Relationships and Going Places
RMS Titanic Book Reviews: "It is impossible to stand. The music’s sounds are lost in an increasingly thunderous roar ... "
And the Band Played On truly takes up where the drama of Titanic’s loss leaves off. The excellent research tells the tale of a young girl’s love that could not wait for marriage; to a dishonest and avaricious father who might have graced the pages of Charles Dickens; of recognition pitifully sought and cruelly denied; of love and life triumphant over adversity more »
Field Work During a Mass Extinction: The curious Hawaiian happy face spider and others
Imagine that a “time machine” allowed you to go back in time — back exactly 64,999,995 years ago, just five years before the crash of the meteor that marked the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs. You have just enough time to do your field work, analyze your data, and write your Ph.D. dissertation. more »
1940 Census Questions: If unmarried, are you a virgin? Are you a blonde or brunette? Do you own a Bible?
The 1940 Census is a unique Census in our history — the first to include questions that were asked only of a subset of the population, chosen through a near-random scheme. In addition to the questions on age, sex, race, and relationship to the householder were questions about the value of the home, living on a farm, marital status, attending school, highest grade of school completed, place of birth, and citizenship. For persons 14 years and older, there were additionally seven different questions on working status, current occupation and industry, number of weeks worked, and income. more »
CultureWatch: An Asperger's Puzzle, A Fine New Short Story Author and a Lady Spy Thrills
Nilla Childs has framed Puzzled: 100 pieces of Autism in what she terms the 8 steps to completing a jigsaw puzzle; and learning how to give up "what does not work." Megan Bergman’s fine, fine collection of short stories, Birds of a Lesser Paradise, have both moral profundity and light-hearted humor. If you're looking for the next big page-turner, you've found it in The Expats. Chris Pavone is a dab hand at both mayhem and domesticity, something unusual in the business of flash-and-dash spy novels. more »






