Quick Book Reviews Blog

As much as we would like for wars to end when the conquered surrender and peace treaties are signed, the truth is that the spirit of conflict floats over the people for months, if not for years after. This was true for World War II as well; though the Nazi government may have been vanquished, it left a lot of living Nazis behind, people who had committed atrocities and seeking to start anew... a chance they got in America.

Extremism is far from being something new in this world, with virtually every religion having its fair share of adherents who are willing to take things as far as they possibly can, generally deciding to follow their teachings to the letter. Today, most of the world has its eyes turned on Muslim extremists, terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Though relatively speaking these extremists are rather few in numbers, they have still managed to create a worldwide stigma against Islam that, in some places, is growing stronger and stronger as their actions grow more violent.

Though the law in the United States may very well dictate that everyone is to be considered equal, I believe we all know that in practice, many people simply don't see things that way. Racial relations have come a tremendously long way in the past century, but nevertheless things continue to be more difficult for minorities from a socioeconomic standpoint.

The South Central Los Angeles neighborhood has been depicted thoroughly in movies as well as literature... and yet, an overwhelming majority of us will never see the place with our own eyes or dive deep enough ourselves to gain an understanding of what's really happening there and why. Thankfully, there are brave journalists who do these things for us , and Jill Leovy is one of them. Her many years spent observing South Central have led her to make some interesting conclusions and realize truths that she puts to the fore in her book Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America .

When we think of terms public shaming, most of us conjure up images of public lynchings and angry mobs going after those who claim the world to be round. Though it is true that the concept of it may not be as widespread is once was, there is no denying that public shaming is still a very strong aspect of society, especially in places where people live in tighter communities.

Many of us know the Bloods and the Crips as being two opposing gangs, identifying themselves by the colors red and blue, respectively. We know they have made life rather difficult and dangerous in a number of areas, especially the socioeconomically underprivileged ones, and continue to be a rising threat to all who live besides them. It has actually come to the point where it is an international phenomenon, and you can find the Bloods and Crips separation happening in major American cities as well as small European villages.

The Watergate Scandal certainly remains one of the most infamous moments in U.S. Presidential history, marking a moment where a President was ousted from power not through force, but through exposition and law. Despite the extensive investigations and inquiries made by numerous parties into the affair, there are still many question marks pending to be answered, in great part due to the complexity of the entire cover-up that followed.

The ocean is in itself a vast mystery of which we have done nothing but scratch the surface so far, and though it covers so much of our planet, we often tend to forget about all of its innumerable inhabitants. Whether we realize it or not, our noisy ways have already affected marine life tremendously, and in War of the Whales Joshua Horwitz explores this issue from a very realistic and interesting way.

As advanced and progressive as modern investigative techniques may be, the fact of the matter remains that every year countless deaths go unsolved, and what's more, countless victims remain unidentified. Indeed, in the United States somewhere around forty thousand people die every year, leaving nothing but a mystery, their identities being completely unknown.

We are all aware to one extent or another that the government is, at least to a certain extent, open to corruption, and things aren't always done as the rules state they should. In other words, governmental organizations and agencies, especially ones relating to national security, have taken the habit of operating in secret, which in turn gives them more power than they arguably ought to have over the population.

There are two sides, at the very least, to the world of politics. First, there is the one made to be presented to the public, sanitized and crafted to perfection... and then there is the other side, the one where decisions are made, the one where things get seedy and dirty. There are countless stories boiling behind the scenes of politics, far too many for us to ever know about them all. In Blood Feud , Edward Klein delves into perhaps what is one of the more interesting behind-the-scenes stories, that of the rivalry between the Obamas and the Clintons.

The Edward Snowden affair which has erupted recently is certainly a huge wake-up call to the entire world, showing that our surveillance methods are rapidly approaching Orwellian standards. Unfortunately, it is obvious that the entirety of what Snowden had to reveal still didn’t make its way into the open, and the full consequences of his actions still unknown.

The concept of what is “cool” isn’t exactly a new one, with it being a very close bedfellow with competitiveness and the concept of personal ownership. It seems that we are always trying to outdo others, and as is always the case, there are select people who become cool and set the standards for what is considered as such.

Most of you are probably familiar with Greg Gutfeld from his work as the host of Red Eye, a nightly show on Fox News, or through some of his other books, such as The Joy of Hate for instance. In any case I believe it is important to understand the kind of person Greg Gutfeld is before diving into a rather popular book of his, The Bible of Unspeakable Truths .

Charles Krauthammer is known by many of you as being one of the most reasonable and intelligent political commentators out there. He never tries to blindly preach his ideals without any support, always seeking to reach the truth, even if it does contradict his beliefs. For more than thirty years the man has provided us with unprecedented insights into various facets of American life, and Things That Matter , a book written by Krauthammer himself, is a compilation of the best ones.

There are very few out there who haven’t heard of the private military company called Blackwater . It was founded by former U.S. Navy Seal Erik Prince, and its main purpose was to take on high-risk and intense security jobs around the world, with its members consisting of special force veterans… none but the elite may enter. As is usual with such organizations, the contracts they undertook bound Blackwater’s members to secrecy, meaning that for many years we could only guess and approximate our knowledge about them.

We, the normal folk, can only really imagine as to how things work on the higher echelons of politics, and how the decisions which guide the country are really taken. Are politicians just pushing their own agendas? Is it a power contest? A free exchange of ideas? Are they all in cahoots?  The truth is that we can only keep guessing, and the more dedicated of us will simply jump on the opportunity to find out more on those rare occasions when someone from the inside goes out and tells us how it is. 

First off, though it may seem like a real story at first, Muck City by Bryan Mealer somewhat thankfully happens to be a work of fiction, though it isn’t so far-fetched that its events could not be reproduced in the real world.  It tells the story of three young people living in the Everglades burg, a place where poverty, violence, drugs and AIDS run rampant and where very few actually make it out of there.

Those who have followed the news in regards to American politics over the last few years know about the blatant disregard towards the constitution on numerous occasions as various bills were passed which many thought to be illegally-intrusive on the sovereignty of the state and individual freedom (more precisely, the Patriot and NDAA acts).  Fortunately, there are still people out there willing to speak out about this issue, and Mark R. Levin is one of those who went all out, writing a book titled The Liberty Amendments , in which he basically dissects how the constitution was infringed, why we need to restore its authority and edit it up, and how we can really change things to ensure each of us can maintain our individual liberty.

When asked as to which countries the United States are at war with, most people will probably answer Yemen or Afghanistan. However, what many people ignore (besides the fact that the U.S. is involved in many more armed conflicts around the globe) is the fact that the country has been waging a secret war against Iran… for more than thirty years now.  In his book The Twilight War , David Crist explores in great depth how the conflict evolved over the years, from the Iranian revolution all the way to the current crisis with the country’s nuclear program.