Walking Montmartre in the footsteps of the Impressionists
Sacre Bleu: A Comedy D'Art. Christopher Moore. William Morrow, 2012. 416 pages.
Anima Rising was my introduction to author Christopher Moore, and I loved it: 5 out of 5. Sacre Bleu is, unfortunately, not at all Anima Rising. Set in Paris in the 1890s, it's historical fiction, fantasy, supernatural, and, supposedly, comedy all-in-one. The subjects are all off the great impressionists and other well known names of the art world: Toulouse-Latrec, Monet, Cezanne, Pisarro, Van Gogh, etc. Writer Oscar Wilde even makes a cameo appearance. The story has Toulouse-Latrec and the fictional artist protagonist Lucien Lessard attempting to solve the mystery of Van Gogh's death. They find that the death was just one of many associated with two supernatural characters, The Colorman and a shape-shifting entity called Bleu, who manipulate time using a magical blue paint. Bleu inhabits the bodies of models, encouraging the chosen painters to use the "sacred blue" to paint their greatest masterpiece, the creation of which and the final products themselves feed Bleu and the Colorman. The relationship between artists and their models, their muses, is obviously a source of fascination for Moore, being the theme of both this book and Anima. However, this book is not nearly as interesting or clever or funny as Anima. I didn't get interested until I was 40% to 50% through, and then only mildly. 3 out of 3, but I'm still going to give more Moore chances.
Author interview
Thrilling Tales of Modern Men. Danny McBride. Random House, 2026. 368 pages.
As soon as I saw that Danny McBride was publishing a collection of short stories, I knew that I was taking a break from my normal diet of history of historical fiction to read it. McBride has created, written, and starred in three of my favorite recent comedy series: "Eastbound and Down," "Vice Principals," and his greatest so far "The Righteous Gemstones." In this new book, he tackles masculinity in the 21st century, a common theme in his television show, and the stories are typically McBride, funny, dark, and twisted. The male protagonists are racked with insecurities, uncertainties, fragility, and pummeled with blows to their male egos. They're usually just ordinary men trying to live their lives until either they make one bad decision or suffer a major setback beyond their control that totally derails their lives. Sometimes they recover, to a point, sometimes they don't. The stories were all entertaining, and I visualized them as an anthology series as I read them. The core audience is, of course, McBride fans, then men in general, but I could see wider appeal,
Midnight Patriots. Paul Levine. Nittany Valley Productions, Inc, 2026. 393 pages. Book 2 of 2 Einstein-Chaplin Thrillers.
Paul Levine is back with the second in a series of adventures of the greatest action-thriller duo that you never knew you needed: Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin. It's true, Einstein, probably the 20th century's most famous and accomplished scientist and one of the most well-known and respected people on the planet in his lifetime, and Chaplin, the greatest silent film star ever and still a Hollywood icon a century later, were best friends in real life. It's 1940, and war is raging in Europe. America is torn between those moved by the destruction and the impending collapse of the sole surviving bastion of democracy, the UK, and anticipating US intervention and those isolationists who are opposed to any US involvement. America is crawling with Nazi spies, saboteurs, and sympathizers, with fascist groups like the German-American Bund, the Silver Shirts, and the Black Legion, among others, swearing open allegiance to Hitler. As in the first book, Midnight Burning, Einstein and Chaplin find themselves enmeshed in an evil Nazi plot. Both men are targeted. The plan is to kidnap Einstein and force him to work on the German atomic bomb research project and to assassinate Chaplin in retaliation for "The Great Dictator" which skewered and humiliated Hitler and Mussolini. It's up to the pair, along with a couple of FBI agents, to thwart the plan. Besides Einstein and Chaplin, the book is full of real historical figures like Lena Horne, Robert Oppenheimer, General Leslie Groves, gangsters Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegel, William Randolph Hearst, J. Edgar Hoover, and Charles Lindbergh. Even the book's lead villain, Frederick "Fritz" Duquesne, was a real life Nazi spy who created and directed a ring of 33 spies and saboteurs that collected sensitive military and industrial intelligence until it was busted up in July of 1941. I'm definitely looking forward to more books in the series. It's full of history, humor, and adventure.
History Matters. David McCullough. Simon & Schuster, 2025. 192 pages.
David McCullough was a national treasure. He was one of America's greatest historians and one of America's greatest writers of history, and, yes, those two things are most often entirely different and distinct from each other. This short book is a collection of essays and speeches spanning decades, some previously published and some not. It is a must read for teachers, students, and lovers of history. He discusses studying history, writing history, reading history, historical literacy, and why we must "do" history. It's a celebration of history, and I urge all history teachers to read it before school starts.
