Edward G. Lengel is a military historian whose books have centered on the Revolutionary war, particularly on George Washington, and on World War I. This book is the second with a focus on the American involvement in the battle of the [...]
The author of this book is a retired Lt. General of the U.S. Army with a special faculty appointment to the North Carolina State University where he teaches military history. He has written a number of books on military history. In 1968 Chuck [...]
John Prevas, a leading contemporary authority on Hannibal, has set out in this book to evoke the figure of Hannibal for the average reader with an interest in history, and in this he is largely successful. He gives enough background on Hannibal [...]
Following up on his book about the legendary L.A. hit makers The Wrecking Crew, Hartman takes a different tack in this book about LA Rock in the 1970s. He weaves the story around producer Keith Olsen, his studio Sound City, and session guitar [...]
A Crime in the Family is Sacha Batthyany’s telling of a massacre of Jews during the Holocaust, one horrific act among many, that was carried out with the knowledge and complicity of the author’s aunt – a member of the old [...]
This is a history book of an element of the Revolutionary War most likely little known to us as Americans, and certainly not recounted in our elementary or high school education about the War. From 1776 through 1783 a series of about seventeen [...]
I read this well-written, fast-paced historical documentary in (almost) one sitting, with (near the end) Tchaikovsky’s great Fifth Symphony surging along in the background (on Oregon Public Radio) towards its dramatic conclusion. Both the [...]
At present, the most notable members of the “Lost Generation,” a group of American writers reflecting on their experiences during and after the Great War, are Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein. A significant member [...]
John Doe has put together a history of L.A.Punk Music in the 1970s. The contributors include his band-mate Exene Cervenka, Charlotte Caffey, and Jane Weidlin of the Au Go-Go’s, and a half dozen other musicians, music critics, and record [...]
There are those of us old enough to remember The Swamp Fox, an 8 episode television series presented by Walt Disney about the courageous soldier and leader in America’s Revolutionary War, Francis Marion. This book, by John Oller, takes the [...]
A segregated infantry unit of Japanese-Americans in October of 1944 was sent to rescue another unit of American soldiers trapped in the mountains of eastern France. That unit was the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Although this combat action was [...]
Brian Wilson’s memoir is a frank and revealing portrait of a troubled and popular music pioneer. It details his life with an abusive but musically encouraging father, a musical career that starts out with Brian becoming deaf in one ear, and [...]
On August 2, 1943, twenty-one men were flying in a twin engine C-46 from Chabua in northwest India to Yunnan, China when the left engine failed, causing them to be unable to clear the mountains. The plane’s dropping altitude heralded a crash. To [...]
This new biography by John Man sums up the life of the eponymous hero. It traces the rise of the Sultan from his little-documented childhood in the modern Middle East, through his first major command in Egypt, and finally, to his best-known role [...]
Hugh Miller, a 5’7″ lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was manning his position on the destroyer USS Strong during a bombardment of Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands when a torpedo struck the ship, ultimately sinking it and sending [...]
First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His – and the Nation’s – Prosperity, by Edward G. Lengel, is a highly informative and interesting read regarding the life of George Washington and how his business sense helped shape a [...]
Jesse Jarnow’s Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America starts off right where you expect it to: with the Grateful Dead. Even now, close to 50 years on, the Dead are still the band that comes to mind first when most people hear the word [...]
Despite the title, Hoskyn’s book is centered not on the people listed in the title, but on the legendary Al Grossman. Grossman was an enigmatic manager, who varied between being a benevolent father figure, and a despicable money-grubbing [...]
Lauren Kessler’s Raising the Barre is billed as a middle aged woman’s quest to dance the Nutcracker, but ultimately, it is a self-help book that advises you to love your body, take risks, and push yourself out of your comfort zone [...]
I love New York – the lights, the energy, and the hustle and bustle. It’s an enormous city with millions of people and countless buildings all living together, street after street, block after block, as far as the eye can see. There really [...]
