Shelved: Books Read and Reviewed in June 2026

 

Gods of Jade and Shadow.  Silvia Moreno-Garcia.   Del Rey, 2019.  352 pages.

Imagine Cinderella set in Jazz Age Mexico, and you've imagined the kernel at the heart of this story, with one big difference:  the Fairy Godmother in this story is actually the Mayan God of Death, Hun-Kame.  Casiopea Tun and her mother live in her wealthy grandfather's house in the Yucatan, near the state capital of Merida.  Because her mother had married and been widowed by a Mayan commoner beneath her social status, thereby disgracing the family, they were treated like servants by her grandfather and the rest of the family, forced to serve and clean, but Casiopea has dreams of escaping the mundane drudgery.  Left alone one day while the rest of the family was on an outing, she opens a locked chest in her grandfather's room, accidentally releasing Hun-Kame from imprisonment and initiating a link between herself and the god that would transform her life.  Hun-Kame had been overthrown by his twin brother, with the help of Casiopea's grandfather, and imprisoned for eternity in the chest, minus a few particular possessions and body parts which were required for him to retake his rightful place as Lord of the Underworld.  Hum-Kame and Casiopea were now joined, and together they set out on a quest that will take them across Mexico to recover those objects and to eventually defeat the evil usurper and resume his reign.  Along the way, they meet and contend with various Mayan spirits and mythical figures seeking to thwart their quest.  They are also in a race against time since both are weakening as time passes- Hun-Kame is literally draining life from Casiopea, not only gaining the strength required to remain active in the human world, but also becoming more and more mortal in the process.  Finally, Casiopea must defeat her arrogant cousin Martin in a life and death race that will determine the true ruler of the Underworld.  This was a fun blend of mythology, magical realism, and historical fiction.

Author interview

Gates of Fire.  Steven Pressfield.  Doubleday, 1998.  400 pages.

In 480 BC, the Persian Emperor Xerxes led a huge invasion force determined to conquer the Greek city-states.  While ancient chroniclers estimated an army of up to 2 million, it was likely no more than 300,000 in reality.  Opposing them was an allied force of some 7,000 Greeks.  The two forces met at a narrow pass called Thermopylae.  After two days of pitched battle, which left 20,000 Persian troops dead with their bodies piled high and the ground soaked in blood, a Greek traitor revealed a secret route around the pass.  Spartan King Leonidas and 300 of the city's most fierce warriors volunteered to fight to the death in order to delay the Persian army and to allow the other Greeks to retreat and regroup for a future fight.  In Pressfield's novel, there is a lone Greek survivor captured by the Persians and presented to Xerxes.  He was not a warrior, not even a Spartan by birth, but he was a a helot, a slave and the squire of one of the officers.  Xerxes, desiring to learn as much as possible about his enemies, prods the Greek  to tell his version of Spartan history and culture leading up to the battle, revealing the mindset of the Spartan, shaped by a lifetime of unbelievable brutality, beginning in childhood, with the intent of building a culture of hardened warriors, and perhaps even more hardened wives and mothers, who give their lives, without thinking, for their state and for their fellow warriors.  Apparently, this novel is or has been required required reading at the US military academies because of its explorations of courage, fear, leadership, duty, and brotherhood.  It's an epic story.  

podcast appearance

The Wreck of the Mentor:  A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail.  Eric Jay Dolin.  Liveright, 2026.  272 pages.  

Outstanding maritime historian Eric Jay Dolin is back with another interesting true tale of the sea.  In 1832, the American whaling ship Mentor wrecked on a remote reef in the Palau archipelago in the western Pacific.  The eleven survivors of the wreck not only had to survive being stranded on a barren island, but they also found themselves in the middle of tribal wars.  European and American contact with the natives of the archipelago had been haphazard since the 1700s.  Some ships' crews were attacked, and some were warmly welcomed.  Some captains and crews treated islanders respectfully and honorably, and some deceived, cheated, and harmed the islanders. It was hard to know how strangers would be received. Indeed, the Mentor's survivors experienced both welcomes and were ultimately captured and enslaved by one of the tribes.  Dolin's written a great account of their ordeal and their survival efforts, and he also informs the reader about the whaling industry and how sailing ships operated in the 19th century.  It's also an interesting look at first contact and culture clashes.

Stories and music of Holocaust Resistance

Partisan Song:  A Holocaust Story of Resilience, Resistance, and Revenge.  James A. Grymes.  Citadel, 2026.  352 pages.  Thanks to Citadel and Kensington Publishing for the free review copy.

In 1941, Moshe Gildenman was an engineer and owner of a concrete company in Korets Ukraine.  In his free time, he was a musician, composer, and the conductor of various school and community orchestras and choruses.  Korets was occupied by German troops on July 8, and they established a Jewish ghetto.  That ghetto was liquidated in May, 1942, and an estimated 2,300 Jews were killed, including Gildenman's wife and daughter.  Gildenman, his son, his nephew and a handful of others escaped into the forest, armed with a couple of pistols and a few bullets, determined to fight back.  Eventually, Gildenman, nicknamed "Uncle Misha," formed a small but highly effective partisan brigade that carried out more than 150 missions including blowing up bridges and other strategic targets.  Although the brigade linked up with other Ukrainian and then Soviet  partisan groups, they still acted independently, under "Uncle Misha's" leadership throughout the war.  On May 2, 1945, he was among the first Soviet troops to walk the streets of Berlin.  Not only is this book a much welcome addition to the library of books about partisan resistance to the Nazis, and a little remembered part at that, but there's also a really interesting hook into the story.  Grymes, the author, is himself a musicologist, a music historian, who discovered the story through his study of Jewish music, and music becomes an important part of the story.  

Editor interview

The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women:  Stories of Landscape and Community in the Mountain South.  Edited by Kami Ahrens.  The University of North Carolina Press, 2023.  288 pages.  

