Books

Television Review: Ken Burns’s “Benjamin Franklin” — Gauzy Soft-Core Patriotism

April 8, 2022
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Corporate anti-racism – Bank of America is a major sponsor for the documentary – causes Ken Burns to pull his punches.

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Visual Arts Commentary: Two Books and a Play — Creating Architectural Literacy

April 6, 2022
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Given the current state of play, any attempts to enrich our knowledge of the built environment are valuable.

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Book Review: On Our Love Affair With Catastrophe — So Long as it is Happening to Someone Else

April 1, 2022
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David Thomson’s meditation on our love of disasters is engagingly allusive, reflective, humane, wide-ranging, and often funny.

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Book Review: The Climate Crisis and the “Race for Tomorrow”

March 29, 2022
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If there is one book to pick up that will get you interested in what is happening to our climate, Race for Tomorrow is it.

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Book Review: “What’s Good: Notes on Rap and Language” — Finding Multitudes of Meaning

March 29, 2022
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To always be listening more and to therefore always be listening differently is of course the very nature of fandom, and to call What’s Good the work of a fan is not a putdown.

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Book Review: “Mecca” — A Wonder of an American Canvas

March 27, 2022
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This is an immensely complex, deeply atmospheric story of the working class, of immigrants with global origins, many who are descendants of early settlers.

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Book Review: Looking Back, Fondly, on “The Modem World”

March 25, 2022
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This is a great book for anyone who wants to understand the early days of online communications.

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Book Review: “The Archeology of a Good Ragù” — A “Bipolar” Memoir

March 20, 2022
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Rather than the usual story of assimilation, John Domini gives us a deftly written narrative of return, self-discovery, disillusionment, personal metamorphosis, and ultimately, rejection.

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Arts Review: “Bad Blood” and “The Dropout” — Valley Girl Set Aflame in the Bonfires of the Vanities

March 19, 2022
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Playing on their strengths and working within the limitations of each medium, both The Dropout and Bad Blood pull us into the very American story of Theranos’ and Holmes’ rise and fall.

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Book Review: Donna Leon’s “Give Unto Others” — The Cost We Have All Paid

March 19, 2022
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Even as an entry in such an idiosyncratic (and appealing) series, this case is one of the most personal our protagonist – a thoughtful, compassionate man – has faced.

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