Book

Missive #744 Published 27 Jun 2026

Up to one hundred and twenty-five years ago, Niagara Country was, so far as we know, almost constantly the scene of conflict. Strife and violence seem to have been characteristic of the area and as much a part of it as the famous cataracts. This irrevocable fact dominates consideration of the region even when the scene is obscured by the rolling fogs of time. The glimpses of the earliest days, that we are able to see, are of violence and death. Niagara Country may well deserve to be called a dark and bloody land. There were times when the Niagara was stained red from the wounds of men, times when it became the battleground, and other times when it served as the broad highway over which fighters rode to combat and later limped home, nursing their wounds and carrying their dead. The physical character of Niagara seems to have made that inevitable.

Missive #742 Published 23 Jun 2026

In The Future of British Politics, comedian Frankie Boyle takes a characteristically acerbic look at some of the forces that will be key in coming years, from Scottish independence and post-colonial entitlement to big tech surveillance and the looming climate catastrophe. Despite his fears that 'soon the only red tape in this country will be across the finish line of the compulsory Food Bank Olympics', he manages to locate some hopeful signs amid the gloom, reminding us that 'despair is a moment that pretends to be permanent'.

Missive #741 Published 22 Jun 2026

A novel of nine linked parables about globalization, ambition, hope, love, and greed spanning two decades and eight countries.….Merry-Go-Round Broke Down is a genre-breaking novel that explores globalization's "butterfly effect": how choices made in one corner of the world ignited an unstoppable chain of consequences that upended lives across continents.

Missive #738 Published 17 Jun 2026

This Revised New Century Edition provides many new, relevant examples from recent events and contemporary popular culture, including the ever-increasing global proliferation of McDonald′s and other fast food franchises, shopping malls, and similar commercial entities. Their impact is examined in the post-September 11, 2001 era.

Missive #737 Published 16 Jun 2026

Our debates about immigration revolve around what happens with immigrants once they arrive. We need to start talking about who is sending them and why. For decades, establishment elites sold us the story of immigration as a compassionate renewal of the American Dream within a harmonious melting pot.
ut beneath that narrative lies a different Mass migration has morphed into the most powerful political weapon ever aimed at the United States—one engineered by elites at home and aided by adversaries abroad. Now Peter Schweizer, the bestselling investigative journalist of our time, is blowing the lid off this whole series of schemes, ….

Missive #736 Published 15 Jun 2026

This is the third book that I have read by the members of the Blue Collar group. I'm reading them off and on while reading more serious books to give me a break. One more to go.

Missive #734 Published 13 Jun 2026

In The Future of Men, Grace draws on research, interviews and her own experience to examine how these dynamics and presumptions have shifted in her lifetime, and will continue to change in coming decades. Men have been writing about the future of women since words came into existence now Grace returns the favour with this sharp, funny and personal essay.

Missive #732 Published 10 Jun 2026

Luke Stone was alone. And he liked it that way.An ex-bodyguard, sworn never to protect again after his last failure, Luke needed no one. Until he met Jessica Chan.A journalist with a dark past, Jessica had uncovered deadly information that made her a target. And only Luke stood between her and certain death. She was everything he didn't a woman who attracted trouble…and attracted him. But as assassins closed in and emotions ran high, Jessica might become everything he needed.….

Missive #731 Published 9 Jun 2026

She’s a friendly voice on the phone. But can you trust her?
The people who call End of the Line need hope. They need reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die.
Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry. She doesn’t love talking to people worse off than she is. She craves it.

Missive #730 Published 8 Jun 2026

Sharpe's job as Captain of the Light Company is under threat and he has made a new enemy, a Portuguese criminal known as Ferragus. Discarded by his regiment, Sharpe wages a private war against Ferragus – a war fought through the burning, pillaged streets of Coimbra, Portugal's ancient university city.

Sharpe's Escape begins on the great, gaunt ridge of Bussaco where a joint British and Portuguese army meets the overwhelming strength of Marshall Massena's crack troops. It finishes at Torres Vedras where the French hopes of occupying Portugal quickly die.