Category: Books/Museum Reviews
-
1217 by Catherine Hanley
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for 1217: King John was as bad as Mel Brooks said he was. Quick synopsis: The story of why King John was just the worst. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The nobility and religious communities at this time made up about 6% at most of the population meaning the other 94%…
-
The Shooter at Midnight by Sean Patrick Cooper
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Shooter at Midnight: Farming folk can be just as murderous as city folk. Quick synopsis: The story of the 1990 murder of Cathy Robertson in Missouri. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The farming crisis of the 1970s saw farmers take their own lives at double the national rate. Fun…
-
Otherworldly Antarctica by Edmund Stump
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Otherworldly Antarctica: I wanna go! Quick synopsis: A photographic look at Antarctica from a long-time visitor. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Antarctica is a desert. Fun Fact for History Nerds: Ice covers 98% of Antarctica which is 90% of Earth’s ice and 70% of our fresh water. My Take on…
-
Alien Earths by Lisa Kaltenegger
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Alien Earths: Just in case we need another one. Quick synopsis: A look at the possibilities (and probabilities) of another planet just like ours. Fact for Non-History People: The nearest star to us besides the Sun is Proxima Centauri which is 25 trillion miles away. It takes light 4 years to…
-
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Bettany Hughes
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: My favorite is the lighthouse. Which one is yours? Quick synopsis: A look at the seven wonders of the ancient world. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The Great Pyramid of Giza is both the oldest Wonder and the only one which still exists.…
-
On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for On Desperate Ground: Fine, fine. Marines are good at stuff. I’ll admit it for once. Quick synopsis: The battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Mao Zedong believed orgasms directly halted the aging process. He’s dead now so I guess not. Fun Fact for…
-
In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for In the Kingdom of Ice: Nobody wants to be king of this kingdom. Quick synopsis: An account of the U.S Arctic Expedition of 1879-1881. It…. didn’t go great. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: As late as this expedition, people still believed there was an open polar sea. Yes, in the…
-
The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Wide Wide Sea: Retire before the job kills you. Quick synopsis: The final voyage of legendary explorer Captain James Cook. Fact for Non-History People: Cook’s second circumnavigation of the globe took 1,100 days and about 100,000 nautical miles. Fact for History Nerds: Cook never had a sailor die of scurvy…
-
Cracking the Nazi Code by Jason Bell
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Cracking the Nazi Code: Hitler was not the beginning. Quick synopsis: A look at the career of Winthrop Bell who spied on the Nazis before World War II. Fact for Non-History People: By the end of World War II, the Nazis were responsible for 20 million deaths without counting combat related…