cello9flute
Chicago Public Library
cello9flute's Completed Shelf
American InheritanceAmerican Inheritance, PaperbackLiberty and Slavery in the Birth of A Nation, 1765-1795
by Larson, Edward J.Paperback - 2023Paperback, 2023
cello9flute's rating:
Added May 17, 2023
The Words That Made UsThe Words That Made Us, BookAmerica's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840
by Amar, Akhil ReedBook - 2021Book, 2021
cello9flute's rating:
Added May 05, 2023
Comment:
This book traces the development of our constitution from 1760 through 1840--sounds like heavy reading--right? But the author manages to present the story in a readable, almost chatty style, while still giving us real substance. He draws from primary sources, speeches and letters of the founding fathers, while keeping the story-line clear so that we don't get lost in detail. I was most surprised to learn that George Washington wasn't just a beloved figurehead--he was smart---as we can learn from dozens of his letters and Amar's explanation of his decisions. What is most discouraging in terms of our present moment is the engagement of the 18th century political leaders, press, and ordinary citizens in thinking seriously about the issues before them while today so many of the same groups seem fixated on name-calling and extraneous issues. this book should be required reading in every high school history class.This book traces the development of our constitution from 1760 through 1840--sounds like heavy reading--right? But the author manages to present the story in a readable, almost chatty style, while still giving us real substance. He draws from…
Woke, IncWoke, Inc, BookInside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam
by Ramaswamy, VivekBook - 2021Book, 2021
cello9flute's rating:
Added Mar 19, 2023
Comment:
I can't praise this book enough. The title is somewhat misleading in that the content will appeal to the entire political spectrum. Chapter 3 :"What's the Purpose of a corporation" is an easy-to-read explanation of one of the basic institutions of our economy and should be read by every high school student!. Chapter 9 is an excellent explanation of how section 230 of the Communications Decency Act gave social media, Twitter, et. al the power to censor speech, often at the behest of the government. And the final chapter is an eloquent explanation of what we need to do to maintain a functioning democracy.I can't praise this book enough. The title is somewhat misleading in that the content will appeal to the entire political spectrum. Chapter 3 :"What's the Purpose of a corporation" is an easy-to-read explanation of one of the basic institutions…
cello9flute's rating:
Added Mar 08, 2023
Comment:
the author and publisher obviously have never read aloud to preschoolers. As soon as they see the baby's bare behind they will laugh at seeing something "naughty". and won't take seriously anything you read thereafter. What a waste
Read This to Get SmarterRead This to Get Smarter, PaperbackAbout Race, Class, Gender, Disability, & More
by Imani, BlairPaperback - 2021Paperback, 2021
cello9flute's rating:
Added Feb 28, 2023
Comment:
this book is so full of misinformation it's laughable. On page 8 the author quotes approvingly a woman who says that since Americans learned how to pronounce Tchaikovsky, Michelangelo, and Dostoyevsky they can learn how to pronounce Asian and African names. What she doesn't realize is that Americans mispronounce French, German, Italian and Slavic names too. On page 65 in portraying a halcyon time before wicked Europeans introduced capitalism she conflates "communalism" with "feudalism" without realizing that the latter involved the oppression of small peasant farmers by a class of nobles who owned the land they worked on. On page 100 she notes that a pope issued a bull supporting slavery in 1452; she doesn't know that in 1462, 1537,1639,1741,1815, and 1839 popes issued bulls condemning slavery. (See "Slavery" by Stanley. Elkins). Slavery has existed since the beginning of recorded history; in the 18th century some British and American activists first said that slavery AS AN INSTITUTION was morally wrong and should be ended. Britain ended slavery in its colonies in the 1830s and thereafter tried to get other countries to do the same. In the Islamic world enslavement of both whites and blacks was present from the 7th century; under great international pressure Qatar ended slavery in 1953and Saudi Arabia in 1963 and Mauretania in 2007. This is just some of the misinformation to be found in this book!this book is so full of misinformation it's laughable. On page 8 the author quotes approvingly a woman who says that since Americans learned how to pronounce Tchaikovsky, Michelangelo, and Dostoyevsky they can learn how to pronounce Asian and…
Me and White SupremacyMe and White Supremacy, BookCombat Racism, Change the World, and Become A Good Ancestor
by Saad, Layla FBook - 2020Book, 2020
cello9flute's rating:
Added Feb 25, 2023
Comment:
The author says on page 8 that, growing up in Great Britain , she