In 1966, an English teacher in a small rural school in the extreme northeast corner of Georgia published a magazine and created a program that still thrives today, a program designed to collect, to preserve, and to celebrate Appalachian stories, memories, and cultural ways.  The journal, numerous books published over the years, and audio and video interviews and demonstrations have created an invaluable treasury of Appalachian history.  This volume is a collection of 21 oral histories from a variety of women, white, black, and Cherokee who share their lives, memories, and experiences.  The reader feels like he or she is sitting on the porch with the women, maybe shelling peas, shucking corn, or quilting while they tell their stories.  Each story is unique in its own way, but they all reinforce the importance of the land and how it shaped the Appalachian culture.  Their stories are all very familiar to me in various ways, and as I read them, I realize that even though both sides of my family have deep south Georgia roots, they were very Appalachian.  Things like planting "by signs," hog killings, picking cotton and tobacco, quilting, not doing laundry on New Year's Day,  oranges and nuts in Christmas stockings --- these are all stories passed down in my family.  This - and the other Foxfire books - are must reads for anyone interested in southern history and oral history.

Documentary 

The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall.  Paul Wilborn.  St. Petersburg Press, 2026. 304 pages.

People outside of Tampa Florida have probably never heard of Charlie Wall.  I hadn't until moving to the area six years ago.  From the 1920s into the 1940s however, Charlie Wall owned Tampa Bay and was a big player in state politics and crime.  He controlled organized crime and shaped election results, gaining a large fortune through bootlegging, strip clubs, and especially bolita.  Bolita was a hugely popular game of chance imported into Tampa Bay from Cuba.  Basically,  people bet spare coins daily on which numbered ball would be drawn from a sack.  Everybody played, often daily, sometimes for pennies a draw, sometimes more.  While bolita draws could be easily fixed and usually were, Wall always steadfastly claimed that he ran honest games.  Wall's empires started to crumble when Sicilians, with ties to larger crime families up north, moved and took over Tampa.  Wall eventually retired, after testifying in federal hearings  on organized crime.  In 1955, he was murdered in his home; it's still unsolved today.  In this book, Paul Wilborn creates a historical fiction fantasy based on the premise that Wall actually survived the fatal attack and, now in 1985, is an old man sharing his life story, and life lessons, with Trip, a young aspiring writer, who takes a job as Wall's driver and bodyguard as a step on his path toward sobriety, leaving his drug-selling past, and gathering fodder for a book.  The fantasy part comes in because not only does Wall survive his murder, but also Wilborn adjusts the real timeline a bit, making his Charlie Wall born 20 years later than the actual Wall.  Wall is the only real-life character in the book, but I think Wilborn captures the real essence of the man and his world and tells a really satisfying story in the end.  

Author talk

American Nations:  A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America.  Colin Woodard.  Viking, 2011.  384 pages.  (10 year anniversary updated edition 2021)

This is one of those books that make you think about American history in a different way than what you're used to.  It's not a new idea, but relatively new to me.  Colin Woodard's approach is to tell the story of America as a loose federation of eleven separate and distinct nations, each with its own very distinct roots, attitudes, and beliefs.  Those distinctions continue to shape us, our society, and all political discourse and outcomes today.  Basically,  according to this view, America has only been a unified country during World War II, and even then each nation came to its support of the war effort with different motivations.  The rest of the time, the nations have been making and breaking alliances with each other and in conflict with each other.  In fact, our country's founding and the principles on which it was founded were not universally supported. The six nations were at odds with each other throughout.  It all makes for an extremely interesting theory that makes sense in a lot of ways, and, in fact, some of the author's impressions in the original 2011 publication have proven to be somewhat prescient.  It's not necessarily an optimistic picture, but it makes you think.  

Reading The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man in the 21st Century

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.  James Weldon Johnson.  Sherman, French, & Co., 1912.  236 pages. Reprinted in 1927 by Alfred A. Knopf.

My latest classic read or re-read, one of the first books ever published in the US that presented a frank and honest portrayal of black life in the country, without offensive over-the-top stereotypes and broad comic characterizations.  It is a fictional memoir that Johnson first published anonymously, but many readers  assumed it was more factual than fiction.  It's a frame story, with the unnamed narrator revealing his life story and the secret that overshadowed his life. Born in Georgia just after the Civil War, he is the child of a formerly enslaved woman and a wealthy white man.  Knowing that they couldn't be together in Georgia, the father sent mother and child to Connecticut so that the boy could get an education and have a better life.  Because he had a very light complexion, race and color, and all that those constructs entailed, were of no concern to the boy for his first few years in school, but then realizations hit him head-on, and he begins his life-long struggle with racial identity.  He develops an extraordinary musical talent which opens up many opportunities for him, and he also realizes that he can operate within both worlds, black and white.  He decides to dedicate his life to spotlighting black music and to introduce it to the world, elevating it to the attention it deserves - "glorifying" his race and their achievement.  In the process, he has many experiences that remind him constantly of the overemphasis on race in America.  Finally, on a return visit to Georgia, he witnesses a lynching, and that leads him to make a final decision.  He gives up his race, his talent, and his "birthright" in exchange for security and safety, choosing to "pass" as white for the rest of his life, thereby becoming an "ex-colored man." The book is a brilliant depiction of race relations in America, colorism within a race, and the idea of "passing," forsaking one's true identity for expediency.   

Author Talk

The Beast in the Clouds:  The Roosevelt Brothers Deadly Quest Find the Mythical Giant Panda.  Nathalia Holt.  Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2025.  288 pages.

I have never understand the fascination with/admiration for the Kennedy family that many Americans have.  I've never found much to admire in any of them. Maybe it's all the tragedy that seems to surround the family over generations?  I've always thought that Theodore Roosevelt and his family were much more interesting and admirable, and perhaps even more tragic.  I mean, Roosevelt's first wife and mother both died on the same day, Valentine's Day, in the same house, just a few hours apart.  He had a bit of an estranged relationship with his first child, Alice, one of the most interesting of all the presidential children in history. His youngest son Quentin became a WWI pilot and was killed in action over France.  Ted, or Theodore Jr., had a long and distinguished political career and was the oldest soldier, and only general, to land on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.  Kermit accompanied his father on numerous expeditions, including an Amazon trek that nearly killed them both, and he led a troubled personal life that ended in suicide.  This book documents the 1928-1929 expedition led by Kermit and Ted Roosevelt in the Himalayan region of Tibet and China.  The expedition was sponsored by Chicago's famous Field Museum of Natural History, and its objective was to collect specimens of the region's wildlife, specifically the almost mythical giant panda, thought to be - if it existed - a ferocious bear.  As incredible as it seems now, the animal most connected with China was almost totally unknown outside of legend well into the 20th century.  The first evidence of their existence didn't reach the West until the 19th century.  Even few Chinese claimed to have ever seen one, representations are almost nonexistent in Chinese art over the centuries although artists portrayed many other animals, and, in a country in which one can find furs, skins, and body parts of almost every animal that ever existed in the country, its furs were never offered for sale in markets.  It was the Roosevelts' job to prove its existence, to kill specimens, and to bring the hides and skeletons back for mounting and scientific study.  Here's another hard-to-reconcile bit for many of us:  I've never understood or appreciated the concept of trophy hunting and find it repugnant.  However, well into the 20th century, it was standard scientific practice to hunt down and kill thousands of animals, make orphans of baby animals, and kidnap said babies, dooming them to miserable lives in captivity, or more likely, miserable deaths.  It was even considered acceptable to go after and kill the last known specimens of a species.  The expedition was a harrowing one, and both brothers nearly died.  The expedition also changed them and their attitudes forever.  It's a great read, and a great companion read to Candice Millard's River of Doubt, about the aforementioned Amazon expedition.  

