My much promised return to regular posting may be delayed a bit further as I muddle through a transition to a new home internet connection. In the meantime, I'll try and peek in from work.. if I get the time (which is in short supply around here these days). If you need something to do in the meantime here are this site's latest reading recommendations.
Planet Simpson: How A Cartoon Masterpiece Defined a Generation Chris Turner
It's more or less what the title says. That is an argument that the last 30 years of pop culture zeitgeist resonate most clearly through the satirical language of this goofy little cartoon. Turner covers a lot of ground and I find myself in agreement with his take on just about everything from punk rock to indie films to rave culture to Ultima to bungee jumping. But then, he's a white male exactly my age so... what are the odds.
The Lost German Slave Girl : The Extraordinary True Story of the Slave Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom John Bailey
Nearly novelized story of Sally Muller, a young German immigrant who was separated from her family only to be found years later by a relative horrified to discover that she had become a slave. The legal battle for her freedom reveals a great deal about the complexities of race and slavery in 1840s New Orleans. While the subject is intriguing, the dramatization is a bit much. Bailey admits that he hit upon this project while being nearly bored to death by his research for a much denser work on slave law. He seems to have overcompensated.
Book reviewed by others here.
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