Category: Reading

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Education Reading

Latest read: Mozart

As a fan of his music this book by Peter Gay Mozart (A Penguin Life) has proved to be of a surprise. Gay is able to account for more personal writings of both Wolfgang and his father than other books regarding Mozart that I have read.
mozartIt was not until I was almost half way through before everything began to get interesting in new documented relationships Mozart established with so many while traveling Europe and how frugal nobles were to both his sister and him while their father was establishing his own private audiences with royals.

This was also more of an acknowledgement of Solomon’s book and even the most recent writings and hit movie. The previously unknown story of how he withheld the death of his mother who was traveling with him showed new sources that have not been known to me previously. In the end Gay’s book will bolster the knowledge and lifestyle of Mozart and his family lead for any fan.

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Education Reading

Latest read: Nixon in Winter

Was looking forward to Monica Crowley’s Nixon in Winter : His Final Revelations about Diplomacy, Watergate, and Life out of the Arena for any Watergate insight but failed to learn anything new outside of Nixon’s predictable thought and opinions on the issue that killed his presidency . I was somewhat more interested in his insights on Vietnam.
Nixon in WinterSo what I learned was the impact of Vietnam and ultimately how it was just another part of the downfall of Nixon. I believe Nixon’s secret invasion of Cambodia which lead to campus protests, really ignited the anti-war movement and as a result began the actions of CREEP. He promised if elected he would bring peace to America, yet most Americans did not realize the resources North Vietnam used in Cambodia.

The most revealing was Crowley’s view of the Nixon’s and how he was so attached to Pat, especially when of her physical failures resulting from cancer. The insight of his devotion to her was true. In recalling video of Nixon weeping openly at her funeral somehow proved he was human in a moment of loss.

Overall this final revelation about Watergate proved little value. If memory serves me correctly this is now my 14th book about Watergate. Not sure I will pickup Crowley’s other book Nixon off the record.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

Latest read: Kent State

Kent State: What Happened and Why was a very personal, private reading experience. Raised and educated in Ohio, my father was an Army MP in the Ohio National Guard. My father’s twin brother was also an MP.
During that weekend, my father’s unit based in Toledo was called up by Governor James Rhodes.

At the time of the shooting my grandmother who was in failing health was overcome by the initial, inaccurate reports that Ohio guardsmen were shot and killed. She died that day. I was only four years of age when my grandmother passed away.

In the spring of 1970 the war in Vietnam, waging since 1959 spread into Cambodia.

The US Military began limited expansion into Cambodia which came as a shock to many Americans.

President Nixon announced Thursday April 30th the incursions by US troops into Cambodia to find enemy supplies and troops. This event drove a further wedge in America still coming to terms with the My Lai massacre the previous November.

As author James Michener followed the timeline of events, he quoted Roy Thomson, Kent’s Chief of Police that same day as stating “Kent is exceedingly fortunate in that most of the 20,000 students at Kent State University are well balanced.” Could anyone have predicted the tragedy that was to unfold?

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Education Globalization Milwaukee Reading Technology

Latest read: Lexus and the Olive Tree

lexus and the olive treeTom Friedman’s book The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization has great chapters including The Electronic Herd as one that fits right into how web2.0 entrepreneurs have been able to move social networks into powerful forces.

Although Lexus and the Olive Tree’s immediate focus was finance, its easy to see how MySpace impacts social networks.

The rapid change in today’s world has made a large leap within the last three years.

The strength of the herd continues to have more impact with even the youngest of the internet generation like…say…Digg.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

Latest read: Secrets A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers

Daniel Ellsberg‘s Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers is about his direct experience in Vietnam and more importantly his role in leaking The Pentagon Papers.  Daniel’s lessons in both academic research and military battlefields helped me learn more about the times he lived in and how it ultimately caused him to steal and publish top secret files regarding the war in Vietnam.

Secrets A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon PapersThe Pentagon Papers showed world the surprising role of US involvement in Vietnam dating back to Harry Truman through the Nixon Administration.  His influence is not to be under estimated. I was impressed to learn of his work with President Kennedy in David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest. There was more to Ellsberg than meets the eye.

His background: undergraduate studies at Harvard and post graduate Woodrow Wilson fellowship at Cambridge in England. Daniel returned to apply for Marine officer candidates courses but had to wait a year — so he went to grad school at Harvard (during the Korean War) where he was expected to serve. In the beginning Ellsberg was a political hawk regarding communist expansion in the world especially Soviet aggressiveness in Czechoslovakia and Poland.

A week after getting his PhD he was in the military training to be a lieutenant. He would command a rifle unit in the second Marine division. As his tour was ending his first son was born. He was awarded a three year junior fellowship back at Harvard, but asked the Marine commandant to extend his tour as war in the Middle East appeared imminent. Daniel drafted secret plans against Egypt and Israel. As a research fellow back at Harvard in economic and decision theory he attracted attention of the Rand Corporation and in ’58 accepted an economic position with RAND in California. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik during this time-frame.  The cold war was beginning to really heat up.

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