 

Author interview

The Land and Its People.  David Sedaris.  Little, Brown and Company, 2026.  272 pages.

Sardonic. Outrageous. Acerbic. Curmudgeonly. Quick-witted. Arrogant. Egocentric. Obsessive. Neurotic. Iconoclastic. Irreverent.  Finicky.  Judgemental. Fussy. Curious. Weird.  Critical.  Candid. Blunt. Attention-seeking. Funny.  Hilarious.  Honest.  Cantankerous. Contrary. Ornery. Not afraid to say what everybody is thinking.  All words used to describe David Sedaris.  Absolutely one of my favorite celebrities ever and my favorite essayist/social commentator, but you have to wonder sometimes how he has any friends or a 35-year relationship.  Nevertheless, I will read anything that he writes (OK, to be honest, I didn't love his unedited diaries and his book of animal fables, but I do love everything else.)  This is one of his best collections of essays.  

Street scenes Vienna, 1911

Anima Rising.  Christopher Moore.  William Morrow, 2025.  400 pages.

More Christopher Moore! Why haven't I read him before?  I love this book.  It's a historical fiction fantasy comedy set in 1911 Vienna.  Artist Gustav Klimt spots the body of a beautiful, young, nude woman in the canal.  Thinking she's dead, something compels him to draw the scene.  While  he's sketching, the woman sputters. She's alive.  Instead of alerting police, he takes her to the house he uses as a studio. At first, she appears mentally ill, even feral, but eventually her fantastic, incredible, totally unbelievable story emerges, with assistance from Klimt, his model Wally Neuzill, artist Egon Schiele, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung.  Since she initially remembers nothing about her past life, Klimt names her Judith, and she assumes a place in his world while her new friends and acquaintances help her rebuild her memory.  And what a memory! Turns out, Judith is literally the Bride of Frankenstein's Monster, resurrected by Dr. Frankenstein to be his creation's companion.  Following a harrowing existence as the monster's- Adam's - wife/prisoner/hostage in the Arctic, she makes multiple journeys into the Underworld,  alternately interacting with gods and spirits and reappearing on the Earth, both among the Inuit and in Europe.  Once her story is revealed, it becomes obvious that she is being hunted by various unknown people, putting herself and the people around her in danger.  Besides being a fantastically fun and fast-moving story, this book is full of great historical bits.  Most of the characters are real people, and many of the events are real.  I love books that lead me down multiple rabbit holes of research as I read.  There's art, philosophy, psychology and more, overlaid with very creative fantasy and totally irreverent humor.  Note:  there are elements that are not for the prudish or those easily triggered by open and frank sexuality. And I highly recommend the audio version; narrator Mary Jane Wells is a genius at voices and characters, adding tremendously to the enjoyment. Picture a cross between Mel Brooks and Lenny Bruce, maybe even raunchier.  I will definitely be reading more Moore, especially the historically themed titles.  

Movie Trailer 2018

Ready Player One.  Ernest Cline.  Ballantine Books, 2011.  384 pages.

I consciously avoided Ready Player One when it was the biggest novel on the planet and later when the movie was released, for two reasons:  1) my natural aversion to anything that is universally popular and 2) I am not and have never been a gamer - Tetris is as game-y as I get.  I know next to nothing about video games, and I'm totally happy with that.  It's been 15 years now (impossible!) since the book came out, so I decided to try, and I'm glad I did.  You probably already know, but this is the plot summary:  "In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself."  The result is a hugely fun adventure filled with 80s nostalgia perfect for a Gen X 80s teen like myself.  The fact that I'm not a gamer did not affect my enjoyment at all.  It was a lot of fun.  (And the audiobook narrator is Wil Wheaton who has become one of my favorite narrators.)

1996 Movie Trailer

Mother Night.  Kurt Vonnegut.  Fawcett Publications, 1962.  192 pages.  

Latest classic read/re-read.  First published in 1962 and inspired by the war crimes trial of Adolf Eichmann and Lord Haw-Haw, a British traitor who did pro-Nazi radio propaganda broadcasts, it's in the form of the fictional memoir of Howard W. Campbell Jr, and American citizen who moved to Germany in 1923, remained as the Nazi regime took over, and became a well known, author, playwright, and propagandist.  However, he was also secretly an American spy,  transmitting coded information - so coded that he had no idea what he was passing on -  in his broadcasts.  The trouble is that only three people beside himself knew that he was an American spy.  At the war's end, Campbell became a war criminal.  Initially captured by soldier Bernard O'Hare (Campbell and O-Hare both appear in Vonnegut's later Slaughterhouse Five.), Campbell's handler strikes a deal for his release, and Campbell lives the next 15 years in relative obscurity and anonymity in New York City.  That life comes crashing down when his identity is revealed and publicized, and Israel, the USSR, and West Germany all start demanding his extradition for trial.  Campbell writes this memoir while awaiting trial in an Israeli prison.  The resulting novel is a dark-humored parody of white supremacy and extreme fanaticism, but the larger theme is really that the world is almost never black and white; everything is gray.  It's a powerful short read that affirms Vonnegut's stature as one of the greatest American novelists.  

Shelved: Books Read and Reviewed in May 2026

 

History Nation:  A Citizen's Guide to the History of the United States.  David Hanna.  Morris & Essex Books, 2024.  357 pages.  