"can count on one hand the number of times I experienced overt racism"--but all the indirect nessages she got!---why--she couldn't find face cream that matched her skin color! Now that's painful. On the next page she says that she does not carry the lineage of enslavement of her ancestors---but her father is from East Africa and she is evidently unaware that for centuries blacks from east AFrica were purchased as slaves by Arabs---the East African women were particularly valued as concubines (sex slaves) for their beauty. So she leaves Great Britain which ended the slave trade in 1807 and for decades thereafter used its fleet to stop slave ships from sailing to the Americas and in the 1830s freed its slaves in the Caribbean , to live in Qatar which ended slavery in 1953 and then there is Muslim Saudi Arabia which ended slavery in 1963 and Mauretania which didn't completely end it until 2007. And did I mention slaves were bought and sold in the Sudan during the war in Dafur? And she's upset because she can't buy face cream in her color in Great Britain! Then there is the way women are treated in the Islamic world versus the way they are treated in white countries. There have been 3 women prime ministers in England/Scotland and a Bipoc woman is VP in the US while women in Saudi Arabia are struggling for the right to drive cars and women in Iran are punished for not covering themselves properly. And here she is making money telling white people how they oppress her! Most of the book is devoted to telling white people the kind of feelings they should and shouldn't have about BIPOC. -The author says on page 8 that, growing up in Great Britain , she
"can count on one hand the number of times I experienced overt racism"--but all the indirect nessages she got!---why--she couldn't find face cream that matched her skin color! Now…
The First ReconstructionThe First Reconstruction, BookBlack Politics in America From the Revolution to the Civil War
by Gosse, VanBook - 2021Book, 2021
cello9flute's rating:
Added Feb 17, 2023
Comment:
I can't praise this book enough! It should be required reading for every black spokesperson and every AP American history class. The book presents the lives of free blacks in the north during the antebellum period. They worked ,often as laborers, but also as small farmers, barbers, caterers, sailors and dock workers. They built their own churches and schools and organized for political action. And of course they helped escaping slaves with their Underground Railroad. This is the Black History that has been ignored or left unstudied until the past 25 years. For those who want to learn more the footnotes provide the names of numerous scholarly works on blacks during this period .I can't praise this book enough! It should be required reading for every black spokesperson and every AP American history class. The book presents the lives of free blacks in the north during the antebellum period. They worked ,often as…
cello9flute's rating:
Added Feb 16, 2023
Comment:
What self-respecting white parent could present her child with a book that says --page 58--Dude we can see your pointy tail? And how can she give such a distorted view of human history as to imply only white people have done terrible things to other people and that white people have only done terrible things? This is a distorted view of human society and human history. This is not the way to end racism. At best it will fill instill guilt and self-hatred---at worst it will arouse resentment against those who are demanding white children reject their whiteness. It is certainly NOT the way to end racism.What self-respecting white parent could present her child with a book that says --page 58--Dude we can see your pointy tail? And how can she give such a distorted view of human history as to imply only white people have done terrible things to…
The Coming of Neo-feudalismThe Coming of Neo-feudalism, BookA Warning to the Global Middle Class
by Kotkin, JoelBook - 2020Book, 2020
cello9flute's rating:
Added Dec 30, 2022
Comment:
I highly recommend this book! The author takes note of the increasing power of a few companies who deploy computers and artificial intelligence in a way that gives them great power (Amazon, Twitter,TikTok), the disappearance of working class jobs as the old industrial economy is exported abroad or replaced by automated devices and a growing class of super rich who have the training and intellectual ability to run these new companies. American progressives will be surprised to learn that many of the things they deplore in the capitalist US ---the wealth gap between a few super-rich and the laboring poor for example, are mirrored in the advanced economies of Western Europe, Japan, and China.I highly recommend this book! The author takes note of the increasing power of a few companies who deploy computers and artificial intelligence in a way that gives them great power (Amazon, Twitter,TikTok), the disappearance of working class jobs…
cello9flute's rating:
Added Nov 24, 2022
Comment:
