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Nonfiction Recommendations
Again, any money that I receive from Amazon.com will go to the Paul Steiger Memorial Scholarship
fund at Marquette University.
- Blind Man's Bluff -- Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew -
A good book about submarine espionage during the Cold War. Each chapter is a basically a story about one mission or
another so it's very readable. Most fascinating to me was that the US apparently tapped
some underwater communications cables that the Soviets were using.
- Faith of My Fathers -- John McCain -
I highly recommend this book. Do yourself a favor and read it now because otherwise I'll be pestering you to read it
whenever I talk to you. I have been following John McCain's career in the US Senate and wishing that he'd run for president
since he appeared to have a backbone and acted more as an independant Senator rather than someone who blindly follows what
the party leadership tells him to do. After reading this book it's pretty apparent why McCain acts as he does. I suppose
that if you've spent five and a half years as a POW in North Vietnam and spent a good deal of time either being tortured
or kept in solitary confinement you don't worry if Trent Lott will be upset with you for trying to bring reform to campaign
finance. McCain's father and grandfather were both admirals in the US Navy and this book tells how his efforts to live up
to their fine examples supported him through his ordeals as a POW. His captors offered him an early release
for propaganda purposes but McCain refused.
McCain's experiences were by no means unique and he
tells many moving stories of other American POWs who were criminally mistreated. McCain is indeed running for president
but this isn't one of those lame candidate books that get churned out around primary time. Go out and read this before I
start nagging you!
- The Lexus and the Olive Tree -- Thomas L. Friedman -
An interesting book by the author of
From Beirut to Jerusalem. This book
is about globalization and how it's affected the world in the last ten years. Sounds boring, right? Well, it wasn't, at least to
me. The book also has its own website here.
I originally read From Beirut to Jerusalem
after seeing the author give the commencement speech at my sister's graduation and it was a good book for those of you
interested in why everyone just can't get along in the Middle East.
- The Endurance -- Caroline Alexander -
The fascinating true story about a group of men stranded in the ice around Antarctica. Includes dozens of amazing photos from their journey.
- Citizen Soldiers -- Stephen Ambrose -
This is all about the American soldier's views in Europe from D-Day to V-E day. It's filled with hundreds of
stories from average infantrymen. I loved this book.
- D-Day -- Stephen Ambrose -
Much like Citizen Soldiers, it has hundreds of stories and anectdotes. This book deals with the planning and fighting of the
invasion of Normandy.
- Undaunted Courage -- Stephen Ambrose -
Gosh, I must like Stephen Ambrose. This is a biography of Meriwether Lewis. I learned a lot about the Lewis and Clark exploration, along
with what it was like to live in the early 19th century.
- The Corner -- David Simon and Edward Burns -
The authors spent a year in and around the drug trade on a street corner in Baltimore. Great book but not a
"feel good" book, that's for sure.
- An Outer Banks Reader -- Edited by David Stick -
Short articles about the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Recommended if you've been to the area.
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Last modified on Tuesday, 11-Jan-2000 14:00:45 EST
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