Category: Books/Museum Reviews

  • Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Wise Gals: Women spies want the same pay? Who would have thought. Quick synopsis: The story of the first women in the CIA. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: In Egypt, American money helped build a massive concrete spire to broadcast a radio station. Its nickname was, “Roosevelt’s erection.” Fun Fact…

  • Prisoners of the Castle by Ben Macintyre

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Prisoners of the Castle: Life is so much more civilized without Nazis. Quick synopsis: The story of Colditz Castle and the prisoners and guards placed there in World War II. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: “Augustus the Strong” lived in Colditz where he played “fox-tossing” (yes, it’s what you think…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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,…