Tag: American history

  • War Without Mercy by Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin

    I am not fully objective on this one. The co-author of War Without Mercy is the late James Kirby Martin, who passed in 2024. He was a repeat guest on History Nerds United and a true scholar of the American Revolution. More importantly, he was truly wonderful man who was extremely generous with his time…

  • Tower Hill by Alan Taylor

    There is one thing about slavery in America that I will never quite understand. Why torture and enslave your fellow man when nobody benefits? If you don’t understand my question, then you absolutely must read Tower Hill by Alan Taylor. Basically, while it is obvious slavery was bad for the enslaved, it didn’t help the…

  • American Alt by Chris Lockhart

    Schizophrenia seems like a massive challenge by itself, but if you add dissociative identity disorder to it then you get, well, Michael Dodd! Dodd is one of two main characters in the excellent American Alt by Chris Lockhart. Lockhart, the author, is the other main character who doesn’t have either of those mental disorders, but…

  • The Forsaken Founder by Scott Greenberger

    Gouverneur Morris presents as the least likely Founding Father to be forgotten so easily. He was rakish, rather hilarious and arrogant at times, while also extremely intelligent. He is the author of the U.S. Constitution’s Preamble, after all. So why do so many people not know who is, let alone how to pronounce his name?…

  • 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…

  • 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.…

  • 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…

  • Kingdom of Devils by Katherine Grandjean

    Quick, what do you think of when I say what happened after the American Revolution, and before the Civil War? The Louisiana Purchase? Yes! Ratifying the Constitution? Perfect! America’s first spree killers? Oh, didn’t see that coming did you? Well, don’t feel bad. Katherine Grandjean surprised me too with her excellent Kingdom of Devils. The…

  • Empire of Ashes by James M. Scott

    I have a weird hesitation before I start James M. Scott’s books. There are thicker books while there are others which are going to be more emotionally fraught. It’s not either of those things, but rather that I know his books end up so immersive that I need to be in the right headspace to…