Five Bullets 7.14.23
This week: NYC Draft Riots, Oppenheimer, No Country for Old Men & more
Hello and welcome back to Circles In Space for Five Bullet Friday, where each Friday I share interesting stuff collected during the week.
If you’re new to Circles In Space, I wrote a bit about myself and this newsletter.
Good morning and happy Friday everyone! It’s a cloudy and rainy morning here in New York City. I hope everyone’s enjoying their summer, staying cool and taking some time to read, write and generally relax! I’ve been in a novel-reading mood lately, having finished Ready Player One and No Country for Old Men, two vastly different books though I enjoy switching between genres and authors. What’re you reading lately?
THIS WEEK’S TOPICS:
History: This week is the 160th anniversary of the New York City Civil War draft riots which took place from July 13-16th, 1863. The draft lottery began on July 11th and on July 13th thousands took to rioting, looting, and burning buildings. Much of the violence was directed at African-Americans. The official death toll was 120 people. Listen to the Bowery Boys discuss this forgotten bit of NYC history. Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film Gangs of New York featured a scene of the violent draft riots.
Biography: Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin’s biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer is the basis of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film about the physicist and director of the Manhattan Project. The book took 25 years to write - Sherwin started researching and interviewing in the 1980s but it wasn’t until he partnered with Bird that the pair completed the book in 2005, which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography.
Novel: This week I read Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 neo-Western No Country for Old Men. Truthfully, I was unaware that the Coen Brothers film of the same name, which I’ve watched several times, was based on McCarthy’s book. Of course, I wish I’d read the book first but I thought it was darn good. I remember watching the film and not quite following what was really going on. I had that same feeling while reading the book but the story snuck up on me and McCarthy’s deep, dark truths about human morality and the soul of our country were almost more than I bargained for in the end.
Article: How the National Archives preserves government records, from the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence to film, sound recordings and digital media - as well as some five and half football fields of classified data.
Music: I’ve been really into this compilation of crunchy, dusty, tremelo-twangy guitar instrumentals from the ‘60’s which includes tunes by Link Wray, Al Casey and Teddy & the Rough Riders. It’s a fun collection of groovy tunes for a hot summer day at the beach or pool.
That’s all for this week!
As always, thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
Until next time,
KW