Read from Homer Hickam's foreword in Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story by David Hitt, Owen Garriott, and Joe Kerwin:

The book that follows is a riveting, insightful account of the Skylab missions flown by the United States in 1973 and 1974. It is also simply a great yarn. Skylab began as an underdog, was nearly knocked out several times, staggered back to its feet, and fought on against overwhelming odds until it became a champion. In a lot of ways, it was the Rocky of space, and just like the story in that great film, it is an inspiration for all who know it. The difference is the remarkable saga of Skylab is all true.

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“You will be rewarded for your efforts”by Kathi Jackson, authorThey Called Them Angels: American Military Nurses of World War II     I laughed at this fortune-cookie fortune even as I taped it onto the base of my computer where it taunted me as I wrote.   Up to that time, rewards for my writing had been scarce and it didn’t appear that anything would be coming in anytime soon.    Several years before, I had started a novel loosely based on an aunt who was a nurse in a veterans hospital. (Although much of her life had been sad, I suspected that … Continue reading Author Guest Blog- Kathi Jackson

Well readers, I know I always say “it’s been a big week”, but this truly has been a big week . America made history last night by electing the first African American President, Barack Obama. Now I don’t think anything I’m going to write today will top that, so let’s just lower our expectations a bit and begin what I’m sure will end up being a very interesting, albeit not groundbreaking, This Week in history. November 3, 1969: Richard Nixon addresses the nation asking that the “silent majority” to support him in the Vietnam War and his policies. There is … Continue reading This Week in History: November 3-7, 2008

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Radio’s Revolution: Don Hollenbeck’s CBS Views the Press by Loren Ghiglione. In U.S. Journalism history, one radio show stands above the rest in terms of historical significance. The one time pet project of Edward R. Murrow, CBS Views the Press was the go to resource for topics ranging from racism to McCarthyism, and dared to do more than just be subject of newspaper criticism. For once a radio program stepped up and did some criticizing of its own, and among other things, it the won a Peabody award.  This week … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: November 6, 2008

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Sketches from the Ranch: A Montana Memoir by Dan Aadland. In 1892 a spot of land was picked out by Magnus Jensen. Years later, his granddaughter Emily would live there with her husband Dan, and he would approach this Montana ranch much like Thoreau would Walden Pond. In this book, Aadland takes a single year from his life and uses clear and crisp prose to illuminate the harsh but striking reality of life in the West. This week Tuesday Trivia is going to shed a little bit more (albeit slightly … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: November 4, 2008

Read from the first story, "Taking a Stitch in a Dead Man’s Arm", of Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories by Katherine Vaz:

I changed the bandage over my father’s knee in the final month of his life. His wound was violet, and blood pulsed through. I never looked away from it. I swallowed my vomit when it struck the back of my clenched teeth; I was ready to swallow my insides as often as necessary—it was important to gaze at his flesh exactly as it was because I would not have it with me for much longer. I wanted to learn matter-of-factness about being this close to someone. The yellow fluid on the gauze around the bloodstains, the cortisone spray that would have made Papa scream if he’d had the strength: my stain, my shock, and my scream.

A brain lesion gave him double vision. Everything wore a register of itself, a crown of haze. It amused him to watch people walking around with the ghosts of themselves stuck to their skins. Papa’s knee had ripped open when he fell off a ladder while trying to repair a broken window sash. Frantic to protect us, to seal every entry, he had crawled from his sickbed while my mother was at work at the Sunshine Biscuit factory and I was at school. A killer who called himself the Zodiac was roaming the Bay Area. He was sending letters with obscene ciphers to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Well readers, this is a big week. It’s HALLOWEEN!  Now, I know I’m over the age of twelve and therefore have little excuse to celebrate the holiday outside of wearing a “sexy” kitten, angel, devil etc costume, but this year I’m feeling nostalgic for my youth. I want to go trick or treating, gorge on candy corn, and dr ess up like a good ole fashion ghost.  Don’t worry, there's a good chance I won't end up on your doorstep. Anyway, lets go ahead and discuss what we have going on this week. Paris, Space, and Vietnam…Oh My! October 27, … Continue reading This Week in History: October 27-31, 2008