Tag: World history
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The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Wide Wide Sea: Retire before the job kills you. Quick synopsis: The final voyage of legendary explorer Captain James Cook. Fact for Non-History People: Cook’s second circumnavigation of the globe took 1,100 days and about 100,000 nautical miles. Fact for History Nerds: Cook never had a sailor die of scurvy…
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Vagabond Princess by Ruby Lal
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Vagabond Princess: Her Instagram account would have been awesome. Quick synopsis: The biography of Mughal Princess and writer Gulbadan Begum from the 1500s. Fact for Non-History People: Royal couriers were super-fast back in the day. A good rider with a solid horse could cover around 350 miles on a great…
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The Asteroid Hunter by Dante Lauretta
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Asteroid Hunter: Who knew space could be so anxiety inducing? Quick synopsis: A firsthand account of the OSIRIS-REx space mission by its leader, Dante Lauretta. Fact for Non-History People: Asteroid Bennu might kill us all on September 24, 2182. Fact for History Nerds: About 17 meteorites hit Earth every…
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The Savage Storm by James Holland
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Savage Storm: Everyone was mad at the Italians, even the Italians. Quick synopsis: The story of the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943. Fact for Non-History People: By 1943, the Luftwaffe had already lost almost 6,000 aircraft in the Mediterranean alone. Fact for History Nerds: The German 10th Army lost…
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Judgment at Tokyo by Gary Bass
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Judgment at Tokyo: Less of a trial and more like a clown show. Quick synopsis: The story of the Tokyo Trial to prosecute Japanese leadership after World War II. Fact for Non-History People: On a mission to bomb Chichi Jima, 9 U.S. pilots needed to bail out during the bombing run.…
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The Rest is History by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Rest is History: Historians gone wild. Quick synopsis: Basically, whatever Tom and Dom felt like writing down about history in various forms. Fact for Non-History People: The first formal celebration of Christmas wasn’t until the year 336. AD, obviously. Fact for History Nerds: Stanley Baldwin, a very rich British PM,…
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One Fine Day by Matthew Parker
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for One Fine Day: It wasn’t fine for everybody. Quick synopsis: A look at the time when the British Empire was at its zenith. Fact for Non-History People: The British Empire on this one fine day covered nearly 14 million square miles which is a quarter of the world’s land area. Fact…
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The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brunt
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: The engine’s name is truly apt. Quick synopsis: The life and mysterious death of the creator of the Diesel engine, Rudolf Diesel. Fact for Non-History People: By 1885, there were only 250,000 electric light bulbs in America. By 1902, there were 18 million. Fact for…
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Bitter Peleliu by Joseph Wheelan
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Bitter Peleliu: “Bitter” is putting it mildly. Quick synopsis: The story of the Battle of Peleliu in World War II. Fact for Non-History People: Japanese engineers created over 500 caves on the island before the battle. Fact for History Nerds: The Black Marine unit on Peleliu had the highest casualty rate…