David Hanna has written an excellent and concise overview/review of American history, just in time for America's semiquincentennial, and I'm extremely jealous.  Hanna is a high school history teacher and author, and he's basically written up his class curriculum.  It feels like his curriculum and mine were very similar.  Here, he's told America's story, albeit in broad strokes, the good, the bad, and the ugly, using the "city on a hill" theme as bookends, from John Winthrop's use of the phrase in 1630's "A Model of Christian Charity" to Ronald Reagan's invocation of the phrase throughout his political career.  He connects events and ideas across time and makes them incredibly accessible.  It is a progressive and inclusive historical summary, but it's much more balanced and objective than Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, a book that some reviewers have compared it to.  If you're interested in celebrating "America250" with a solid review that will encourage thinking about America's story and how it should be studied and taught, this is a great book for you.

Author Talk

Democracy:  A Case Study.  David A. Moss.  Belknap Press, 2019.  784 pages.

David A. Moss is a business administration professor at Harvard, and a proponent of the Harvard Business School Case Study Method of classroom discussion.  He designed a course in which he applied those principles to the study of history and began training secondary and college history teachers to use it in their classrooms.  The idea is to begin with an objective summary of a case and break it down in an open student-led discussion of 5 questions:  1.  Define the problem, 2. What is the context?, 3. What key facts must be considered?, 4.  What alternatives are available to decision makers?, 5.  Finally, as the decision makers at the time of the case, what action should we take?  In this book, Moss has selected 19 cases that represent challenges to democracy in American history, some you're familiar with and some you're not.  The case is left open-ended to allow contemplation or discussion, but the outcome of each event is discussed in an appendix.  The whole point of this book is to encourage discussion.  As we are becoming more and more anxious about the state of our country and the rising divisions and tensions that threaten us and our ideals and discourage constructive debate, discussion of these cases in classrooms, book clubs, friends groups, etc. is a powerful antidote.  I'm engaged with it as part of a lifelong learning class, and I thoroughly enjoy the thoughtful and respectful discussion of history and politics that I haven't been able to enjoy for twenty years or more. The structure of the book allows a facilitator to pick a few of the cases to study as a group (My group is only doing 4 cases together.   The facilitator does the classes at other times with other groups and picks other cases.), but be sure to include Moss' introduction and conclusion as well, because they contain great insights.  This is another fantastic book for America's semiquincentennial, and I highly suggest it as a group read.

A Podcast episode reviewing the case and book

Bringing Down the Colonel:  A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the "Powerless" Woman Who Took on Washington.  Patricia Miller.  Sarah Crichton Books, 2018.  384 pages.  

I can summarize this book in three words:  Men are pigs.  And those three words are a major slander against pigs everywhere.  It's 1894, and Madeline Pollard does the unthinkable, she files a breach of promise lawsuit against the popular and powerful Kentucky Congressman William Breckinridge, alleging that the pair had begun a decade-long affair when she was a teen, despite the thirty year age gap and the fact that he was married.  That affair, she charged, had led to multiple pregnancies, and, when Breckinridge's wife died, he promised to marry Pollard before abruptly marrying another woman, leaving her abandoned and broken.  Shockingly, she won, and the case captured America's attention and mobilized Kentucky's women to enter the political world for the first time, ending Breckinridge's political career.  However, much of the book is a history of the cultural and legal abuse suffered by women in the 19th century.  The double standard applied to the genders was staggering.  A woman who had premarital sex was considered to be irredeemably "ruined" for the rest of her life while there were no negative consequences for men.  A woman who had the temerity to work in any mixed-gender environment or exercised any sort of social independence was widely considered to be automatically sexually available.  In the South, society conformed to the old English aristocratic patriarchal idea that every woman in a man's household was his to do with as he pleased, whether she was an indentured servant, slave, wife, or relative.  Rape was impossible to prosecute because prevailing legal opinion held that a woman could only be penetrated if she was willing.  "Doctors" wrote medical textbooks arguing that education caused women's internal organs to dry up and to fail, creating chronic invalids and early deaths.  Thousands of babies conceived out of wedlock were murdered, dumped, and abandoned.  The author creates a quite vivid, disturbing, and enraging context for the society that was shaken when Madeline Pollard defied the status quo and took her stand, becoming an unlikely women's rights crusader and icon.

2012 movie trailer

The Great Gatsby.  F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.  208 pages.  

For years, I believed that I didn't like The Great Gatsby.  Maybe because in ninth grade I couldn't relate to the fast, alcohol and jazz drenched, social world, but then again, more than forty years later, I still can't relate. I mean, invited to parties?  What's that like?  However, in the past couple of weeks, I've come across multiple references to it and figured that the universe was telling me that it was time for a re-read.  Now I see why it's remained a touchstone in American culture for a century.  This time, I enjoyed it.  It's such a classic, quintessentially American story and so incredibly modern for a novel published over a hundred years ago.  Just to refresh your memory: The Great Gatsby follows narrator Nick Carraway as he becomes entangled with the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties in hopes of rekindling his past romance with Daisy Buchanan. As Gatsby pursues this dream, tensions with Daisy’s husband Tom Buchanan lead to betrayal, tragedy, and ultimately Gatsby’s downfall.  My enjoyment may have been heightened by the fact that I listened to the audiobook version read superbly by actor Tim Robbins.

Author Talk

Circe.  Madeline Miller.  Little, Brown and Company, 2018.  400 pages.  

I'm a big fan of modern retellings of myths, if they are well done, Stephen Fry's latest books for example.  This book got all the buzz and lots of acclaim when it was published, and, although it took me a minute to get into it, and the language is sometimes a little overwrought, I found it to be successful and entertaining.  Circe, a daughter of the Titan and sun god Helios, feels weak and powerless by comparison and just doesn't fit in too well amongst the gods, constantly struggling to find her niche.  She discovers that niche in pharmakeia, the art of using herbs, potions, poisons, and drugs to perform transportations and other magic.  Soon, that ability and the great skill which she develops are seen as a threat to Zeus and the other Olympians, and Zeus forces Helios to banish Circe to a deserted island for the rest of eternity.  Despite being banished, Circe manages to cross paths with many of the famous characters in Greek mythology like the Minotaur, Scylla, Daedalus, Icarus, Ariadne, Hermes, Athena, Jason, Medea, and, of course, Odysseus.  The result is a great story told from a fresh, new feminist perspective.

