Been meaning to read the following (I’ve included descriptions either directly from the publisher, or from illuminating reviews I found):
Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to The Specials, Neville Staple - “This isn't just about The Specials but about Neville Staples, born in Jamaica and sent to the UK as a youth. The book is full of details of his truant and troubled past, his family, best friends, loves, his relationship with the band he helped make famous and the whole 2-Tone movement, the tours, the confrontations, etc.”
I’ve been wanting to read this since I saw the Specials in concert a few years back (albeit without Neville himself).
Drug War Capitalism, Dawn Paley - “Combining on-the-ground reporting with extensive research, Dawn Paley moves beyond the usual horror stories, beyond journalistic rubbernecking and hand-wringing, to follow the thread of the Drug War story throughout the entire region of Latin America and all the way back to US boardrooms and political offices. This unprecedented book chronicles how terror is used against the population at large in cities and rural areas, generating panic and facilitating policy changes that benefit the international private sector, particularly extractive industries like petroleum and mining. This is what is really going on. This is drug war capitalism.”
This book focuses on the exact topic that I’ve been pondering for years, which is that once you strip away the good/evil rhetoric of the drug trade and its interactions with law, what you have is an economic product that is responsible for the movement of vast sums of money, and in which lies great potential for profit, both economic and political. I look forward to this one. On that subject...
Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, Gary Webb - "I am probably the only reviewer who was a clandestine case officer (three back to back tours), who participated in the Central American follies as both a field officer and a desk officer at CIA HQS, who is also very broadly read... With great sadness, I must conclude that this book is truthful, accurate, and explosive.”
This has been on my list ever since I saw American Drug War: The Last White Hope.
One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School, Scott Turow - “Even though this memoir was first published almost 25 years ago, it is still the best depiction of what law school is *really* like. When I went to Harvard Law School (starting in 1995, exactly 20 years after Turow), everyone told me "It's not like One-L anymore." That's only half true -- One-L is overly dramatic, but the basic events and emotions he depicts rang true again and again. Of course, as the other reviews show, some law students are able to blow off the intensity, others (like Turow) become consumed by it, and the rest (like me) swing back and forth between panic and enjoyment. All in all, this is an excellent peek at the law school experience. Just don't use this as your only basis for deciding whether to go to law school and/or to Harvard.”
I’ll be interested to read this, as I become more serious about my intentions to go to law school. I just applied today (1/05/16) and have every intention of following through on this desire, but I also want to do as much research on what the actual experience is like before embarking on a journey rife with stress, excitement, and every emotion in between.
origamiaround
gummygunk
titsay
jbbartram-illu
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
kaledo-art
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
