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Missive #522 Published 2 July 2025

Where others saw only sage, a salt lake, and a great desert, the Mormons saw their "lovely Deseret," a land of lilacs, honeycombs, poplars, and fruit trees. Unwelcome in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, they migrated to the dry lands between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada to establish Mormon country, a wasteland made green.

Like the land the Mormons settled, their habits stood in stark contrast to the frenzied recklessness of the American West. Opposed to the often prodigal individualism of the West, Mormons lived in closely knit – some say ironclad – communities. The story of Mormon country is one of self-sacrifice and labor spent in the search for an ideal in the most forbidding territory of the American West.

Missive #522 Published 30 June 2025

I did not like this book as well as An Evening of Long Goodbyes but it is an 'interesting' read. The author has a couple more that I'll read when I can get to them.

Missive #519 Published 23 June 2025

1812 to the Civil War"" has the stirring drama of a good historical novel. He ignores minor trivia, stresses key events and personalities. There are fascinatingly detailed portraits of such figures as the choleric Jackson, the treacherous Santa Ana, the moody Lincoln. And there are firm action accounts of the Battle of New Orleans, the Alamo and the Mexican-American War.

Missive #515 Published 14 June 2025

How far would you go? In the future, an artist specializing in historical records creates a piece of art based on three separate accounts of the Zombie Pandemic. What follows is a patchwork tale of survival and horror as two lovers struggle to survive the undying dead and the collapse of an America turned charnel house.

Missive #513 Published 12 June 2025

"[A] passionate, compelling, and disturbing argument that the ills of democracy in the United States today arise from the default of its elites." ―John Gray, New York Times Book Review (front-page review) In a front-page review in the Washington Post Book World , John Judis wrote: "Political analysts have been poring over exit polls and precinct-level votes to gauge the meaning of last November's election, but they would probably better employ their time reading the late Christopher Lasch's book." And in the National Review , Robert Bork says The Revolt of the Elites "ranges provocatively [and] insightfully."

Missive #512 Published 11 June 2025

Dear Reader,
My SHADOW SOLDIERS have gone to extreme lengths to bury their pasts. But while it’s one thing to try and escape a deed, can one ever really run from oneself? This is the conflict faced by Rafiq Zayed, a mercenary who tries to hide the fact that the blood of ancient warrior sheiks pulses in his veins. But, in a bid to stop a global threat of almost incomprehensible proportion, Rafiq is forced to return to the land of his birth.

Missive #511 Published 9 June 2025

Finley Peter Dunne was a Chicago-based U.S. author, writer and humorist. He published Mr. Dooley in Peace and War, a collection of his nationally syndicated Mr. Dooley sketches, in 1898. The fictional Mr. Dooley expounded upon political and social issues of the day from his South Side Chicago Irish pub and he spoke with the thick verbiage and accent of an Irish immigrant. Dunne's sly humor and political acumen won the support of President Theodore Roosevelt, a frequent target of Mr. Dooley's barbs. Indeed Dunne's sketches became so popular and such a litmus test of public opinion that they were read each week at White House cabinet meetings.

Missive #509 Published 7 June 2025

How far would you run to escape your past?

For eight strangers in a Los Angeles backpacking hostel, even the other side of the world isn’t far enough.

The craving for a new identity and the chance to start again is something they have in common. But the search for a fresh start isn't as easy as they'd imagined.

Missive #507 Published 4 June 2025

This is an eclectic set of speeches given in 1899 and 1900. Roosevelt was at that time governor of NYS, about to become the Vice President under McKinley — and of course subsequently president sooner than anyone expected.…The speeches seem to be boilerplate political stump speeches for the most part. A lot of repetition in what he has to say to the different audiences. Not what I was expecting and not recommended.

Missive #506 Published 2 June 2025

This is an odd book, or really a series of blog posts strung together as a book. Its thoughts are meandering and Moldbug (referred to as Yarvin for the rest of this review) is good at considering history in its broad strokes, complete with quotations drawn from obscure thinkers and historians, men little read today who nevertheless can be quite illuminating.…

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