Author Talk

Paradox.  Douglas Preston and Aletheia Preston.  Forge Books, 2026.  352 pages.  Book 2 of 2, Cash and Colcord series.

I took a little action thriller detour for the newest book by one of my favorite thriller authors, Douglas Preston.  For this one, he teamed with his daughter, "a reformed lawyer and prosecutor turned thriller author," to continue a series he began with Extinction, starring Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frankie Cash and local Sheriff Jim Colcord.  That book set up a "Jurassic Park"-type resort in the Colorado mountains where scientists had brought extinct megafauna mammals back to life with, of course, dangerous unintended consequences.  Specifically, in this case, the scientists went the extra mile and re-created murderous Neanderthals.  Now, sometime later, with the "Neanders" still hiding in the mountains, Cash and Colcord are called in for a strange murder.  A reclusive, schizophrenic hermit is found ritualistically tortured and murdered in his cabin.  Meanwhile, a holy relic in Rome is inexplicably defaced.  As Cash and Colcord investigate,  they discover not only a connection between the two, but also have to deal with more murders, intrusive press, violent protesters for and against the "Neanders," UFO/UAP researchers, and a fanatical secret society.  It's another fast-moving and thought-provoking page-turner, consistently Preston.  

A Persistent Echo.  Brian Kaufman.  Black Rose Writing, 2023.  225 pages.

This was one of those books that I discovered through a Facebook ad, and it seemed interesting.  It's 1897, and August Simms, an old man who has lived an adventurous life of exploration, returns to Rhome, Texas to die.  Fifteen years earlier in Rhome, Simms had experienced two great personal tragedies, events that have haunted Simms ever since.  He's also drawn back to Rhome by newspaper reports of mysterious flying machine sightings in the area, and he's always up for a mystery.  As he collects eyewitness accounts of the UFOs, he discovers that tensions are still roiling just under the surface, both tensions going back to that 1882 lynching and more current tensions arising from the rapidly evolving economic, social, and technological climate of the turn of the 20th century.  The book has lots of very strong reviews, but it didn't quite live up to that mark for me.  I would give it 3 or 3.5 stars out of 5, but maybe my rating is marred by the fact that I listened to the audiobook version and found the narration to be extremely poor.  It was so poor that I thought that it was maybe the author reading, and I was shocked to find that it is done by a professional narrator and actor.   He was so numbingly monotone that it made me think that even I could have a career in narration.

Author Talk

Ten Caesars:  Roman Emperors From Augustus to Constantine.  Barry Strauss.  Simon & Schuster, 2019.  432 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.  

Barry Strauss has written a history of the Roman Empire, nearly four centuries, told through the lives of ten emperors:  Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Diocletian and Constantine.  A while back, social media informed us that men think of ancient Rome constantly, and it must be true because social media said so.  I am not one of those men.  Nevertheless, this book is an easily accessible general history of the Roman Empire and an examination of its legacy still felt today. 

1945.  Robert Conroy.  Random House, 2007.  432 pages.  

Hours before Japanese Emperor Hirohito made the announcement of Japan's surrender to end World War II, a group of military officers staged a failed coup, intending to kidnap the Emperor and to prevent the surrender.  They wanted to follow the way of the bushido, fighting until either victory or death; surrender for them was never an option.  Fortunately, the coup collapsed rather quickly, but what if it had succeeded?  That's the premise of Robert Conroy's alternate history, 1945, and it allows him to explore a lot of very interesting questions.  Would the US have used more atomic bombs?  How many more American and Japanese casualties would have occurred and how long would it have taken to conquer Japan?  How would the American public respond to the continued death and devastation and what would be the effects on the home front?  What would happen to the relationship among the Big Three Allies?  What would the new post-war world look like?  Here, Conroy creates a comprehensive novel addressing all of these questions, using a number of characters, both fictional and historical. The real life characters and events are portrayed in a manner that reveal thorough research, and the speculation is sound.  It all makes a great story.  This was my first discovery of Robert Conroy's work which seems to be mostly alternate history.  It reminds me of Herman Wouk and Ken Follett, two of my all-time favorite historical fiction authors, and I will definitely explore more of his work.

2002 Movie Trailer

The Quiet American.  Graham Greene.  William Heinemann, 1955. 208 pages.

Another classic read, and there are many parallels between this book and another classic, The Great Gatsby.  Both are popular and critically acclaimed short novels that masterfully capture the zeitgeist of their decades, the 1920s and the 1950s - the decadence and the turmoil.  Both stories are told by jaded and cynical narrators and revolve around idealistic men who are secretly leading double lives, and there's a love triangle in each book.  Both books offer commentaries on the American psyche, particularly the "American Dream" and the idea of American exceptionalism.  Both books remain incredibly fresh and modern decades after their publication.  In The Quiet American, the narrator is British reporter Thomas Fowler, in Vietnam to cover the futile French effort to restore colonial control, and the idealistic young American leading the double life is Alden Pyle, a US Aid representative/CIA agent who is secretly coordinating with unsavory characters to carry out his own agenda, resulting in even more death and destruction.  Their personal conflict arises because they both love - or is it desire to own? - the same young Vietnamese woman named Phuong.  When Pyle is murdered, French colonial police lackadaisically investigate, and Fowler relates the story of their relationship against the violent backdrop of the Vietnamese war for independence, with daily explosions in Saigon and other cities and pitched battles in the countryside.  Beyond the human story, this is most definitely an anti-war and anti-imperialism novel, and its message is incredibly relevant today.  Published in 1955, it's amazing how insightful and prescient a British novelist was about America's upcoming war in Vietnam.  And yes, both books reflect the sexism and racism of their time, perhaps making them problematic for some sensitive readers.  

The Kaiser's Web.  Steve Berry.  Minotaur Books, 2021.  432 pages.  Book 16 of 20 in Cotton Malone series.

This is another entry in the Cotton Malone history thriller series by Steve Berry.  Retired Justice Department Special Agent Malone and his lover Cassiopeia Vitt are back in action, solving a historical mystery and preventing a world shattering tragedy, this time at the behest of former US President Danny Daniels who enlists them to assist his friend, the German Chancellor, as she attempts to thwart a takeover by a right-wing extremist.  The twist: is the said extremist possibly the son of escaped Nazi war criminal Martin Bormann or even the son of Hitler himself?  Everything is typical Berry, lots of action, twists, turns, and betrayals.  With only one or two exceptions, each Malone adventure is pretty consistently entertaining.  

