Entries by Peter Cates

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Bill Clinton

by Peter Cates Bill Clinton An acquaintance from my years living in Houston, Texas, attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and he told of meeting then-Governor Bill Clinton twice during a two-year period and shared a couple of observations. First, the encounters didn’t last much more than five minutes and this individual was one […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI – Novelist: John Dos Passos

by Peter Cates John Dos Passos Novelist John Dos Passos (1896-1970) was most famed for U.S.A., a trilogy of 3 novels- The 42nd Parallel, 1919 and The Big Money– all of which were published between 1930 and 1936, years of the “Great” Depression and the resulting misery and turbulence . Dos Passos was a very […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI – Book: Big Trouble; Conductor: Leopold Stokowski; TV: Death and Other Details

by Peter Cates Big Trouble A 1998 history book, Big Trouble, by Anthony Lukas (1933-1998) is a massive 875 pages of compulsively fascinating reading centered on the 1905 assassination of Idaho Governor Frank Steu­nenberg (1861-1905) who was originally elected via support from organized labor but then declared martial law when one mine was destroyed by […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI: A book, a movie, an album

by Peter Cates What It Takes A 1992 book, What It Takes, by the late Richard Ben Cramer (1950-2013) examined the lives of six candidates in the 1988 race for the White House: Republicans Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush (1924-2018) and Democrats Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Dick Gephart and Gary Hart. It weighs in […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Movies, TV and Christmas carols

by Peter Cates Killing Them Softly I recently viewed a 2012 movie, Killing Them Softly, starring Brad Pitt as a gangland enforcer, James Gandolfini as a Mafia hitman and Ray Liotta as the host for a mob protected high stakes polka game, with a very good supporting cast. The plot features a businessman in need […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Christmas music

by Peter Cates Christmas music Reader’s Digest released a number of record sets devoted to Christmas music, one being a 1985, two LP set Joy to the World. It contains two sides of 15 famous carols performed with decent professionalism by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Peter Knight (1917-1985); Knight’s name might […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Jimmy Carter

by Peter Cates Jimmy Carter The 39th President Jimmy Carter has achieved a few longevity records . First, he is the oldest living one at 99. Secondly, he has lived the longest of any President. Thirdly, since his defeat for re-election in 1980 by Reagan, he has been out of office the longest. Finally, he […]