The post title is not a sequel to a John Candy movie (fortunately) but a recent release by the Yale University Press: The Invisible Harry Gold: The Man Who Gave the Soviets the Atom Bomb by Allen M. Hornblum. Even with the overstated title, this book caught my eye because of recent discussion about Solzhenitsyn’s In […]
Tag: Nonfiction
Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization by Richard Miles 560 pages, Allen Lane, £30 ISBN: 978-0-713-99793-4 Attempts to conjure up contemporary relevance with regard to the ancient world can often appear trite and laboured at best, and fatuous and false at worst. However, the history of Carthage does force […]
Ryszard Kapuściński’s Travels with Herodotus is a marvelous half-memoir of his career and half-reflection on Herodotus’ The Histories. Other than a few articles I’ve read over the years, this is my first extended exposure to Kapuściński. I have definitely shortchanged myself in not reading more of his work before now. Kapuściński was a Polish journalist/correspondent […]
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro Simon & Schuster, 352 pages, $26.00 ISBN: 1416541624I enjoyed James Shapiro’s A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599 and wanted to read his latest book on Shakespeare as soon as I could. I didn’t realize Wikipedia had a long article on the Shakespeare authorship question as […]
The Art of Eating Well by Pellegrino Artusi Translated by Kyle M. Phillips III Random House In 1982 I bought a copy of Pellegrino Artusi’s La Sceinza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiar Bene, “The Science of Cookery and the Art of Eating Well,” from a used-book seller who also carried a few new books […]
While I haven’t spent much time at C-SPAN’s video library, they (thankfully) have more than political events available for viewing. Here is the link to a talk by historian William Goetzmann: Mr. Goetzmann talked about the book My Confession: Reflections of a Rogue, written by Samuel Chamberlain. He focused on the life of Chamberlain, an […]
Good Newes from New England (1624) by Edward Winslow This particular copy was owned by Thomas Prince and later John Adams Picture source I confess we have come so far short of the means to raise such returns, as with great difficulty we have preserved our lives; insomuch as when I look back upon our […]
Mourt’s Relation is the earliest known eyewitness account of the Pilgrims’ first seven months in New England plus a few additional events up through November 1621. It was published in 1622 in London. Its writing precedes William Bradford’s account, Of Plimoth Plantation, by a decade and the subsequent publication of Bradford’s by 234 years. Mourt’s […]
William BradfordPicture source May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: Our faithers were Englishmen which come over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this willdernes; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voyce, and looked on their adversitie, etc. Let them ther fore praise […]
Picture source Before I knew what affliction meant, I was ready sometimes to wish for it. When I lived in prosperity, having the comforts of the World about me, my relations by me, my Heart chearfull: and taking little care for any thing; and yet seeing many, whom I preferred before my self, under many […]
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick Penguin, paperback, 480 pages, $16.00 ISBN: 0143111973 In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, […]
Albert Coady Wedemeyer Picture source “The first thing for a commander in chief to determine is what he is going to do, to see if he has the means to overcome the obstacles which the enemy can oppose to him, and, when he has decided, to do all he can to surmount them.” Napoleon I, […]
A Hidden Life: A Memoir of August 1969 by Johanna Reiss Melville House, 250 pages, $24.95 ISBN: 1933633557 For years, Johanna Reiss’ American husband, Jim, encouraged her to return to Holland to chronicle the two years, seven months, and one day she had spent hiding from the Nazis in rural Usselo, Holland. In 1969, she […]
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor follows a brain scientist’s stoke and recovery plus the insights she received from the experience. Taylor explains her life before the stroke, covers some basic anatomy and physiology of the brain, details what happened during her stroke, and follows the arduous process […]
The Painting of You Author’s Press Series, Vol. 1 ISBN: 978-0-557-12874-7 80 pages. Paper. $10.00From the book’s order page comes this description: Designed and published by William Michaelian, the Author’s Press Series was conceived as a set of relatively inexpensive, uniformly designed titles meant to explore different themes and facets of his writing. The eighty […]
Paul L Martin at The Teacher’s View posted a review/summay on Rob Riemen’s book Nobility of Sprit (Yale University Press; $12.00, paperback). His review intrigued me enough to order it—if you’re not familiar with the book, please go read his wonderful summary at the link. There are three essays and a long introduction, all of […]
George Washington by Gilbert Stuart (1795)Picture source Yet another history book…one I’ve intended to read since its release… Joseph J. Ellis’ biography on George Washington weighs in at around 275 pages, which is a change from recent (literally) weighty tomes on the founding fathers. Ellis keeps the work shorter by summarizing surrounding historical details, going […]
I have made a few posts on nonfiction I’ve read this year (The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss and A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro), and thought I would add a few more nonfiction books I’ve enjoyed recently. The biggest joy has been rediscovering Barbara Tuchman. I received A […]
During my week off, I finally read The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss that I mentioned a couple of months ago. Several books I’ve read lately raises the question of what makes a successful history when little trustworthy material is available on the subject. Persistent use of qualifiers like “perhaps”, “he might have seen”, and […]
Confession–the most I have seen of Stanley Kubrick’s film Spartacus is the clip that is shown in the movie Clueless (“Christian had a thing for Tony Curtis so he brought over Some Like it Hot and Sporadicus“). So while I’m clueless on the myth, I’m also woefully ignorant on the history behind Spartacus’ uprising. After […]