Book Review: Two Truthful Books (2004, 2005)

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Brian Wright

The New Pearl Harbor
Disturbing questions about the Bush administration and 9/11
by David Ray Griffin

2004, Olive Branch Press, 168 pages

The 9/11 Commission Report
Omissions and Distortions
by David Ray Griffin

2005, Olive Branch Press, 295 pages

“What makes [Dr. Griffin’s books on 911] so special
is they explore the most sensitive and controversial terrain—the broad landscape of official behavior in relation to the tragedy of 9/11—in the best spirit of academic detachment, coupled with an exemplary display of the strongest scholarly virtue: a willingness to allow inquiry to follow the path of evidence and reason wherever it leads. And it leads here to explosive destinations, where severe doubts are raised about the integrity and worldview of our leadership in those parts of the government that exercise the greatest control over the behavior and destiny of the country, particularly in the area of national security, which includes a war overseas and the stifling of liberties at home.”—Richard Falk, from the Foreword Continue reading →

Book Review: The Age of Turbulence (2007)

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Brian Wright

Adventures in a new world
by Alan Greenspan

2007, The Penguin Press , 507 pages

The defining moment for the world’s economies was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, revealing a state of economic ruin behind the iron curtain far beyond the expectations of the most knowledgeable Western economists. Central planning was exposed as an unredeemable failure; coupled with and supported by the growing disillusionment over the interventionist economies of the Western democracies, market capitalism began to quietly displace those policies in much of the world. Central planning was no longer a subject of debate. There were no eulogies….—Page 12 Continue reading →

Book Review: The Age of American Unreason (2008)

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Brian Wright

Disturbing analysis of the roots of antithought in America (and elsewhere)
by Susan Jacoby
2008, Random House , 318 pages
Reviewed by Brian Wright

“I raise no objections to television’s junk. The best things on television are its junk, and no one and nothing is seriously threatened by it. Besides, we do not measure a culture by its output of undisguised trivialities but by what it claims as significant. Therein is our problem, for television is at its most trivial and, therefore, most dangerous when its aspirations are high, when it presents itself as a carrier of important cultural conversations.” — Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) Continue reading →

Book Review: Another Nineteen (2013)

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Brian Wright

Investigating Legitimate 9/11 Suspects
by Kevin Robert Ryan

Simply the exactly right book for the exactly right time, Kevin Ryan’s Another 19 takes the 9/11 Truth movement to the next level… that is, to the 9/11 Justice movement. He does so by identifying—in addition to masterschemers Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (the real ‘Osama bin Laden’ and ‘Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’ of the plot)—19 individuals whose motives, means, opportunities, and actual behavior show high probability they were complicit and/or culpable in the 9/11/2001 crimes of state. Regardless of one’s position regarding the official story, no reasonable person can deny that sufficient evidence now exists to empanel a special federal (or state) grand jury to investigate these individuals (among others) and bring indictments based on demonstrable real connections and causation to the attacks. Continue reading →

Book Reviews: Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories (1971)

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Brian Wright

And other disasters, by Jean Shepherd
Reviewed by Brian Wright

1971, Doubleday [stories originally appearing in Playboy]

“For some unaccountable reason, I discovered I was a consumate polka dancer. The polka is a true soul dance. You don’t learn it; it engulfs you and sweeps you on in a flood of braying coronets and tootling clarinets and the thundering syncopation of bass drums and cymbals. The drummer, a heavy-set Pole, squatted like a toad and his equipment, operating with the machinelike precision of a pile driver. I bounced and sweated, Josie clinging and hopping, ducking and bobbing as one born to the beat…”
— from “The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski” Continue reading →

Book Review: Ladies of Liberty (2008)

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Brian Wright

The women who shaped our nation
by Cokie Roberts

2008, Harper Collins, 402 pages

“I recall commenting in my review of John Adams that everyone had it tough back then, but the women had it grindingly tough. Our ancestors were truly the rugged individualists of note, and Cokie Roberts has provided a starter book for further readings about the contributions to life and liberty of the fair sex in these rugged times at the EOC (Establishment of Country).” Continue reading →

Book Review: Golf, Life, and Fun in the Philippines (2014)

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Brian Wright

A lifestyle upgrade definitely worth looking into…

Especially for Yanks or Englishmen and Europeans stuck in northern climes in the winter months. No, Golf in the Philippines is not a book… yet. But I’m posting a review today of a special Website of a friend of mine, Peter Shanks, that features all the attractions of the country for the male golfer in particular. I’ll more or less just condense and excerpt the Website in my review, but let me make a few comments at the outset. Continue reading →