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The casualties in industry’s assault on science
The book Denis DuBay reviews here was published in 2008, but it is, unfortunately, just as relevant today as it was then. By Denis DuBay. DOUBT IS THEIR PRODUCT: HOW INDUSTRY’S ASSAULT ON SCIENCE THREATENS YOUR HEALTH. By David Michaels. Oxford University Press, 2008. 384 pages. $29.95. Once upon a time, seemingly in another galaxy…
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The Civil War – did it have to happen?
Full disclosure: Although he’s lived in North Carolina for decades, and knows more about the workings of government in the Tar Heel State than just about anybody, Paul O’Connor is a Connecticut Yankee. Bless his heart. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, he approached this book about the causes of the Civil War (aka,…
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A few good midshipmen
With all the emotion and aura of Saturday’s annual Army-Navy game fresh in my mind, I’m reviewing a recent novel set at the Naval Academy in the (Go Navy, Beat Army!) late 1980s-early 1990s. By Linda C. Brinson THE RECIPIENT’S SON: A NOVEL OF HONOR. By Stephen Phillips. The Naval Institute Press. 270 pages. $28.95.…
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Ho, ho, ho, Merry Mystery!
This isn’t really a Christmas book, if by Christmas books you mean those novels – usually fairly slim and quickly read – with a holiday theme that appear in the fall, just in time to be read or given as gifts. But what else do you call a novel with a main character named Father…
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A terrible history in the making
Would we recognize evil if we saw it walking around? Tom Dillon, a veteran newsman himself, takes a look at a book about American journalists and others who witnessed firsthand the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. By Tom Dillon HITLERLAND: AMERICAN EYEWITNESSES TO THE NAZI RISE TO POWER. By Andrew Nagorski. Simon and Schuster, 2012.…
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A light antidote for “bah, humbug”
Tired already of hearing “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” and other inane Christmas songs on your car radio? Did all the hype about Black Friday shopping leave you with a case of bah-humbug? Here’s a lighthearted Christmas book that might help put you into the real spirit of the season. Load the audio…
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History and mystery, a royal novel
Anne Barnhill, a novelist of the Tudor era, takes a look at a new work from a prominent British historian who has successfully ventured into historical fiction in recent years. By Anne Barnhill A DANGEROUS INHERITANCE. By Alison Weir. Ballantine Books. 498 pages. $27. In her fourth historical novel, renowned historian Alison Weir brings together…
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What it all means, in one short novel
My husband, who was a newspaper reporter before he saw the light and became a physics teacher, is much impressed by the latest book by the author of Einstein’s Dreams. By Lloyd Brinson MR G: A NOVEL ABOUT THE CREATION. By Alan Lightman. Pantheon Books. 214 pages. $24.95. The Father of Physics is … not…
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In time for the holidays, a fine new Grisham thriller
Given the season, I’ll note that it’s always an occasion for Thanksgiving when a new legal thriller by John Grisham arrives. By Linda Brinson THE RACKETEER. By John Grisham. Read by J.D. Jackson. Random House Audio. 10 CDs, 13 hours. $45. Also available in print from Doubleday. The Racketeer, with its ingenious plot twists and…