Category: Book reviews
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The Fighting Editor
Alexander, Ann Field. Race Man: The Rise and Fall of the “Fighting Editor” John Mitchell Jr., University of Virginia Press, 2002 Review by Dick Hall-Sizemore John Mitchell, Jr. was a major figure in Richmond and Virginia public affairs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Over the course of this career, he was a…
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Lost Kids of Southwest Virginia
Kingsolver, Barbara. Demon Copperhead. Harper, 2022 A review by Dick Hall-Sizemore Barbara Kingsolver is an award-winning author who lives on a farm in Washington County, Virginia. Her latest novel, Demon Copperhead, is what she calls her “great Appalachian novel.” It was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year. Kingsolver grew up in Appalachia, in…
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Fact Checking Bill Leighty
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In my review of Bill Leighty’s memoir, I quoted at length an incident that was supposed to illustrate Leighty’s deal-making skills, as well as how things are often accomplished in state government. One of this blog’s alert readers, “how_it_works,” pointed that the timing of the events related in the story just did…
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Ah, So That’s What That Was All About!
Leighty, Bill. Capitol Secrets: Leadership Wisdom from a Lifetime of Public Service. Holon Publishing, 2023. A review by Dick Hall-Sizemore The public sees the result of policy development. What the public does not see is the sometimes- messy process that produced that policy nor, more broadly, what goes on behind the scenes to make government…
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Meet Abrar Omeish, Exhibit A in the Woke Army
by Asra Q. Nomani Exclusive: In 2019, Abrar Omeish canvassed for support at a fundraiser for the anti-Semitic group American Muslims for Palestine and said she wanted to change the “narrative” on Palestinians. She was elected to office and launched a tirade against the state of Israel, which she smeared as an “apartheid” nation,…
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A Virginia Novel of Politics and Scandal in the Age of Wokeism
by James A. Bacon David Shephard, publisher of The Virginia Gentleman blog, has followed politics in the Old Dominion for many years, and he has long admired the Garrett Epps novel, The Shad Treatment, a fictional rendering of the 1973 gubernatorial contest between Mills Godwin and Henry Howell. Shephard’s recently published book, Elections Have Consequences,…
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Race As a Political Construct
by James A. Bacon Race is a social construct, as the Wokesters endlessly remind us. It’s one of the few observations from the left that I mostly agree with… or, at least, I did agree with until reading, Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America, by George Mason University law school professor David…
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A New Classic on Thomas Jefferson and Public Education in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock On April 29, 1962, President John F. Kennedy addressed a group of Nobel Prize winners at a dinner in their honor at The White House. Kennedy, raised patrician, classically educated and fired in war and politics graciously toasted another such man. I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent,…
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The Continuing Transformation of Virginia Politics
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Toscano, David. Bellwether: Virginia’s Political Transformation, 2006-2020. Lanham: Hamilton Books, 2022 In this book, David Toscano, whose prior work was Fighting Political Gridlock: How States Shape Our Nation and Our Lives (2021), turns his focus on Virginia. The author is a former Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2006-2020) from…
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“The Dreadful Frauds” — a CRT Take-Down
by James A. Bacon As Wokeism plays an increasingly dominant role in our society, conservatives and even liberals have begun subjecting the ideology to close scrutiny. Perhaps the most brilliant dissection comes from John McWhorter, an African-American and an old-school liberal. In Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, McWhorter makes the…
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An Exclusive Interview with the Author of “Dust Mites”
Bacon’s Rebellion was lucky enough to snag an interview with “Dust Mites” author Jim Bacon. As he is the blog contributor most familiar with the book, Bacon interviewed himself. — JAB JAB: Thank you so much for granting this interview, Mr. Bacon. First, let’s dispense with formalities. Do you go by James? JAB: Jim would…
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1619–A Portentous Year. A Book Review and Summary
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Horn, James. 1619: Jamestown and the Forging of American Democracy. New York: Basic Books, 2018. Notwithstanding the title, this book is not part of the controversial 1619 Project. The author is currently the most prominent and knowledgeable scholar of early colonial Virginia. He is the president and chief officer of the Jamestown…
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Dust Mites Book Review: “A Surprisingly Creative Effort.”
by Peter Galuszka Jim Bacon has released a self-published novel that is wildly imaginative. He envisions the politics of a U.S.-related colony on the moon in the year 2075. At Galileo Station, a semi-autonomous outpost, residents live and work in underground spaces while they work to harvest various important minerals as well as a helium…
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“The Last Romantic War,” a Review
by James Wyatt Whitehead V In the spring of 1986, I was given an old foot locker with the name Charles Faben Redd and V.M.I. emblazoned on it. Uncle Charlie had just died and the family had gathered in the stately parlor of his home in Studley, Virginia. At the age of 15, I had…