Books

• 
• 7-22-14
  

  Review of "Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party" by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr.

  by Ron Briley

  Bloom and Martin have produced a fascinating and comprehensive political history of the BPP, essentially told from the party’s perspective, which will certainly draw criticism from those contesting the violence and political legacy of the party.

• 
• 7-9-14
  

  Review of Frank Zelko's "Make It a Green Peace!: The Rise of Countercultural Environmentalism"

  by Ron Briley

  Zelco’s history comes off as somewhat of an insider account in which the diverse personalities and world views of Greenpeace founders are developed in considerable detail.

• 
• 7-7-14
  

  Review of Keith Thomson’s "Jefferson’s Shadow: The Story of His Science"

  by M. Andrew Holowchak

  While books on Jefferson’s intimate life are superabundant, books on Jefferson’s views of science are infrequent.

• 
• 7-6-14
  

  Review of Greg Lukianoff's "Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate"

  by Luther Spoehr

  Defending free speech in American colleges and universities

• 
• 6-4-14
  

  Review of Dennis Gildea's "Hoop Crazy: The Lives of Clair Bee and Chip Hilton"

  by Luther Spoehr

  A real-life coach and a fictional athlete, forever linked.

• 
• 5-18-14
  

  Review of Angela Stent’s “The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-first Century”

  by Walter Moss

  Stent’s book covers more than its title indicates, for it is a history and analysis of U.S.-Russian relations during the post-Soviet period from late 1991 until late 2013.

• 
• 5-18-14
  

  Review of Sherry L. Smith's "Hippies, Indians, and the Fight for Red Power"

  by Ron Briley

  Rather than simply focusing upon the excesses of the movement which degenerated into the Rolling Stones Altamont concert and the bloody murders of the Manson family, Smith chooses to emphasize the positive legacy of the counterculture’s interest in Native American history and culture.

• 
• 5-18-14
  

  Review of Bruce Dancis’s “Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison During the Vietnam War”

  by Murray Polner

  Dancis and many in his like-minded allies once believed they could bring about permanent, serious and nonviolent change.

• 
• 5-12-14
  

  Review of “Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis”

  by Murray Polner

  Patrick Henry’s masterly collection of cerebral and quite readable essays in "Jewish Resistance Against the Nazis," proves that Jews fighting the Nazis and their allies, violently and nonviolently, was fairly common.

• 
• 4-1-14
  

  Review of Joshua Zeitz's "Lincoln's Boys"

  by Luther Spoehr

  Documenting Lincoln's greatness and humanity

• 
• 4-28-14
  

  Review of Sidney Pash's "The Currents of War: A New History of American-Japanese Relations, 1899-1941"

  by Ron Briley

  Pash’s history of relations between Japan and the United States leading to the Pacific War is a cautionary tale that policymakers would do well to revisit.

• 
• 4-21-14
  

  Review of "Selected Speeches and Writings of Theodore Roosevelt"

  by Murray Polner

  To read "Selected Speeches and Writings of Theodore Roosevelt" we see a more balanced and nuanced portrait of the man who refused to be silent even after losing the 1912 election to Woodrow Wilson.

• 
• 4-16-14
  

  Review of Robert K. Musil’s "Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment"

  by Lawrence S. Wittner

  Despite the central role of women in the environmental movement, surprisingly little is known about them.

• 
• 4-3-14
  

  Review of Randall Balmer’s “Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter”

  by Murray Polner

  As Rodney Dangerfield might have put it, “Jimmy Carter gets no respect.”

• 

• Review of Phillip Deery's "Red Apple: Communism and McCarthyism in Cold War New York"

  by Andrew Feffer

  This is an extremely well documented, lucidly written study, using personal correspondence, Party records and other archival sources amplified by newly declassified FBI files.

• 

• Review of Seth Davis's "John Wooden: A Coach's Life"

  by Luther Spoehr

  The driving force behind all those NCAA basketball championships.

• 
• 3-31-14
  

  Review of "Stokely: A Life"

  by Ron Briley

  Peniel E. Joseph's new biography restores the voice of Carmichael to the history of the civil rights movement.

• 

• Review of Andrew L. Erdman's "Queen of Vaudeville"

  by Richard Canedo

  Why we should care about the "Queen of Vaudeville."

• 
• 3-10-14
  

  Review of Seth Lipsky’s “The Rise of Abraham Cahan”

  by Robert Parmet

  Abraham Cahan's story is the quintessential American success story.

• 
• 3-3-14
  

  Review of Rex Bowman and Carlos Santos's "Rot, Riot, and Rebellion"

  by Luther Spoehr

  Mr. Jefferson's University made "Animal House" look tame.