Podcast interview

American Rambler:  Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed.  Isaac Fitzgerald.  Knopf, 2026.  352 pages.  

I'm only just realizing that "white trash memoir" is a literary subgenre.  I'm aware of many of the titles and authors associated with it, but I haven't really read any of the big ones.  When I chose this book, I wasn't really aware that it is an example.  I was intrigued by the subject matter, the search for the man behind the Johnny Appleseed myth, and the "tracing his footsteps across contemporary America" format.  I might not have picked it up had I known more about Fitzgerald.  He had a rough childhood, including long homeless stretches and emotional, if not physical, violence.  His parents had psychological issues.  He is/was a heavy drinker and drug user.  At almost 40 years old, he had never owned a car or signed a lease, spending his life sleeping out in the open or on somebody's couch or floor.  He freely admits that he has no compunction whatsoever about accepting handouts.  And he's not the brightest bulb.  For example, he actually planned to float down the Allegheny River on a cheap inflatable raft from Walmart, and, in one episode, he spent half of a baseball game rooting for the wrong team.  I wouldn't necessarily want to hang out with him, but that's just me.  I'm not typically drawn to Jack Kerouac types. All that being said, I actually enjoyed the book.  The meat of the story, of course the myth of Johnny Appleseed, real name John Chapman.  In the minds of many, Appleseed is an American legend like Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, the subject of many fantastic tall tales, but he was very much a real man with an incredible real life.  Unfortunately, the myth has become greater than the man, clouding his place in American history.  Fitzgerald dispels those myths and does a good job of developing a picture of the real man.  Along the way he has great interactions with average Americans and offers great insights into the American psyche. Of the three genres attempted here - history, memoir, and travelogue - history is maybe the least successful, but I did learn a bit more about Appleseed and discovered a few people connected to his story that I want to learn more about, and Fitzgerald's thoughts and ruminations on the subject of history and legend and the often very fine differences between the two are interesting. 

Author interview

The Hooligans of Kandahar:  Not All War Stories Are Heroic.  Joseph Kassabian.  TCK Publishing, 2022.  257 pages.

There's a long list of books that document the insanity of war, too long to list here.  And yet humans have always done it and, it seems, will always continue to do it.  We've all heard the famous quote "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results."  (Incorrectly attributed to Albert Einstein, the quote is actually much more recent.)  This book documents an Afghanistan deployment of a squad of soldiers who took their nickname "The Hooligans" to heart and forged the bonds that only soldiers experiencing combat together can forge, forever sharing the life and death moments of their deployment and the lifelong damages that they will carry after deployment.  Joseph Kassabian was a 21 year old team leader in that squad; he had joined the army at 17.  He and his squad are deployed to Kandahar, the birthplace and stronghold of the Taliban, tasked with training and supporting the corrupt and often Taliban-sympathetic Afghan police who are just as likely to torture and execute their neighbors as Taliban fighters are.  Think "Animal House" meets "MASH," but hard "R' or even "NC-17" rated, the book is funny, sad, and infuriating all at once, an honest and unflinching look at the horrors of war that is a great addition to the shelves of war stories.  It made for a very fitting Memorial Day weekend read.  

Author Interview

The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel:  Romanovs, Revolutionaries, and the Forgotten Titan Who Fueled the World.  Douglas Brunt.  Atria Books, 2026.  368 pages.

Most people know of the Nobel prizes  awarded each autumn in various fields of human achievement.  Some know a little about Alfred Nobel, the inventor and industrialist who funded the awards in his will at least partly to assuage his guilt over profiting from manufacturing explosives.  However, very few people are aware that the Nobels were a dominant, perhaps the most dominant, industrialist family in Europe, on par with, and often going head to head against the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds.  The real driving force behind the Nobel wealth and power was actually Alfred's nephew Emanuel.  He also is most responsible for the ensuring that the Nobel prizes exist.  As the executor of his uncle's will, he was pressured by Alfred's heirs, and even the King of Sweden, to disregard the prizes, but Emanuel stood firm and created and served as the chief steward of the Nobel Prize and his uncle's legacy for the rest of his life.  Emanuel was a visionary who built the largest oil industry in Russia and in Europe and amassed a huge fortune, while making powerful connections within the Russian bureaucracy and royal family, but he was not a "robber baron" in the American mold.  Workers in Nobel industries were among the happiest, most loyal,  and best taken care of in the world. Of course, all of that changed with World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the ensuing civil war.  When it was all over, Emanuel was no longer an industrial titan, and he was relegated to being even less than a footnote in history.  This excellent biography is extremely interesting and informative, and it offers at least some of the illumination that Nobel deserves.  

Shelved: Books Read and Reviewed in October 2025

 

The King's Deception.  Steve Berry.  Ballantine Books, 2013.  432 pages. Book 8 of 20 in the Cotton Malone Series.

The adventures of former Justice Department agent turned Copenhagen rare book dealer Cotton Malone continue in this volume, centered in and around London.  Cotton Malone and his son Gary are flying from Atlanta to Copenhagen for a school break vacation, but they're not alone.  As a favor. Malone has agreed to transport a 15-year old London street kid from Atlanta back to London.  The kid is wanted by both the CIA and British intelligence.   What should be a simple handoff turns into an all-out life or death adventure that threatens them all, and it's rooted in not one, but two, 400-year old British mysteries:  what happened to the legendary "Tudor treasure" and did Elizabeth I harbor a huge secret that would shake the foundations of the United Kingdom?  Some people might look down on these novels, but I find them enjoyable reads.  Berry always starts with tons of research and a real historical question at the core of the book, and he then embellishes the story with a lot of action.  The mysteries are always intriguing and pique my alternate history interests. There may be plot lines that you can see coming from miles away, but there are enough plot twists to hold your attention.  The audiobook versions are great for walks, exercise, housework, sitting around the pool, etc. 

Torpedo Juice.  Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2005.  336 pages.  Book 7 of 26 in the Serge Storms series.

