OYENTE

Shadow007

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A fairly good single biography on John Adams

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-27-25

This is a good straight forward narrative of the life of John Adams. People probably will read the David McCullough which is newer of the two but this book is also good. It goes over a few things that David’s book doesn’t cover much but it is minor material. There are awkward moments in this book such the author denying that Jefferson had an affair with Sally Hemings, his teenage slave, or the author’s hatred of Adam’s lack of family interaction. But if you read this over McCullough’s book noting of value was lost.

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The best book on Benedict Arnold

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-08-25

This is probably the best book on Benedict Arnold. The first chapter is essential reading as it tells the historiography of Arnold and the various writing done on him since his death. This part is must read.

Otherwise the book is excellent. Trying its best to an objective non-judgmental neutral view of Arnold, the author writes an easy to follow and understand narrative. Campaigns such the Canada battles are discussed in detail that show military thought but doesn’t alienate non-army readers.

The book does sudden after Arnold’s betrayal with just two chapters left. Really felt that a post analysis of Arnold’s role in American rhetoric as the American Judas was in order and the author really should have explored this but the book just ends after Arnold’s death. The first chapter lightly touches this (author says it united all Americans after the war to point at a common villain but doesn’t provide anything beyond just saying this) but really offers no real scholarship on Arnold.

But Arnold’s life story is told here so brilliantly that this book regardless is a must read. Put it alongside a shelf of founding father biographies.

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Basic information book

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 01-25-25

This book really has a basic outline of Washington’s life, something that you can just find in Wikipedia. The problem with this book began with the first chapter which is about Washington’s childhood and teen years. The author chronicles the years in 1 chapter and declares things such as that there is little information on his mother Mary Bell. There are 3 books written her. I should have known these were warnings signs for the book.

The author declares that he wants to show Washington as a real person with thoughts and feelings instead of a stoic stone faced man but here he fails too. There is very little usage of his correspondence and writings beyond pointing at single phrases or to show tax numbers. Washington’s stepchildren are talked about in one paragraph in the beginning of the book and then again in the end when discussing his will days before his death. Relationships with John Laurens, Benjamin Rush, John Adams, Lafayette, Jefferson, and even his own wife, Martha, are barely discussed or shown, with only important dates with them written and then passed through.

This biography really lacks the analysis and detail of a good book. Readers should just read Ron Chernow’s book on Washington. It goes into actual detail into everything this book just scratches the surface of.

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The history of the national women’s team until 1999

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 10-08-24

History tends to put the birth of women’s soccer in the U.S. with the 1999 World Cup home win. But the history of the sport begun even earlier. This book explains the gathering of women participation due to title 9 back in the 1970s and the lone attempt to bring up a women’s team during the time. This was not a glamorous adventure and the author details how small, under funded, and overall unknown the whole experiment was. From struggling in the Italian cup to the Atlanta Olympics and M&Ms cup, the story is told with the players and coach/training staff perspectives of all the highs and lows.

The book is easy to follow with its various players and even people who don’t follow or know the sport can easily follow the narrative. The narrator has an excellent voice and adds to the flow of the story. The conclusion of the book with the 1999 World Cup will make you want to find more information on the next 30 years that have pasted in the sport.

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Feels like Pele himself telling you his life story!

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-15-24

Despite the title, this book isn’t about soccer or its impact on people and society. Rather it is about Pele, who many consider the greatest soccer player of all time, telling his life story. It is simple and easy to understand and you understand every move and decision he made. Pele does randomly add his reasons why he thinks soccer can be used as a social good but it is a simple take not any grand analysis. Also this book is clearly written before 2014 as Pele explains his support for Brazil’s World Cup hosting of said year and his hope for both Brazil’s performance and infrastructure improvement. Brazil would lose infamously 1-7 to Germany.

But the best part of this audiobook is the narrator. It is not Pele himself but someone who gives off a semi-accented English but is understandable and easy to listen to. This narrator adds tone and human sounds such as chuckles, laughter, and sighs. It makes it sound like it is Pele sitting right next to you telling you the story himself. I know that this book is probably mostly ghost written (I mean the other credited author on the cover merited mention), but with the easy story and words to follow and the amazing narrator, this is easily one of the best audiobooks I’ve heard. I had so much fun hearing it and wanted to hear more. Listen to this book even if you are not a fan of soccer.

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A good early history of English soccer but lacks everywhere else

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
1 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-30-24

First I really like the first two chapters of the book. They chronicle the early history of women playing in organized soccer (or football if you are European) matches in England. It is well researched setting the time of the place and the press reaction, all research I imagine was not easy to find and analyze.

But after that the book loses its path not sure if it wants to be a history of women’s football, history of the English women’s soccer, or the conditions surrounding the women’s game. There is a good chapter on Scandinavian women’s teams and title 9 regarding the U.S. but other than that it just focuses on the national English women’s team and the various female equivalent league teams. Latin America, Asia, and Africa women teams are skipped over expect for mentions of their participation in tournaments. U.S. soccer has such a minor role in this book despite being the nation that has had the most advancement and success in the world.

