DWD's Reviews

Published in 2014 by Simon and Schuster (AUDIOWORKS) Read by the author, Jimmy Carter Duration: 6 hours, 33 minutes Jimmy Carter and I have a strange relationship. Don't get me wrong, the 39th President and I have never met and are not likely to. I think that his presidency was, on balance, a well-intentioned mess and his post-Presidential career has been a mix of amazing achievements (Habitat for Humanity, for example) combined with annoying commentary and self-intervention into areas where he was not invited (ask Bill Clinton what he thinks of Carter's self-appointed mission to North Korea during the Clinton Administration). This book only re-affirms my impressions of Jimmy Carter. I admire his religious faith and his intimate knowledge of the scriptures. I also admire his willingness to learn about other faiths and the fact that he teaches in his church's Sunday school. His work through the Carter Center has also been a mixed bag of amazing work against poverty ...

Disappointing Published by HarperAudio in 2007 Read by Sam Tsoutsouvas Duration: 12 hours, 56 minutes Jay Winik's April 1865 is one of my favorite Civil War histories - it holds a very safe place on a shelf that has to be purged on a regular basis to make room for new books because it is a brilliant history.  Before I go on with this review I must note that I listened to the abridged audiobook version of this book (so far as I can determine, there is no unabridged version). Despite the abridgment, this book still clocks in at nearly 13 hours. Some of my criticisms are undoubtedly due to the abridgment. Winik's thesis in this book is that the time period from 1788 to 1800 was a time of revolutionary ardor and that most of the great European powers were affected. Victor Hugo wrote:  “One can resist the invasion of armies;  one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.” Winik looks at how the ideas of America's Founding Fathers and the French philosophes affected...

Published by Brilliance Audio in 2006 Read by the author, John J. Nance Duration: approximately 6 hours. This near future science fiction book is actually a ¨near past¨ book now. Written in 2006 but set in 2009 (why would Nance set the date so close to the date he published it? I just ignored the date and went on).    The premise of the book is that private, simplified space shuttles are regularly flying back and forth to the international space station, to put satellites into orbit and to take space tourists for a day trip into space and back. Kip Dawson, a salesman, has won a trip to space - the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. His wife, however, is sure that this trip will result in disaster and has told Kip that if he goes she is leaving with the kids and going back to live with her father. Kip decides to go anyway, figuring he will make up with his wife when he comes back. But, when a tiny meteor passes through the shuttle, destroying the radios and drilling a h...

Sometimes Brilliant, Sometimes Lacking and Sometimes Just Plain Wrong Published in December of 2008 by HarperCollins This is the 65th review of a book that is somehow connected to the Civil War that I have written. I am also a teacher of American history. I only mention this so that the reader knows that I do not come to my critiques of this book lightly. In Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel , Butzer has attempted to do something that would be tough no matter who the author is - tell the entire story of Gettysburg in just 80 pages of a graphic novel. By the entire story, I mean why the war was going on in the first place, the status of both sides when the battle started, the battle itself and dealing with the dead, the wounded and the dignitaries that came to nose around afterwards. It also includes the decision to make a special cemetery at Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address and a discussion of the famed speech, plus additional comments and a bibliography. If I were asked to...

Re-published in 2008 by Galaxy Press Before L. Ron Hubbard became famous for Scientology and ultimately made Tom Cruise's life a perennial target for the tabloids he wrote a whole bunch of short stories for the pulp magazines from 1936 to 1950. Galaxy Press has been re-releasing them in small collections as paperbacks and audiobooks. This collection consists of four short stories. L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) in 1950 The first story is "The Great Secret" which was originally published in Science Fiction Stories in April of 1943. It is an okay story about a man who is willing to give anything to find out what the secret of a great, lost civilization was. Story number two is "Space Can" - the best story in the bunch. Originally published in Astounding Science Fiction in July of 1942 it features a fight between two space fleets and the hand-to-hand combat that ensues. "The Beast" is a forgettable safari tale based on Venus rather than A...

Multicast performance Duration: 3 hours, 25 minutes National Public Radio (NPR) has gone through its archives and pulled out almost thirty stories about World War I in honor of the 100th anniversary of the start of the war. The stories range from interviews with soldiers to interviews with historians and authors.  World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker in his Spad plane in October of 1918. Topics include a look at pre-World War I Europe, a look at the creator of the  Sopwith Camel, discussions of several battles, hand-created masks for men whose faces were damaged in the war, a mini-biography of America's famed flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, a look at the post-war Bonus Army and audio visits to several World War I museums, including one that recognizes Herbert Hoover's efforts to feed Belgium during the war (mostly forgotten in America). The audio quality of all of these stories is excellent since they were all originally broadcast on the NPR network. They are ...

Originally Published in 1944-1945 Published by HarperAudio Read by Robert Whitfield Duration: about 3 hours. First published as a newspaper serial in 1944-45, The Great Divorce  is a fictional look at heaven and hell. The story is not so subtly built to be a vehicle for Lewis to discuss his major themes, including God's forgiveness, the pride of men and women who chose to remain in hell rather than accept heaven and the respect and power accorded to those with strong faith in heaven.  C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) This short book (160 pages in print, 3 hours as an audiobook) starts with the narrator riding a bus away from a disagreeable grey suburban town. The town is not really a bad place but its residents are all difficult in some way and they squabble and then move away from each other.  Later, the reader learns that the grey town is purgatory or hell, depending on the person. From time to time a free bus comes to the town and its residents can ride to a new...