Continues the story of the family introduced in the pages of Gilead. Though I think I favor Gilead a smidge, Home enveloped me. Robinson manages to coContinues the story of the family introduced in the pages of Gilead. Though I think I favor Gilead a smidge, Home enveloped me. Robinson manages to convey so much about the hearts and minds of characters who don’t know how to express their own feelings or parse their own thoughts. And her language is simultaneously simple and beautiful. She invites her reader to think about the meaning of family and the substance of the bonds between family members, which can generate our toughest challenges as well as our deepest joys. I recommend the book(s) highly, but I do not recommend finishing Home on the plane and train at the end of a summer vacation unless you are comfortable with public weeping. - Beth Milnikel...more
For pure escapism... A hard-boiled detective story featuring all the conceits of the genre, here re-imagined in contemporary Chicago. In the pages of For pure escapism... A hard-boiled detective story featuring all the conceits of the genre, here re-imagined in contemporary Chicago. In the pages of fiction, the City of Big Shoulders has never packed so hard (or so cynical) a punch. - Thomas J. Miles...more
So much has been written about T. Roosevelt that it is nearly cliché to marvel at his energy, intellect, and grit. McCullough’s graceful prose and hisSo much has been written about T. Roosevelt that it is nearly cliché to marvel at his energy, intellect, and grit. McCullough’s graceful prose and his eye for telling detail renew one’s amazement at this extraordinary figure. - Thomas J. Miles...more
Presents an historical and theoretical framework for understanding the national security and constitutional challenges of terrorism. Panoramic in scopPresents an historical and theoretical framework for understanding the national security and constitutional challenges of terrorism. Panoramic in scope, brimming with keenly observed details. No reader will be persuaded on every point, but no reader will ever think about these issues in the same way again. It deserves wide readership. - Thomas J. Miles...more
"I’m now reading Team of Rivals about the run up to the 1860 convention of the Republican party, by Doris KearnsRecommended by Richard McAdams. [2010]
"I’m now reading Team of Rivals about the run up to the 1860 convention of the Republican party, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I turned to this book looking for guidance navigating complicated relationships with colleagues in the world of immigration public interest lawyers. I’ve been naïve about the world of non-profits, and never realized until these last few years how fierce the competition is among those of us practicing public interest law. Goodwin tells of the intrigue, breach of trust and betrayal all of which I can relate to. I’m drawn to Lincoln’s strategy of engaging competitors in such a way as to avoid turning them into enemies, and reminded of Liu Xiaobo’s essays in No Enemies, No Hatred. For me, a good book has to tell a story and Goodwin’s telling keeps you in suspense, even though you know the outcome." - Maria Woltjen [2012]...more
My favorite non-fiction book in years, in which the author recounts his years of meeting and engaging the people of a public housing project, particulMy favorite non-fiction book in years, in which the author recounts his years of meeting and engaging the people of a public housing project, particularly one of its gangs, while a graduate student of sociology at the University of Chicago. Written for a popular audience, it is extremely compelling reading that provides a scholar’s view of a largely hidden world. - Richard McAdams...more
This “first draft” of the classic beat novel was released three years ago, on the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of the book. It contaiThis “first draft” of the classic beat novel was released three years ago, on the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of the book. It contains all of the errors–and needs all of the editing–that you might expect from an original manuscript that Kerouac wrote in a mere three feverish weeks. Nonetheless, it has undeniable rhythm and energy; it reads like the poetry that undoubtedly inspired it. And it paints a gripping, visceral picture of what it was like for Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and others to crisscross the continent with little more than the clothes on their backs, trying to acquire a sense of their country and themselves. - Jonathan Masur...more
Gives insight into life in Post-War Japan, and perhaps a better understanding of the modern Japanese people who lived through that transition. - Saul Gives insight into life in Post-War Japan, and perhaps a better understanding of the modern Japanese people who lived through that transition. - Saul Levmore...more
With two teenagers, we drove from Niagara Falls to Bar Harbor on vacation, and that was just enough time to listen to Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. With two teenagers, we drove from Niagara Falls to Bar Harbor on vacation, and that was just enough time to listen to Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. I absorbed information about the space program, but mostly I learned that educated people can laugh to tears at terrifically-written descriptions of body waste flying through the air. - Saul Levmore...more
