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Toward understanding religions
By Charles McGathy No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (Updated Edition). By Reza Aslan. Random House. 338 pages. $17, paperback. Professor Reza Aslan is an internationally acclaimed scholar of religions. This book is an updated edition of his first book, which has been called by Blackwell, the noted British seller…
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Gems of insight, writing
It’s summer – almost – so Bob Moyer is off on a road trip on his Harley. But, fortunately, he’s had time to send us a review of a book that offers a more sedentary way to sample what America has to offer. By Robert Moyer PULPHEAD. By John Jeremiah Sullivan. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.…
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Good read, good ending
Paul O’Connor and I were working together on the Winston-Salem Journal’s editorial pages at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. Paul has read a lot about the circumstances that led up to the attacks and the findings of the 9/11 Commission. I was interested to read his review of this book about how, 10…
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Much more than a baseball story
Paul O’Connor has strong opinions, and one of them is that he loves to hate the New York Yankees. As a Notre Dame grad, he also has some, shall we say, feelings against the University of Michigan. But he managed to put his prejudices aside to review a new audio version of a memoir by…
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The FBI: Too much, too little
We know, more or less, about J. Edgar Hoover and his excesses, but there’s a lot more appalling information in the history of the FBI. Paul O’Connor reviews a new book that lays out many of the excesses and shortcomings. By Paul T. O’Connor ENEMIES: A History of the FBI. By Tim Weiner. Read by…
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Looking at the face of evil
By Paul O’Connor. IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS: LOVE, TERROR, AND AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN HITLER’S BERLIN. By Erik Larson. Crown Publishers. 363 ages. $26, hardcover. Also available in paperback. In his narrative histories, Erik Larson has written about a mass murderer in Chicago and a hurricane that destroyed Galveston, Texas, and he says he…
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Revelations about Revelation
Two years ago, I listened to an audio version of the New Testament, courtesy of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Having been associated with Baptist churches nearly all my life, I had, of course, read and heard many passages over and over. It was, however, very interesting and informative to “read” the New Testament in order…
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Think you know all about our founders? Think again
Paul O’Connor, who, like me, has been on spring break from the rigors of teaching journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has found time to review a book that’s been out a few years but is new to him. When I was the book-page editor at a newspaper, we did not…
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What’s not to like?
Did you like Ike? If you are old enough to remember when he was president, you probably don’t have any negative memories of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Maybe not any particularly positive ones, either. He was just there, the president, old reliable. Paul O’Connor, who’s barely old enough to have memories of Ike, reviews a book…
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A review not to be missed
Paul O’Connor started the year out by sending this review to me, which was an admirable way for him to start the new year. Unfortunately, I was on a bird-watching expedition to Lake Mattamuskeet when the review hit my inbox, so I didn’t start the new year in quite so efficient a manner. Fortunately, my…