Category: Books/Museum Reviews
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Agincourt by Michael Livingston
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Agincourt: Shakespeare is full of –it. Quick synopsis: A new look at one of the most famous battles in history. Fact for Non-History People: Henry V was shot in the face with an arrow at an earlier battle when he was Prince of Wales. Clearly, he survived, but damn, it a…
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In Light of All Darkness by Kim Cross
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for In Light of All Darkness: Always check the locks. Quick synopsis: The story of the kidnapping of Polly Klaas in 1993. Fact for Non-History People: Two of Polly’s friends were in the room when she was kidnapped. Fact for History Nerds: When children are kidnapped and murdered, 89% are killed within…
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Pax by Tom Holland
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Pax: Congrats on becoming emperor. You’ll be dead soon. Quick synopsis: A look at the Roman Empire at the height of its power. Fact for Non-History People: Nero married a lookalike of his dead wife. Not strange except this person was a man who Nero forced surgery upon to remove…. well,…
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One Fine Day by Matthew Parker
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for One Fine Day: It wasn’t fine for everybody. Quick synopsis: A look at the time when the British Empire was at its zenith. Fact for Non-History People: The British Empire on this one fine day covered nearly 14 million square miles which is a quarter of the world’s land area. Fact…
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Battle of Ink and Ice by Darrell Hartman
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Battle of Ink and Ice: I’d rather go to the Arctic than a newsroom. Quick synopsis: The story of the newspaper wars around the expeditions to the North Pole by Robert Peary and Frederick Cook. Fact for Non-History People: For years, the New York Times was boring on purpose. Fact for…
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The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brunt
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: The engine’s name is truly apt. Quick synopsis: The life and mysterious death of the creator of the Diesel engine, Rudolf Diesel. Fact for Non-History People: By 1885, there were only 250,000 electric light bulbs in America. By 1902, there were 18 million. Fact for…
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Flee North by Scott Shane
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Flee North: Thomas Smallwood is the KING of trolling 1800s slaveowners. Quick synopsis: The story of an extremely successful branch of the Underground Railroad in the 1840s. Fact for Non-History People: After helping slaves escape, Smallwood would write and articles that Torrey published mocking the slaveowners for “losing” their slaves. Again,…
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The Six by Loren Grush
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Six: Space: yet another place I have no intention of visiting. Quick synopsis: The story of the first six female astronauts at NASA. Fact for Non-History People: A totally of 8,079 people applied to be astronauts between 1976 and 1977. Fact for History Nerds: From 1950 to 1960, women represented…
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To Besiege a City by Prit Buttar
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for To Besiege a City: I hate being forced to root for the Soviets. Quick synopsis: A look at the first two years of the siege of Leningrad in World War II. Fact for Non-History People: The Germans took about 5.7 million Soviet soldiers prisoner during World War II. About 3.3 million…