Helpful votes received on reviews, lists & guides:91% (4,459 of 4,906)
Nickname: mkp51
Location: Boothbay, ME United States
In My Own Words:
Books of excellence are among my greatest passions; for me, a good book makes a great companion. My favorite genres are history and biography. I'm especially interested in reading about the American Civil War and Revolutionary War and the people who fought them. I also read biographies and memoirs of U.S. political, military, and social leaders.
Classical music, is another area in which I hav… Read more
Books of excellence are among my greatest passions; for me, a good book makes a great companion. My favorite genres are history and biography. I'm especially interested in reading about the American Civil War and Revolutionary War and the people who fought them. I also read biographies and memoirs of U.S. political, military, and social leaders.
Classical music, is another area in which I have a keen interest. My favorite composers are the 'Killer B's' - Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms - and Mozart and Haydn. I also love '60s and 70's rock and roll. Among my favorite artists are CCR, The Who, CSN&Y, Clapton, Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Springsteen, and Bob Seeger.
I'm very active in my community. I'm a member of several community service organizations dedicated to helping the less fortunate in our community. I'm also a member of a local community theater group, and have sung, danced, and acted in several stage musicals.
I recently completed "The Path to Power," the first volume of Robert A. Caro's multi-volume biography about Lyndon Baines Johnson, the thirty-sixth President of the United States. Here is a magnificently written, highly detailed, and ultimately scathing portrait of the early life of the man who brought us the "Great Society," the "War on Poverty," and the Civil Rights Act of 1964... as well as the "Credibility Gap" and the War in Vietnam.
Robert A. Caro's majestic Johnsonian triptych "The Years of Lyndon Johnson." is currently made up of "The Path to Power," which covers LBJ's life from his birth in 1908 until his first run for the U.S. Senate in 1941; "Means of Ascent," a… Read more
Journey with me now through one of the darkest, most suspenseful, most thrilling fictional murder mysteries I've ever read...
"The Alienist," by Caleb Carr, is one of the best murder mysteries to appear on bookstore shelves in a very, very long time. Between the covers of this 600-page novel is found a fast-paced and completely captivating story that will keep readers firmly positioned on the edge of their seat.
The novel is set in New York City in 1896. "The Alienist" is Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychiatrist whose theories on the relationship between mental illness and criminal behavior have generated much controversy. (Back in the late nineteenth century,… Read more
Another volume can now be added to my personal list of "the best of the best" of history and biography: "An Army at Dawn," Rick Atkinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the North African campaign during World War II. This is indeed a very special book! Employing scrupulous and detailed research, and presented in a lively and penetrating narrative style, Atkinson, formerly an Assistant Managing Editor with "The Washington Post," has provided a thorough and penetrating examination of the Allied and Axis military campaigns in North Africa during 1942-43.
From the outset, Atkinson pulls no punches in establishing the importance of the North African campaign to the overall… Read more
