Review: Another Man's Moccasins

Another Man's Moccasins by Craig Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another great Longmire mystery. The interjections of Longmire's Vietnam backstory were interesting, though at first it made the book a bit disjointed. But as things started to come together, it worked well as a story telling technique.

It's a bit strange reading these while also watching the series. There are many incongruities between the books and the TV; so it is just something I have to keep in mind.

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Review: The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World by David W. Anthony
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I came to this book through The History of English podcast, hosted by Kevin Stroud. Stroud starts his history thousands of years before English appears one the scene by starting with the history of Proto-Indo-European. One of his main sources was David Anthony’s The Horse, The Wheel, and Language. Those episodes fascinated me so I got Anthony’s book to dive deeper into it. And deeper it is! Anthony’s book, though quite readable, is a scholarly work of archaeology. There are dozens of dozens of pages detailing archaeology sites and finds, including pottery and burial descriptions. This is important material for grounding the argument he is making, but it wasn’t what I was ultimately reading the book for (I admit to skimming through the more detailed descriptions of pottery and their dating).

The overarching theme of the book is that the Eurasian Steppes (roughly the areas of modern-day Ukraine and Kazakhstan near the Black and Caspian Seas) is the source for not just the languages that large portions of the world speaks, but also of important aspects of European and Asian cultures. At the very least cultures from the US to India to China to Iran and Russia can trace concepts and words back to these people living on the steppes 6000 years ago.

So first the language: appealing to historical linguistics, Anthony discusses how Proto-Indo-European has been reconstructed. He explains the history of how this work came to be and what its major findings are. He explains the research that shows how the various language groups, Italic, Germanic, Iranian, and so on grew out of this earlier (reconstructed) language. This is interesting in itself, but Anthony also ties this into archaeology. Using evidence from the history of various material cultures in this region, he’s able to piece together the connections between where these cultures were and how they lived with aspects of the historical linguistics. This provides a lot of support to the idea that Proto-Indo-European language (and culture) originated here in the steppes.

So that’s the “language” part of the book’s title. The "Horse" and the "Wheel" come in to it in really interesting ways. Anthony explains his work on piecing together the evidence for the domestication of horses. Wild horses were native to this steppe region and at first, as he argues, were probably domesticated for food and only later used for riding. He examines how the domestication of horses fit in with the further growth of the herding of cattle and sheep. The mutual growth of these features leads to increases in wealth, resources, and populations. And this leads to outward movement and trade.

This opens up more contact with the other cultures around them: in particular the Mesopotamian cities that were also growing in power in this period (the bronze age). With this contact there is trade and technology sharing. The steppes cultures appear to have adapted the wheel from somewhere further south and developed what might have been the first chariots (which then spread back to the south and east to China). This led to a broad but loose culture of related languages and kin groups spreading from eastern European to China and into areas around modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. It became, as Anthony says, “a single interacting system.” This corridor became a conduit for transcontinental trade and technology, predating the Silk Road by a millennium or more.

This was a fascinating book. It is readable, but gets pretty detailed at times. I learned a lot of pre-ancient history I had no idea about; the amount we can know of people living 6000 years is incredible (though we know so very little). It leaves me with the thought that history is so very full.



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Review: Romeo's Rules

Romeo's Rules by James Scott Bell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An exciting introduction to this series. Mike Romeo is an intriguing protagonist. He's part Spenser, part Mike Hammer, with some Jack Reacher thrown in. I really enjoyed the quotations and references to philosophy and literature. I also like Ira and Mike's relationship to him. I thought some of the plotting was a bit contrived and convoluted at times; there were aspects overall that felt a bit unpolished. I would have preferred the denouement was more played out rather than explained explicitly. But I enjoyed it and will be back!

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Review: The Cellist

The Cellist by Daniel Silva
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Daniel Silva's Allon series is one of my favorite series. The newest addition, The Cellist, is good but might be one of the weaker installments. That's more due to how good most of the other books are rather than The Cellist not being good. But there are a few things that are worth noting. Allon is more passive than usual. The art world/art restoration elements continue to be reduced. For all the returning characters, there is a little too much reliance on the characterizations developed in earlier novels. The plot itself follows, for the most part, Silva's seemingly standard formula with Allon. The ending -- which Silva acknowledges in the Author's Note was something he rewrote in light of current events -- felt like an afterthought and add-on. And even though it really was an add-on, it could have been better integrated and foreshadowed earlier.

