Book #21 of 2026: The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon As made famous in the Gordon Lightfoot ballad the following year, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a cargo ship that sank in Lake Superior in 1975, “when the gales of November came early.” The exact cause …
Tag Archives: history
Book Review: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
Book #197 of 2025: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann An interesting nonfiction account of a 1740s maritime disaster, in which the British vessel HMS Wager was shipwrecked in the South Pacific, near modern Chile. The incident occurred during the so-called “War of Jenkins’ Ear” conflict with Spain — …
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Book Review: Forbidden: A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig by Jordan D. Rosenblum
Book #168 of 2025: Forbidden: A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig by Jordan D. Rosenblum This 2024 title is a fascinating account of how abstaining from pig meat became emblematic of Judaism, in a way that indexes Jewish / non-Jewish identity far beyond any other kosher practice. Author Jordan D. Rosenblum, a religious …
Book Review: The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
Book #143 of 2025: The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon by Laurie Gwen Shapiro These days, Amelia Earhart is probably best remembered for two things: her status as a pioneering female pilot, including her being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, …
Book Review: Exterminate! Regenerate!: The Story of Doctor Who by John Higgs
Book #141 of 2025: Exterminate! Regenerate!: The Story of Doctor Who by John Higgs I’ve read — and, okay, written — quite a lot about Doctor Who, so please believe me when I say that this new history from author John Higgs is truly remarkable within that space. It’s an engaging account of how the …
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Book Review: Mark Twain by Ron Chernow
Book #102 of 2025: Mark Twain by Ron Chernow Ron Chernow is a consummate biographer, probably best known for popularizing the tale of an overlooked Founding Father into an account that became the basis for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton. Here he turns his attentions a century forward to the life of author Mark Twain, …
Book Review: Pull to Open: 1962-1963: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Who by Paul Hayes
Book #20 of 2025: Pull to Open: 1962-1963: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Who by Paul Hayes A probably definitive overview of the creation of what would eventually become the BBC’s flagship science-fiction program Doctor Who, well before it had secured that reputation by longevity and popular acclaim. Although …
Book Review: Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall
Book #183 of 2024: Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall A staggering work that I would unequivocally recommend to any obsessive-minded Star Wars fans like myself. This book, written by an actual academic historian, applies the investigative principles of that field to the continuity of the franchise …
Book Review: Tradition!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World’s Most Beloved Musical by Barbara Isenberg
Book #130 of 2024: Tradition!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World’s Most Beloved Musical by Barbara Isenberg The stage musical Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway in September 1964, so with its sixty-year anniversary coming up, I thought I would check out this title, written to …
Book Review: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Book #26 of 2024: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig This 2023 title is a major new biography of the assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., representing the first such work to be published in over three decades. It draws on extensive interviews with his surviving loved ones and colleagues, as well as …
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