March - 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #71: The Mighty & The Almighty

Joe Pace

Mar 29, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #71: The Mighty & The Almighty

Madeleine Albright has long been one of my favorites. Her story is a fascinating one. Born in 1937 in a sovereign Czechoslovakia, her father was a diplomat who became part of the country's London-based government-in-exile during WWII. They returned home after the war, only to find Eastern Europe falling under the Soviet yoke. Her father, a staunch anti-communist, sent the family to the US in 1948 when Madeleine was 11. Albright (then Korbel, her maiden name) graduated from We

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #70: Red Sox Century

Joe Pace

Mar 28, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #70: Red Sox Century

A lot of sports books lately - but what else would we talk about on Opening Day? As a lover of history and sports, I adored this book when it came out in 2000. It’s a detailed chronicle of the first hundred years of the Red Sox - from Cy Young and the Babe and Tris Speaker to Jimmie Foxx and Teddy Ballgame and Bobby Doerr to Yaz and Fisk and Dewey. The narrative takes us through bad trades and racially backward ownership and near misses in 46 and 67 and 78 and 86 through to t

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #69: It’s Good to Be Gronk

Joe Pace

Mar 27, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #69: It’s Good to Be Gronk

In honor of this week’s well-earned, unsurprising early retirement by the best tight end the game has ever seen, I include this “book”. Gronk ranks alongside Jim Brown, Jerry Rice, and Barry Sanders as the most dominant skill position players in NFL history. As an author, he’s a hell of a football player. #69, big fella. It’s all yours.

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #68: Captain James Cook, A Biography

Joe Pace

Mar 26, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #68: Captain James Cook, A Biography

There are a lot of reasons the life of James Cook resonates with us today, more than two centuries after his iconic death at the hands of Hawaiian islanders. In the European age of exploration and exploitation, he generally (though not universally) stands above his peers in regard to his humane treatment of his crew. Example: when his seamen proved reluctant to ingest the requisite sauerkraut intended to ward off scurvy, he didn't rely on the bosun's cat, but simply made saue

Joe Pace

Mar 24, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #67: Pedro

I’m coaching Bobby’s baseball team this year, and our first practice will be this afternoon, so I’m in a hardball state of mind. Our defending MLB champion Red Sox boast a lot of candidates for their Mount Rushmore: Ted Williams, Big Papi, Cy Young, Yaz, Ruth. But any aggregation of Rose Hose greats must include #45, the greatest starting pitcher of our generation, and perhaps ever. Growing up, Roger Clemens starts were appointment television before the phrase had been coined

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #66: Iceland’s Ring Road

Joe Pace

Mar 23, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #66: Iceland’s Ring Road

Lonely Planet puts out the best road-trip guides. We wore out their Pacific Northwest version during our years in Washington, and have relied on other editions for other adventures. Over the last several weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time with their Iceland iteration, planning the itinerary for our April vacation trip. I apologize in advance for the next set of Pace family away game pictures.

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #65: The Emperor of All Maladies, A Biography of Cancer

Joe Pace

Mar 20, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #65: The Emperor of All Maladies, A Biography of Cancer

I first bought this book as a gift for my physician wife, who encounters and battles skin cancers every day. Last year, when yet another close friend was diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer, I picked it up myself. It's not a brisk read - there's a lot of chemistry and other hard science in there that I have to plow through - but it is an illuminating one. Mukherjee starts us off with a tour of how the ancients perceived cancer, mostly with a resigned shrug and as a catc

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #64: Henry Clay, Statesman for the Union

Joe Pace

Mar 19, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #64: Henry Clay, Statesman for the Union

Among my non-presidential American political heroes, Henry Clay is pretty high up on the list. He was supremely talented, relentlessly ambitious, deeply egotistical, seductively charming, with unmatched oratorical skills. He was a seeker of common ground, a border-state Kentuckian wary of sectional strife. In the 2016 there was a lot of chatter about Hillary Clinton being the most qualified person ever to run for President. Anyone claiming that didn't know their history. Henr

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #63: Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered

Joe Pace

Mar 18, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #63: Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered

Later today I'll be sworn in as a member of the Select Board in Kensington. It's a small town here, with a little over 2,000 people. Horse farms, wetlands, and old homes stretch languidly along our scenic roads. Our elementary school is outstanding, and our neighbors routinely come together to support one another. There's a community here. Last year that community was riven by strife among our elected and appointed officials, leading to the wholesale resignation of our three-

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #62: Great Quotes from Great Leaders

Joe Pace

Mar 13, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #62: Great Quotes from Great Leaders

During our senior year at Exeter High, my best friend Nate Oxnard gave me this book for Christmas. In the 27 years since, I have referred to it often for inspiration, strength, or comfort. Churchill, King, Lincoln, and Kennedy are here, but so are Meir, Keller, Lombardi, Disney, Aristotle, and Confucius. I’ve made liberal use of these quotes in my own speeches and remarks over the decades. I love this book. Yesterday Nate was re-elected to the Deerfield School Board, and I re

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #61: Democratic Governance in American States and Cities

Joe Pace

Mar 12, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #61: Democratic Governance in American States and Cities

A beloved relic from my senior year at UNH serves as today’s reminder to get out there and vote in your municipal elections. All the governing that matters the most happens in cities and towns. Now get out there!

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #60: Fraud of the Century

Joe Pace

Mar 11, 2019

Favorite Non-Fiction Books

Favorite Non-Fiction Books, #60: Fraud of the Century

The 2000 US presidential election looms large in our recent memory. Depending on your political ideology, it was either a blatant theft of the presidency, a befuddling miasma of incompetence, or the whining of a sore loser. I'm not interested in parsing that here, as I'm fairly certain people's partisan prism for viewing that seismic cycle are pretty well baked in at this point. Instead, let's talk about a much older instance of electoral foolery at the highest level. In 1876

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