“Reading a Book is Like Life:
You Live it One Page at a Time.” (Ron Yates)
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About Ronald E. Yates
Author, former foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, and Dean & Professor Emeritus of the College of Media at the University of Illinois, his acclaimed works are now available through this site.
The Latest From My Blog
“We Will Bury You!” Was Nikita Khrushchev Right?
Nikita Khrushchev is usually remembered as the combative premier of the Soviet Union during the days of Sputnik and the Cold War. He’s also the Soviet leader who went toe to toe with John F. Kennedy during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. But Khrushchev is also remembered for four words …
A Little Inflation Therapy: Read a Good Book. Here are the 100 Greatest Books of All Time
Okay, inflation is killing us. Gas here in California is $6 and $7 a gallon, the shelves of the local Walmart and grocery stores are still half-empty, and the sidewalks of our cities are swathed with homeless tents and commanded by smash-and-grab thieves and vicious lowlifes. Meanwhile, our bumbling, mumbling, …
Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio?
With baseball season in full swing and some teams, like my Kansas City Royals foundering, the conversation, as it often does, comes around to the greatest baseball players of all time. Discussions like that are exasperating and always incomplete—especially when the discussants represent multiple generations. Evaluating baseball players from different …
Nine Foolproof Tips for Getting into College in 2022
From the Babylon Bee, I am reposting the following advice for gaining access to the college of your choice—or if not you, then for your kids or grandkids. As a professor and dean emeritus of the University of Illinois who scrutinized hundreds of college applicants, I can vouch for these …
Brown Is the New White
Today, I am reposting an article I received from Delancy Place, which sends a brief daily email containing an excerpt or quote that it views as interesting or noteworthy. The selection that follows is taken from the book: “Brown Is the New White,” by Steve Phillips. It contains revealing data about …
IF SOMEONE IS TRYING TO DISARM YOU, IT MEANS THEY CONSIDER YOU AN ENEMY.
I received this commentary from an angry individual who wants to remain anonymous. Whoever this person is he (or she) doesn’t pull any punches. I can’t vouch for all of the specifics in the commentary, but I certainly agree with the sentiments this individual expresses. IF SOMEONE IS TRYING TO …
Most “Assault Rifles”…Aren’t.
Today, I am turning my blog over to Mike Ford, founder of the American Free News Network, former U.S. Army Colonel, and US Military Academy graduate (class of 1980). Both of us are fed up with the misinformation and outright lies being told about rifles such as the AR-15 by …
Why do I live in California?
Why do I live in California? For those of you who do not live in California let me answer that question. I feel I have to do this because all I ever hear from friends and relatives in places like Pittsburg, Kansas City, or Des Moines is: “Why do you …
The Fed-Up Americans
I was getting ready to post today on America’s “silent majority,” and then I read the column below by former Chicago Tribune colleague and columnist John Kass. John left the Tribune in 2021, the victim of “cancel culture” primarily because he wrote a column that was critical of socialist billionaire …
Is America Becoming a Third World Country?
Crime in our cities is out of control, mothers can’t find infant formula for their babies, inflation is at a 40-year high, there is a nationwide infestation of homeless people—many of them drug-addicted and mentally ill, and our borders are wide-open to a stream of migrants who are unlawfully swamping …
The Sovietization of American Life
If you are a faithful reader of my blog you will know that I often repost commentaries from historian and social critic Victor Davis Hanson. Today, I am reposting another forceful and well-argued commentary from Hanson. In it, he explains why America is becoming more and more like the defunct …
