Category: Books/Museum Reviews
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The Red Widow by Sarah Horowitz
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Red Widow: There might be a correlation between amazing arrogance and sociopathy. Quick synopsis: The story of Margeurite Steinheil and the murder of her husband and mother. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Margeurite apparently got sick of her husband within two weeks of marrying. A match made in heaven…
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Black Snow by James M. Scott
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Black Snow: It wasn’t just two atomic bombs that were dropped. Quick synopsis: The story of how the U.S. bombing strategy evolved right before the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: More American airmen died in the skies over Europe than the Marine Corps…
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American Demon by Daniel Stashower
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for American Demon: Eliot Ness should have stayed in Chicago. Quick synopsis: The story of Eliot Ness and the Cleveland Torso Murderer. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Allow me to share this actual slogan for a Cleveland amusement park: “Nothing to depress or demoralize.” Sounds like fun to me! Fun…
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The Vortex by Scott Carney and Jason Miklian
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Vortex: The people ended up being the killer storm. Quick synopsis: The story of a killer storm and the creation of Bangladesh. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: “Pakistan” is actually an acronym of the largest provinces and groups making up the country. Fun Fact for History Nerds: Cyclones…
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The Castleton Massacre by Sharon Anne Cook/Margaret Carson
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Castleton Massacre: This is why people need to go to therapy. Quick synopsis: The story of a family murder in Canada in 1963. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The term “teenager” wasn’t coined until the mid-1950s. Fun Fact for History Nerds: In the late 1950s, 20% of the Canadian…
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Retail Gangster by Gary Weiss
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Retail Gangster: Yeah, the title is already awesome. I got nothing. Quick synopsis: The story of “Crazy Eddie” Antar, an electronic store czar who was just a huge crook. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Craze Eddie actually created a med school. Yes, really. It was the University of St. Lucia…
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The Templars by Dan Jones
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Templars: They really need a public relations overhaul. Quick synopsis: The story of the Knights Templar which most people think are a secret organization bent on world domination. That was literally never a thing. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Most Templars were really just bankers. They protected personal belongings,…
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The Martyr and the Traitor by Virginia Anderson
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Martyr and the Traitor: The ending will leave you hanging. I am so sorry. I’ll do better. Quick synopsis: The stories of Nathan Hale (you know him, probably) and Moses Dunbar (you do not) who were both tried and executed for treason. It just turns out one was executed by…
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Return to Uluru by Mark McKenna
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Return to Uluru: Australians can be racist, too! Quick synopsis: The story of a murder(?) in the Australian Outback. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: There is a center of Australia. There is even a site in the middle of nowhere to commemorate it. Just kidding, it’s not considered the center…