this book should be required reading in every high school history class! Many may object to the author's views on current events which run counter to the narrative supported by BLM, the mainstream media and the Democratic Party, but they are views that people should be exposed to. But aside from that, the most valuable part of the book is its presentation of the growth and development of the black community between the end of slavery and the beginning of the Civil Rights laws of the 1960s. Most people, black and white, no nothing about this and it is assumed, incorrectly, that no development took place, when on the contrary, significant strides were made in eduction and employment.this book should be required reading in every high school history class! Many may object to the author's views on current events which run counter to the narrative supported by BLM, the mainstream media and the Democratic Party, but they are views…
The Classic Hundred PoemsThe Classic Hundred Poems, PaperbackAll-time Favorites
Paperback - 1998Paperback, 1998
cello9flute's rating:
Added Oct 02, 2022
Comment:
The good perfessor makes the most inane commentary!--very disappointing
Red, White, and BlackRed, White, and Black, BookRescuing American History From Revisionists and Race Hustlers
Book - 2021Book, 2021
cello9flute's rating:
Added Aug 26, 2022
Comment:
The book is a collection of essays by the Black-led 1776 Unites project--a response to the 1619 project. Some might find the subtitle off-putting, but the essays include much valuable information about the history of black Americans from the end of their enslavement to the beginning of the civil rights movement. REaders wll be surprised to learn about the schools and universities they founded and attended, their success in building businesses catering to fellow-blacks--- all of which has been unaccountably ignored for decades.The book is a collection of essays by the Black-led 1776 Unites project--a response to the 1619 project. Some might find the subtitle off-putting, but the essays include much valuable information about the history of black Americans from the end of…
Congress at WarCongress at War, BookHow Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America
by Bordewich, Fergus M.Book - 2020Book, 2020
cello9flute's rating:
Added Aug 11, 2022
Comment:
I can't praise this book highly enough. I was shocked to learn about the extent of the anti-war sentiment in the north and midwest. I was surprised to learn that there were sizable numbers of escaped slaves who fought with the union army, and that many Union officers, at first dubious about the slaves ability, came to be impressed by how well they fought. In general the story Bordewich tells shows how easily the war might have turned out very differently and the role that chance or maybe sheer dumb luck plays in history.I can't praise this book highly enough. I was shocked to learn about the extent of the anti-war sentiment in the north and midwest. I was surprised to learn that there were sizable numbers of escaped slaves who fought with the union army, and that…
cello9flute's rating:
Added Jul 26, 2022
Comment:
I picked up this book out of curiosity, was turned off a bit because he proclaimed such devotion to his grandfather who was so harsh with him--but then as I read the story of Thomas's growing years i realized how this harshness helped him cope and succeed . Several times what Thomas had to say literally took my breath away. i had to stop to absorb my reaction to what he said. Particularly powerful were pages 45-48 about the effect of racism on southern blacks.I picked up this book out of curiosity, was turned off a bit because he proclaimed such devotion to his grandfather who was so harsh with him--but then as I read the story of Thomas's growing years i realized how this harshness helped him cope and…
How the South Won the Civil WarHow the South Won the Civil War, PaperbackOligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
by Richardson, Heather CoxPaperback - 2020Paperback, 2020
Added Jul 24, 2022
Comment:
I read two of Richardson's earlier books on the Civil War and thought very highly of them. I found this disappointing. She makes a rookie's error on which to base her thesis: judging the past by the values of the present. The founding fathers founded the country on the principal that all men created equal --a radically new notion in a world where every other government was built on hierarchy of one kind or another---and then they displeased Ms. Richardson by not giving rights to women and freeing the slaves! At least the founders all felt guilty about slavery--in China and Africa and the Middle East they saw nothing wrong with it and kept slaves until the middle of the 20th century. She focuses on the founders in Virginia, who she says manipulated lower class whites to identify with wealthy white landowners rather than the black slaves with whom she implies they would share similar interests--completely ignoring the role of New Englanders in the Revolutionary movement! I can hear John Adams growling at her.
