home >
bookspace >
off-kilter non-fiction
 Interesting books with a double twist of the strange. Not like alien abduction, Area 51 strange. I mean these are books written from a perspective that's a bit outside of the mainstream.
Burton Hersh, for example, details the deep mob ties of Joe Kennedy, patriarch of the house of JFK and RFK. John Ross blows your mind with millions of years of the history of what is now Mexico City condensed into a form of narrative honey that is hard to break away from once it starts flowing.
|  Print this list
 E-mail this list
|
Contributed by ColinD | Comment on this list | 1859 views
|
 |
| Murder city : Ciudad Juarez and the global economy's new killing fields |
| Bowden, Charles, 1945- |
| A poetic essay on the violence engulfing northern Mexico. The violence of Ciudad Juarez, Bowden argues, has less to do with drug dealers and more to do with the brutality of modern economics. In his eyes, Juarez is the future that we are rushing toward. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book 364.1523 B 2010 |
|
| |
 |
| Bobby and J. Edgar : the historic face-off between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoo |
| Hersh, Burton. |
| A well detailed study of the history of J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI and Joe Kennedy and his boys. I include this in my "off kilter" list because the history this book brings to light is disturbing, in the least.
Beyond the historical characters of the title, Hersh, an iconoclastic historian, here is really shining a spotlight on those dark alleys that connect the shadow world of organized crime, murder, and thuggery to the daylight realm of politics, business, and celebrity. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book 973.922 H |
|
| |
 |
| A dog in a hat : an American bike racer's story of mud, drugs, blood, betrayal, |
| Parkin, Joe. |
| Parkin's got a gift for straight-talking storytelling. He's also got an amazing story to tell of his days as an American trying to make it as a pro bike racer in Belgium in the '80s and '90s.
Bonus: he spent time in Minneapolis working at Flanders' Brothers bike shop and racing locally. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book 796.6 P |
|
| |
 |
| El Monstruo : dread and redemption in Mexico City |
| Ross, John, 1938 Mar. 11- |
| The history of Mexico City as written by adoptive son, John Ross. As an original Beat poet, Ross absconded to Mexico in the late '50s and has lived in the same hotel in downtown Mexico City for decades. His history is interspersed with conversations with friends, asides about politics and literature, and interesting factoids. For example, the word "gringo" used by Mexicans to describe white Americans probably came from American soldiers in the Mexican-American war who sang a popular tune as they marched across Mexico that included the lyrics "Green goes my grass-oh"... |
| Adult Nonfiction Book 972.53 R 2009 |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Add a Comment about this Book List:
