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Philip Crossman
Vermont
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"All men are moral. Only their neighbors are not.”
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The Winter of Our Discontent REVIEW John Steinbeck has selected a perfect title for this novel. “Now is the winter of our discontent” is a line from Shakespeare’s play Richard III. It comes from a soliloquy given by Richard III, a scheming but physically deformed aspirant to the throne of... Continue reading
Posted Sep 21, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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“I have to make myself.”
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The Dynamiter REVIEW Robbie lives in a poor shack in rural Mississippi with his stepbrother, Fess, and his grandmother, Gemma. Robbie’s mother has abandoned the family and he’s never known his real father. Robbie’s older brother Lucas is something of a “loser.” He comes home after dropping out of college... Continue reading
Posted Aug 16, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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“I cannot be if others are not; above all, I cannot be if I forbid others from being.”
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The Paulo Freire Reader REVIEW “I worked with the students, not for them, and certainly not on them.” – Paulo Freire “There is no such thing as a neutral education process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of... Continue reading
Posted Jul 29, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"I come from two countries. One is thirsty the other is on fire"
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North by Brad Kessler REVIEW “’Sheeko, sheeko,’ Sahro would say when she was ready. ‘Gather here. Listen, I have a story.’ Then Ayaan would respond from the dark. ‘Sheeko xarir.’ ‘Make your story smooth as silk.’ Brad Kessler’s novel, North, was chosen as a college-wide staff summer reading selection. I... Continue reading
Posted Jun 28, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"It takes a minnow to catch a barracuda, a barracuda to catch a shark.”
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A Most Wanted Man REVIEW Gunter Bachmann runs a counter-terrorism unit in Hamburg, Germany. His stated goals involve making the world a safer place. Those ends justify a lot of skullduggery and manipulation of his assets – assets that he recruits tenaciously. Here is how Gunther describes his work: “You're... Continue reading
Posted Jun 21, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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“I trouped, traveled, loved, lost, trusted and was betrayed.”
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Name of the Wind REVIEW There are many things to enjoy about this novel . . . the ending is not one of them (two sequels are promised apparently). But not all things worth the time you spend on them end well. Relationships and the first installment of a trilogy... Continue reading
Posted Jun 20, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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Seeing Like a State
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Seeing Like a State REVIEW Thanks to my son Skyler for recommending this one. “They said . . . that he was so devoted to Pure Science . . . that he would rather have people die by the right therapy than be cured by the wrong.” — Sinclair Lewis,... Continue reading
Posted Jun 2, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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The Friend of Peace
The Friends of Peace: The Origins of Debate on Pacifism in Early 19th Century New England By Philip Crossman Noah Worcester and Sylvanus Haynes had a good deal in common. They were both self-educated ministers of the early 19th Century who eventually received honorary degrees from what are now Ivy... Continue reading
Posted Apr 5, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"I Reckon So"
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The Outlaw Josey Wales REVIEW The other day, I was in my local library and found a recently published magazine, The American Rifleman. “The world’s oldest and largest firearm authority,” the banner reads. On the cover was a picture of Clint Eastwood in his role as “The Outlaw Josey Wales”... Continue reading
Posted Mar 26, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"Anything dead coming back to life hurts.”
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Beloved REVIEW (I wrote this in July of 2008. It had some formatting and spelling errors and a few typos and so I am reposting it now) The last few days, in between exams and final papers, I have managed to read Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Beloved. Needless... Continue reading
Posted Mar 14, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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“I felt dull and flat and full of shattered visions.”
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The Bell Jar REVIEW Some years ago, I had to test out of 2-3 courses and take the PRAXIS in order to acquire my Language Arts teaching endorsement in Vermont. One of those tests was about American Literature and I remember I missed one question on the exam, and it... Continue reading
Posted Mar 9, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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“But I was going to say when Truth broke in"
Birches Robert Frost’s poem “Birches” is all about the relationship between the author’s external and internal experience of the world. It is about the complicated relationship between the imagined and the real. It is about a painful objectivity and a preferred subjectivity. He starts the poem with an objective look... Continue reading
Posted Feb 29, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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Double Standard REVIEW
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Double Standard REVIEW Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States by James W. Russell The National Football League is an organization that places a high value on parity. In any given year, the team with the worst record gets the first pick of every round of the... Continue reading
Posted Jan 2, 2024 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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I am here in this place because I don’t want to be around people."