Then she goes on from there to try to show that white southern values were transferred to the growing western states and then to the Republican party of the late 20th and 21st century .It's hard not to think she does this because it sounds so provocative to say the South won the Civil War!I read two of Richardson's earlier books on the Civil War and thought very highly of them. I found this disappointing. She makes a rookie's error on which to base her thesis: judging the past by the values of the present. The founding fathers…
cello9flute's rating:
Added Jul 03, 2022
Comment:
I didn't mean to read the book but it was so well written I couldn't put it down. She forgot to read the memo though. She makes it quite clear that she succeeded in life --college and law degree from Ivy League UNiversity and first job for a prestigious Chicago firm--by dint of hard work and determination to succeed. I guess the US is a meritocracy after all.I didn't mean to read the book but it was so well written I couldn't put it down. She forgot to read the memo though. She makes it quite clear that she succeeded in life --college and law degree from Ivy League UNiversity and first job for a…
One Damn Thing After AnotherOne Damn Thing After Another, BookMemoirs of An Attorney General
by Barr, William PelhamBook - 2022Book, 2022
cello9flute's rating:
Added Jul 01, 2022
Comment:
I highly recommend this book, especially for Barr's account of his time in the Trump administration. The reader may disagree with his political views but Barr is spot on with his critique of Trump's personality and poor judgement. Most valuable I thought was that Barr does not just assert that there is no proof the election was stolen: he addresses the various claims by Trump and his partisans and tell how they were refuted.I highly recommend this book, especially for Barr's account of his time in the Trump administration. The reader may disagree with his political views but Barr is spot on with his critique of Trump's personality and poor judgement. Most valuable I…
The Madness of CrowdsThe Madness of Crowds, BookGender, Race and Identity
by Murray, Douglas J.Book - 2019Book, 2019
cello9flute's rating:
Added May 06, 2022
Comment:
This book is well worth reading. The first 2 pages alone provide an insightful explanation of the reason for the sudden intensification of the culture war that has taken place in the past 5 years. His chapters on gay, race, women, and trans do more than repeat the cliches that can be read in any discussion of the subjects. I was reluctantly forced to change some of my understanding of the trans issue as a reuslt of what he said. How often does that happen?This book is well worth reading. The first 2 pages alone provide an insightful explanation of the reason for the sudden intensification of the culture war that has taken place in the past 5 years. His chapters on gay, race, women, and trans do…
cello9flute's rating:
Added May 02, 2022
Comment:
the book is of formidable length and filled with names of people, places and political and religious groups that are hard to pronounce and remember, but a complete understanding is not necessary for the reader to broaden his or her understanding of the past and of other parts of the world. I especially recommend it to public intellectuals who pontificate about American history. Read about the Muslims, the Mongols, the Turks, the Slavs, living in Central Asia, the Middle East, The Caucasus, Ukraine and the Balkans. Read about the battles and seiges that resulted in the slaughter of all the men and the enslavement of women and children. Read about the harems of the Sultan with its hundreds of female sex slaves overseen by castrated African slaves. Read about the way power was passed on from father to son in the Ottoman Empire---for hundreds of years on taking power the new ruler murdered the half-brothers and other relatives who might contest his inheritance. Well into the 19th century hundreds Europeans from Greece, the Balkans and the Caucasus were enslaved by the Turks. This book is instructive on the different ways societies can be organized and managed.the book is of formidable length and filled with names of people, places and political and religious groups that are hard to pronounce and remember, but a complete understanding is not necessary for the reader to broaden his or her understanding of…
