Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

A Book to Read with One Eye Shut

Dynasty of Desire by Elizabeth Zachary

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CBR18 Bingo: Wealth – The hope of massive wealth leads many people, including the main characters, to invest their money in the construction of the Panama Canal, and much of the action is driven by those trying to recoup that investment. Sisters Darcie and Petra are only two years apart in age, but they go down vastly different paths after a horrible crime turns their lives upside-down. Despite their differences, though, they will both end up deeply involved in the construction of the Panama Canal. […]

Soldier For Fortune

Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler and the Making and Breaking of the American Empire by Jonathan M. Katz

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An excellent read and an infuriating read. Worth all five stars. And like Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction and Ackerman’s Reign of Terror, you’re guaranteed to be peeved on every page. I knew the United States had a colonizing history dating back, well really to its foundation through the US-Mexican War of the 1840s, but more specifically from the end of the 19th century onwards. I knew that we captured many islands in the Caribbean and Pacific respectively, even if I didn’t know the hows-and-whys. Jonathan M. Katz does […]

Espionage: First as Farce, Then As Tragedy

The Tailor of Panama by John Le Carré

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I have yet to read Graham Greene’s famous spy satire Our Man in Havana, but I’m familiar with the premise and am well aware that John Le Carré is aping it here. He’s having a blast splattering colored paint on the immaculately white walls of British imperialism. Until he remembers that these characters have stories, hearts and lives too. That’s what makes The Tailor of Panama so fascinating. Transparently a satire of western intelligence work, Le Carré also paints vivid portraits of characters whose lives are impacted by […]



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