Salem-News.com Book-reviews articles Page 2

Willamette Author Tells Stories of Those who Confronted Hitler

Bill Smaldone’s book, now in paperback, provides opposition leaders’ perspectives.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Willamette University history professor William Smaldone’s latest book, “Confronting Hitler: German Social Democrats in Defense of the Weimar Republic, 1929-1933,” tells the stories of how ten Social Democratic leaders addressed the impending threat of Nazism and communism.

Full of relevant historical context, the book explores the constraints and political choices these leaders made in the shadow of Hitler’s chancellorship and their struggle for political freedom and social justice. The book examines how circumstances and events shaped party leaders’ perspectives and decisions.

Book Review: Catastrophe Law, Politics, and the Humanitarian Impulse

Not necessarily “user friendly” - but a great contribution for those who want serious, academic knowledge.

(PORTLAND, Ore,) - Great insight with very real conclusions made a bit dry and academic. A paragraph made six sentences too long with six five-syllable words. A complex issue made more incomprehensible by convoluted language.

There is much to learn and grasp with this issue; the audience that needs to be reached will not have the time to dissect the language. Activism and policy change will only happen with the broadest of populations.

Book Review: The Palestine Conspiracy

The labyrinth of politics takes both novice and expert through what should be done, what could be done - and the consequences of standing still.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Mr. Spirko’s ability to blend fact within the spires of fiction is candescent to the passing on of traditions and folklore.

His ability to take the most complex of issues in a part of the world that is blanketed by questions; countries vying for a voice and place, and to bring them together through a peace treaty is truly astounding.

Cartoonist Turns his Pen to Novel Writing in The Charity of Ebenezer Scrooge

Salem-News.com Cartoonist Glen Bledsoe releases a new book and accompanying promotional video; a famous Christmas tale with a new twist.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Glen Bledsoe began drawing weekly comics for Salem-New.com in August of 2006. Since that time he has created more than 170 sixteen panel comics.

But the cartoonist has many other talents: he is a teacher, a magician, and a writer. His eighteenth published book The Charity of Ebenezer Scrooge is his first work of fiction.

New Book Chronicles Published War Stories From SE Asia

"These stories needed a wider audience for the world to know what they suffered, how most survived, and how they overcame adversity." - Marc Yablonka, author of "Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia"

(BURBANK, Calif.) - A new book by Reporter/Author Marc Yablonka, Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. chronicles eighteen years of Yablonka’s reportage on American involvement in Indochina, and the people affected by America’s connection to that part of the world.

The reports in this newly-edited compilation account for a time that in Yablonka's view, that left an indelible mark on American history.

The Pagan Christ

“The end of Christianity is coming because there is a system undergirding the traditional ‘economy of salvation’ which is more concerned with preserving its own power than exploring the truth.”-Harpur

(CALGARY, Alberta) - BOOK REVIEW:
The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light

Tom Harpur, Author


Hutterites are literalists in that they take the second commandment literally and brook no variations or relaxations. This phenomenon, argues Tom Harpur, is the source of the overwhelming harm that religion inflicts on society.

“Most of the atrocities committed by the Church and its more rabid followers down through the ages have been directly inspired by literalist thinking.

Steve Alten, NY Times Best-Seller Warns of a Likely Future Catastrophe if We Do Not Act Quickly

As recently noted by Thomas Friedman at the New York Times, the 2007 energy bill failed to extend any stimulus for wind and solar, while oil and gas kept all their tax credits despite record profits.

(HOUSTON, Tx.) - NY Times best-selling author, Steve Alten, famous for his thrillers that include MEG and The LOCH, wrote his latest novel, The SHELL GAME as a cautionary tale because he felt compelled to warn the American people to start getting the facts regarding oil, specifically what lies ahead when world reserves finally run out.

New Book by Willamette Professor Chronicles Unusual Presidential Tales

Professor Richard Ellis is the Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics at Willamette University.

(SALEM, Ore.) - No sitting president has visited Salem, Oregon, since Harry Truman in 1948. In contrast, between 1880 and 1923 six presidents came through Salem. The transportation revolution enabled Americans to travel farther and faster than ever before, so why did it result in presidents seeing less, rather than more, of their fellow citizens?

These and other puzzles in the history of presidential travel are explored in Presidential Travel: The Journey from George Washington to George W. Bush, a new book by Willamette University Professor Richard Ellis.

Book Review: Eugene Bullard - Black Expatriate in Jazz-Age Paris

The story of the only black fighter pilot in WWI.

(SALEM) - The plight of World War One’s only African American pilot has a lesson for every living soul. Eugene Bullard, the son of a slave, made his dreams take flight long before the first time he soloed in a biplane, and no amount of interference or meddling was ever enough to bring him down.

Author Craig Lloyd has brought this great aviator and hero of France back to life, where his legacy is finally allowed an opportunity to shine in all of its greatness, against all of the adversity that was his.

The Battle for Las Vegas; The Law vs. The Mob Looks at Vegas Crime in the 70`s and 80`s

Flashback to 2006: No punches are pulled in this hard-hitting historical account of some of the most vicious men to ever walk the face of the earth.

(LAS VEGAS) - Sin city meets hard truth in a new book by Dennis N. Griffin called The Battle for Las Vegas; The Law vs. The Mob.

Never again will the reader see those characters who ran Vegas during the hard years in the 70's and 80's in the same light.