Tag: history
-
Book review: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Erik Larson is fast becoming one of my favorite non-fiction authors. Who else could take 2 years from World War II and turn it into compelling reading about Winston Churchill and…
-
Book review: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Only an author as talented as Erik Larson could seamlessly weave together stories about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer during that same time period and make…
-
Book review: Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergman
Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations by Ronen Bergman My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a fascinating book about the history of Israeli intelligence and policies of targeted assassinations. The author is an Israeli investigative reporter, and the book is written originally in Hebrew. The translation is excellent,…
-
Book review: The Secret Lives of Codebreakers by Sinclair McKay
The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay My rating: 3 of 5 stars You have to set your expectations when reading this book. First and foremost, the author is British, so, not surprisingly, Bletchley Park and the contributions by the British codebreakers…
-
Book review: The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman by Brian Holden-Reid
The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman by Brian Holden-Reid My rating: 4 of 5 stars The author of this book has a definite viewpoint, which is that William Tecumseh Sherman got a bad rap and was not the savage butcher and scourge of the South that he has been portrayed to…
-
Book review: Ty Cobb by Charles Leerhsen
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen My rating: 3 of 5 stars Ty Cobb has a horrible reputation as a racist, mean, and disreputable human being. The author’s premise in this biography is that much of the mythology surrounding Ty Cobb is erroneous, based on a biography by an author who took a…
-
Book review: The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson
The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 by Rick Atkinson My rating: 4 of 5 stars A friend gave this book to my husband, but I borrowed it (temporarily, of course) because it looked so interesting. There are generally two types of history books–a narrative history or an agenda-driven history.…
-
Book review: Madame Fourcade’s Secret War by Lynne Olson
Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was the the leader of a intelligence gathering group, the Alliance, in France during World War II that was instrumental in providing the Allies with key intelligence, including…
-
Book review: A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell My rating: 4 of 5 stars “A Woman of No Importance” is about the life of Virginia Hall, who despite being a woman, an American, and disabled (a prosthetic leg), managed to outwit and…