All that, I still thorough enjoyed reading it. Silva is a good story teller, and Allon is a great character. So even when it is not up to par; it is still good.

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Review: The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values

The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values by James L. Shulman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though a bit dated, this is an essential book for understanding college sports. The authors analyze datasets of colleges and universities from the 50s, 70s, and 80s to get a sense of the impact, costs, and benefits of college sports on college and beyond. Though they don’t go beyond the late 80s/early 90s in their data, much of what they find is still relevant today, probably more so. There is little reason to think that the trends they see in the data would have reversed.

Their focus is on selective colleges and universities. They compare data from Division 1A, both public and private, institutions, Ivy League schools, and coed liberal arts colleges. They look across the spectrum of sports: not just football and men’s basketball. The first several chapters focus on men’s athletics and then they shift to women’s athletics. They look at admissions, academic outcomes, and impacts on later careers and earnings. They also examine how participation in athletics affects the kind of leadership roles students take on as well as the impact on charity and public service. Their analysis ends with a look at the financial costs of athletic programs. They close the book with a discussion of “propositions” that the authors hope might guide reform attempts.

There are many interesting findings. Some not at all surprising: academic outcomes for most athletes is worse than the average student at their respective institutions; almost no athletics program is profitable. Others are more surprising (at least to me). For example, one of the things they trace through the data is that as women’s athletics, in particular basketball and softball, become bigger (more money, more recruiting, etc), they start to mirror their male counterparts in terms of outcomes and impacts (for good and ill). In retrospect, it’s kind of obvious that this would be the case, but seeing the data that, for example, as recruitment of women athletes intensifies, the academic outcomes start to look more and more like the outcomes of recruited male athletes was eye-opening nonetheless.

For the most part, the book is straightforwardly empirical. The authors present and discuss the data (There is an appendix of 30-40 pages that summaries the key points of the data). There’s little pontification, judgment making, or self-righteous criticism. It’s a serious attempt to bring together data to better understand the history and state of college athletics. It is really only in the last chapter that the authors share how they judge the state of things and where they think it ought to go. They self-consciously do not offer a “blueprint,” but they present nine propositions (which are more like aspirations) to guide reform. Personally, I do not think most of these are workable given the considerable impediments to reform that the authors themselves discuss.

The biggest takeaway, I suppose, of the book is that college athletics and the rest of the university are increasingly diverging. The authors see an important role for athletics as part of the overall mission and purpose of the university, and want to find ways to bridge this gap. However, the data they present doesn’t show a way to do anything about this widening gyre.


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Review: Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever

Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever by John McWhorter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fascinating book! McWhorter dives into the history and evolution of profanity in English. It is funny but also rich in its exploration of the roots of our contemporary swear words. McWhorter also gets into the why of profanity, what role do these words play in our language and lives? And then how do these roles affect and change the words we treat as profanity. It'll change the way you think about swearing.

I listened to McWhorter read; and I think that's the best way to enjoy this book. The profanity needs to be heard, not read, in order to demonstrate its force and impact. And McWhorter is an excellent reader of his own books.

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Review: The Sentry

The Sentry by Robert Crais
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this novel; Pike is a great character to play with. However, I don't think it's Crais' best work. There are some great twists to the story here and the action is fun. But I had hard time believing some of it. In particularly, Pike's enduring interest in Dru and then the ease with which Pike and Cole seem to be able shoot and kill without apparent consequences (even if the shooting/killings are justified, this isn't the Old West).

I think he's still trying to find the best way to tell Pike's story. It's a big shift from Cole as the primary and the traditional PI genre. Even with the flaws, it's a good read for fans of Crais and the genre.

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Review: The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As fan of Greek mythology, I've wanted to check out this series for a long time. It is quite fun, and I enjoyed how it played with bringing the gods and mythical creatures into contemporary America. The writing is juvenile and basic; some of the descriptions of things and people were cliché or too much 'telling' rather than 'showing.' In this way (among others) Rowling's Harry Potter is far better. Still, this is a lot of fun, an easy, quick read.

