Books

• 
• 5/31/2020
  

  The Decline and Fall of Socialist Zionism (Review)

  by Ralph Seliger

  A new book examines the diminished influence of left and labor parties in Israeli politics. 

• 
• 5/31/2020
  

  "Fiction Makes a Better Job of The Truth"? Telling the Erased Story of Lucia Joyce

  by Annabel Abbs

  A historical novel exposes the complex relationship between historians and sources: "Because Lucia’s own voice had been effectively smothered, most ‘facts’ came from those later responsible for incarcerating her in a series of mental asylums and hospitals. Few sources are genuinely independent, memory is notoriously fickle, and all facts are open to interpretation."

• 
• 5/17/2020
  

  A Mathematical Duel in 16th Century Venice (Excerpt)

  by Fabio Toscano translated Arturo Sangalli

  The advancement of mathematics in renaissance Italy was complicated by a context of secrecy, jealousy, and competitive dueling governed by implicit codes of honor.

• 
• 5/10/2020
  

  Spiritualism and Suspension Bridges: John Roebling and a Biographer's Sympathy for the Weird 19th Century

  by Richard Haw

  A biographer of Brooklyn Bridge designer John Roebling expected to write about a genius. He also ended up writing about a complete weirdo, and how one man could be both.

• 
• 5/6/2020
  

  The Heroism of an Ordinary American Woman on the World War II Homefront

  by Jim DeFelice

  We should definitely celebrate people like Henry Langrehr, the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne, and the other troops who fought with them. But we should also spend a moment thanking people like his wife, who made their triumph possible.

• 
• 4/12/2020
  

  The Other Booths

  by David O. Stewart

  The notoriety of the Lincoln assassination has obscured the other Booths in history, but some were as well known as John Wilkes--or even better, at least until he pulled the trigger in the president’s box at Ford’s Theater, 155 years ago this week. 

• 
• 3/27/2020
  

  An Interview with "Most Wanted" Author Sarah Jane Marsh

  by Chelsea Connolly

  "Although I use individuals such as Adams, Hancock, and Paine as a vehicle for the story, I want readers to understand the American Revolution was ultimately a mass movement of the people."

• 
• 3/22/2020
  

  The Three Daring Women Who Traversed the Himalayas

  by Kayte Nunn

  Antonia Deacock, Anne Davies, Eve Sims set off overland from England to Tibet in 1958, a 16,000 mile journey to aim climb one of the Himalayas’ unexplored high peaks. 

• 
• 3/22/2020
  

  Why Holocaust Fiction?

  by Bernice Lerner

  Had they had a choice, I believe Hitler’s victims would have wanted nothing about the mortal crimes against them falsified. 

• 
• 3/22/2020
  

  When the Western Wall Was A Battleground For Jewish Rights

  by Moshe Phillips

  The book explains how Segal and the others who followed in his footsteps transformed the Western Wall from a site of wailing to one of national pride.

• 
• 3/22/2020
  

  Our Stories Will Carry Us to the Future. Can They Save Us Now?

  by David Farrier

  To avert a climate disaster, science is essential, but we also need stories. We know ourselves first and foremost in the tales we tell.

• 
• 3/15/2020
  

  "Faster" Author Neal Bascomb on the Jewish Auto Racer who Defied Hitler

  by Neal Bascomb

  Rene Dreyfus, a former top driver on the international racecar circuit, had been banned from the best European teams—and fastest cars—by the mid-1930s because of his Jewish heritage.

• 
• 3/6/2020
  

  Historical Novelists Owe the Truth to Readers–and to History

  by Sharon Kay Penman

  In insisting upon the importance of historical accuracy in novels, I am also making an argument that novels can add a valuable dimension to the study of history.

• 
• 3/6/2020
  

  A Price to Be Paid

  by Col. Arthur Shaw (Ret.) and Robert L. Wise

  None of us had any idea how terrible the cost would be before we finished taking Okinawa. The casual observer might have concluded that the landing was so easy, war must be a walk in the park.

• 
• 3/6/2020
  

  Kamikazes at the Battle of Okinawa

  by Joseph Wheelan

  On May 6, 1945, a twin-engine kamikaze plane’s bomb exploded beside the destroyer Luce, part of the radar picket ship screen surrounding Okinawa, and ripped her starboard side “like a sardine can.” 

• 
• 3/1/2020
  

  Greg Grandin's The End of the Myth Tackles Frederick Jackson Turner

  by James Thornton Harris

  In attempting to debunk one myth about the American frontier, Grandin is in danger of creating a new one. 

• 
• 2/2/20
  

  What Did Hitler Think About Anglo-American Capitalism?

  by James Thornton Harris

  A review of Brendan Simms' controversial new book, Hitler: A Global Biography.  

• 
• 2/2/20
  

  The Pioneers: Heroic Settlers or Indian Killers?

  by Walter G. Moss

  Unless we in the USA acknowledge not only the heroic, but also heinous deeds of our past, we will  fail to face our future with the courage needed to overcome such ills as racism and our present political polarization.  

• 
• 1/26/20
  

  How Neville Chamberlin Misread Hitler and Allowed the Third Reich to Threaten the World Order

  by Jeff Roquen

  In the new and magisterial study Appeasement: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill and the Road to War, Tim Bouverie incisively reconstructs the ideological landscape of post-WWI Britain to explain how Chamberlain and other politicians and pundits misread Hitler and ultimately allowed the Third Reich to threaten the entire world order.

• 
• 1/12/20
  

  A New History of American Liberalism

  by Bruce W. Dearstyne

  Liberals looking for an enlightening but sobering account of their movement's history should read James Traub.