Book review: ‘Custer’s Trials’ by T. J. Stiles
A review of Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America, by T. J. Stiles
Mal Warwick's reviews on his blog, occasionally appear on Berkeleyside. He is an author, entrepreneur, and impact investor who is one of three partners in One World Play Project, and founder and chairman of Mal Warwick Donordigital, an agency based in Berkeley and Washington, DC, that specializes in fundraising and marketing for nonprofits. Mal is the author, co-author, or editor of 20 books, most recently The Business Solution to Poverty and the best-selling fundraising text, How to Write Successful Fundraising Appeals.
Book review: When elections mattered a lot
A review of Game Changers: Twelve Elections That Transformed California, by Steve Swatt, with Susie Swatt, Jeff Raimundo, and Rebecca LaVally; foreword by Bruce E. Cain; published by Heyday
Book review: Love, betrayal, murder and recycling
You might not think that the subject of solid waste management would lend itself to a murder mystery. It would seem to be a stretch, wouldn’t it?
Wine, wine everywhere, and not a drop to drink
Mal Warwick, who regularly contributes book reviews to Berkeleyside, calls Frances Dinkelspiel’s ‘Tangled Vines’ “a great read,” and “crammed with fascinating characters.” He gives it five stars.
Robert Reich has ideas on how to save capitalism
Book reviewer Mal Warwick thinks Robert Reich’s new book is “brilliant,” and “cogently and compellingly” explains complex economic issues. But while Reich is funny in person, ‘Saving Capitalism’ doesn’t contain a lot of humor, says Warwick. He still gives it five out of five stars.
‘Consequence’: A novel that explores the boundary between peaceful protest and terrorism
Berkeley resident Steve Masover has written short stories and a screenplay, including the documentary Berkeley to Soweto. A graduate of UC Berkeley who was active in the anti-apartheid movement, Masover returned to the university in 2007 to work in its information technology division. Now he has written a novel, Consequence, which Mal Warwick reviews.
Ernest O. Lawrence: the man who shaped Big Science
Throughout the 20th century, Berkeley has been a breeding ground of invention. Even before World War I, there was August Vollmer, who served as police chief from 1909 to 1931 and was widely regarded for transforming police work from thuggery to a modern profession.
Book details deportation of city’s Japanese community
A review Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese-American Internment in World War II, by Richard Reeves.
Karen Paget’s ‘Patriotic Betrayal’ is a monumental work
If you’re old enough, think back to the 1960s, that decade of endless turmoil and revelation. Though the CIA had been established in 1947, it wasn’t until 1962 that the agency came to the attention of most Americans, as a result of its disastrous handling of the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Five years later, another CIA scandal broke: a carefully researched article in Ramparts magazine revealed that the agency had been funding the US National Student Association (NSA) for many years and turning many of its leaders into spies.
Big Soda unmasked: It’s not as sweet as you think
A review of Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism, by Bartow J. Elmore
***** (5 out of 5)Recommended: 10 great recent books by Berkeley writers
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think so.
Erik Tarloff’s ‘All Our Yesterdays’ is grounded in Berkeley
What has Erik Tarloff got that I haven’t got? After all, we’re both, let’s say, not getting any younger; both long-time Berkeley residents; both Jewish; and both writers. OK, scratch that last one: we’re not in the same league.