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Review: Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors

Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors by Adrian Goldsworthy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't ultimately what I was hoping for. There is far too much focus on the particulars of battles and military maneuvers. Of course, that's to be expected in any history of Philip and Alexander. Especially for Alexander, war and battle make up so much of his life. Still I would have liked more focus into the individuals, their relationships, and even more so, on the impact they had on those around them and the ancient world. The book doesn't ignore these, but the spotlight is more on the battles than the influence/impact. I found myself drifting in the battle descriptions, but piqued by the descriptions of the various cities and cultures Alexander encountered (and conquered). In some ways the focus on Philip in the first part of the book was more interesting: in part maybe because it was more novel, but also because there was more focus on how Philip managed his relationships with the surrounding cities and southern Greece.

I appreciated that the author was careful about the claims being made: the sparsity of evidence that supported them and the conflicting interpretations of that evidence.

For those who listen to the book as I did, the reader was excellent. Good pacing, no distracting mannerisms.

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Review: The Fifth Season

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantasy novels can often get weighted down by the genre's standard tropes, characters, and themes. Jemisin's novel is refreshingly original in how the story is told and the story being told. The world building is slow and careful, revealed little by little and naturally as the story proceeds. It is intriguing and original. The characters did not feel stock--in part because the reader knows so little about them at first. It is a gripping and sad story. I can't say much more without revealing anything, but if you are looking for a really good, original fantasy series, check it out.

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Review: From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports

From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports by Allen Guttmann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(cross posted at The Sports Ethicist)

Guttmann’s classic From Ritual to Record is, in many ways, two books. The first “book” fits the title: it explains modern sport as something that comes out of but differs in essential ways from pre-modern sports. He provides a context and theory that attempts to account for the change. This first part of the book is (has been) the more important one for scholars of sport.

The second “book” is an attempt to try to account for the (somewhat) unique popularity of baseball and (American) football in America. Although this discussion is personally interesting, both because I’m a fan of both sports and because Guttmann makes extensive use of literature and film to provide illustrations and support of his ideas, it ultimately is too out of date to be all that relevant. Writing in the late 70s and appealing to data and sources from even earlier decades, Guttmann identifies some of the origins of some of the trends we see today (e.g. the slower growth of baseball relative to the growing popularity of football). But to be useful in a contemporary discussion of how American sports differ from the sports of other nations (and what that might tell us), we’d have to update most of that data.

Guttmann starts the “main” book with an attempt at a definition of sport. Working through the ideas of various thinkers, including Suits, Huizinga, Callois, Sutton-Smith, and others, Guttmann draws distinctions between play, games, and sport; and defines sport as a playful physical contest. I have several quibbles with his topology of play, games, and sport, in particular in the manner in which he treats play. He follows the line of thought (which I think is mistaken) that treats play as purely autotelic, with no room for the instrumental or the purposive. This leads, I think, to several errors in how Guttmann conceptualizes sport and its role in our lives. That aside, the general thrust of his description of sport are sufficient to make sense of his argument about the shift from pre-modern to modern sport. His discussion examines how sports modernized in terms of seven main characteristics:

• Secularism
• Equality of opportunity to compete and conditions of competition
• Specialization of roles
• Rationalization
• Bureaucratic organization
• Quantification
• Quest for records

While discussing all of these, secularism and quantification seem to be the essential characteristics. These are the ones he focuses on the most, and in many ways they undergird and explain the other characteristics. For example, the quest for records seems to me to be a function of quantification – since the statistics and measures used for the records are things quantified.

Guttmann explains secularism as the long term shift from the origins of many sports and games in terms of the sacred towards sports as secular. In most cultures, athletic contests were, like most things, bound up with religion, the sacred. The games honored the gods or the contests were themselves sacred rituals (not recreation). Most know that the ancient Olympics and other Pan-Hellenic games were (at least in part) sacred religious events.

As he argues, part of the development of the modern world is a process of secularization. By this Guttmann doesn’t mean an outright rejection or eschewing of religion. It is that things that were sacred move in to the mundane. Sport modernize by moving from the sacred realm into the ordinary, everyday world.

