Tag: European history
-
A Great and Terrible King by Marc Morris
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for A Great and Terrible King: Braveheart was such a stupid movie. Quick synopsis: A complete biography of Edward I of England. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Other than the fact Edward I and William Wallace existed, Braveheart got everything else wrong. Fun Fact for History Nerds: Edward I effectively took…
-
Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Romantic Outlaws: Like mother, like daughter. Almost literally. Quick synopsis: A dual biography of Mary Wollstonecraft, a very famous feminist writer and her daughter Mary Shelley who wrote a little book called Frankenstein. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Basically, Frankenstein got written because Mary Shelley was on vacation and someone…
-
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for A Night to Remember: Better than the movie. Certainly shorter. Quick synopsis: The classic retelling of the sinking of the Titanic. Enough said. This book was used as reference material for James Cameron when he wrote Titanic. Walter Lord wrote it in 1955. I believe that’s the definition of timeless. Fun…
-
Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Ghost Soldiers: You’ll cancel your hibachi reservation after reading this. Quick synopsis: The story of the jailbreak for the survivors of the Bataan Death March. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: What did the U.S. Army do when their soldiers got tired in World War II? Amphetamines! (Club music begins) Fun…
-
Code Name: Lise by Larry Loftis
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Code Name: Lise: Want to be a spy? Not after reading this! Quick synopsis: Story of the Odette Sansom, the most decorated spy of WWII. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Sansom was caught and tortured by the Gestapo repeatedly. She didn’t give them a thing. Thank God she was a…
-
The Winter Fortress by Neal Bascomb
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Winter Fortress: I love it when the good guys blow stuff up! Quick synopsis: The story of a group of Norwegian commandos in World War II trying to take out an important enemy site tied to an atomic bomb. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: It seems like something made…
-
The Escape Artists by Neal Bascomb
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Escape Artists: It’s Hogan’s Heroes, only it’s set in WWI and it’s real. Quick synopsis: Story of various POWs in WWI German prisons and their attempts to break out. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: One of the escapees immediately sent a telegram after making it to neutral territory. It…
-
Rampage by James M. Scott
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Rampage: You’ll cancel your hibachi reservation after reading this. Quick synopsis: Story of the battle of Manila in World War II. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Nothing “fun” about this subject matter. More people were killed in the Battle of Manila than in the Battle of Britain. Fun Fact for…
-
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Five: Life is hard for a woman. Then Jack the Ripper kills you. Quick synopsis: The life stories of the women killed by Jack the Ripper. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The number of women killed by Jack the Ripper is not completely known. The five women in this…