Good Listening and Good Reading

I love many genres of music, traditional country (Not today’s pop star wannabes) has a warm-up place in my heart from my college days in the San Joaquin Valley in California at Fresno State. Always was a big Johnny Cash fan, well this album ”The List”  by his daughter Rosanne is outstanding. Her rendition of Sea of Heartbreak with Bruce Springsteen is outstanding and Long Black Veil and 500 miles are the best renditions I have heard. She also sings Girl from the North Country by Dylan, it would have been cool to have heard her sing this with her father. Check out this interview and hear her sing long Black Veil. http://studio360.org/episodes/2009/09/25

I just finished another great book by Neil Sheehan. This one took him many years to write, it was worth the wait. He is a superb writer and historian. A Fiery Peace In A Cold War – Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon is essentially a history of the arms race in the Cold War. How can I forget that air raid drills where we had to crouch under our desks in preparation for the atomic bomb. The central character is an Air Force general, Bernard Schriever, an almost larger than life figure who represents the can do and get it done attitude of his generation. There are many very interesting biographical sketches of many of the well known figures of the Cold including presidents and generals and many you have never heard of including technicians and scientists who were unsung  heroes. If you have not read his other major work A Bright Shining Lie, a classic about the buildup to the war in Vietnam and our involvement there it is a particularly timely read especially considering out involvement in Afghanistan.