Hot Chicken, invented by Thornton Prince in the 1930s, is the mostly-true story of how Nashville’s infamous “Hot Chicken” came to be
Author Archive | Rita Welty Bourke
The American Dream
For the last forty years, our government has catered to the wealthy and to corporate America while largely ignoring the needs of the middle class and the poor. Since Reagan was elected in 1980, taxes have been lowered for the rich and raised for the middle class
The Vatican Princess, C. W. Gortner
The year 1492 was arguably the most historically important year in Spanish history. Within that twelve month period the world was witness to the defeat of the Moors at Granada, the exile of Jews who refused to convert, and the return of “Christofero Colon (sic)… in triumph to announce his discovery of the new world.” […]
7 Favorite Books from 2017
It has been a challenging year, but we all got through it, didn’t we? And there were lots of good things that happened. In December I learned that Kylie’s Ark: The Making of a Veterinarian had been chosen as a Kirkus Best Indie Book of 2017. I am enormously gratified at how this book just […]
The High Mountains of Portugal, by Yann Martel
I rarely give a book five stars, but this one, The High Mountains of Portugal, deserves five, and maybe six, or even seven. It’s an allegory, so expect to be challenged. But read it, and you’ll walk away with images that will make you think as you’ve never thought before, laugh your deepest belly laugh, […]
The Little Paris Bookshop, Nina George
This book is absolutely unique: Just imagine a man who sells books from a floating barge in the Seine. And not just books, but specific books that will heal the afflicted, soothe a broken heart, point to a path through hardship. Yet Jean Perdu, a “literary apothecary,” is unable to prescribe for himself. The sorrow […]
Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs, by Ben Mezrich
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the country embarked on a painful transition from communism to capitalism. By the mid-nineties, oligarchs had taken over. Foremost among them was Boris Berezovsky, a mathematician/car salesman who rose to dizzying heights with interests in oil, metals, and television […]
Leviathan
Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly not happy about this movie. He does not like it that Leviathan depicts a corrupt government, a system of law that rewards the powerful and crushes those who stand in its way. Leviathan is the dramatic story of an auto mechanic, Kolya, who lives in a fishing village on […]
