Category: Books/Museum Reviews

  • The Martyr and the Traitor by Virginia Anderson

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Martyr and the Traitor: The ending will leave you hanging. I am so sorry. I’ll do better. Quick synopsis: The stories of Nathan Hale (you know him, probably) and Moses Dunbar (you do not) who were both tried and executed for treason. It just turns out one was executed by…

  • Return to Uluru by Mark McKenna

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Return to Uluru: Australians can be racist, too! Quick synopsis: The story of a murder(?) in the Australian Outback. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: There is a center of Australia. There is even a site in the middle of nowhere to commemorate it. Just kidding, it’s not considered the center…

  • The Most Famous Man in America by Debby Applegate

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Most Famous Man in America: Stanford was ridiculous when it was founded! Quick synopsis: The biography of famous preacher, Henry Ward Beecher. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Does the name sound vaguely familiar? You probably know his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Fun Fact for…

  • The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Facemaker: The good doctor. Quick synopsis: The story of Dr. Harold Gillies, who pioneered face reconstruction of World War I casualties. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: In World War I, over 280,000 soldiers from just Britain, Germany, and France suffered some form of facial trauma. Fun Fact for History…

  • The Scandalous Hamiltons by Bill Shaffer

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Scandalous Hamiltons: Thank God we have paternity tests now. Quick synopsis: A true crime story about Robert Ray Hamilton and his wife after a stabbing. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: You can leave in your will that you want a fountain created in your name. You have to pay…

  • Inventing the It Girl by Hilary Hallett

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Inventing the It Girl: Sex sells. Quick synopsis: A biography of novelist and screenwriter Elinor Glyn. Fun Fact for Non-History People Will Like: In the 1890s, 46,000 women died giving birth in England and Wales. Fun Fact for History Nerds: Elinor’s sister and brother-in-law survived the sinking of the Titanic. My…

  • The Sewing Girl’s Tale by John Wood Sweet

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Sewing Girl’s Tale: If you can’t trust a brothel keeper, who can you trust? Quick synopsis: The story of Lanah Sawyer and her sexual assault in 1793 New York City. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Medical schools used to rob graves to get cadavers for studying. Fun Fact for…

  • The School That Escaped the Nazis by Deborah Cadbury

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The School That Escaped the Nazis: A school that kids actually wanted to go to! Quick synopsis: The story of Anna Essinger and how she relocated her school to England out of the Nazi’s reach. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: In December 1938, almost 2,000 children were saved from Nazi…

  • Agent Josephine by Damien Lewis

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Agent Josephine: Celebrities can work for the greater good! Quick synopsis: The untold story of how entertainer Josephine Baker was also a French spy in World War II. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: A list of animals Josephine took with her nearly everywhere: a Great Dane, monkey, golden lion tamarin,…