Sadness is realizing that I only have one Serge Storms left to read after this one, since author Tim Dorsey died far too early a couple of years ago.  This is an early one, and the characters of Serge Storms and his boon companion, Coleman, are still being refined and developed. However, it's jumped to a high position on my favorite Serge adventures list.  It's hilarious from beginning to end, and there's plenty of knowledge to be gleaned about the history and culture of the Florida Keys.  Serge has two missions in life:  to bring justice to those who prey on the innocent and to absorb and then to dispense every bit of Florida history, natural and human, that exists.  He makes progress on both fronts here, but he also embarks on a third mission, getting married.  The hunt for his soulmate takes Serge on a typically twisted journey on which he crosses paths with drug dealing kingpins, evil executives, and would-be cult followers.  Along the way, the book takes kind of a meta turn as the Narrator decides to become a part of the story, a brilliant and incredibly original and fun twist.  Also, two sheriff's deputies, Gus and Walter, make a huge contribution to the fun.

Author Talk

The Inheritors:  An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning.  Eve Fairbanks.  Simon & Schuster, 2022. 416 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, South Africa underwent a revolution, scrapping more than a century of harshly enforced racial segregation and minority rule and instantly pivoting to a majority-rule democracy - an unparalleled transformation.  Americans being Americans, and American media being American media, South Africa basically ceased to exist at that point because we have almost no attention span for domestic events in foreign countries, especially African countries.  The Inheritors provides an insight into that transformation for American readers, primarily through the experiences of three South Africans: Dipuo, a young black woman and anti-apartheid organizer, Malaika, her daughter born around the time of the transition, and Christo, a white Afrikaans farm boy who was one of the last South Africans drafted to fight in Angola.  Eve Fairbanks built relationships with the three over the course of a decade, and she basically allows them to tell their stories.  Readers learn about the struggles of the country through the struggles of these individuals as they try to cope with unprecedented change.  It's an extremely moving, enlightening, and thought-provoking book.

Author Talk

She Came To Slay:  The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman.  Erica Armstrong Dunbar.  37 Ink, 2019.  176 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

If any American deserves a fresh, thoroughly researched, well-written, originally illustrated, biography that is equally accessible and enjoyable for everyone from grade school to adulthood, it is Harriet Tubman, and this is the book.  Of course, we all know the basics, that Tubman was the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad who personally escorted hundreds enslaved people to freedom after her own escape.  Some of us may know of her long career as an abolitionist before the Civil War and her service as a spy and nurse during the Civil War.  Fewer know that she became the first woman to lead an armed combat mission - a very consequential mission.  Even after the war, she never stopped, becoming an active suffragist and an advocate for veterans and for the aged.  Tubman's always been near the top of my list of greatest Americans, and this biography is great introduction to her life for yourself and for any younger readers in your life.  

No Sunscreen For the Dead.  Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2019.  336 pages.  Book 22 of 26 in Serge Storms series. (AI generated photo)

Sadly, it's over.  After three or four years, I've now read all 26 books of the Serge Storms books, and there will never be another one.  It's hard to imagine that another author could ever match the perfect combination of insanity and genius that Tim Dorsey displayed in every single title.  Every book is filled with Florida, and American, history, laugh out loud hilarity, biting dead-on satire, and utter chaos.  Granted, his work is not for everyone.  It's filled with absurd, adult comic book-ish, graphic sex and violence that will turn off some readers, but others will recognize the brilliance and will be entertained like never before.  

I read the books out of order because of availability in used book stores and the public library, and that was not an issue for me, but others might need to read them in order.  This book is number 22 of 26, but, in many ways, I think it is a fitting final adventure.  The theme of the book is retirement in Florida, and Serge explores the idea somewhat wistfully, as he finds his people, people who match his love of Florida, of history, and of life itself - people, like him, who have packed a lot of living into life.  He becomes an honorary resident of a retirement mobile  home community and realized that the other residents led incredibly vital lives and made major contributions to society, but now others are taking advantage of them.  That doesn't stand in Serge-world, and his vigilantism in this book is particularly satisfying.  But wait - there's more.  Dorsey also throws in a great Cold War espionage storyline, and the climax is unbridled chaos.  There are a couple of minor glitches.  The first couple of pages lead the reader to believe that it's a book about the notorious community called The Villages, and all of the action takes place a couple of hours south, in and around Sarasota.  (If Florida is jokingly called God's waiting room," Sarasota is the exam room.) There's also an historical error:  In a flashback, one of the characters reports to a submarine base in 1970.  The problem is that it wasn't a submarine base until 1978.  Whether that was an uncharacteristic slip-up or just a little story-telling adjustment, I don't know, but it wouldn't even register with 99.9% of readers.  In any case, No Sunscreen is a more-than-fitting conclusion for me.

The Birth of the Feature Film:  Crash Course in Film History

The Mirage Factory:  Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles.  Gary Krist.  Crown, 2018.  416 pages.

Gary Krist is one of those authors at the top of the narrative nonfiction writing game, along with authors like Erik Larson and Abbott Kahler.  In this 2018 book, Krist tells the story of Los Angeles through the lives of three towering figures and their careers from 1910 to 1930:  William Mulholland, the engineering visionary who brought power and water to a formerly written-off barren wasteland in order to make the city even possible, D.W. Griffith, the "father of American film" who built a powerful culture-shaping industry out of a minor novelty, and Aimee Semple McPherson, the charismatic evangelist who built a church that drew tens of thousands of believers each week and who reached millions more each week through magazines, newspapers, tours, and broadcasts on her own radio station.  Singly, they became American icons.  Collectively, they created Los Angeles and made it a major city physically, economically, creatively, and spiritually.  Krist makes the case that all three were both masters of their crafts and masters of illusion, capable of dreaming big dreams and making those dreams come true, overcoming major obstacles in the process.  Yet, the mirages or illusions that they created all dissipated because of their own tragic flaws, "a crescendo of hubris, scandal, and catastrophic failure of design." Each of them saw his or her fortunes and legacies suffer, but the city remained and prospered.  It's a riveting history. No, wait, it's boffo, epic, spectacular, stunning, thrilling, legendary, unforgettable, electrifying, breathtaking, awe-inspiring,  .... etc.

