Tag: World history
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The Devils Will Get No Rest by James Conroy
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Devils Will Get No Rest: The Reality TV Reunion Show of World War II. Quick synopsis: The story of the Allied Casablanca Conference of World War II. Fact for Non-History People: FDR saw Churchill naked. No, I won’t explain it any further. Fact for History Nerds: During World War II,…
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Chasing Shadows by Greg Skomal and Ret Talbot
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Chasing Shadows: The book has sharks. What more do you need? Quick synopsis: The story of sharks and shark expert Greg Skomal. Fact for Non-History People: Great White Sharks and their ancestors have survived every mass extinction event for more than 450 million years. Fact for History Nerds: Humpback whales are…
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No Ordinary Assignment by Jane Ferguson
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for No Ordinary Assignment: Safety? Sounds boring. Quick synopsis: The story of war journalist, Jane Ferguson. Fact for Non-History People: Sana’a, Yemen, is believed to be the one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Fact for History Nerds: The Somali language wasn’t formally written down until the 1970s. My…
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Hands of Time by Rebecca Struthers
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Hands of Time: Watch this! (I’ll see myself out.) Quick synopsis: The story of the watch by a horologist. Fact for Non-History People: That weird little pocket inside the pocket of your jeans? It was put there to hold a pocket watch. Fact for History Nerds: As of 2020, the most…
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The Watchmaker’s Daughter by Larry Loftis
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Watchmaker’s Daughter: She did more than make watches. Quick synopsis: The story of World War II heroine Corrie ten Boom. Fun Fact for Non-History People: Corrie ten Boom is credited with saving nearly 800 lives. Fact for History Nerds: She was also the first female licensed watchmaker in the Netherlands.…
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Meat Grinder by Prit Buttar
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Meat Grinder: Nazis and Soviets trying to one up each other in the game of “needless slaughter.” Quick synopsis: A look at the battles for the Rzhev Salient right outside Stalingrad in World War II. Fact for Non-History People: Russians trained dogs to be suicide bombers. I am not okay with…
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Knowing What We Know by Simon Winchester
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Knowing What We Know: What I know is that I don’t know much. Quick synopsis: A look at knowledge and how our understanding and interaction with the world has changed through history. Fun Fact for Non-History People: Language was born in 4 different places all over the world around 3400 B.C.…
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The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Facemaker: The good doctor. Quick synopsis: The story of Dr. Harold Gillies, who pioneered face reconstruction of World War I casualties. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: In World War I, over 280,000 soldiers from just Britain, Germany, and France suffered some form of facial trauma. Fun Fact for History…
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The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: Poor dinos… Quick synopsis: A look at the time right before, and then way after, the stupid asteroid killed all the dinosaurs. The asteroid is a jerk. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The asteroid impact released the equivalent energy of 100 teratonnes of dynamite…