Author podcast appearance
The Last Titans: How Churchill and de Gaulle Saved Their Nations and Transformed the World. Richard Vinen. Simon & Schuster, 2026. 400 pages.
This is a joint biography of two of the most important individuals of World War II, and consequently of the 20th century, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle. While they had little in common and really only tolerated each other, at some times better than at other times, they found themselves bound together in a common cause: saving their countries from destruction. Each had his own personality, his own style of leadership, and his own agenda, and all of these things sometimes became obstacles which they had to work around. The result was ultimately successful (along with US and Soviet involvement, adding more variables to deal with), and the pair developed something of a respect for each other as their post-war careers took different directions. I had previously read a good bit about Churchill, but I knew very little about de Gaulle, so I learned a lot from reading this book, and I liked the author's comparisons and contrasts. Reading the book also led to a great discussion with a friend about whether the two met the criteria for being called "The Last Titans" or being considered two of the most consequential figures of the twentieth century and which other historical figures might be as or more deserving.
Short documentary on de Bry
Theodore de Bry: The New World. 45th Ed. Larry E, Tise and Michiel van Groesen. TASCHEN, 2026. 480 pages.
Flemish engraver and printer Theodore de Bry started publishing his series of books on the Americas in 1590. Over the next several decades, he and his sons published thirteen volumes from their Frankfurt publishing house. The New World was entirely new and unknown to Europeans at the time, and in fact, to the de Bry family themselves; none of them ever traveled far from their home, let alone to the Americas. Instead, they used their groundbreaking colored copperplate engraving technique to reproduce drawings and watercolors made by the real explorers, men like Roanoke governor John White and Jacques le Moyne, the French artist who accompanied the doomed Fort Caroline expedition, supplemented with texts written by men like Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Thomas Herriot, Girolamo Benzoni, and various Spanish conquistadors. The de Brys also added healthy doses of their own imaginations to both the art and to the narratives. The volumes were published in various languages, and the text was massaged to be more palatable to particular audiences, emphasizing Spanish (i.e. Catholic) brutality for Protestant England and northern Europe or glorifying Spanish accomplishments for Catholic southern Europe, for example. The original books became a sensation despite their extravagant costs, and they shaped European attitudes toward the New World for centuries. I used several of the illustrations in my American history classes to discuss historical perspectives and how to "do" history. This volume reproduces over 200 of the original engravings, along with text and with excellent commentary on the illustrations and the truths behind them, and if you are familiar with the publisher Taschen, you know that it's done well. I will be taking a long time to absorb this book, as I pore over each illustration and each paragraph to take it all in.
Author podcast appearance
A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire. Emma Southon. Harry N. Abrams, 2023. 416 pages.
As historian Emma Southon notes, we've been led to believe for centuries, that ancient Rome was "white, western, and male," and that misapprehension began with the ancient Romans themselves. In reality, ancient Rome was incredibly cosmopolitan, with citizens of all complexions, speaking numerous languages, and worshipping a huge pantheon of various gods, and women were hugely important, from Rome's beginning as a tiny settlement through republic, empire, and fall, but their contributions were not recorded and even erased. Here, she presents the stories of a number of these women, a small number of those deserving of memory, as she acknowledges. She chooses 21 specific women including Vestal Virgins, Christian martyrs, and wives, sisters, daughters, and mothers of generals, senators, and emperors. In the process, the reader learns a lot about Roman history and culture, and Southon's cheeky British irreverent sense of humor makes it a thoroughly entertaining history. If you're interested in ancient Rome, Southon is an author that you must seek out.
Sin Killer. Larry McMurtry. Simon & Schuster, 2002. 304 pages. Book 1 of 4 in the Berrybender Narratives.
I'm a big Larry McMurtry fan, but somehow I've missed the Berrybender Narratives, so I am correcting that oversight. Sin Killer follows an eccentric English aristocratic family, the Berrybenders, as they travel up the Missouri River in 1830. The party includes Lord Berrybender, his wife and his mistress, several of their fourteen children, multiple servants and tutors, French river boatmen, Toussaint Charbonneau, the husband of Sacajawea who accompanied Lewis and Clark, real-life western painter George Catlin, and a trio of Indian chiefs returning home. The eldest daughter, Tasmin, falls in love with a rugged frontiersman and part-time preacher known as the "Sin Killer," while the group faces chaotic wilderness dangers and deaths. The tone of The Berrybender Narratives is best described as a darkly comic, satiric, and melancholic farce. Larry McMurtry subverts the traditional, heroic mythology of the American West by filtering it through a lens of absurd realism and dark humor. And it's all a lot of fun.
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