Please click the “Like” button if you enjoyed this post. Peter Cozzens’ Shenandoah 1862 is, as the name suggests, a history of Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign. While the Valley Campaign was due for an upgrade (the last major account … Continue reading
I hate bookstores, absolutely hate ‘em. I had to go the doctor the other afternoon for an annual check-up, and when they were finally through poking and prodding, it was too late to go back to work (there’s a subjective … Continue reading
Sebastian Junger spent a year (summer 2007 – summer 2008) embedded with the Second Platoon, Battle Company (when did it stop being “Bravo” Company?), 173 Airborne Brigade, in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. War is his homage to the … Continue reading
As the Russian horde overwhelmed the last remaining Berlin defenses at the end of World War II, Adolph Eichmann shed his SS uniform and vanished into the Austrian Alps. Eichmann, who had been the operational director of the “Final Solution” … Continue reading
On a hot June afternoon in 1876, George Armstrong Custer, commander of the United States Seventh Cavalry Regiment, impetuously decided (against the strenuous advice of his Indian scouts) to attack an Indian village on the banks of the Little Bighorn … Continue reading
Empire of the Summer Moon, by S.C. Gwynne, is the story of the rise and fall of the Commaches. Gwynne convincingly makes the case that the Commanches – not the Sioux, not the Cheyenne, not the Apaches – were the … Continue reading
I recently finished The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second installment in Stieg Larson’s trilogy thriller built around the enigmatic character of Lisbeth Salander. Fire picks up where The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo left off; Salander, flush with … Continue reading
Wow. I just finished reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson, and, for once, I believe the hype. I’m obviously late to the party, since it appears that everyone I know has already read this book, and … Continue reading
I recently read Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, a collection of essays, reviews, and other works by the late wild man, Lester Bangs, one-time critic for Rolling Stone and Creem, later a freelance writer for various publications such as Village … Continue reading
Jonathon Gould’s Can’t Buy Me Love melds elements of a traditional biography of The Beatles with musical criticism and pop sociology. There’s nothing “new” here: no new revelations, no recently-discovered sources, no revisionist spin on a well-known story. What Gould … Continue reading