Added Mar 03, 2022
Comment:
Seems odd that the child is ashamed (why?) that she can only trace her family back 3 generations. Many children of white European immigrants from southern or eastern europe can only trace their families back 3 generations. The importation of slaves from Africa ended in 1808 so the vast majority of African Americans have been here for far more than three generations. Moreover it is highly unlikely that her ancestors came from one African ethnic group; the Africans who came here represented many ethnic groups and a slave owner purposely avoided buying slaves of a single ethnicity in order to keep them from uniting as a group against him. Portugal was the exception in being able to establish itself militarily in an African country. Most slaves were brought to what became the United States by British or Dutch ships from the west African coast. The Europeans lacked the power to invade--they huddled in fortified trading posts on the coast while Africans brought their fellow Africans to them in chains.Seems odd that the child is ashamed (why?) that she can only trace her family back 3 generations. Many children of white European immigrants from southern or eastern europe can only trace their families back 3 generations. The importation of…
Inhuman BondageInhuman Bondage, BookThe Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World
by Davis, David BrionBook - 2008Book, 2008
cello9flute's rating:
Added Jan 25, 2022
Comment:
. Much that is said and written about American slavery looks at it in isolation. One of the great virtues of this book is that Davis puts it in the context of slavery in the Mediterranean, African and Latin American worlds from the 15th through the 19th centuries. At the same time he tracks the abolitionist movement too. He obviously has mastery of both primary and secondary sources and he gives us much detailed information, yet he manages to present it in a clear fashion so that the reader never gets lost in the details but can follow the major features of this historical phenomenon. This is a book that should be read by those who want to learn about American slavery and also to experience what good historians do.. Much that is said and written about American slavery looks at it in isolation. One of the great virtues of this book is that Davis puts it in the context of slavery in the Mediterranean, African and Latin American worlds from the 15th through…
Power and LibertyPower and Liberty, BookConstitutionalism in the American Revolution
by Wood, Gordon S.Book - 2021Book, 2021
cello9flute's rating:
Added Dec 01, 2021
Comment:
An excellent summary of important aspects of the American Revolutionary Era and the constitution. The chapter on slavery and the constitution is particularly good and don't miss the Epilogue which is about Rhode Island where the economic and political patterns that became characteristic of the new nation first developed.An excellent summary of important aspects of the American Revolutionary Era and the constitution. The chapter on slavery and the constitution is particularly good and don't miss the Epilogue which is about Rhode Island where the economic and…
cello9flute's rating:
Added Oct 04, 2021
cello9flute's rating:
Added May 29, 2021
Comment:
A Board Book? seriously? " what is a 2-year-old to make of lines like ".".If we don't name racism it won't stop being so violent." and "...policies don't always grant equal access." "Knock down the stacks of cultural blocks." "Confess when being racist". This would be really tricky to handle in a multi-racial preschool class! The height of cluelessness was the picture of a white person winning an athletic trophy while the ladder of success breaks under the black person. Can it be that Kendi is unaware that African Americans dominate the National Football League and the National Basketball Association!A Board Book? seriously? " what is a 2-year-old to make of lines like ".".If we don't name racism it won't stop being so violent." and "...policies don't always grant equal access." "Knock down the stacks of cultural blocks." "Confess when being…
White FragilityWhite Fragility, PaperbackWhy It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
by DiAngelo, RobinPaperback - 2018Paperback, 2018
cello9flute's rating:
Added Oct 25, 2020
Comment: