Charles Ashbacher Reviews

Review of Capitalism: Opposing Viewpoints , edited by Bruno Leone, ISBN 0912616504 Four out of five stars Arguments on both sides haven’t changed   This book was published in 1978 and presents arguments both for and against capitalism. The first is by Adam Smith and basically sets down the basic arguments in favor of capitalism. Smith’s arguments were first made in the eighteenth century and are still cited largely in their original form by economists that favor pure capitalism.   The essay by Smith is followed by one by Karl Marx and is from “The Manifesto of the Communist Party,” and summarizes Marx’s basic arguments against capitalism. The remaining essays make more modern arguments for and against capitalism. The last essay is by Sam Love and was written in 1977. In that essay Love argues that capitalism is afflicted by “the terminal illness of bigness.” In other words, his essay puts forward the modern argument that some companies are “too big to fail.” In moder...

  Review of Jackie & Campy: The Untold Story of Their Rocky Relationship and the Breaking of Baseball’s Color Line , by William C. Kashatus ISBN 9780803246331 Five out of five stars History of two key figures in the civil rights movement   Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella were the first and second black players on the Brooklyn Dodgers, with Jackie of course the first black player in the major leagues after the color line was established. It would seem that they would naturally be friends off the field, but that was not the case. At first, they were friends, but major personality differences turned them away from each other.   Once the vow of silence was lifted from Jackie, he became very combative, even to the point of extremism. Jackie did not hesitate to bait and antagonize opposing players, managers and umpires. It reached the point where he began to lose the off-field support of his teammates, Dodger management and sportswriters. Jackie believed that t...

  Review of Dragonslayer, The Official Marvel Comics Adaptation of the Spectacular Paramount Disney Motion Picture!, ISBN 0960414657 Five out of five stars Last of the dragons and wizards   What made Dragonslayer such a good movie is that it presented a social transition, where the days of wizards, magic and dragons are being replaced by the Christian religion. Long-held belief systems are being replaced by different patterns of thought. The last wizard and dragon are both slain as they must be for Christianity to rise to have power over human minds.   The essence of the movie is well captured in this comics adaptation of the movie. The old and declining wizard has an apprentice that while capable, still is not fully capable of assuming the duties. There is the kingdom beset by the dragon where a young maid must be offered up as a sacrifice on a regular basis. The internal political struggles and the willingness to accept the bizarre tax of a young woman to be ...

  Review of Foreign Policy , by Alvin Wolf, ISBN 0133264211 Four out of five stars Dated, but very instructive   Written in 1970 while the Cold and Vietnam wars were in fully active mode, this book reflects much of the thinking at the time. Issues are put forward with both pro and con positions being presented. Of course, one of the issues “debated” is whether the United States should be militarily involved in Vietnam. The con side is a little weak, one of those articles is by teenagers and is a bit incoherent.   The next topic is American military involvement in Central America and the Caribbean, specifically the attempt by the American Central Intelligence Agency to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. One of the two areas that I found most interesting were the articles about the American Peace Corps. The idealism of most of the American participants cannot be questioned, yet there were those that dismissed the Corps as little more than useless. ...

  Review of Obvious Letters: The Associative Alphabet Every Child Will Remember , by Gisela Hausmann, ISBN 0966421701 Five out of five stars Superior artwork expresses the letters   There are countless books designed to teach children their ABCs. With such a large number, there is also a significant variety in their quality. Since the letters are the letters and fancy calligraphy is not possible with beginners, the differentiating factor of such books is the artwork in and surrounding the letters.   In this book, the author takes a different approach and uses the basic shape of the letters to construct an object beginning with that letter. For example, the uppercase B is the right side of a butterfly, and the lowercase b is a backpack on an animal. There are two images for each letter where the shape changes with case but only one when it does not. For example, there is only one image for Z.   The producers also showed some excellent sense in that they us...

  Review of Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula or The Adventure of the Sanguinary Count , by John H. Watson MD., as edited by Loren D. Estleman, ISBN 0385140517 Five out of five stars Great detective meets great villain   Of all the fictional villains that have been created, there is none more attractive than the vampire Count Dracula. Stories based on vampires have appeared countless times in print and video. In this case, the infamous count arrives in England on what appears to be a ghost ship where most of the crew has vanished with only the dead captain remaining. He is lashed to the wheel, having died at his post.   The great Sherlock Holmes becomes involved, and this is a situation where his famous dictum, “ When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth . ” Holmes quickly realizes that the events can only be explained by the presence of a vampire, in this case Count Dracula himself.   The chase is a merry ...

