Tag: American history

  • 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.”…

  • Baby God (HBO Max)

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Baby God: You obviously have to be a psycho to want this many kids. Quick synopsis: An investigation into Dr. Quincy Fortier, who for over 30 years used his own sperm to inseminate patients without their knowledge. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The current number of children with Fortier’s DNA…

  • 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…

  • Mommy Dead and Dearest (HBO Max)

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Mommy Dead and Dearest: Be ready to be creeped out for oh so many reasons. Quick synopsis: The murder of Dee Dee Blanchard by her daughter, Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her boyfriend. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: 95% of Munchausen syndrome by proxy cases are by the mother of a…

  • Murder on Middle Beach (HBO)

    Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Murder on Middle Beach: Come for the murder, stay for the amazing amounts of family drama. Quick synopsis: A documentary by Madison Hamburg about the unsolved murder of his mother, Barbara Hamburg. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Well, if you are the type of person who thinks police are either…

  • 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…