Guttmann does briefly touch on the idea that sports have become a kind of secular religion, that it involves many rituals and myths of its own (26). After all, what sports fan hasn’t prayed to the “sports gods” at some point! But Guttmann argues that the point and role of sport in our lives is secular: it’s not about the transcendent or the sacred. It’s about fun, play, and profit.
I think this might dismiss the idea of a sacred secular, if such a thing makes sense. It’s not a transcendence that is mystic or other-worldly; it’s of this world and time but still sacred insofar as it is acknowledged and seen as extraordinary and special. A sacred secular just might be an essential aspect of modern sport. We all, I think, have the need for the sacred and sport might be a secular, non-supernatural way to experience the sacred. Towards the end of chapter 2, Guttmann seems to suggest something like a sacred secular: “Once the gods have vanished from Mount Olympus or from Dante’s paradise, we can no longer run to appease them or to save our souls, but we can set a new record. It is a uniquely modern form of immortality” (55).

The other key element of modern sport is the quantification: the desire to measure and quantify each aspect of sports. Again this is a broad modern trend we see in most aspects of modern life. It deeply impacts sport because there is so much to measure! And these measures become a (or maybe even the) means of comparison and evaluation. How many yards? How many baskets? How many strikes? And this is before we even step in to the age of advance metrics!

Another element of the book is Guttmann’s critique of Marxist (and neo-Marxist) analyses of modern sport. Though he takes pains to point to some positive contributions, he rejects these approaches as the nonsense they are. (In the Afterword, added in 2004, he walks this critique back a little bit and is a bit more accommodating, while still nonetheless rejecting these approaches).

Guttmann’s conclusion about the development of modern sport is best summed up by his claim that: “The emergence of modern sports represents neither the triumph of capitalism nor the rise of Protestantism but rather the slow development of an empirical, experimental, mathematical Weltanschauung[a kind of world-view]” (85). The modernization process, in sport and elsewhere, is a function of this world-view: a view that looks to reason and evidence to understand, make sense of, and organize the world in which one lives. Modern sport is an outgrowth of this process. I’m inclined to think that capitalism (understood as the freedom of consenting adults to produce and freely trade goods and services) is equally a result of the same modernization process. But Guttmann’s point still holds that modern sport is not the result of market economies per se; it is rather a parallel, inherently modern development.

Guttmann’s book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of sport and how modern sport is different from early forms of sport. Though I am less convinced that modern sport is different in kind from earlier forms (though that may not be Guttmann’s point), I think Guttmann is right about the slow development of the world view that ultimate brings about what we recognize as modern sport.



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Review: The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a fan of Connelly's Bosch books (and tv show), I finally got around to starting the Haller series. Very happy I did! Haller is not Bosch; he's younger and more cynical. He's not rudderless; he's got principles and is capable of growth and heroism. A nice hard-boiled mix. It is also interesting to see Connelly's vision of the LA police and courts from the defense lawyer side of things. I know later books crossover with Haller and Bosch and bet those interactions are great.

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Review: Light of the Jedi

Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this opening entry into the new Star Wars era. All new characters and stories, it is wide open. In some ways, maybe too wide-open. By that, I mean it puts the creators in a tough bind. Go too far in a new direction and get criticized for not being 'Star Wars' enough. Stay with the standard tropes and motifs of the Skywalker era and get criticized for not being new. I think Soule's book is probably a bit too much in the latter category--though some of that is because I thought the High Republic era was 1000 years before the Skywalker era. It seemed odd that the technology and lore was so familiar. But it's actually about 200 years earlier, so that makes more sense.

It is exciting to be introduced to a bunch of new Jedi with some different ways of using the Force. On the downside, with so many characters, there isn't a lot of character development. There is a lot of promise with several of the characters.

I won't say much about the antagonists of the novel to avoid spoilers, but I like what Soule is doing with them. It is both different but also not unfamiliar.



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Review: Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses

Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There is interesting material here with lots of data, but in the end it is utterly unsurprising. Students by and large learn very little in college (except good students, they tend to learn a lot). This can vary across some demographics and different institutions, but still not a lot of learning going on. Partly this is because the students come in quite unprepared for academically rigorous college courses, but also because the college teachers are either more concerned with their own research or overwhelmed by larger and larger classes. Add to this administrators who have little incentive to focus on improving undergraduate education (I’d add as well that they also don’t know how to do this) and you get the situation we have: Students pretend to learn and teachers pretend to teach.

