Death of the “Great Gatsby House”

Books of March 2025

I'm starting to do a monthly review of books I've completed in a given month. These are not books I completed in that month, but just when I completed them. I just don't have the attention span or discipline. I set a yearly goal on Goodreads of 52 for the year. I don't always finish one a week, but it does average out during the year. 

 Books I finished in March 2025:

• 3/6/25 - Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Disaster by Heather Cox Richardson(Audible) - An examination of how partisan political struggles, government corruption in the late 19th century contributed to the tragic 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee.

 

• 3/7/25 - The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookshop by Evan Friss - A fascinting look at history American bookshop's from Benjamin Franklin to Jeff Bezos's Amazon Bookstores. 

 

• 3/16/25 - John Quincy Adams: A Man for the Whole People by Randall B. Woods -  A comprehensive biography of the 6th President of the United States that portrays Adams as a principled statesman dedicated to national unity, social justice, and moral governance. 

 

• 3/21/25 - Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow(Audible) - A chronicle of how in the late 1930s and early 1940s a homegrown fascist movement took root in the United States.

 

• 3/23/25 - Constant Reader: The New Yorker Columns 1927-28 by Dorothy Parker - A collection of the legendary Dorothy Parker's New Yorker book review columns. Her wit and biting humor is still incredible, I enjoyed this one a lot.  

 

• 3/28/25 - From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley & Kiley Keough - A touching memior of Lisa Marie Presley with help from her daughter Kiley Keough. 

 

• 3/28/25 - Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Peservation of Confederate Culture by Karen L. Cox - An in depth chronicle of how the United Daughters of the Confederacy helped promote the "lost cause" narrative after the Civil War through erecting countless statues and promoting a favorable narrative throughout the Confederacy and the rest of the country.  

 See you next month. 

The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick

 

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a history buff, I found the premise of an alternate history of World War 2 with a science fiction twist fascinating. I've only seen trailers or clips of the mini-series as I wanted to hold off until I read the book.

The story takes a while before the different parts start to make some cohesive sense. The characters each have their own story arc, and it does spark some interest as to how they connect in the story. Despite the seeming disconnectedness of the characters, I found the picture of the world that the author paints of this alternate history fascinating and kept my attention. It kept me wanting more and returning to the book with more enthusiasm as it went along. Even after finishing, I still felt I wanted to learn more about this world.

I did enjoy this one more than expected. I do see myself returning to this and diving deeper into this story.

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Paul Revere's Ride 250th Anniversary

 

Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book covers Paul Revere's famous midnight ride to warn of British troops headed to capture or destroy military supplies. We do discover who Paul Revere is and how he came to be in his position. The story also goes into detail what exactly happened during that fateful morning in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts in April 1775. Many myths(or at least clarification) on what exactly happened. Many may think it was just a small skirmish but it was much more than that. Many mistakes and gruesome events took place that morning that marked the beginning of the American Revolution. This book is a very good resource if your wanting to discover more about this turning point in American history.

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Currently Reading: A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Chapter 1)

 

I've heard about this book for many years, but just recently picked one up to read. I haven't been disappointed so far. I'm about halfway through it but I thought review the first chapter as it also assets the tone and object of the book. Unlike traditional history texts's Howard Zinn focus's less on the famous figures of United States history and more on the common people involved. I think Zinn encapsulates his goal here:

"My viewpoint, in telling the history of the United States, is different: that we must not accept the memory of the states as our own. Nations are not communities and never have been.The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and the dominated in in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners. " (page 10)

It's like the old adage, the winners write the history books.  In modern-day lingo, this is considered to be a "woke" version of United States history. 

Chapter 1: Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress

Unsurprisingly, we start with Christopher Columbus and his famous voyage in 1492. Instead of painting a heroic explorer, Howard Zinn is far more critical of Columbus and those who followed him. Many histories of this moment skip forward soon after Columbus stepped off his boat, thinking he was in Asia, which is another story. We learn that Christopher Columbus wasn't the noble, altruistic hero that he is often made out to be. We soon see that his primary goal is gold and, is quite ruthless to the indigenous  Arawak in search for this treasure. He has no qualms about murder and enslavement in reaching his goals. The Arawak, who at first were generous and curious about their visitors, soon learned that their visitors were brutal and quite ruthless. 

Howard Zinn flips the traditional Eurocentric viewpoint that focuses on the oppressor and makes the oppressed invisible from a historical perspective. He sets the tone for the book to tell history from a "people's history" perspective of the indigenous people, slaves, the working class, and others who are not the usual focus of historical accounts. 

From Here to the Great Unknown:n A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley & Kiley Keough

 

From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Despite being close to the same age, I knew little of Lisa Marie Presley's personal life. The only thing I remember much of was her improbable marriage to the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson. The book, though, seems to carry little insight into this period. The book certainly fills in a lot of the spaces of my insight into her life.

Lisa Marie Presley was encouraged to start writing a memoir. She did in fits and starts. Her untimely death at the age of 54 cut this short. Her eldest daughter, Kiley Keough, undertook finishing the book and filled in many holes and added her context to her mother's story.

Lisa Marie's life was like many high-profile celebrity children who struggled to find their way, already being born famous and trying to live up to those high expectations. The book also highlights her struggles with addiction and the grief of her son Benjamen taking his own life in 2020, which she never recovered fully from, understandably.

The book is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the end with Lisa Marie's passing away in 2023. It's relatively short and easy to read. I recommend it if you're interested in Elvis Presley and his family.


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Constant Reader: The New Yorker Columns 1927–28 by Dorothy Parker

 

Constant Reader: The New Yorker Columns 1927–28 by Dorothy Parker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dorothy Parker is one of those writers you may hear about long before you read them. Her caustic wit is legendary. I remember coming across her many years ago on film portrayed by Jennifer Jason Leigh in "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle" which intrigued me at the time. I came across this book after reading E.B. White, another famous writer from that era who also wrote for the New Yorker magazine in another book(also a McNally Edition) "New York Sketches".

After perusing a copy from my local library I decided I need to possesses it. At times she seems annoyed she has to lower herself to review a book but then it becomes apparent she loves reading and writing about what she consumes. She's can either poke fun or unleash her wit upon some unsuspecting book or author. Even though the majority books or authors I had never heard of I looked forward to each new review. They are just long and short enough to enjoy with a morning coffee or tea, perhaps nursing a hangover like she may have been writing it. My only regret is that I've waited this long to enjoy her writing and company.

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