By Nathan Philbrick
Viking, $30.00, 466 pages
Custer’s Last Stand. Everyone who attended high school in the United States has probably heard the story of Custer’s vainglorious defeat at the hands of Sitting Bull at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Wandering down such a well-trod path is a difficult task for a writer, to be sure, but [...]
By Deborah Rudacille
Pantheon, $27.00, 290 pages
Growing up in Dundalk, Maryland, may not have been glamorous, but Deborah Rudacille, decades later, understands the values her hometown boasts: community, solidarity, an old-fashioned closeness among neighbors. These values remain intact, though the town has seen better days. Dundalk is a steel town, at one time dominated by the [...]
By Donald Stoker
Oxford University Press, $27.95, 512 pages
Donald Stoker is a Professor of Strategy and Policy at the US Naval War College’s Naval Postgraduate School and he offers an in-depth look at the strategies used and mishandled in the Civil War in ways that other authors never have. Winning the war wasn’t a forgone conclusion [...]
By Richard Snow
Scribner, $27.00, 338 pages
During World War II, the fight for the Atlantic didn’t make the headlines with the same dramatic frequency as news from the other war fronts. But for five years the Atlantic Ocean served was monitored and frequently attacked as it conveyed essential supplies ‘across the pond.’ The allied fleets were [...]
By Barry J. Blake
Oxford University Press, $24.95, 352 pages
There are numerous ways to simultaneously conceal information and convey it to others — codes, ciphers, word games, made-up languages, riddles, slang, and euphemisms all come to mind. The control of information is as important as the dissemination of it, and Secret Language illuminates the many techniques [...]
By John William Law
Aplomb Publishing, $14.95, 231 pages
I was immediately drawn to this book because the cover features a photo of Peter Falk in his classic role, Columbo. Not only is this my favorite mystery/detective show, but I have published articles on the subject. Unfortunately, the chapter dealing with the show told me nothing I [...]
By Kate Moore, with Contributions by The Imperial War Museum
Osprey Publishing, $29.95, 200 pages
In May 1970, anticipating German attacks from Luftwaffe Junkers over London and southeast England, Winston Churchill told the British people, “I am sure I speak for all when I say we are ready to face it; to endure it; and to retaliate [...]
By J. C. McKeown
Oxford University Press, $17.95, 243 pages
Of all the history lessons read and recited in school, none excited my imagination as much as those of the Roman civilization. A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities by classics professor J. C. McKeown earns its title in providing a smattering of odd-yet-intriguing facts about the powerful, superstitious [...]
By Erika Lee and Judy Yung
Oxford University Press, $27.95, 386 pages
In 1910, Angel Island opened its doors in order to process the endless streams of immigrants getting off boats in San Francisco harbor. Americans were crying for the doors into the country to be closed in the early years of the twentieth century. The [...]
By David Kulczyk
Craven Street Books, $15.95, 169 pages
The author, a Sacramento, California writer, tells a story of thirty-one shocking murders and accidents that stunned the very soul of the state and took place between 1852 and 2007. California has always been a destination for people with dreams of fame and fortune. Many immigrants, as pointed [...]
By Carol Dyhouse
Zed Books, $30.00, 230 pages
This book is basically for scholars with many footnotes and allows one to compare fashion from the past centuries to the present. It might have been also useful to trace the development of fashion in various European countries which is not emphasized in this book under review. One might [...]
By Adam Selzer
Delacorte Books for Young Readers, $12.99, 326 pages
History books are often dreary affairs at best, overloaded with dates and factoids of questionable worth in the real world. Where are the snarky, entertaining chronicles of events past?
Well, worry not, because the Smart Aleck Staff is at your disposal, and they’ve got the history book [...]
By H.W. Brands
The Penguin Press, $32.95, 421 pages
In this book under review, well known historian H.W. Brands of the University of Texas, Austin, analyzes the power and promise of the post-war years in light of the collective and individual dreams that have enticed Americans toward the future.
The author describes the changes we have gone through [...]
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