VACATION READING

Spring Island – Okatie, SC - You certainly do not have to be on vacation to enjoy reading, or follow any suggestion I make in this report. I assure you though that a vacation is surely a good thing, as Martha Stewart says.

As usual my reading goes from one extreme to another. Currently, I have three books to suggest for your consideration.

First, back in 2002 Eric Schlosser’s FAST FOOD NATION was published in hard cover and became a New York Times bestseller. It is now in paperback, and while it is sometimes ponderous reading, it is an interesting, informative read about the fast food business. I sure learned some new information, and about the impact that Ray Kroc had upon American and International eating patterns.
I urge you to go for the hardcover edition, because the pica type face of the paperback edition may cause older eyes a problem. The New York Times Book Review said, “A fine piece of muckraking, alarming without being alarmist.”

While strolling the aisles at a Barnes & Noble store in Dallas last week, I found a new (to me) author’s work titled TSAR by Ted Bell. He was Chairman of the Board and Chief Creative Officer at Young & Rubicam Advertising, and this is his fifth action adventure thriller. This is a real page turner, and I was sufficiently impressed with Ted’s work that I intend to get copies of his earlier works for reading this winter back in Lake Effect Snowland. While fictional, the work is current, and very timely.

Lastly, I have just started James M. McPherson’s new book TRIED BY WAR about Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief. McPherson is a noted Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University who has written widely on the Civil War. Already I am finding this to be most interesting and telling about the huge problems Lincoln confronted upon entering his Presidency. The Commanding General of the Union Army was very old, and most of the Army’s generals were unqualified political appointees unfit to command. Lincoln immersed himself into learning military strategy, and had his hands full with frequent personal visits to the front lines of the Civil War for consultations with his generals.

Happy reading. I find it to be most educational, informative, and relaxing.

COMMANDER GRANGER