bkpiper

I should like this book more

Revisado: 11-17-21

I am a PhD candidate in sociology with an interest in political theory, history, inequalities and social inequities. This book should be on my bookshelf, and yet, I found it dry, concise in places that needed more context, and verbose in places where it needn’t be.

One example goes something like this: “Jim Smith assumed leadership of Organization ABC in April 1921. By the following June, Smith had been replaced by Thomas Miller after an overwhelming majority vote had ousted him. Miller went on to lead Organization ABC for the next 8 years.”

Who is Jim Smith? Should the reader know him? What’s his story, and why do we care that he was in charge? Same questions for Thomas Miller.

More to the point, much of the book reads like a bulletpoint list in paragraph form. It’s a log of information, not a organized description of the political efforts and initiatives of communist groups in Alabama. Some of the names, organizations, dates, and details are minutiae that do not contribute to a broader pattern or more expansive narrative throughout the chapters.

I cannot think of a single instance in this text where the author contrasted the ideologies, strategies, or even group structures of contemporaneous groups. The closest the author came to this subject was one point in which he describes the rapid growth of communist group membership while a Black woman took charge temporarily, and despite her unparalleled success, the founding members installed a man to replace her. The author briefly hints at the entrenched misogyny and sexism even among progressive groups during this period. This is the only mention of sexism in the book.

You know, I just expected more from such a seminal historical text.

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Boring and uninteresting

Revisado: 07-27-21

The story was not compelling. The characters' motivations were unclear from the outset and remained so throughout the story. These two boys made a terrible mistake, and the ensuing consequences of the lives of the involved parties went unexplored by the boys. I found the central characters to be uninteresting, unsympathetic, and lacking self-awareness in most cases. I finished this story hoping that it would turn around nearer to the end, but it ended up being a waste of time.

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Read an article instead.

Revisado: 07-27-21

The story is compelling—Casey Kasem’s final years were fraught by a degenerative disease, abusive treatment by his second wife, and a tragic death. The narration is very E! True Hollywood Story, and the story could have been condensed to fewer episodes or at least shared more evenly by a narrator without the stereotypical dramatic announcer voice.

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