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marct22's reviews
674 reviews
See A Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody by Bob Mould
5.0
Despite me being a big Husker Du fan, I thought this was the best written music autobiography I've ever read. I liked Keith Richards Life, Tony Iommi's Iron Man (could have used a better ghost writer), even Motley Crue's Dirt (surprisingly good!), but hands down, this was the best! Highly recommended!
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. What I found very interesting was not only Vanderbilt's life, but also the business environment. I found it interesting in light of the recent scandals, insider trading that brought down Rajat Gupta, collusion, monopolies, etc. One could see why some of the regulations that now exist were written to solve these issues of cheating, including cheating their own customers. He was willing to switch gears, dumping an industry he dominated for something more risky yet with better potential. It also covers the technology, risks, and ruthlessness towards competitors. Highly recommended!
Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization by Richard Miles
5.0
An interesting book. I had little knowledge of Carthage short of Hannibal and Rome's destruction of Carthage. The book does describe the founding of Carthage, it's link to Tyre and the Phoenicians, a bit about the religion, including many Baal's! It gets a little confusing at times, not the fault of Richard Miles, but purely from the number of Hannibal's, Hamilcar's, and Hasdrubal's that at one time or another, was a military commander or a leader of Carthage. It felt at times that a Hasdrubal got replaced by Hasdrubal. It almost felt like South Park's Starvin' Marvin in space where every being on the planet Marklar was named Marklar. Again, not the fault of Richard Miles. The epic story of Hannibal's (the one we all heard of) campaign from Spain, across the Alps and into Italy was quite interesting, coupled with the tying in of the mythology of Hercules/Heracles by both sides. As someone else mentioned, history is written by the victors, so this was a good insight into the the various Punic wars from the Carthaginian perspective, at least as best as can be constructed. The ending was a bit anti-climatic when talking about the final destruction of Carthage, the prolog was of more detail. It seemed that it went like "Rome completely cut off Carthage. The end." Still though, I enjoyed it!
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic by Joseph J. Ellis
5.0
Highly recommended! It's not really like a history of the founding of America. It's just short pieces going into detail on specific instances in the founding. It can be a little weird, talking about valley forge and then that's it, war won, no real battle details, but that's not the point, there are many other books on that. Instead, it's just some key points in history, including the failed attempt at treating Indian tribes as foreign nations (something I admit I did not know, and I read a lot on Indian wars when I was younger), the Louisiana purchase, the US Constitution, and the founding of political parties. Quick yet in depth. Some mythological bubbles are popped, and hopefully you realize they were human, wracked with doubt, self importance, hypocritical, snide, blessed with luck, gambled a bit, etc., just like the rest of us!
World War I by S. L. a. Marshall
5.0
Quite good for a quick history of WWI. I had to go back and re-read the first chapter trying to figure out why the death of ArchDuke Ferdinand spawned such destruction, especially when it appeared most of the key players, including his own father, didn't see his death as an overall tragedy. I didn't fully realize how late in the war we Americans entered, at least from a soldier-perspective. For a quick introduction to WWI, it's highly recommended!
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis
5.0
A quite interesting book, kinda popped the bubble I had about Thomas Jefferson. He was a quite complex man, somewhat vain, hypocritical (being against slavery, yet keeping slaves right till the end of his life, his disappointment with the very words he became most famous for, his I think somewhat underhanded way of attacking George Washington during Washington's presidency. As Ellis says, many people with different agendas have claimed Jefferson, and really while there are traits that may match, there are also traits that would match a group with the opposite take. Enlightening!