Category: Books/Museum Reviews

  • Urban Nomad by Freddie Kelvin

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Urban Nomad: Grab a drink and settle in. Quick synopsis: The memoir of a guy who has learned some life lessons and wants to tell you about them. Fact for Non-History People: If you like this book, don’t miss Kelvin’s other book, Clinical Imaging of the Colon and Rectum. No, I’m…

  • The Killing Ground by Myke Cole and Michael Livingston

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Killing Ground: You don’t have to be a Spartan to die here! Quick synopsis: A look at all the battles that ever occurred at Thermopylae. It wasn’t just the one. Fact for Non-History People: It wasn’t Leonidas and 300 Spartans. There was about 1,000 Spartans and 6,000 other Greeks. Fact…

  • Fear Is Just a Word by Azam Ahmed

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Fear Is Just a Word: Don’t mess with Miriam Rodriguez. Quick synopsis: The story Miriam Rodriguez as she sets out to avenge the kidnapping and murder of her daughter. Fact for Non-History People: In 2011, Mexico registered nearly 28,000 murders. Fact for History Nerds: 95% of all homicides in Mexico are…

  • Narcotopia by Patrick Winn

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Narcotopia: Apparently, you can’t trust a spy agency. Quick synopsis: The story of the narco-state in Burma. Fact for Non-History People: This narco-state has a larger military than Sweden or Kenya. Fact for History Nerds: The Southeast Asia drug trade generates $60 billion each year in meth alone. My Take on…

  • The Counterfeit Countess by Elizabeth White and Joanna Sliwa

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Counterfeit Countess: Best. Fraud. Ever. Quick synopsis: The story of Dr. Josephine Janina Mehlberg who became a fake countess and saved thousands of people in World War II. Fact for Non-History People: Mehlberg negotiated the release of at least 9,707 people and that does not include the people saved by…

  • Paradise Falls by Keith O’Brien

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Paradise Falls: An entirely different kind of sightseeing. Quick synopsis: The story of the environmental disaster at Love Canal, NY. Fact for Non-History People: The chemical company at the center of this story sold contaminated land to board of education for $1… so the board could build a school on top…

  • The Showman by Simon Shuster

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Showman: From improv to war. Quick synopsis: The story of how Volodymyr Zelensky became president of Ukraine and what has happened since the invasion by Russia. Fact for Non-History People: At the time of the invasion, Russia had at least four times the number of troops, five times as many…

  • Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons by Charlotte Gray

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons: Mommy knows best. Quick synopsis: A dual biography of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt. Fact for Non-History People: Around the 1850s, 700 British families owned four fifths of the land in Britain. Fact for History Nerds: Between 1870 and 1914, 454 titled Europeans married American…

  • Tripping on Utopia by Benjamin Breen

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Tripping on Utopia: I’ll stick to beer, thanks. Quick synopsis: The people and science at the beginning of widespread drug experimentation. Fact for Non-History People: The CIA did experiments with LSD for mind control purposes. Fact for History Nerds: LSD was first synthesized by Swiss scientists in the 1930s. My Take…