire.

Book Review: Supreme Injustice in ‘Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable’

REVIEW: Demonstrating how the malignancy known as Conservatism has repeatedly poisoned the Supreme Court of the United States, "Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted" by Ian Millhiser (ISBN: 9781568584560) is detailed, horrific, and important.

The post Book Review: Supreme Injustice in ‘Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable’ appeared first on MuseWire.

Book Review: Writer Bites Boss in Barton Swaim’s ‘The Speechwriter’

REVIEW: Barton Swaim has done what every writer secretly longs to do: publish the unvarnished reality about his jerk employer. Too short to be called a tell-all, 'The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics' (ISBN: 9781476769929) is an interesting portrait of a stupid and disgusting Republican politician (as if there's any other kind).

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Book Review: Nix On Nixon – ‘One Man Against the World’

REVIEW: Richard Nixon embodied nearly everything that is evil about Conservatives, and then he added alcoholism and paranoia to the mix. In Tim Weiner's 'One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon' (ISBN: 9781627790833), the revelations from Nixon's recently-released secret tapes go beyond the deceitfulness we already knew about Tricky Dick.

The post Book Review: Nix On Nixon – ‘One Man Against the World’ appeared first on MuseWire.

Book Review: ‘Rise of the Robots’ – They’re coming to take your job!

Robotics, politics, and economics -- they're coming to take your job. That's just one warning in "Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future" (ISBN: 9780465059997), Martin Ford's quietly frightening book that's actually more about economics than robotics.

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Book Review: If You Know Nada about Dada – ‘Destruction Was My Beatrice’

REVIEW: It may sound like baby-talk but Dada was a controversial art movement that flared up during World War I and insisted on taking unconventionality to new heights. "Destruction Was My Beatrice: Dada and the Unmaking of the Twentieth Century" (ISBN: 9780465089963) by Jed Rasula presents a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of Dadaists as they attempted to forever alter art and literature.

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Book Review: My, What Big Science You Have! Dealing with the Dreaded Military-industrial Complex

REVIEW: Making things go 'boom' is just one result of the incredible journey of the scientists working with Ernest O. Lawrence. His besmirch and destruction lairs -- oops, I mean research and development facilities -- shaped our modern age. Michael Hiltzik takes you up close and personal with the people of “Big Science” (ISBN: 9781451675757) who put us on the road to dealing with the dreaded military-industrial complex.

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Will Humans be the Next Extinction? Welcome to Doomsday in Kolbert’s ‘The Sixth Extinction’

BOOK REVIEW: If humanity keeps on its present course, the result may well be “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” (ISBN: 9781250062185). Elizabeth Kolbert's writing is delightful even as her book documents a doomsday scenario.

The post Will Humans be the Next Extinction? Welcome to Doomsday in Kolbert’s ‘The Sixth Extinction’ appeared first on MuseWire.

Book Review: Finding a Funny Continent in Bryson’s ‘The Lost Continent’

REVIEW: Chuckles, chortles, grins, guffaws and belly laughs. You'll find all that and more in 'The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America' (ISBN: 9780060920081), a wonderfully observant and politically incorrect book from Bill Bryson.

The post Book Review: Finding a Funny Continent in Bryson’s ‘The Lost Continent’ appeared first on MuseWire.

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