At opposite ends of history

Well, I still don't have the second bookshelf set up, but I went ahead and got the Bryan Ward-Perkins book on the fall of Rome that I was talking about a couple of weeks ago. It was good, if brief.
( Handwaving & flaming about history follows )

On the other hand, there's Wayne Terwilliger's Terwilliger Bunts One. "Twig" was much beloved of Twins and Saints fans alike. As the old but spry first-base coach who brought four decades of playing, coaching and managing experience at all levels of baseball with some of the greatest players in the game to the field with him, he did a lot to contribute to both of the Twins' World Championship teams, and then went on to do great things for the Saints after being shabbily cast off by the Twins organization. He's gone home to Texas now, where he continues to coach for his hometown Fort Worth Cats after managing them to a Central League title last season, and now has a fabulous book out that collects his reminiscences from a long and fascinating career that took him to just about every diamond in the country as well as the blood-drenched beaches of Saipan and Iwo Jima. It's a great read with a ton of history and some great stories; the best part of it is that reading it is like sitting down and talking to the old fellow over a beer after the game. A great book by a great guy and a fine baseball man. Very highly recommended, and with copies on Amazon for $12 you realy have no excuse for not getting one. (I have two, one autographed and one for donation to the county library.)

At opposite ends of history

Well, I still don't have the second bookshelf set up, but I went ahead and got the Bryan Ward-Perkins book on the fall of Rome that I was talking about a couple of weeks ago. It was good, if brief.
( Handwaving & flaming about history follows )

On the other hand, there's Wayne Terwilliger's Terwilliger Bunts One. "Twig" was much beloved of Twins and Saints fans alike. As the old but spry first-base coach who brought four decades of playing, coaching and managing experience at all levels of baseball with some of the greatest players in the game to the field with him, he did a lot to contribute to both of the Twins' World Championship teams, and then went on to do great things for the Saints after being shabbily cast off by the Twins organization. He's gone home to Texas now, where he continues to coach for his hometown Fort Worth Cats after managing them to a Central League title last season, and now has a fabulous book out that collects his reminiscences from a long and fascinating career that took him to just about every diamond in the country as well as the blood-drenched beaches of Saipan and Iwo Jima. It's a great read with a ton of history and some great stories; the best part of it is that reading it is like sitting down and talking to the old fellow over a beer after the game. A great book by a great guy and a fine baseball man. Very highly recommended, and with copies on Amazon for $12 you realy have no excuse for not getting one. (I have two, one autographed and one for donation to the county library.)

Five years later

I'm not going to do any deep thinking here about what happened then and what's happened since. I do enough of that the other 364/365 days a year. I do like brithistorian's list of positive things that happened on this day in history; it's a useful antidote to what is shaping up to be another grim, overcast day on the edge of the Great American Desert. So is this article by Cathy Seipp on Rodney Dangerfield. Enjoy.

Five years later

I'm not going to do any deep thinking here about what happened then and what's happened since. I do enough of that the other 364/365 days a year. I do like brithistorian's list of positive things that happened on this day in history; it's a useful antidote to what is shaping up to be another grim, overcast day on the edge of the Great American Desert. So is this article by Cathy Seipp on Rodney Dangerfield. Enjoy.