Category: Books/Museum Reviews

  • The Good Nurse by Charles Graeber

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Good Nurse: Great, now I’m afraid of hospitals, too. Quick synopsis: The story of Charles Cullen who might be the most prolific serial killer ever. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Hospitals are very careful about their drugs… assuming they have street value. Otherwise, go right ahead, killer nurse! Fun…

  • Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Five Days at Memorial: Doctors playing God and being arrogant about it. Shocking. Quick synopsis: A full investigation of Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The most heartwarming part of the story is when a bunch of hillbillies show up with their…

  • A Furious Sky by Eric Jay Dolin

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for A Furious Sky: Don’t live in Florida. Or Texas. It’s science. Quick synopsis: The 500-year history of hurricanes in America. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: When hurricanes started being given proper names, they were only women’s names. It led to some rather hilarious adjectives being attributed to storms like “moody.”…

  • The Agitator by Peter Duffy

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Agitator: Commies vs. Nazis. Who ya got? Quick synopsis: The story of William Bailey who boarded a German luxury liner and threw the swastika flag into the Hudson River. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Everyone knows that the Nazis hated the Jews. What most people don’t realize is that…

  • The Zealot and the Emancipator by H.W. Brands

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Zealot and the Emancipator: The Civil War era was crazy. Glad politics got so much better since then. Quick synopsis: A dual biography of John Brown and Abraham Lincoln. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: John Brown was seriously deranged, and we all are pretty clear about that today. But…

  • Antarctica by David Day

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Antarctica: I really want to go here. Someone want to make a donation? Quick synopsis: The story of Antarctica from the 1770s to today. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Antarctica is a desert. It hasn’t rained there in 2 million years. Go ahead, check my work. Fun Fact for History…

  • Commander Will Cushing by Jaime Malanowski

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Commander Will Cushing: This mofo was CRAZY!  Quick synopsis: A biography of Commander William Cushing with a major focus on his bonkers actions in the military during the Civil War.  Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Cushing was basically an action movie hero. The big event in his life was during…

  • American Fire by Monica Hesse

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for American Fire: Bad sex life? Let’s burn down buildings.  Quick synopsis: The story of an arsonist couple in rural Virginia.  Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The arson spree the couple committed ended in a tally of 70 fires.  Fun Fact for History Nerds: There are about 17,000 residential arson fires…

  • Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Labyrinth of Ice: Just don’t go to the Arctic. It’s a bad idea. Quick synopsis: The story of the Greely Polar Expedition in 1881. It went badly. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: You don’t get a cold in the Arctic. The lack of people and germs means you just won’t…