The best history I read was the old-fashioned Admiral of the Ocean Sea, written by the youthful Samuel Eliot Morison, in part based on a Harvard-sponsThe best history I read was the old-fashioned Admiral of the Ocean Sea, written by the youthful Samuel Eliot Morison, in part based on a Harvard-sponsored expedition that retraced some of Columbus’s journeys. - Saul Levmore...more
This is an excellent history of Prohibition. It is an enjoyable read simply as history. In addition, there are obvious parallels to modern times for iThis is an excellent history of Prohibition. It is an enjoyable read simply as history. In addition, there are obvious parallels to modern times for issues such as drug prohibition, law enforcement and movements to enshrine strongly held but possibly minority moral views into the law. - David A. Weisbach
I have been reading Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, by Daniel Okrent, for the Greenberg Seminar that Tom Ginsburg and I teach on wine and law. The book artfully connects Prohibition with broader social developments of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, including the women’s suffrage movement, the rise of populism and nativism, and even the advent of the income tax. Rather than viewing Prohibition in isolation, Okrent argues that the Sixteenth Amendment (income tax), Eighteenth Amendment (prohibition), and Nineteenth Amendment (women’s suffrage) should be thought of as a complementary trilogy. —Jonathan Masur...more
The novel satirizes current societal trends to picture an America of the not-too-distant future, one in which privacy and literature have disappeared,The novel satirizes current societal trends to picture an America of the not-too-distant future, one in which privacy and literature have disappeared, our culture has become uniformly crude, and the American government is essentially bankrupt and beholden to China and Norway[!?]. There is a lot to love in the Love Story: Shteyngart’s characters are quirky and complex, their relationships are authentic, the plot draws the reader in, and Shteyngart is terrifically witty. Trying to understand what the world will look like in a world of omnipresent social networking, location-aware smartphones, and comprehensive government and private sector databases is a common thread in Shteyngart’s fiction and my own (hopefully non-fiction) writing. My take on these questions in Information and Exclusion (to be published in 2011) is much more optimistic and much less entertaining than his. - Lior Jacob Strahilevitz...more
Read this for a thoughtful look at the life of the greatest fighter of all time as well as the intersections of politics, music, art, and sport in midRead this for a thoughtful look at the life of the greatest fighter of all time as well as the intersections of politics, music, art, and sport in mid 20th century America. - Randolph N. Stone...more
This is an unconventional and provocative view on dismantling our country’s addiction to mass incarceration. - Randolph N. StoneThis is an unconventional and provocative view on dismantling our country’s addiction to mass incarceration. - Randolph N. Stone...more
Hyland is a brilliant, young Irish novelist. Each of her three novels (to-date) is an incisive and insightful character study of a damaged individual.Hyland is a brilliant, young Irish novelist. Each of her three novels (to-date) is an incisive and insightful character study of a damaged individual. This is How, Hyland's most recent work, takes the reader inside a troubled mind in a way that both illuminates and disturbs. - Geoffrey R. Stone...more
This explains why I can’t stop checking my iPhone every five minutes. - Michael H. SchillThis explains why I can’t stop checking my iPhone every five minutes. - Michael H. Schill...more
The plot is familiar and the ending is fairly predictable, but the book contains some of America's finest poetry; one of the few books that I've read The plot is familiar and the ending is fairly predictable, but the book contains some of America's finest poetry; one of the few books that I've read more than once. - Adam Samaha...more
I'm still in the middle of this supposed classic, which my spouse and I began reading together shortly after our son was born last fall; we are scheduI'm still in the middle of this supposed classic, which my spouse and I began reading together shortly after our son was born last fall; we are scheduled to finish shortly before he enters college (assuming that I let him attend college). - Adam Samaha...more
I'm in the middle of this memoir of a man going on and off death row, then living through the Angola Prison world. - Adam SamahaI'm in the middle of this memoir of a man going on and off death row, then living through the Angola Prison world. - Adam Samaha...more
A journalistic history of the Obama administration's first year, which, for some of us, is worth listening to on the iPod's fast-play option for audioA journalistic history of the Obama administration's first year, which, for some of us, is worth listening to on the iPod's fast-play option for audiobooks. - Adam Samaha...more
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