Category: Europe

January 1, 2014

The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson **** (of 4)

Like a great general, not a good one, but a great one, Rick Atkinson tracks the final battles for European supremacy as the Second World...

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December 6, 2013

Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking by Anya von Bremzen *** (of 5)

What an interesting idea. Mix together a memoir of family history in the old Soviet Union with some Soviet history and the signature foods of...

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September 3, 2013

Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum ** (of 4)

World War II came to an end in large measure because the Russian Army came to the aid of the Allied Forces. Irate at having...

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August 18, 2013

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller *** (of 4)

Sheldon Horowitz is 82-years-old with a prostate, he lets us know right away, the size of a watermelon. After his wife’s recent death he is...

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August 18, 2013

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens *** (of 4)

Roughly sixty years after the event, Charles Dickens takes his hand to historical fiction, doing his best to recount the French Revolution. Simultaneously ambitious, and...

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August 5, 2013

The Days of the French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert ** (of 4)

After attempting Simon Schama’s philosophical treatise on the French Revolution, I thought it best to turn to Christopher Hibbert to get the play-by-play. What a...

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July 23, 2013

Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama *** (of 4)

OK, I didn’t finish the book. After more than 300 pages of fine print and exquisitely crafted sentences I perished of exhaustion before ever learning...

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July 23, 2013

Paris to the Pyranees by David Downie * (of 4)

So much promise, so little delivery. David Downie sets his mind to walking the old pilgrim trail of Saint James. He’s trying to recover from...

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June 21, 2013

Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart ** (of 4)

While investigating her genealogy, the author, Andrea Stuart, learns she is the descendent of both a slave owner and a slave. She gets all the...

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June 1, 2013

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra **** (of 4)

Half a dozen fully realized characters intertwine as the Russian empire disintegrates in the early 2000s and the Republic of Chechnya is obliterated by two...

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