And oh boy does the author in the middle book just has to remind you that she went to the Paris World Cup. She writes about it personally and detailing it into a blog or sorts. We don’t need specific game details, the environment the author saw is enough to connect it to the book’s analysis. And you can tell this book was written in 2022, as mentions of the Covid pandemic and recent English scandals are largely discussed.

So the book is mixed, starting as history but ending in social sport analysis of the game’s growth. It is a nice read in the beginning and you can stick with it I say. But the narrator for this book is terrible! A British voice lady who speaks softly in a single tone the whole book. This is so bad when she reads long quotes from the book, making it impossible to tell if the author wrote what the narrator says or if she is quoting a player. It doesn’t help that the author inserts herself in the book writing in the first person, but the narrator’s job is to able to differentiate the two for the listener. Terrible narrator.

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The U.S.’s relation to Latinos in America and their home countries

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-17-24

This book is mostly about how the U.S.’s control of Latin America led to the region being destabilized and millions of people coming over to the U.S. due to this. First it was military power that controlled various countries’ economies and political stance to be pro-U.S., then it was American companies lobbying the U.S. government to bend international rules and trade to the companies favor, regardless if it is good for either America or Latin America.

All this points to the U.S. being an empire which is the author’s thesis. The book’s first part is about describing this history, which is excellent reading. But the second part is quick social/political analysis. Besides being a bit boring (numbers are stated), the information is based off 2007 era statistics, which make the book outdated, especially when then contemporary political figures are named.

I would recommend the first half of the book. The narrator is one of the best, smooth voice and Spanish pronunciation is perfect.

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The story of martial arts in popular culture

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
1 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-08-24

Horror author Grady Hendrix writes about what is essentially martial art history till the 1970s and the rest is popular culture (movies, tv shows, comics, music) and the various ways martial arts appeared in them. Yes the beginning is really showing how immigration from China and imperialism brought over martial arts into America and basically the world and into the cultural consciousness. Hendrix then chronicles how it affected American policy (foreign & domestic), society, and post-WWII lives. But after a good and long section on Bruce Lee and his struggle to break into Chinese martial arts cinema and his American success, the book starts to just go full pop culture.

After Bruce’s death and the explanation of Bruceploitation and the various followers and intimaters, Hendrix is just basically naming famous and minor movie stars that were either Bruce Lee intimaters or just did some sort of martial art in a movie once. The 1980s-2010s are breezed through because Hendrix just names names and movie titles after several chapters worth of Bruceploitation stories.

The book is easy to follow and this is good since many Bruceploitation actors have variations on Bruce Lee’s name. Hendrix gives emphasis on minority communities that were many times early adaptors and students of martial arts, especially before Bruce Lee made it famous.

But I hate the narrator of the book, which is the author Hendrix. He makes the people he is quoting have voices and every start of a chapter he adds unnecessary special effects and loud volume to his voice. It is super annoying.

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Quick profiles of famous directors with some hero worship

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-01-24

This book looked super interesting. Usually when people talk about the new young filmmakers who changed Hollywood they are talking about Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese and all those of the time of the ‘new Hollywood’ movement. This argues that there other horror adjacent filmmakers that did the same expect they didn’t.

This book would try to make you think that but there is no evidence of this. Instead we are shown the story of each individual filmmaker, John carpenter, tobey hopper, Wes craven, George Romero, and how they made their first feature film, which usually is their most famous. There is no reason to think that they changed Hollywood just because their movie made a lot of money. At points the author tries to say thing such Romero’s film was made in Pittsburgh not Hollywood but that goes no where (especially when Romero leaves the state for California). The author points at Carpenter going to film school but Spielberg and friends did it before him. Craven’s violent ‘Last House on the Left’ doesn’t unleash copy cat films in Hollywood.

Really the author fails to connect any reason why these filmmakers should be considered trailblazers especially since he himself writes that after their big hit they usually failed to follow up with any films in either financial or critical success. The author also seems to be a big personal fan of the directors, praising everything he can about them, at times appearing to simp for them. But the reason to read this is the narrative of each filmmaker’s journey. Easy to listen to and follow, they have interesting lives and moments. But it is not this major studio changing impact the author fails to explain.

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Outdated by today’s standards but interesting academic read

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 07-26-24

Horror movies especially the 1980s slasher movies are often been criticized for their portrayal of women getting attacked. This landmark book argues on the contrary, explaining how the then modern horror films weren’t necessarily all anti-women butchering movies.
The author using mainly Texas chainsaw massacre, exorcist, deliverance, and a few other films, explains how certain themes appear over again in these movies causing audiences to follow and empathize with the main characters and see movie tropes of it’s time. This book is where the concept of the final girl arises from.
But within a very short few years, the slasher genre ended and the movie Scream commented on various horror tropes that made this book outdated and audiences familiar with the movies cliques and film language that this book analyzes. I mean did we need a whole chapter to explain to us that whether one is male or female that rape is bad?
The book is also written very academic so listeners might get bored, especially with the monotone British lady narrating this book. If you enjoyed your college academic texts then you’ll know if you will like this book

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