The authors offer reform proposals in the last chapter. Most of these amount to calls to teach undergraduates more rigorously and for the institutions to support that. Noble as that sounds, it seems to miss the core issues. (1) There is little incentive for any of the parties to do this. For students, the credential more than learning matters more (See The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money). For professors, by and large it doesn’t makes sense to engage all that much in improving teaching since the money and prestige is all in publication. And for instructional faculty, there is not a lot of room for career growth so little incentive to invest in improving. And these faculty are teaching such high loads, they have little time or capacity to do so even when they want to. For administration, they have a little to gain from investing in undergraduate education. Like professors, the status and prestige comes from other parts of the university (graduate programs, athletics). As long as students persist and pay tuition, they seem happy. (2) No one really knows how to improve teaching – or to measure how effective teaching is. Each teacher, in each classroom, dealing with different students calls forth many different ways to go about teaching. Each new teaching proposal and technique holds promise and can work--with some teachers, some students, some subjects, some of the time. In many ways, it is a very local problem to solve and no amount of grand reform program is likely to work.

For those really interested in digging into the data, this book could be useful. Otherwise, reading the introduction/summary is all that is really necessary.


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Review: Trunk Music

Trunk Music by Michael Connelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this one. Even though the general plot line was familiar to me since it was adapted for the Bosch TV show, it was interesting to see the changes the show made. Billets and J Edgar are great. In particular, I liked the development of the relationship with Billets. The character of Eleanor strikes me as different from the TV show. Some of that has to do with the different relationship Bosch and she have in the books, but the character herself is somewhat different.

It's hard not to go right onto the next Bosch book!

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Review: Play Ball!: The Rise of Baseball as America's Pastime

Play Ball!: The Rise of Baseball as America's Pastime by Bruce Markuson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great course. Wonderfully delivered by Bruce Markuson of the Baseball Hall of Fame, the course covers the early years of baseball. From the early beginnings to 1920, the course looks at rules changes, equipment changes, field changes, as well as many of the social and culture changes that impacted baseball. As an overview course, it doesn't go into as great detail as one might want for some topics, for example, the history of the Negro Leagues. While this is discussed, the history of these leagues is much richer (as admitted by Markuson) than could be covered here.

Markuson examines the different theories of where baseball comes from: the different pre-baseball ball games that were played widely in America and England in the 18th century and how they may have influenced the development of what become known as baseball. He covers how the professional leagues developed in the second half of the 19th century. He discusses how the baseball itself changed the game as the baseball changed. It even goes into how baseball fields themselves changed and developed as baseball evolved (and the changing fields drove some of the changes in the game as well).



If there is one thing you can take away from this course is that Terrance Mann in Field of Dreams was wrong. I love the movie and the speech Mann makes, but he was wrong. He says: "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time." Sorry, but the history of baseball shows that it has changed again and again just like America. As America rebuilt and reinvented itself through the decades, baseball has changed right along with it, reflecting America's greatness and her worst faults.

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Review: Big-Time Sports in American Universities

Big-Time Sports in American Universities by Charles T. Clotfelter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Clotfelter’s examination of big-time college sports aims to do several things: first, demonstrate that commercial sport is one of the core functions of American universities. Second, explore how big-time college sport figures in the outcomes of the university (both of the negative and positive variety). Third, make use of recent data and statistical studies to support the previous two points. Lastly, Clotfelter makes some recommendations for reforms.

The book starts with an examination of how sports fit into the university. The American system of commercial sport within universities is unique and part of what Clotfelter wants to do is sort out why and how we end up with the system we have. This helps set up some of his main questions: why, given the many problems that seem to come with commercialized college sport, do universities keep these programs and seek to grow them? Where do (and do) these programs fit into the mission of the university? His conclusion is that commercial sport play important and crucial roles in the modern American university and these shouldn’t be ignored or downplayed. Part of his diagnosis for some of the problems of big-time sports is precisely because the centrality of college sports has not been fully and honestly acknowledged.

Clotfelter then turns to teasing out the consequences for the university of having college sports. He explores, using some clever statistical studies, the impact that college sports have on the academic outcomes, social and community outcomes, and financial outcomes of the university. Some of these are concerning (the negative impact on academic standards and progress) and some of these are positive (the entertainment and happiness produced for the broad community of fans). But in the end, not much of what he finds is all that surprising but seeing it connected to data helps sort out the various ways high-level commercialized sport can impact the university and what it does.
Lastly, he looks at some possible reforms. Some of these are likely to happen soon(ish) though with unknown consequences (such a name, likeness, and image reform). Others are more radical and unlikely to move beyond the pages of academic works.

