Category: Books/Museum Reviews
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Grand Avenues by Scott Berg
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Grand Avenues: This is why Washington, D.C. traffic sucks. Quick synopsis: The story of Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s efforts to plan out Washington, D.C. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: L’Enfant got hired to plan D.C. and got fired before completing it because of bureaucracy. Yes, D.C.’s problems preceded D.C. itself! Fun…
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The Forgotten Storm by Wallace Akin
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Forgotten Storm: I’m never living in Tornado Alley. Quick synopsis: The story of the Tri-State Tornado of 1925. It is the deadliest tornado in US history. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The author of this book was in the tornado. In fact, he was in his house. Which the…
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Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Midnight Rising: John Brown was a nutjob. A well meaning nutjob, but a nutjob. Quick synopsis: The story of John Brown’s Raid on the Harper’s Ferry Arsenal before the Civil War. It went poorly. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: John Wilkes Booth was at John Brown’s execution. Fun Fact for…
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The Ghost Ships of Archangel by William Geroux
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Ghost Ships of Archangel: Stalin was kind of a jerk? You don’t say. Quick synopsis: The story of PQ-17, a World War II supplies convoy headed for Russia. The convoy needed to pass across German occupied seas, and it goes…. badly. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Technological limitations lead…
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Madame Fourcade’s Secret War by Lynne Olson
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: Spying sounds exhausting. Quick synopsis: The story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the spy master of a massive network in France throughout World War II. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Spying in France during World War II was very often a family affair. Olson notes multiple instances where…
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Battle of the Books: Catherine of Aragon
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Catherine of Aragon: Yes, they all talk about the same woman (Catherine/Katherine). They just spelled it differently. Quick synopsis: Biographies of Catherine of Aragon by Giles Tremlett, Patrick Williams, and Amy Licence. She was the first wife of Henry VIII and yes then it all went wrong. Fun Fact Non-History People…
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The Book Was Better: The Lost City of Z
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Lost City of Z: Who would have thought the Amazon could be so dangerous? Quick synopsis: The story of famed explorer Percy Fawcett and his disappearance looking for the Lost City of Z. I compare the book by David Grann and the movie of the same name. Fun Fact Non-History…
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Freedom’s Detective by Charles Lane
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Freedom’s Detective: Even criminals hated the KKK. Quick synopsis: The life of Hiram C. Whitley, one of the earliest leaders of the Secret Service and renowned KKK detective. He was also a criminal. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Why does the President have the ability to pardon criminals? It was…
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The White Cascade by Gary Krist
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The White Cascade: A horror movie in book form. Quick synopsis: The story of Wellington avalanche of 1910 which left 96 people dead. It is the deadliest avalanche in American history. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The disaster was so terrible that the town of Wellington quietly changed its name…