Sunday's Notes

History Carnival LXIX goes up at American Presidents Blog on Wednesday 1 October. Send nominations of the best in history blogging since 1 September to Jennie Weber at coppertop67*at*hotmail*dot*com or use the form. If you'd be interested in hosting November's History Carnival, contact sharon*at*earlymodernweb*dot*org*dot*uk.

Three men are being held under suspicion of responsibility for setting a fire early on Saturday in the London offices of Gibson Square. It is the publisher of The Jewel of Medina, Sherry Jones's fictional account of the Prophet Mohammed and Aisha, his child bride. Earlier this year, Random House canceled plans to publish the novel in the United States.

Bruce Barcott,"On Top of the World," NYT, 26 September, reviews Maurice Isserman's and Stewart Weaver's Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering From the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes.

David S. Reynolds,"Sons of the South," NYT, 26 September, reviews Philip Dray's Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen.

Johann Hari,"A Marriage of Convenience," NYT, 26 September, reviews David Fromkin's The King and the Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt and Edward the Seventh, Secret Partners.

Wendy Smith,"New Books Take a Look at the Man Who Forged Vermeer 'Masterpieces'," Chicago Tribune, 3 September, reviews Edward Dolnick's The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century and Jonathan Lopez's The Man Who Made Vermeers. Hat tip.

Jill Abramson,"The Final Days," NYT, 26 September, reviews Bob Woodward's The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006–2008.