Pete Skenandore

A History of Private Life, Volume I: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium General Editors Philippe Aries and Georges Duby On the inside flap of the cover, “First of a handsome new series, this book reveals what it was really like to live, work, and die in the ancient world.” My first thought was, well, I’m [...]

A book review on Indian Givers by Jack Weatherford

Two notable quotes:
“My lands are where my dead lie buried.” & “One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.”
-Crazy Horse

How important are friends? This book explores the importance of close relationships, outside of family relations in the context of the life of one of The United States greatest Presidents–Abraham Lincoln.

According to The China Study, animal based diets are largely contributing detriment to our nations health. Grab a bowl of carrot sticks, read the book, and let’s talk about it here, on peteskenandore.com

When NASA bombed the moon I was like “huh?!? What was the point of that?” I know there’s no snowy wood owls or endangered swamp frogs up there, but why? Scientific curiousity? Bah! So I guess this book increased my awareness of stewardship. In a sense of bigness, we all can claim some form of [...]

If you think you were teased in school… It’s hard to imagine just how difficult life was for 9 young teens who were at the forefront of integration at Little Rock’s Central High School. As I was reading this book, I realized that we have come pretty far, yet still have far to go to [...]

The advantage of having kids that like to read is that there are opportunities to have great discussions about different meanings and writing styles. This is one of those books that might be better read backwards. Meaning, go to the back and read the interview with Ann Patchett first. It will take some steam out [...]

“In 1894, eighteen-year-old Rachel Bella Kahn traveled from Russia to the U.S. for an arranged marriage to Abraham Calof.” Originally written in Yiddish and translated to English, this is one gripping narrative of just how brutal and harsh some homesteaders had it.  I could not put this down, and feel like reading this book affected [...]

After reading this book on the plane trip to and from returning from my Sister’s funeral in Pennsylvania I was looking for another book to lose myself in. So I went to my son’s room to see if they had anything kicking around. Blake had recently finished this book and so I gave it a [...]