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The Pierznik Monthly

The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 55 (May 2019)

My May 2019 newsletter includes tidbits about some the NBA, some podcasts, and, of course, books.

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America Books History Learning

The Best Books on John Adams

“I am but an ordinary Man. The Times alone have destined me to Fame — and even these have not been able to give me, much…Yet some great Events, some cutting Expressions, some mean Hypocrisies, have at Times, thrown this Assemblage of Sloth, Sleep, and littleness into Rage a little like a Lion.”

John Adams

I have a vivid memory – so clear that it’s like a snapshot – of sitting in an American Revolution class junior year as my professor, a brilliant man and a wonderful teacher, kept extolling the virtues of George Washington and juxtaposing them with John Adams, whom he referred to as “curmudgeonly” and “acerbic.”

That’s all I needed to hear.

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The Pierznik Monthly

The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 54 (April 2019)

April 2019’s newsletter is now out!

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Books History Reviews

A Beautiful Book about a Beautiful Mind – “John Adams’s Republic: The One, the Few, and the Many” Reviewed

“He saw the whole of a subject at a single glance, and by a happy union of the powers of reasoning and persuasion often succeeded in carrying measures which were at first sight of an unpopular nature.”

–Benjamin Rush

I imagine writing a book about John Adams in the 2010’s would be a daunting task.

At first glance, it appears that there is significant difficulty in writing about a member of a revered, almost mythical, group that died nearly two centuries ago.

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The Pierznik Monthly

The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 53 (March 2019)

The March 2019 edition of my newsletter just dropped.

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Books Life Music Wu-Tang Clan

The Most Unique Book in History: Ghostface Killah’s “The World According to Pretty Toney”

It’s no secret that I’m a Wu-Tang Clan superfan.

I know obscure trivia about the group. I have their logo on my coffee mug. I own old issues of The Source and XXL with the group on the cover. I also own items like the “Protect Ya Neck” cassette single, the “C.R.E.A.M.” single on vinyl, and the actual Purple Tape (the cassette version of Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…).

One of the more obscure Wu-related items I own is a copy of
The World According to Pretty Toney, a 2007 book by Ghostface Killah with J. Brightly.

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The Pierznik Monthly

The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 52 (February 2019)

The February 2019 edition of my newsletter.

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The Pierznik Monthly

The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 51 (January 2019)

The newest edition of my newsletter just dropped.

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The Pierznik Monthly

The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 50 (November 2018)

The newest edition of my newsletter, featuring everything I wrote, read, and other scintillating topics rattling around in my brain that the world demands to know, is now out! Click the Subscribe button and all of your dreams will come true!*

*results not guaranteed

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The Pierznik Monthly

The Pierznik Monthly Newsletter Volume 49 (October 2018)

image
Image via Ryan Holiday

The latest edition of my newsletter, featuring everything I wrote, read, and other scintillating topics rattling around in my brain that the world demands to know, is now out! Click the Subscribe button and all of your dreams will come true!*

*results not guaranteed