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A well done, well written, if incomplete portrait of the crack era.

Revisado: 01-02-25

This is a really well-written, very human portrait of the crack era, told through the eyes of people who experienced it (in various capacities) first-hand. Ramsey complements these interviews with his subjects with his own narration of the lead up to the crack epidemic, its impact on urban America, the war on drugs and its aftermath. You would think trying to blend the humans stories of the crack era with a history lesson would be clunky and would drag from time to time — and here and there it does — but for the most part the book movies at an even and smooth pace. Ramsey’s analysis of crack as the salve to the dashed dreams of the civil rights movement, the successor to heroin, also is rings true.

I only wish the book could be longer and interview more subjects — law enforcement and medical professionals especially would be useful to see profiled. Instead, Ramsey spends significant time taking both groups — cops and medical professionals/researched — to task for their woefully inadequate and often harmful responses to the epidemic. While his critique is warranted, an interesting part of the story of crack is how undertrained beat cops and ER nurses were forced to deal with one of the most viscerally dangerous and horrifying public health crises in American history. I wish we could have heard that story too. All in all though, really good read. Should be taught in schools, if you ask me.

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Fantastic, introspective — Important for Millenials and Gen Z

Revisado: 10-05-24

Just a really edifying and well-written title. I think it makes a serious attempt to treat Judaism as a spiritual heritage first: a system of values and religious practices that, for milenia, were absent earthly socio-political aims. As an American non-Jew who grew up in a very Jewish (reform, secularist) community, I found the emphasis on spiritual life and rejection of socio-political Judaism incredibly interesting and revealing. Given that Leifer and I are of the same generation, I think other people our age and younger will find this book particularly worthwhile (if they take the time to read it), and, hopefully, resonant.

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Really impressive

Revisado: 08-17-24

A really good book. At times it’s dense and difficult to keep track of due to the sheer scope of the events it covers, but a really interesting summary of a lot of history that I, a relative naïf vis a vis Islamic history, found super interesting and informative. He also reads his own writing incredibly well — something that 99% of writers fail to do.

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Excellent, and every well read

Revisado: 06-16-24

I don’t especially care about the Titanic, but this really sucked me in. A great reconstruction of the events.

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A Caro-esque biography and similarly fantastic

Revisado: 03-13-24

Very detailed, very well done. Almost too long to recommend to anyone who doesn’t love this stuff, but if you’re a fan of Caro l, try Garrow.

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A Criminally Under-appreciated Chapter in History

Revisado: 05-19-23

If Steve Jobs is eternally credited (and blamed) for the creation of the IPhone, then Nick Denton, Jonah Peretti, Andrew Breitbart, and a few others deserve similar credit for the creation of modern digital media. It’s hard to know which invention — the smart phone or all the crazy junk we scroll through on it — is more significant. This is an incredibly original and worthwhile read. My only complaint would be the occasionally jumpy rhythm of the narrative, but i imagine that is a product of the fact that this story is hard to tell. All the same, it is very well done.

By the way, the very first review on this thing was 1 star, for no clear reason, the day it released. Could be a grudge or a moron, or both.

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Good, worth reading.

Revisado: 11-13-21

A good philly novel that is still accurate to kensington, unfortunately. I would say the narrator is generally good, but not amazing at the dialogue/accents. Definitely worth checking out.

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An Interesting Narrative Buried by Poor Writing

Revisado: 11-05-21

I think Gaspipe is one of the more interesting figures in the Mafia, and this book is fairly well-paced, in terms of how it goes about telling his story. However, the reader and, most of all, the author contrive to deploy this gritty-poetry, true-crime-as-opera writing style that really falls flat.

To be fair, this style is not easy to do, and I get the feeling that Carlo was heavily influenced by authors like David Simon, who skillfully balanced witticism, poetic language, and allusions to high art/religion with good old fashioned crime reporting and realistic dialogue. When done well, an author can use this style anchor his/her story with the no frills and just-the-brutal-facts approach of an experienced crime journalist, while occasionally elevating certain scenes and moments with artistic flair. If you wanna hear it done right, listen to "Homicide" by David Simon. But Carlo uses stale and exceedingly predictable puns, inversions, phrases, and attempts at wit. The reader, who, to be fair, is just kinda just doing his job, leans into these corny asides, clunky allusions, painful cliches, and would-be witticisms with this air of smug confidence, sliding into this smarmy, precious voice, so you can feel your groan coming before it even hits. "But the only thing he would be having for dinner that night.... was death." *Puke*

I would say that if youre not bothered by mediocre writing, this one might still be hard to swallow. If Carlo had just stuck with a more straightforward style, i think this would be a decent enough book. Im no expert on mafia lore but, for what it is, the author tells a coherent story about an interesting figure. That should be enough to make it decent, if only he had spared it back to the sort of writing he knows how to do.

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Kotkin writes history painstakingly and wonderfully, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Revisado: 03-14-21

Just a fantastic read and really the essential profile of Stalin in his early years. Kotkin is fairly insistent throughout and in later volume(s) that much of Stalin’s regime and character can be explained as products of a Marxist-Leninist worldview. I don’t think one has to buy Kotkin’s argument, on this score, but even someone fundamentally opposed to his contention should find this portrait of Stalin compelling and enjoyable.

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Dean Testifies, But the Reader Steals the Show

Revisado: 02-27-20

John Dean’s account of his own role in Watergate is interesting, if pretty self-serving. To his credit, he paces the book really well and writes in a straightforward style that moves the narrative along effectively. Intentionally or unintentionally, his tendency to explain and justify his motives for doing what he did (as evidenced by the title), cause you to root for and against him from chapter to chapter. If there is one thing I could point out about this book that stands out to me, and is the reason I am writing this, it's the reader. Readers seem to be a very subjective part of audiobook reviews but this one is exemplary, in my opinion. I would give him 6 stars if I could: logical, measured, and a little sanctimonious, he owns the voice of John Dean. For fans of watergate history and 20th century American history I would argue this is a must read (or listen).

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