We are weird when it comes to race.

As often happens, a student's paper will lead to research down a previously unknown path and such was the case recently with the odd lawsuit of Susie Phipps.

In 1896 in Plessy v Ferguson SCOTUS ruled that separate equal facilities were OK. Home Plessy was 1/8 black, an octoroon. In 1982 Susie Phipps challenged a Louisiana law that defined a person having 1/32 black blood as "colored." Current SCOTUS practice has permitted such classifications when if the state has a compelling interest or if used to correct an injustice.See http://www.mixedracestudies.org/wordpress/?p=12475

This kind of racial minutia which was originally used to deny people equal rights is now being used proactively to define new rights.  See this very interesting essay: http://jonathantilove.com/mutability-of-race/

I should note a personal anecdote. My son is adopted and was abandoned as a child.  He self-identifies as black and is most likely a wonderful combination of all sorts of races. He married a white woman and they had a child.  At the hospital, the child's race was identified as white on the birth certificate until he walked into the room and then they erased it and changed it to black. Now if race is so arbitrarily defined, perhaps it's time to get beyond it.

And for some, now, especially those in the diversity industry, it has become an advantage to perpetuate racial designations.  A book on the topic I recommend is Michael Benn Michaels' The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality. 

Rods Down and Dropped Fires: Illinois Central and the Steam Age in Perspective by Richard P. Bessette | LibraryThing

Rods Down and Dropped Fires: Illinois Central and the Steam Age in Perspective by Richard P. Bessette | 
LibraryThing:

This is a magnificent book.  Firstly, a disclaimer.  The author sent me a free copy knowing of my interest in railroads, but I would not have reviewed it had I not liked it.  I liked it so much, in fact, I am sending him a check for the book.

What Bassette has done is to collect a comprehensive set of photographs relating to the history of the Illinois Central.  He worked for the IC for about 20 years and had access to their large library of archival photographs.  He decided to focus on the period from 1850 to 1950, roughly the rise and fall of the steam locomotive.   The book is divided into yearly chapters with a brief description of what was going on in the rest of the world during that year, particularly as it relates to the U.S. railroad industry.  That's followed by pictures of a locomotive or an IC yard, each with a lengthy description.  So, for example, in 1896 there are photographs of engines 376, 2003, 488,499, 495 (plowing through flooded tracks) as well as work being done on the "Lake Front Improvement Ordinance in which the IC agreed to build a retaining wall and backfill the park area between the retaining wall and Michigan Avenue."

Obviously, this book had a limited appeal for publishers, so the author, no doubt at great personal expense, published it himself using only the highest quality printing and on the best paper.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough for railroad aficionados.  It belongs in every library with any interest in railroading and certainly those covered by the Illinois Central.  It's truly a labor of love and will provide many hours for me to peruse at my leisure.  Six stars.

Examples from the book:

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Saratoga Snapper: A Charlie Bradshaw Mystery by Stephen Dobyns | LibraryThing

Saratoga Snapper: A Charlie Bradshaw Mystery by Stephen Dobyns | LibraryThing:

Charlie is a misanthrope.  When his mother, who owns the hotel where he works as the house dick, asks him what he would do with a million dollars, his response is that he'd like to buy a boat, anchor it offshore, and fish and read. (Sounds good except for the fishing.)  If people wanted to come visit they could wave and he'd row over in the dinghy to get them, or not.  His girl friends drop him because he's "not bold."

Charlie vows to find out who injured Victor, his friend, by running him down and stealing his camera. He discovers during the course of his poking around  that an old mobster has been hanging around the hotel. That leads him to suspect the guy is planning to heist an armored truck that carries a substantial amount of money on a regular basis from the track. The police chief, when informed, scoffs, since it's the best protected run around and besides, there are so few roads for the thieves to escape on. Well, of course, Charlie has it nailed, but the links are not what he expected.

Mildly entertaining.  Not as good as some of the other Dobyns I've read. 2.5 stars. really.

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The Barbed-Wire Kiss: A Novel by Wallace Stroby | LibraryThing

The Barbed-Wire Kiss: A Novel by Wallace Stroby | LibraryThing:

Harry Rane is in deep shit.  His friend Bobby is in debt to the mob and Harry, former ex-state-cop,  widower and old friend decides to help him get out of the obligation.  Unfortunately things begin to go bad when Harry meets Catherine, Nick Fallon's wife, and former girl friend of Harry's. (It's a small NJ world, apparently.)  The guy that Bobby had made the drug deal with turns up dead in the trunk of a car at the airport, and Fallon discovers Harry is making it with his wife.   Whew.

Some bizarre reviews out there.  One, on Amazon, said he liked the way Rane took several beatings, and another compared the book unfavorably to the Sopranos (a TV series) and a Bruce Springsteen song.  I mean, WTF?

Compelling story even if Harry does occasionally act dumber than a post.

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The Ranger (A Quinn Colson Novel) by Ace Atkins | LibraryThing

The Ranger (A Quinn Colson Novel) by Ace Atkins | LibraryThing:

This was one of those audiobooks, that I would listen to for a while then switch to something else, then come back, to then hop elsewhere again.  I had trouble relating to the characters.  Quinn didn't have the appeal and intensity of a Jack Reacher, nor the smarts and authority of Virgil Flowers.  It also lacked any moments of humor that can add so much to the enjoyment of a book. 

Quinn, home on leave, has to make several decisions: should he reenlist, only to be sent to some base as a ranger instructor? clean up his home town of Jericho? investigate the apparent suicide of his uncle the sheriff? sell the property he inherited?   And what are we to make of the  teen walking from Alabama to find the boyfriend who knocked her up? 

Quinn is sort of a John Wayne-let's-clean-up-this-town character without the swagger.

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