Book 5: Fear in the Sunlight

by Nicola Upson At least I’m getting this one out before the next one arrives. This is probably the only novel I’ve read where the author bases two of her protagonists on real people. Nicola Upson has a fascination with Elizabeth MacKintosh’s, pseudonym Josephine Tey, mysteries. She also likes Alfred Hitchock’s work, although she paints him […]

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Book 4: Hons and Rebels

by Jessica Mitford As you know, Jessica Mitford’s book arrived the first week of April and held great promise. After reading David Giffel’s book, I had started Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error, and Mo asked me to work on Greta Christina’s, Coming Out Atheist. (The plan was for us to read sections and comment back […]

Book 3: The Map of Lost Memories

by Kim Fay When I received my new present, I had to actually wait a week to read it because I was finishing a long treatise on the economy. That one took forever, but I glided through The Map of Lost Memories in a day. Dr. Levine’s statement about being a Dickens addict comes to […]

Book 2: The Glimpses of the Moon

by Edmund Crispin So book two was a quick read and quite enjoyable. You both would probably like this cute little mystery set in present day England. Crispin’s metaphors and similes are unique and refreshing. His references to historical moments means some required research. For example: “In the meantime he had made further arrangements about Routh’s […]

Book 1: The Girls of Atomic City

My first book arrived this past week. Denise Kiernan’s degree is probably is women’s studies with an historical focus. (Her other titles are a give-away.) Anyway, it is well researched with occasional repetition, but she documents the uranium enrichment process very thoroughly as she writes about the different positions and workloads each woman had.

The tragedy of America’s treatment of blacks is once again reinforced. Even through Roosevelt said no discrimination, the facility was built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee assuring that treatment would be very different. Married whites had housing. Married blacks were forced to live in separate quarters, and they could not bring their children. Recreational facilities like the swimming pool. roller rink, and theater were for whites only. White single women had single or double rooms in a house with a kitchen. Four black women were relegated to a 16×16′ “hut” and were not allowed to cook. Black men lived in barracks like soldiers. Pay wages and more were disparate. White women also faced discrimination, especially those with higher degrees. (Sounds a bit like adjunct faculty, doesn’t it?)

The worse for all of them was that they lived in a gated community behind barbed wire and had to wear passes at all times. They were watched by “creeps” who recorded and reported their activities and what they talked about. They has no idea what they were working on, only that it would end the war.

Kiernan fills in a large gap in my historical knowledge. I knew Oak Ridge existed, but the details were very much unknown.

It’s a good selection and it was a New York Times bestseller that I was unaware of.

So thank you both for the first installment of my reading agenda for the year. I’m looking forward to the next one.

I’m just Going to Say It

Oh, I am just a student, sirYoung_Ochs_jpeg
And only want to learn
But it’s hard to read through the risin’ smoke
From the books that you like to burn

So I’d like to make a promise
And I’d like to make a vow
That when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now

Oh, you’ve given me a number
And you’ve taken off my name
To get around this campus
Why, you almost need a plane

And you’re supporting Chang Kai-Shek
While I’m supporting Mao
So when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now

I wish that you’d make up your mind
I wish that you’d decide
That I should live as freely
As those who live outside

‘Cause we also are entitled
To the rights to be endowed
And when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now

Ooh, you’d like to be my father
You’d like to be my dad
And give me kisses when I’m good
And spank me when I’m bad

But since I’ve left my parents
I’ve forgotten how to bow
So when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now

And things they might be different
If I was here alone
But I’ve got a friend or two
Who no longer live at home

And we’ll respect our elders
Just as long as they allow
That when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now

I’ve read of other countries
Where the students take a stand
Maybe even help to overthrow
The leaders of the land

Now I wouldn’t go so far to say
We’re also learnin’ how
But when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now

So keep right on a-talkin’
And tell us what to do
If nobody listens
My apologies to you

And I know that you were younger once
‘Cause you sure are older now
And when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now

So I am just a student sir
And only want to learn
But it’s hard to read through the risin’ smoke
From the books that you like to burn

So I’d like to make a promise
And I’d like to make a vow
That when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now