A political outsider with a mass following comes to the top post in the nation at the invitation of an embattled party wanting to ride on his popular appeal. They are convinced they can control him, but woefully miscalculate. Sound familiar? I picked up Volker Ullrich's recent biography of Adolf Hitler, wanting to understand all the details that led to the fall of Weimar Germany's democracy. In this first volume of a three-part biography, Ullrich covers Hitler's beginnings as transient artist to political agitator to chancellor of Germany.
Book review: “Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life” by Boyd Petersen
Hugh Nibley simultaneously affirms faith and challenges the status quo within the Church, and that duality is what I admire so much about him.
Protected: Best Christmas present of 2019: My grandma’s autobiography
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“Charles Dickens” by G. K. Chesterton
Does every English teacher always pass on the myth that Dickens was paid by the word? Rather, more people should know that Dickens' novels targeted injustices, like debtor's prisons and workhouses-- and it worked.
“Robert Browning” by G. K. Chesterton
Can Chesterton just write every biography? Before, Browning was just another faceless poet to me, but GKC convinces you by the end that poetry wouldn't be the same without him.
Book review: “The Talmage Story” by John R. Talmage
Which LDS apostle Saved the University of Utah from going under. Blinded his kid brother with a rake Pulled out his microscope every. single. FHE. Had kids who referred to his as "the Inquisitor" when they brought dates over. A: James E. Talmage
Book review: “Catherine of Siena” by Sigrid Undset
If she - whipped herself for fun as a child - doesn't need food to live - moves popes and kings to do her bidding she's not your girl. She's St. Catherine of Siena
On pirates and puppet theaters: Chesterton on Robert Louis Stevenson
Rating: 3/5 G. K. Chesterton's Robert Louis Stevenson is another biography that isn't a biography. It's more of a work of literary criticism for a man Chesterton perhaps didn't always agree with all the time, but certainly held in deep respect. Chesterton finds common ground with Stevenson in what he refers to as the "sharp... Continue Reading →
The gentleman general Lord Kitchener: A Chesterton biography
To continue the Chesterton mood, I picked up another one of his biographies of a lesser-known individual, at least among Americans. Lord Kitchener. Again, to comment on Chesterton's unique approach to biographies, rather than stick tot he chronological narrative of his subject's life, Chesterton tries to capture the "spirit" of Kitchener, or the spirit of... Continue Reading →
No, the seagulls do not represent kamikaze airplanes: Review of Chesterton’s “William Blake”
I believe I encountered William Blake for the first time in a high school honor's English class. But the name really meant nothing to me, other than that he was one of the Greats next to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Lord Tennyson. They were all just poets who had achieved greatness sometime in... Continue Reading →