Author: Tim Graczewski
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Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves (2005) by Adam Hochschild
I was first introduced to the work of Adam Hochschild with his 1998 bestselling “King Leopold’s Ghost,” a searing account of Belgium’s exploitation of the Congo in the late nineteenth century. “Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves,” a National Book Award Finalist first published in 2005, is…
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Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt (2001) by David McCullough
“Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt,” the 1982 bestseller and National Book Award-winner by David McCullough, is a wonderful book, but it’s not the family biography I expected. Yes, the homely and crippled big sister Anna, known as “Bamie,”…
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One Summer: America, 1927 (2013) by Bill Bryson
Despite my love of popular history, Bill Bryson’s “One Summer: America 1927” likely would have escaped my notice had it not been given to me as a Christmas gift. Moreover, I only decided to read it (I literally have stacks of unread books all over my house) because I was taking a long flight and…
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Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink (2011) by Louis Hyman
Never mind the cheesy harlequin romance novel cover, this is a serious book. Perhaps the most amazing thing about Louis Hyman’s “Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink,” the story of personal debt (namely, consumer loans, long term home mortgages, and credit cards) in twentieth century America, is that it hasn’t been written…
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Governor Reagan: His Rise To Power (2003) by Lou Cannon
“Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power,” first published in 2003, is something of a “prequel” for veteran-political-journalist-turned-Reagan-biographer, Lou Cannon, who’s heralded critical assessment of the Reagan presidential administration, “President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime,” appeared on bookshelves over a decade before this volume. “Governor Reagan” is made up of 30 chapters, each with a…
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Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty (2015) by Dan Jones
The Magna Carta. It’s one of those things that everyone knows, but few truly know anything about. Hip Hop mega star Jay-Z (for reasons known only to him) titled his 2013 album “Magna Carta Holy Grail.” In 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron, who one would presume would know a thing or two about it,…
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President Reagan: The Role Of A Lifetime (1991) by Lou Cannon
Ronald Reagan isn’t the kind of president that many Americans are on the fence about. Either you love him and believe he belongs in the pantheon of great presidents alongside Washington, Lincoln and FDR or you think he is one of the most incompetent (albeit lucky) chief executives in American history. Lou Cannon’s “President Reagan:…
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Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War (2002) by Robert Coram
I came to this book with a completely open mind. For the past two decades I’ve lived and worked in Silicon Valley as a technology executive, but my educational background and early career experience was in national security and defense, including a stint at the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, the defense department’s internal long-range…
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America’s Bank: The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve (2015) by Roger Lowenstein
The Federal Reserve is one of the most controversial government organizations. Many fear its powers; fewer actually understand them. The topic of central banking in America has been addressed many times before, from the classic 1957 study “Banks and Politics in America” by Bray Hammond to William Greider’s 1987 bestseller “Secrets of the Temple.” What…
What's Tim Reading Now? 