Category: Books/Museum Reviews
-
The Great Mortality by John Kelly
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Great Mortality: If you think the coronavirus sucks… Quick synopsis: A look at the Black Death as it raged across Europe. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: In Italy, some towns saw over an 80% death rate. Think of 10 of your neighbors. 8 of them would have been dead…
-
Target Tokyo by James M. Scott
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline: Wait, we bombed Tokyo right after Pearl Harbor? I’ll be damned. Quick synopsis: We bombed Tokyo right after Pearl Harbor. Yes, really. Jimmy Doolittle and his Doolittle Raiders actually did a hell of a lot. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: When the Doolittle Raiders took off for their bombing run, they…
-
The Midnight Assassin by Skip Hollandsworth
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline: The serial killer was mostly known as the Servant Girl Annihilator. Well then. Quick synopsis of The Midnight Assassin: The story of a serial killer in Austin, Texas between 1884 and 1885. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The Servant Girl Annihilator preceded Jack the Ripper but was so close in timing…
-
The Volunteer by Jack Fairweather
Quick synopsis of The Volunteer: The story of Polish World War II hero, Witold Pilecki. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The dude VOLUNTEERED to be sent to Auschwitz to foment rebellion in the camp. Yes, THAT Auschwitz. Fun Fact for History Nerds: Dude then BROKE OUT OF AUSCHWITZ. My Take on The Volunteer: Well,…
-
The Lady in the Cellar by Sinclair McKay
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Lady in the Cellar: A lady in the cellar and a lot of bats in the belfry. Quick synopsis: A true crime story about a woman murdered in a boarding house in the late 1800s. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Asian décor was big in the late 1800s of…
-
Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright/Bradley Hope
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline to Billion Dollar Whale: Apparently you don’t need money to make money. Quick synopsis: The story of how Jho Low stole billions of dollars from various entities. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The money stolen was partially used to fund the making of the movie The Wolf of Wall Street. Irony…
-
Hannibal by Patrick Hunt
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Hannibal: This book has nothing to do with Anthony Hopkins. Quick synopsis: A biography of Hannibal Barca focusing mainly on his time in the area of today’s Italy and surrounding areas. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Archimedes, a nerdy math guy, came up with a mirror he could use to…
-
Contest for Liberty by Seanegan Sculley
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Contest for Liberty: We should have lost. Quick synopsis: A look at the American Revolution through how the U.S. military matured from the beginning to end of the war. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Inflation of U.S. currency was so bad by the end of the war that many veterans…
-
The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Republic of Pirates: The English are the reason we can’t have nice things like a Pirate Republic. Quick synopsis: The story of how pirates tried to create their own society and the man who destroyed it. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The Golden Age of Piracy was relatively short…