The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt and His Times chronicles Teddy Roosevelt’s life until the time he becomes president. It’s a story of a superhero of sorts: a man with a life full of exciting moments, with a generous heart for the poor. The…
1900s
Temptation Rag Tells the Story of Ragtime in New York
Magic of History is the current stop on the blog tour for Temptation Rag, by Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard. It’s a remarkable turn of the 20th century story about the price of freedom, the longing for immortality, and the human need to find forgiveness.This richly fictionalized historical saga spans 30 years…
The Ragged Edge of Night Ultimately Disappoints
The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker is an engaging tale of German resistance during World War II that centers on an ex-friar who marries and lives a celibate life, all the while actively working against the German government. The friar carries with him a guilt from before the…
Bloodlands: A Superb Collection of Murderous Tales
Bloodlands is a series of six e-books available free to members of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited: each book a story of a series of murders in the 19th and 20th centuries. They were serial killers before serial killer became a term. All the books are written by Harold Schechter. They are:…
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter: Historical, Windswept and Strange
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, by Hazel Gaynor, is two stories in one: one in 1838, the other in 1938. They are the stories of Grace and Mathilda. The first is the daughter of a lighthouse keeper on an island off Britain, the second is a pregnant Irish immigrant to the…
Without A Country is Without Energy
Without a Country, by Ayse Kulin, is the story of a Jewish couple who escape Germany in 1933 and move to Turkey, along with the story of their resultant family. I’m not sure if it was the translation(from the Turkish) or the book itself, but it leaves a lot to…
A Gentleman in Moscow Reads Memorably
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is a rare book. It’s really long, but it’s central character is so charming you don’t really want it to end. It’s the story of Count Alexander Rostov, who is sentenced to house arrest in 1922 by the Soviet Tribunal for a propaganda…
Bombshell: A Documentary that Tells the Truth About Hedy Lamarr
After reviewing the book The Only Woman in the Room, I stumbled across a new documentary about the 1940s star Hedy Lamarr, which is being released this month. I debated sending a link for this only to subscribers, but decided to post it on the blog, since a lot of…
Odessa, Odessa is a History of Judaism in the U.S.
This is a readable, educational book about the history Jews have faced in the United States, and, to a more limited extent, in Israel. It is a story of oppression and flight and families and how they react to stress in their lives. It revolves around a Jewish family that…
Varina Lacks Warmth
Varina, is the story of a tragic life — that of Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. Her saga is indeed sad — an unhappy marriage,drug addiction, the deaths of almost all of her six children, and separation of many years from her husband.…