Stopping to Think

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam by Harold G. Moore My rating: 4 of 5 stars Moore and Galloway weave together an intense and fascinating narrative, taking the reader into some of the first major engagements of U.S. troops in the Vietnam war. But while the relation of the battles themselves is engaging and emotionally moving, that's not all there is in this book. There are no punches pulled when Moore speaks about the failures of the Johnson administration, and there is no heartstring left un-pulled he quotes from the individuals who lost loved ones in the battles in the Ia-Drang that fall of 65. View all my reviews  

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.25-3.5 This was not an enjoyable book-not due to the writing, Dunbar-Ortiz is perfectly capable in that department. But this history she records is unbelievably depressing. Some of her analytical tools fail her (critical theory, Marxist theory) and cause her to at times over-state the case or impute ill (Colonialist and Racist) motives to those who were undoubtedly concerned more with self-preservation and opportunity than with the destruction of the Native Peoples of the United States. One needn't say all white settlers and government officials had ill motives in order to make clear the horrific impacts such motives had in influencing the culture. But whether or not one agrees with all of her analysis, the plain facts recorded of the immense number of Indigenous people killed, displaced, and otherwise harmed, treaties re-written, broken, and ignored, and the many attempts b...

Geronimo's Story of His Life by Goyahkla Geronimo My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a great look through the eyes of a famous warrior into like in the Southwest circa 1840-1900. Also gave you a peek into the mind of a man devoted to a people and a place. View all my reviews

"I have continued to write for the general reader, based on my belief that if I can't say it in plain English, it must be because I don't understand what I am writing about." Rodney Stark Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for.