Category: History

November 23, 2023

Goodbye, Eastern Europe *** (of 4)

It is an enormous undertaking to try and explain the people, cultures, and kaleidoscopic national identities of a region as large as Eastern Europe. Jacob...

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November 23, 2023

The Pigeon Tunnel by John LeCarre *** (of 4)

Nearing the end of a long and terrifically prodigious career as a writer, Le Carre assembled here the true events that undergird his novels. He...

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October 27, 2023

Homegrown by Jeffrey Toobin ** (of 4)

Toobin can be a captivating writer; he is one of the greats at uncovering the backstories of a variety of criminals and noteworthy trials: OJ...

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October 20, 2023

Gettysburg: The Last Invasion by Allen Guelzo *** (of 4)

Tens of thousands of books have been written about the Civil War, and thousands have covered one of the most significant battles of the conflict:...

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September 19, 2023

Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins *** (of 4)

An ambitious book that centers the Owen’s Valley in California, the valley’s desertification following rerouting all of the valley’s water to Los Angeles, and the...

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August 23, 2023

Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule *** (of 4)

The author, Ty Seidule, is a professor of history at West Point. That gives him real cache when he says the southern states lost the...

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August 2, 2023

Grandma Gatewood’s Walk *** (of 4)

In 1955, when the Appalachian Trail (AT) was still in its infancy, Emma Gatewood walked its full length, 2050 miles from Mount Oglethorpe, Georgia to...

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July 18, 2023

The Poison Machine *** (of 4)

Some authors of historical fiction (see Geraldine Brooks) are so caught up by their research that plot and characters are afterthoughts or cliches applied to...

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June 12, 2023

Gangland by Chuck Hogan *** (of 4)

Based on the true story of Tony Accardo, Al Capone’s protege, the undisputed mob boss of Chicago in the 1970s. Accardo’s mob runs all of...

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May 19, 2023

A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan **** (of 4)

Following more than 100,000 American casualties in WWI and the death of 450,000 Americans from viral influenza in 1918, most Americans roared into the 1920s...

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