Land REVIEW “I am here in this place because I don’t want to be around people. Do you understand?” the main character of Land says. This is my second movie today that centers on a character who ventures out into a desolate wilderness to be more absolutely alone. Because they... Continue reading
Posted Dec 19, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"its best to throw a grenade where you are standing and jump”
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Tracks REVIEW World literature is riddled with stories of people who set off on epic journeys. Gilgamesh, Aeneas, Ulysses, Dante, Don Quixote, Chaucer, Dorothy, the Joads, Pi Patel, Philias Fogg, Frodo, the Dawn Treader, the Gunslinger, Ken Ilgunas, Huck Finn, Jack Keruac, White Fang, Buck, Cheryl Strayed, Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboa,... Continue reading
Posted Dec 19, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30: "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought"
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 (When to the sessions of sweet silent thought) Ever fallen into a vat of toxic nostalgia? Ever let yourself stop being so damned busy that you could just sit and think pleasant thoughts only to have those thoughts quickly invaded by memories of past sorrows? Ever made... Continue reading
Posted Sep 12, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"But your heart Is crammed with arrogancy, spleen, and pride.”
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Shakespeare Henry VIII Review Shakespeare’s Henry VIII is the last of a series of Shakespearean plays about England’s violent and troubled monarchy. It may be that the birth of Queen Elizabeth is the culminating moment of the play and the series. Seen in one light, the playwright makes the case... Continue reading
Posted Sep 3, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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“Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law”
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Your Honor Season One REVIEW In Greek tragedy, the protagonist often suffers for some unbalanced virtue or some desire for a perfection that is not advisable in such an imperfect world. Oedipus insists that he will discover the cause of the plague that afflicts his people, not knowing that by... Continue reading
Posted Aug 25, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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“As you from crimes would pardoned be Let your indulgence set me free.”
The Tempest REVIEW Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a play that I arrived late to. Not literally. I simply have only read it recently and I saw it for the first time at Middlebury college’s Bread Loaf (Thanks to my dear friend, Hilary who got me tickets). The theme of the... Continue reading
Posted Aug 8, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"I won’t defend it, not being an imbecile!”
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In the First Circle REVIEW “War gives stupidity legitimate power over intelligence.” “In the literature they studied, the world was full of everything but what you saw with your own eyes all around you.” “But the charge brought against a man and his actual offense did not necessarily coincide; if... Continue reading
Posted Jul 24, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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Truths I Never Told You
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Truths I Never Told You REVIEW In Kelly Rimmer’s novel Truths I Never Told You, three generations of mothers can be seen struggling with some hereditary difficulty with post-partum depression. Through the use of story, the novel explores the manifestations of this debilitating experience and clarifies the difference between what... Continue reading
Posted Mar 4, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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The Memoirs of William Jennings Bryan
The Memoirs of William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan was a three-time candidate for the President of the United States who never won. In 1896 and in 1900, he was defeated by William McKinley. In 1908, he was defeated by Theodore Roosevelt’s former vice President, Howard Taft. He later served... Continue reading
Posted Feb 26, 2023 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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The Age of Opportunity
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The Age of Opportunity REVIEW This book would make a good user’s manual to the teenage brain. I would recommend it if you are a school teacher, a principal, a college Human Growth & Development instructor, a parent, a grandparent, a person working in juvenile justice, or, drum roll please,... Continue reading
Posted Oct 31, 2022 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"While the other instruments played for everyone, the violin played for her alone.”
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Life in a Time of Cholera REVIEW The Center of It The times you’re gone I carry on The times you’re here I covet Yet either day or night, I find you At the center of it. And when you’re near I like it But when you're felt I love... Continue reading
Posted Oct 14, 2022 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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"As if whatever is not their truth, must be falsehood."
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Mists of Avalon V In the Hebrew Bible, we read a story in the book of Joshua about the people of Israel taking possession of their “Promised Land.” Moses has led them out from slavery in Egypt and forty years later, they stand on the borders of Canaan, ready to... Continue reading
Posted Sep 5, 2022 at Eucatastrophe Reader
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