Category Archives: Book Review

Iran Frozen in Time

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

I started reading “Reading Lolita in Tehran” by Azar Nafisi because now, right now, Iranians are again trying to be free. They rise up, every once in a while to attempt to throw off the oppressive reign of the Mullahs, … Continue reading →

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Reviewing “A Hero of Our Time”

Posted on November 27, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Mikhail Lermontov straddled the mountain ridge of Russian creative culture, between poetry of the ‘intelligentsia’ during the days of high empire and the period of prose that both was led by and inspired the revolutionary time of Russia’s coming of … Continue reading →

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700 Pages of Horror

Posted on November 21, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

I just finished “The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence”, Martin Meredith’s imposing tome that tells the story of post-colonial, ‘independent’ Africa. There is no way to write this review, except in the spirit that Meredith … Continue reading →

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William Saroyan – A Daring Young Man

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

William Saroyan is the most well-known American/Armenian writer. His family arrived, like so many of the Armenian diaspora, fleeing the genocide at the tail of end of the Ottoman Empire. Saroyan had the seeds of greatness and genius. I think … Continue reading →

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The Shadow of the Winter Palace

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

I can think of no better place to go to understand the current war in Russia than “The Shadow of the Winter Palace” by Edward Crankshaw. In miniscule detail Crankshaw delves into the minutiae and characters and twists and turns … Continue reading →

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Journey to the Center of the Earth

Posted on October 10, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

Scientists have recently discovered a sixth great ocean, underground, between the upper and lower layers of the Earth’s crust. Jules Verne wrote about this in “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, published in England in 1871. Verne was an … Continue reading →

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A Story of Yazidi Genocide

Posted on October 10, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

I don’t know if anyone else remembers that raw footage of ISIS clawing its way onto Sinjar Mountain, a twisted madness in their eyes. ISIS had taken over the plains where the Yazidis had lived for generations, and the Yazidis … Continue reading →

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The Cider House Rules

Posted on October 4, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

I bought this book because the movie was beautiful, and I wanted to read a beautiful book. The depression era produced America’s greatest works of literature. Trauma scares and scars and the most sensitive take to the pen to try … Continue reading →

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From Zanzibar to Timbuktu

Posted on October 1, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

“What will become of Africa?” That is the most common question asked by anybody who has spent any meaningful time on the continent. It is realism, not racism – that facile solution which is so common today in the minds … Continue reading →

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Hotel Bolivia

Posted on September 5, 2022 by Joel D. Hirst

There was likely no more dramatic place for Jews fleeing the holocaust to end up than Bolivia. But for a small group, that unlikely land is exactly where they found refuge from Hitler’s wickedness. The crevice in the high Andes … Continue reading →

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