After a summer hiatus, we’re back with one of our fave features: WHAT I’M READING. Visiting us with his list of reading recommendations is artist extraordinaire Denys Cowan!
By DENYS COWAN
“The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Rise and Fall of New York,” by
Robert Caro: I’ve read this book several times over the years and it continues to fascinate me …Moses was a terribly flawed genius.
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“The Bully Pulpit,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin: Teddy Roosevelt vs William Taft at a pivotal time in our nation’s history.
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“The Big Gold Dream,” by Chester Himes: Before my man Walter Mosley and Easy Rawlins, there was Chester Himes with Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones..
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“The Big Sleep,” by Raymond Chandler. Classic L.A. noir…
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“The Man with the Getaway Face: A Parker Novel,” by Richard Stark. Crime fiction pared down to the bare bones…
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“Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley,” by Peter Guralnick. The birth of rock and roll.
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“Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63,” by Taylor Branch.
The birth of the civil rights movement and the first part of a trilogy that includes Parting The Waters, Pillar of Fire, At Canaan’s Edge. Essential reading.