  Review of Rebel Rookie , by Robert Sidney Bowen Four out of five stars Troubled boy finds salvation in baseball Pete Hatch is a resident of the Medford Boys’ Home, a place for orphans. He has a hair trigger temper and baseball is the only outlet he has. Pete is a very good catcher, showing great promise for a future in baseball once he is old enough to leave the orphanage. Unfortunately, his temper overwhelms him on the baseball field and after fighting with another boy, it appears that he will no longer be able to play the game he loves. In desperation, Pete runs away from the orphanage and after stowing away in the back of a truck, he overhears the men in the cab talking about a baseball summer tryout camp being given by the Ravens professional team. It is scheduled to last two weeks and room and board will be provided. Since it will solve Pete’s immediate problems and give him a chance to play again and show his skills, Pete manages to hitchhike his way to the camp. ...

  Review of The ChatGPT Millionaire , by Neil Dagger, ISBN 9798374102581   One out of five stars Typical early hype, little substance   The world is now all aflutter over the potential for artificial intelligence to alter the world. Some even go so far to think it is possible that there will be an apocalyptic extermination of humans, or at the very least a drastic reduction in numbers with humans relegated to doing the labor that machines cannot do. Others see the dramatic potential benefits to humanity, where people will no longer have to perform dangerous and routine, mindless jobs. There is no question that the advent of functional AI will lead to economic changes and the supposed purpose of this book is to show the reader how to make enormous profits from using the publicly available AI program known as ChatGPT.   Unfortunately for the reader, this book will do little to get you significantly closer to your first million. This is another one of those ...

  Review of Loud Sparrows: Contemporary Chinese Short Stories , selected and translated by Aili Mu, Julie Chiu and Howard Goldblatt, ISBN 0231138482 Five out of five stars Short and potent The title of this book has two origins. The first is based on the events of 1958 in Beijing, China. At the urging of Mao Zedong, the residents engaged in a campaign against sparrows. For three days and nights the residents did everything they could to create a massive amount of noise that disoriented the sparrows. Unable to land and rest, over four hundred thousand died. Then, the predictable happened. With no sparrows to eat the insects, the population exploded, and the grain harvest was lost, leading to famine. The second point of origin is the Chinese description of a good short-short story, “small as a sparrow, but has all the vital organs.”   Following that criteria, these sparrows are indeed loud in the literary sense. The situations depicted in the stories cover a wide swath...

  Review of Space Wars: Fact and Fiction , ISBN 0706413504 Three out of five stars Pulp SF and space fact This book is a combination of some of the pulp stories of the early years and short factual segments about the early years of human space exploration. The fiction segments are from the time when there was not a whole lot of science or factual accuracy in the stories. If you are a fan of that type of story, you will enjoy them. Much of that space is taken up by a multi-part graphic novel form called “Space Cadet.”   The space fact stories are written at the level of the middle school student, and each presents a specific aspect of space. Some of the stories in this area are weak. In particular, the one about the problems that occurred during the Apollo 13 mission. The drama and how the solutions were derived are not covered.   The SF segments of this book are interesting to read, to the modern reader they are a reference to how the genre was presented in wh...

  Review of Communism: Opposing Viewpoints , by Bruno Leone ISBN 0912616520 Five out of five stars Very dated, but remains interesting   Published in 1978, just before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and a decade before the collapse of the Soviet Union, this book is very dated. In it noted commentators put forward points of view regarding the value of communism as it was practiced in the Soviet Union and the associated nations of what was known as the Warsaw Pact.   To understand the position of some of the authors, it is necessary to understand the historical context of their writings. The dates of the papers go back to the 1920’s and 1930’s. This was shortly after the Bolsheviks took power in the former Russian Empire and there was reason for optimism regarding how successful communism would be. There is also the reality of race and gender oppression in the United States and at least in theory, women were the equals of men in a communist society.   I...

  Review of The Civil War Jigsaw Book , ISBN 1741249945 Five out of five stars A simple, fun book   With only six pages of text, most of which are taken up by photos, this book will likely not teach you anything new about the American Civil War. What makes this book interesting is the four jigsaw puzzles depicting scenes from the war. Each is 96 pieces in size and the scenes are ones where there is significant differentiation of the pieces. The pieces are large and easy to grasp, and each puzzle has its’ own tray in the structure of the book.   The four scenes of the puzzles are: “Yankee Volunteers Marching into Dixie,” “Battle of the Wilderness -   Desperate Fight on the Orange C. H. Plank Road Near Todd’s Tavern,” “Battle of Antietam,” and “Battle of Corinth.” This is a book that people with a wide spectrum of interest in the American Civil War will find interesting and fun to read/do.

  Review of Tales From the Iowa Sidelines , by Ron Maly ISBN 1582615748 Four out of five stars Short stories of Iowa football through 2002   As a lifelong resident of Eastern Iowa and a longtime follower of the Iowa Hawkeyes football team, many of these short stories were familiar. From the disastrous years where three wins in a season was a good year to the major successes of coaches Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz. There were also many stories featuring the teams under Dr. Eddie Anderson and Forest Evashevski. The author has covered the Hawkeyes for local newspapers for decades, so there is a clear bias in favor of the personalities and the team.   Even if you already know the stories, Hawkeye fans will enjoy reading them. While most of them are based on public knowledge, some of them reveal unusual information on how certain situations came about. Specifically, regarding how some of the players ended up playing for Iowa. It is a great coffee table book and is als...

