Category: Books/Museum Reviews

  • War Without Mercy by Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin

    I am not fully objective on this one. The co-author of War Without Mercy is the late James Kirby Martin, who passed in 2024. He was a repeat guest on History Nerds United and a true scholar of the American Revolution. More importantly, he was truly wonderful man who was extremely generous with his time…

  • Tower Hill by Alan Taylor

    There is one thing about slavery in America that I will never quite understand. Why torture and enslave your fellow man when nobody benefits? If you don’t understand my question, then you absolutely must read Tower Hill by Alan Taylor. Basically, while it is obvious slavery was bad for the enslaved, it didn’t help the…

  • American Alt by Chris Lockhart

    Schizophrenia seems like a massive challenge by itself, but if you add dissociative identity disorder to it then you get, well, Michael Dodd! Dodd is one of two main characters in the excellent American Alt by Chris Lockhart. Lockhart, the author, is the other main character who doesn’t have either of those mental disorders, but…

  • Captain’s Dinner by Adam Cohen

    It’s always the books in the middle which are the hardest to review. Captain’s Dinner (ew, and you’ll know why in a second) by Adam Cohen is one of those books where I have very little to complain about, but I also think could probably have been much shorter. The setup is certainly intriguing, so…

  • The Forsaken Founder by Scott Greenberger

    Gouverneur Morris presents as the least likely Founding Father to be forgotten so easily. He was rakish, rather hilarious and arrogant at times, while also extremely intelligent. He is the author of the U.S. Constitution’s Preamble, after all. So why do so many people not know who is, let alone how to pronounce his name?…

  • The Nazi Ghost Train by Greg Lewis

    I am going to read a lot of books in 2026, but I doubt any will have a better title than The Nazi Ghost Train by Greg Lewis. I mean, come on! Yes, you might be holding back a little bit because of one word in that title, but I assure you they lose in…

  • Queens and Kings by Lucy Worsley

    Well, this was delightful. For those of you unfamiliar with Lucy Worsley, I don’t know how. The woman is everywhere. In print, streaming, and in your social media. I think the best way to describe her is that she constantly looks like she is having the BEST time. Now, she is doing it in book…

  • Vengeance by Tom Clavin

    If you’re new here, I love Tom Clavin’s books. My ratings of his books go from, “Dang that was good,” to “He’s done it again!” Will Vengeance break his streak? Nope. Vengeance looks at the physical and figurative last stands of George Armstrong Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull. Clavin himself admits that these men…

  • Stone Lands by Fiona Robertson

    Fiona Robertson made me feel things against my will. So, if you are looking at picking up Stone Lands because you think you are just going to learn about some old rocks, then you are warned. Have the tissues handy. Robertson is not messing around. There are two things going on in Stone Lands. First,…