Got 8 Books for $2 at Menagerie by AWL, a Local Nonprofit Thrift Store

I like visiting and shopping at thrift stores. Fortunately, my town has a few wonderful ones, including The Menagerie by AWL in Niles, Ohio, about eight miles from me. It’s a nonprofit organization operated by the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County, Ohio. Given I was a dog whisperer for a while, the AWL association is a special intangible quality about this thrift store.

Founded in 1969, the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County (AWL) protects the unwanted, neglected, abandoned, sick, injured and abused animals of Trumbull County.

Of course, Saint Vincent de Paul has a quality thrift store, which is a bit closer to me, too.

The Menagerie by AWL

Anyway, the shop, like so many thrift stores, offers discounts that change nearly every week. They put different color tags on items, so one week it might have “red tags for $1” or “four books for $1,” and such.

Over the past two weeks, it has had the “four books for a dollar” special. So, I stopped by recently and bought a few books.

Eight Books — Part 1

1. The Vitamin Herb Guide. A Global Health Publication. (4th Ed. 1987)
2. State and Local Government, The Essentials. Ann Bowman and Richard Kearney. (3rd Ed. 2006)
3. CliffsNotes: Machiavelli’s The Prince. (2001)
4. Atheism on Trial: Refuting the Modern Arguments Against God. Louis Markos. (2018)
5. A Confederacy of Dunces. John Kennedy Toole. (1980)
6. What Catholics Really Believe. Karl Keating. (1992)
7. Matthew, Vol. I (Chapters 1-13). J. Vernon McGee. (Revised Printing 1980)
8. The Holy Bible. New American Bible. Parish Remembrance Edition. 1971.¹The New American Bible (NAB) Parish Remembrance Edition, published in 1971, is a special version designed for Catholic congregations. It features a unique layout and additional pages for personal records.

Eight Books — Part 2

[Update: 21 Oct.] Well, I found a reason to visit the thrift store again this past weekend to browse the book section. Unsurprisingly, I found eight more books to buy for two dollars:

1. Eerdmans’ Concise Bible Handbook. World Wide Publications. (1980)
2. Parables: The Arrows of God. Megan McKenna (1994)
3. Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance. Noam Chomsky. (2003)
4. How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe. Thomas Cahill. (1995)
5. Napoleon. Paul Johnson. (2002)
6. Where the Red Fern Grows. Wilson Rawls. (1961)
7. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. (1962)
8. Siddhartha. Hermann Hesse. (1922)

The first set of eight books are more oriented to reference books for me. This set of eight books are more oriented to fiction and general reading.

I’m particularly interested in reading the book by the Russian author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It’s a precursor to his book, “The Gulag Archipelago,”²The title is a term for a Communist/Soviet work labor camp. which alludes to how Marxists infiltrate, subvert, and take over, and in his example, engage in atrocities (the genocide of 66+ million mostly white Christians—a holocaust³This word, holocaust, has been eliminated from woke Bibles, by the way. 10x the magnitude written about related to Nazi Germany—that our education system, at least in the USA, seems to ignore).

Oh, Western freedom-loving left-wing thinkers! Oh, left-wing labourists! Oh, American, German and French progressive students! All of this is still not enough for you. The whole book has been useless for you. You will understand everything immediately, when you yourself — “hands behind the back” — toddle into our Archipelago.

“The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Bibles

I bought the Bible because I wanted a Catholic version that was pre-woke. I actually like my main Bible, though, for the most part (see below).

It’s an heirloom Catholic version with excellent notes.⁴I don’t mean my highlights and notes visible on the first page of the Book of Daniel and on the scrap piece of paper. Also, it’s large, measuring nearly 9” x 12” and 2 ¼” thick, so it’s easier on this OG’s eyes.⁵Old guy. However, it is the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE 3rd Ed. 1991), which has been modified, including being converted to “gender-neutral.”

[Updates to follow regarding pre-woke Bibles, problems with the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), and the growing interest in traditional Catholicism (Trad Cath) that I support.]

1960s Cultural Revolution

A lot changed after the 1950s.

By 1970, the influence of the Marxists really started to take root. Even my beloved Notre Dame, once a glorious all-male university, caved to wokeism and converted to a co-ed university in 1972. Meanwhile, Saint Mary’s College, whose campus sits adjacent to ND, and shares some small lakes and running trails, is still all-female. Why didn’t those in power pressure it, and so many other all-female schools, to become more “inclusive” and admit males?

By 1978, the moral decay and Marxist (and Communist) infiltration in the USA was obvious to some, including Solzhenitsyn, who gave a commencement speech at Harvard in 1978, which stunned the faculty and students (they weren’t pleased!).

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: 1978 Warning at Harvard

In 1978, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Laureate and Soviet exile, delivered his now-infamous Harvard Commencement Address titled, “A World Split Apart.” Far from the applause he might have expected, his speech was met with shock, outrage, and rejection. Why? Because Solzhenitsyn dared to tell the truth—about the moral failings of the West and the dangers of unchecked materialism and individualism.

The Speech That Cost Solzhenitsyn Everything | Harvard Commencement Address 1978: (YouTube—see below)

Slow Destruction of All-Male Catholic Schools

That stated, I have a lot of respect for the leadership of the few all-male Catholic Schools remaining, since they have remained steadfast and resisted the sneaky ways of infiltration and subversion. One good example: Saint Ignatius High School (est. 1886), an awesome private, all-male Catholic school just west of downtown Cleveland and about 60 miles (ca. 97 km) northwest of my location. Motto: “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” (For the Greater Glory of God).⁶Go Wildcats! Also, the all-male Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, PA, about 85 miles (ca. 137 km) southeast of my homestead.

Quite unfortunately, most formerly all-male Catholic schools have been influenced to convert to co-ed. Below is a snippet from an article written by a guy who attended an all-male Catholic School back in the day. He seems to feel sad about the state of affairs for all-male Catholic schools. In the article, he references Central Catholic in Portland, Oregon that converted to co-ed back in 1980. However, he still states that the quality of education and experience at the co-ed Catholic schools are a magnitude better than what’s offered by public schools, especially in Portland:

Catholic school was a perfect place for a kid like me. And yes, I remained a troublemaker. A class clown. An instigator of various escapades. But everybody expected that. The whole place was designed to withstand the rambunctious and destructive nature of teenage boys, to reroute that energy and put it to good use.

As it turned out, I never got in serious trouble there. Not for four years. No fights. No conferences with my parents. And since there were no girls to pick up and carry around, I never did that either.

Blaze Media: “I was a ‘problem student’ — until all-male Catholic school let me be a boy” by Blake Nelson

Closing Words

I’m fairly content with all my books and a relatively thriving garden. After all, it was Cicero, a Roman statesman and philosopher, who said, “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

Essentially, Cicero’s idea suggests that “a balance of physical and intellectual pursuits leads to a well-rounded life. A garden nurtures the body and spirit, while a library feeds the mind. Together, they create a harmonious environment for personal growth and fulfillment.”

Footnotes

• 1
  The New American Bible (NAB) Parish Remembrance Edition, published in 1971, is a special version designed for Catholic congregations. It features a unique layout and additional pages for personal records.
• 2
  The title is a term for a Communist/Soviet work labor camp.
• 3
  This word, holocaust, has been eliminated from woke Bibles, by the way.
• 4
  I don’t mean my highlights and notes visible on the first page of the Book of Daniel and on the scrap piece of paper.
• 5
  Old guy.
• 6
  Go Wildcats!