Category Archives: Readings

INTRODUCTION Dr. Marci Shore teaches Russian literature at Yale University. The two books under review have been widely acclaimed, a position not shared by my own reviews. Particularly regarding her enthusiastic description of the Ukrainian “Revolution” of 2014, her narrative reflects an utterly naïve understanding of the geopolitical contexts of events. THE TASTE OF ASHESContinue reading “FROM THE GROVES OF ACADEME”

INTRODUCTION My decision to accept a position at the University of Arizona opened up new perspectives on U.S. politics. I had been vaguely aware of something called “The Sanctuary Movement.” But in New York the focus had been on East-West relations. I was now faced with “border issues,” and how local events actually reflected internationalContinue reading “LINES IN THE SAND”

I’ve been reading books on mental illness for the last thirty years because my son has been diagnosed with a number of them, including schizophrenia. Dr. Chase’s book is one of the better ones I’ve come across. His is a double story: A story of personal grief as he witnesses the course of his olderContinue reading “SCHIZOPHRENIA by Ronald Chase”

INTRODUCTION Heinrich Boll was born into a catholic pacifist household that apposed the Nazis and he refused to join the Hitler Youth. He was apprenticed to a bookseller before going to Cologne University to study German. Conscripted to serve in WW II, he was wounded 4 times and also contracted Typhoid Fever.   He was capturedContinue reading “THE CLOWN by Heinrich Boll”