Tag Archives: history
The Plots Against Hitler – Danny Orbach
You know the saying “The devil takes care of his own”? My deeply Catholic mother reminds me of that one a lot when I complain about the way God arranges things; there is, she says, another power at work in … Continue reading
Alexander Hamilton – Ron Chernow – Scott Brick
I feel compelled to state up front that I bought this audiobook in 2013, before the celebrated musical was much more than a twinkle in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s eye. And actually I can honestly say the musical wasn’t even on my … Continue reading
Worst. President. Ever. – Robert Strauss
Was James Buchanan the worst president ever? (I’m sorry – I refuse to copy the title’s punctuation.) Maybe he was. Maybe not. I’m not sure this author is persuasive enough to make me agree with him. Part of it is … Continue reading
Destiny of the Republic – Candice Millard – Paul Michael
If you look up “delusional” in the dictionary, there’s a full–page, full–color picture of Charles Guiteau. And if you look up “unfulfilled potential” in my personal dictionary, with this book James Garfield’s picture took the place of JFK’s. President James … Continue reading
The Worst Hard Time – Timothy Egan – Patrick Lawlor
I have a little history with both the author and the narrator of this audiobook. When I was looking for something awesome on which to spend the credit burning a hole in my pocket, I looked at my “five-star” shelf … Continue reading
The Witch of Lime Street – David Jaher
What a story. I knew some of the bare bones: Houdini’s deep attachment to his mother, and the failed attempts to hear from her after her death; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s extraordinary credulity for mediums and fairies. I did not … Continue reading
100 Million Years of Food – Stephen Le
One thought that kept recurring while reading 100 Million Years of Food was how thoroughly this all seems to put paid to the idea of “Intelligent Design”. Because my overall conclusion from all of this is, lord, these bodies are … Continue reading
A Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England – Ian Mortimer, Jonathan Keeble
Obviously, A Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England was a title calculated to gain my attention. The premise: a different take on presenting an overview of a period of time, using the format of a travel guide – something of … Continue reading
Pearl: The Poe Shadow
I loved The Dante Club (reviewed in July). It was intelligent, and pure geeky fun, and I had a lovely time picking my way among the corpses in 19th century Boston. So I jumped at the chance to take The … Continue reading
Librarything Early Reviewer book: Roma
Currently Stephen Saylor’s Roma, the Early Reviewer book I received a couple of weeks ago from Librarything, is my “work” book, and The Lions of Al-Rassan is my “home” book; saves having to schlep one volume back and forth and up … Continue reading