One of the more interesting conclusions Clotfelter suggests is that while money drives a lot of what goes on in college sport, it doesn’t seem to be the ultimate end or purpose. That is, what he finds is that university leaders and stakeholders that support big-time college sports are ultimately doing it because they want to win. Money is essential to building successful programs, but the end goal is not profit, it is wins: “Despite the palpable commercial value of college athletics, however, it bears repeating that the primary objective of athletic departments is not to make for its own sake. Rather, it is to produce winning teams, for which money is virtually an ironclad necessity” (153).

I appreciate that Clotfelter walks a balanced line. He is quite critical of many aspects of big-time college sports, but also notes the value it brings to the university and society more generally. He brings forward data to help figure out both the harm and the value so that we can better evaluate college sport, but also to more helpfully target criticism and reform. Those looking for either a morbid focus on salacious scandals or enthusiastic cheerleading of the wonders of college sport will need to look elsewhere.

This is an important and helpful work for those interested in understanding the context of big-time college sports. It is not overly technical or mathematical, but it does rely on statistics and other tools of the social scientist. It’s not a casual, beach read, but it’s not a difficult read either. I could also see pulling specific chapters out for assignment in a course. With a little context, many of them can stand alone. In the final analysis, I do not think one walks away with a clear path to realistic reform or even definitive answers to the main questions about college sports, but the book, just as the title indicates, provides a solid foundation for understanding the relationship of big-time college sports to American universities.

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Review: Abaddon's Gate

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The series continues to be exciting and thrilling. Each installation introduces new and interesting characters while also pushing the boundaries of the universe the authors are creating.

I do worry a little bit that the main characters are getting a bit flat in their growth; in many ways, though they help to save the day of course, Holden and Co are not really the main drivers of the story. Anna, Bull, and Clarissa are. Much like I guess Bobbie and Avasarala were in the Book 2.

It's fun, thrilling sci-fi that explores questions about humanity, relationships, and existence. Highly recommend.



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Review: Peloponnesian War

Peloponnesian War by Kenneth W. Harl
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A thorough history of the causes, proceedings, and effects of the Peloponnesian war. The lecturer, Harl, does a wonderful job of presenting the material. I admit I lost the thread with dates, names, and battle details, but the thrust of the discussion is great.

Following Thucydides’ famous history, but adding to it from other historical accounts and other sources, Harl presents an analysis of the various causes of the war. He makes great effort not to demonize the Spartans or unilaterally praise the Athenians. Exploring the roots of the war, Harl discusses the many motivations, circumstances, and relationships that led to the war. He also doesn’t just focus on Sparta and Athens; he looks at the other players, like Corinth, Thebes, and Persia.

The last few lectures focus on how the war changed the Greek city-states and what its legacy is.
The Peloponnesian War ends up seeming to be extraordinarily tragic. All wars are, of course, but this war (or rather serious of wars) seemed in many ways unnecessary: there were many opportunities for it to be avoid or ended, and it seems ultimately not to really have mattered.

Though history always has a way of seeming inevitable, Philip and the Macedonian empire was almost surely going to sweep through Greece anyway. Though maybe if the city-states had not been so busy fighting themselves for so long, they could have put up a better fight and resisted. One of the interesting conclusions Harl draws is that the war showed the limitations of the city-state and spelled its demise. If that is true, then the Macedonians and later the Romans were likely going to conquer Greece anyway. Though one wonders, had the Spartans and Athenians be able to work together more, they might have created a regional power that could have resisted both the Macedonians and the Romans.

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Review: The Last Coyote

The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After watching several seasons of Bosch, reading the books are always fascinating. It's so interesting to see the choices the producers made about what to change. Certainly somethings have to change just because of the time frame (this book is about 20 years old). In this case, there are many changes to Bosch's story. Through most of the TV series, Bosch is looking for his mother's killer; and this book is all about that. But it's a very different story in many ways--though the basic thrust is similar in some intriguing ways.

This is a great Bosch novel. There are several twists, and Bosch's character development and growth is excellent.



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