  Review of Keystone Kids , by John R. Tunis Five out of five stars Fighting antisemitism in sports fiction This book introduces Spike and Bob Russell, brothers, orphans and a superb shortstop/second base combination. The story opens with them toiling in the minor leagues but making a very good impression on their manager Grouchy. With their skills and confidence, the brothers move up to the major leagues and begin playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. When they arrive, the team is that in name only, there is no cohesion among the players, and they are mired in the second division, with little hope of rising.   In a move that seems to be one of desperation, the owner of the team elevates the older brother Spike to be a player-manager. Since he is so young, Spike is met with initial skepticism from the veterans, yet it appears that he wins them over.   However, when the Jewish catcher Jocko Klein offends some of the veterans, ethnic hatred flares up and Spike finds...

  Review of A Soldier’s Diary 1861-65 , by General Warren McCain, ISBN 9781519042897 Four out of five stars Not a great deal of combat   First and foremost, the first name of the author of this diary is General, his highest rank during the American Civil War was Sergeant. While McCain was part of Sherman’s army that marched through the heart of the Confederacy, he was not part of a major battle. What action he saw was limited to skirmishes on the edges.   Therefore, this account is not filled with tales of the extreme brutality that was the fundamental of the Civil War. Where the casualties in a major battle were measured as high as over a thousand per hour. In fact, it is largely a story of how much of war is rather dull and routine. Especially when you are not part of the spear of an army on the move.   While this story is not boring by any means, it is also not composed of eyewitness renditions of the height of the carnage.

  Review of Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right, by Thomas Frank, ISBN 9780805093698 Five out of five stars To the failures went the spoils   This is an amazing book about an incredible event. In September 2008 the Lehman Brothers financial institution collapsed into bankruptcy, triggering the bursting of a financial bubble that vaporized trillions of dollars of paper assets. The bubble was fueled by cheap credit and lax lending standards that were possible due to extensive financial deregulation by Congress. What some have said would have been a second coming of the Depression was averted when the federal government immediately stepped in and funded a massive bailout of the financial system as well as several businesses deemed “too big to fail.”   If history were to be followed, the perpetrators of this debacle would have been drummed out of their industry and forced to lose both face and assets. Furthermore, the...

  Review of Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Seamy and Quirky Stories Behind Favorite Nursery Rhymes , by Chris Roberts ISBN 1592401309 Five out of five stars Interesting backstories of children’s verses   It is well known that many nursery rhymes were based on the parody and satire of political leaders. Of course, in the early days, a criticism of a sovereign could easily cause you to literally lose your head. While Roberts does not claim to be an expert in the area of children’s literature, his knowledge of the field is sufficient to write an interesting historical recapitulation of many of the most famous nursery rhymes.   While many of them have a fairly specific point of origin, there are some whose genesis is lost to history. There are others with more than one plausible initial rendering. One point well made is that some of them are quite violent and brutal. Many of them also contain very clear sexual inuendo. For example, the one that opens with, “Run-dub...

  Review of Moose Dropping & Other Crimes Against Nature: Funny Stories From Alaska, by Tom Brennan ISBN 9780945397847 Five out of five stars Stories from the wild frontier of Alaska   Currently the largest state in the United States by area and with a size roughly equal to 1/5 that of the continental United States, there are a lot of bragging rights inherent in the state of Alaska. It is also by far the most rugged and isolated state. There are many areas where the only real communication with the outside world is by bush plane.   This book is a collection of funny stories of events that took place in Alaska from the time it became a US possession in 1867. Most of the stories are from the gold rush days of 1896 and later. Moose dropping actually refers to people who pick up moose droppings and make decorative items from them. The early Alaskans were rough, bawdy, heavy drinkers and people that felt a need to party to pass the time during the brutal winters...

  Review of Unexplained Mysteries of World War II , by William B. Breuer ISBN 9780785822530 Four out of five stars Overstated title, good information   The title of this book is clearly overstated. From the statement it appears that the stories in this book will be bizarre occurrences that seem to have no rational explanation. However, many of the short stories are based on coincidence. Given the fog of war, where thousands of men and their machines go missing without a trace, there will always be events where there is imprecise knowledge of the outcome.   Approximately 16 million Americans served in the armed forces during World War II, so the are tens of millions of possible coincidental happenings. Therefore, while an individual instance might generate some surprise, the fact that many will happen should not. Furthermore, while some of the events can be considered strange, they were the consequence of a deliberate and knowledgeable choices of the participants...