Category: Books/Museum Reviews

  • Vengeance by Tom Clavin

    If you’re new here, I love Tom Clavin’s books. My ratings of his books go from, “Dang that was good,” to “He’s done it again!” Will Vengeance break his streak? Nope. Vengeance looks at the physical and figurative last stands of George Armstrong Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull. Clavin himself admits that these men…

  • Stone Lands by Fiona Robertson

    Fiona Robertson made me feel things against my will. So, if you are looking at picking up Stone Lands because you think you are just going to learn about some old rocks, then you are warned. Have the tissues handy. Robertson is not messing around. There are two things going on in Stone Lands. First,…

  • Ortiz’s War by Nicholas Reynolds and Katie Sanders

    There is a lot of World War II literature. It is the nature of the game currently that they just sell better than most nonfiction, so the publishers pump them out. This is in and of itself is not a problem. There are plenty of stories from World War II which need to be told.…

  • Margaret Beaufort by Lauren Johnson

    Every time I try to conjure up some adjectives for Margaret Beaufort by Lauren Johnson, I keep feeling like I am damning it with faint praise. It is workmanlike, competent, and perfectly told. Does that sound like an exceptional book? I hope so, because it is! Luckily, Johnson is way better at writing than I…

  • Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

    I think most people have wondered if their family is harboring a deep, dark secret. Rarely, though, does it ever include Nazi spies. For Christine Kuehn, it actually did mean Nazi spies. And a bunch of them at that! She recounts the story in her book, Family of Spies, which is quite literally correct as…

  • The Jackal by Joby Warrick

    When you think of Carlos the Jackal, you probably picture a suave, cold-blooded hitman roaming the capitals of the world. He has every action planned to the most minute detail. He can think on his feet. He is James Bond without a moral core. That’s a cool visual and all, but the real Carlos the…

  • Checkmate by Ben Mezrich

    If only there was a way in chess for everyone to lose. No, a draw doesn’t count. However, you could make the argument that Checkmate by Ben Mezrich ends in a draw and that’s what everyone deserves. The story is about chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and a young (and supremely obnoxious) Hans Niemann. You may…

  • The Lost Founder by Jesse Wegman

    I’d like to start off this review with a slight tangent (because I am clearly a professional). One of the harder conversations to have as a history nerd is when people throw a random name or event at you, and become perplexed when you reveal you don’t know anything about it. “How could you not…

  • Defiance by Loubna Mrie

    Allow me to be ridiculously pedantic for a second. (If you just said, “Again?” then we are in a fight.) Memoirs worry me when I start them. I am always concerned that the author will make themselves either the eternal victim, or worse, the unsullied hero of their own story. If you call yourself the…