HAILE SELASSIE: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

Published in 2021 by Hourly History.

Haile Selassie is one of those men that shows up here and there in a detailed histories of the twentieth century, but I didn't know much about him beyond his determined stand against colonialism before and after World War II.

This small e-book filled in a lot of blanks for me. The Hourly History series consists of biographies and histories that take about an hour to read and, to be honest, this book filled in a lot of those gaps for me - enough that I probably won't look into Haile Selassie any further.

The biography tells the story of Selassie's privileged, very connected upbringing in a monarchial Ethiopia. Selassie used those connections to push his way to the top, but also to tried to modernize his country in order to protect it from European colonization. Imperial Japan did something similar 50 years earlier (not a connection made in the book - just an observation from a history teacher that took a couple of Japanese history classes in college.)

Selassie's life was interesting and often quite tragic. He often was a symbol more than he was substance. He inspired the Jamaican Rastafarian movement, even though he ad nothing to do with it. His pleas to the League of Nations about Italian aggression proved it to be a great idea but an empty promise in the time of actual need. His attempts to modernize Ethiopia made people question the need to have an outmoded style of government led by a man who who wasn't willing to adept to modern times.

I rate this short biography 4 stars our of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Haile Selassie: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History.

SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS: A HISTORY from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

 

Published in 2024 by Hourly History.

Hourly History's telling of the events of September 11, 2001 is surprisingly well-told for a history that is supposed to take a person about an hour to read. 

Is this a complete history? Hardly. Why not? Read the first paragraph again.

But, it gets all of the elements across in broad strokes - the motives of the hijackers, the reasons for their targets, and the mass casualties - but not as bad as they could have been thanks to the bravery and professionalism of the NYPD and FDNY.

The book moves on to discuss the aftermath, including tearing down the remains of the buildings, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, beefed up airport screenings, and the invasion of Afghanistan in order to search for the Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists responsible for the attacks. All of it is tied up neatly in a bite-sized e-book that younger readers (not kids, but younger adults that simply don't remember 9/11) could read to grasp the basics.

I rate this e-book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: September 11 Attacks: A History from Beginning to End.

A PAPER ORCHESTRA (audiobook) by Michael Jamin

Published in 2024 by 3 Girls Jumping.
Read by the author, Michael Jamin.
Duration: 9 hours, 39 minutes.
Unabridged.

Michael Jamin is a professional Hollywood screenplay writer. He works in television, working on comedy shows like King of the Hill, Just Shoot Me, and Tacoma FD.

In the afterword he talked about his desire to write something more than TV shows. He wasn't unhappy with writing screenplays, but he wanted to branch out. 

The stories in A Paper Orchestra are from Jamin's life. Some are funny, some wistful, some very sad. As a group, they all have the feel of NPR's Moth Radio Hour - but instead of having a variety of performers, it is all from the same man.

Jamin read the audiobook. In the afterword, he and his wife talked about how they worked together so that he could perform these stories live on stage. She is an actress and she helped him with presentation style - and I think she was successful at it.

I worked my way through this audiobook rather slowly. At the end of almost every story I stopped and let it marinate a bit rather than going on to the next story. For that reason, I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

A Paper Orchestra can be found on Amazon.com here.