Author talk

Target Tehran:  How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination and Secret Diplomacy to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East.  Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar.  Simon & Schuster, 2023.  368 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

My default position is usually "Truth is stranger (and more interesting) than fiction," and this book definitely makes that case.  I am not a spy thriller reader, but this book should appeal to that group and to those that are fans of political shows like West Wing and The Diplomat.  It is an incredibly inside look at Israel’s covert operations aimed at thwarting Iran’s movement toward becoming a nuclear power. The authors show how Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, has combined sabotage, cyberwarfare, assassinations, diplomatic efforts, and intelligence gathering over the last 20 years or so to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear arms and to reshape power dynamics in the Middle East. It concentrates on events since Israeli agents and Iranians opposed to their government stole Iran's top secret nuclear archives in 2018 in order to prove that Iran was violating previous agreements and actively deceiving the world.  Twenty-first century warfare is in full force as Mossad and the Israeli Defense Force use cyberwarfare and drones in addition to embedded agents and on-the-ground assets and targeted assassinations to destroy Iran's program.   In the process, both Israel and Iran have become Top 5 world cyber-powers. At the same time, there have been some unbelievable diplomatic gains as Israel has forged relationships with several of the Gulf states because they all see Iran as their greatest existential threat.  The book does have some shortcomings.  It is largely one-sided;  the authors had much more access to US and Israeli participants than to Iranians.  Much of the subject matter is still, of course, highly classified, so the authors had to rely on limited declassified documents and interviews with individuals involved, and intelligence agencies and those people involved all have their own agendas.  Finally, time is an issue.  The authors completed writing the book in April 2023, and lots of new developments have already occurred.  Nevertheless, it was a more satisfying read than I anticipated, and I learned a lot about the current climate in the Middle East.

 

Author talk

The Fifties:  An Underground History.  James R. Gaines.  Simon & Schuster, 2023.  288 pages.  Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.

Too many people think of the 1950s as a decade of conformity and complacency, picturing sock hops, soda fountains, and poodle skirts, but, as I tried to impress upon my students each year, there was always turbulence under that placid surface.  There was the rise of rock and roll and teenage rebellion which shocked older generations.  Beatniks challenged middle-class norms.  Artists shook up the art world.  The Red Scare and the Lavender Scare sent shock waves through government and society.  The civil rights and feminist movements started ramping up.  There was a lot of angst, anger, confusion, and conflict.  This book celebrates several individuals who were brave enough to stand - often alone - on their principles and lead fights that they believed needed fighting.  In particular, Gaines selects gay rights, feminism, civil rights, and environmental movements.  A couple of the people discussed are familiar names, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, and Rachel Carson for example, but the others aren't nearly as well known, or as celebrated as they should be.  There's Norbert Wiener, a mathematician and computer scientist who is considered the father of cybernetics, the forerunner of Artificial Intelligence.  There's Harry Hay who first envisioned a national gay rights movement in the 1940s.  There's Pauli Murray whose law school thesis provided much of the legal basis for Thurgood Marshall's arguments in Brown vs Board of Education and whose legal work made sexual discrimination unconstitutional. Gerda Lerner pioneered the concept of women's history as an academic field, despite being told by superiors and colleagues that there wasn't enough material to study.  Isaac Woodard was a black WWII veteran who was blinded by a South Carolina sheriff because he dared to look him in the eye.  These are all important stories that should be shared.  This book should be widely read.  Almost makes me wish that I was back in the classroom in order to share them. ... Almost.

Who was Xolotl?

Xolo.  Donna Barba Higuera and Mariana Ruiz Johnson.  Levine Querido, release date November 4 2025. 224 pages.  Ages 7-10.

I bought a copy of this book to read during a break at the Southern Festival of Books this past weekend, and it proved to be a great discovery.  I wish I had attended the author's session.  It's a beautifully illustrated children's story of Aztec mythology.  Aztec creator and feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl had a dog-headed twin brother, a hideous monster, named Xolotl.  Shunned and denigrated by his brother and the other gods, Xolotl struggles to find himself and his function in the realm of the gods. Of course, he becomes the hero, rescuing mankind from extinction and becoming the powerful Lord of the Underworld,  In the process, he creates dogs as humanity's most loyal and devoted companions.  If there's a child in your life that is interested in other cultures, mythology, and art, especially a child who love dogs, this book will be a huge hit.  And if there is not such a child in your life, get a copy for yourself.  You'll love it.

book trailer

The Impossible Fortune.  Richard Osman.  Pamela Dorman Books, 2025.  368 pages.  Book 5 of 5 in Thursday Murder Club mysteries.

A little break from history to read the latest Thursday Murder Club mystery.  We love the whole series, and this one does not disappoint.  (We have still not seen the movie yet because we we are afraid of being let down.)  The four main characters are residents in a retiree community in Britain who solve murders, including a former MI-6 secret agent, a former labor union organizer and agitator, a psychologist, and a nurse.  There is also a large supporting cast of characters, and each one is a well-developed delight.  The mysteries are solid, and there is a lot of humor, with many LOL moments.

Publisher blurb:

"Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal. But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.
Joyce’s daughter, Joanna, jumps into the fray to help the gang as they seek answers: Has someone kidnapped Nick? And what’s this uncrackable code they keep hearing about? Plunged back into action once more, can the four friends solve the puzzle and a murder in time?"

The Patriot Threat.  Steve Berry.  Minotaur Books, 2015.  400 pages.  Book 10 of 20 in Cotton Malone series.  

Cotton Malone is back.  The busiest retired secret agent ever in the history of the world.  Working much harder and more often than when he was actually employed.  In this case, his former boss, Stephanie Nelle, tasks him with tracking a rogue North Korean who was once the dictator's anointed heir but who was disinherited and forced into exile.  The problem?  The North Korean is trying to lay hands on top secret historic documents that could cause the collapse of the United States and the destabilization of the world.  You know, the same thing Cotton faces once or twice a year.  The issue is whether or not the 16th amendment establishing the federal income tax was legitimately ratified.  If it was not, the federal government would lose 90% of its revenue and be liable for trillions and trillions of dollars in damages to everyone who ever paid income tax over the last century and who was prosecuted for tax evasion.  In 24 hours time, Cotton, along with agent Luke Daniels and US Treasury Agent Isabella Schaefer, engage in the usual fast-spaced thrilling action in Vienna and across Croatia, racing against North Korean and Chinese intelligence to keep the documents out of the wrong hands.  Typical Cotton formula, but as  satisfying as usual for what it is.  Also, as usual, I learned something from reading this book. In this case, I learned the stories of Haym Salomon, the Jewish businessman who basically financed the American Revolution and was never repaid what he was owned,  and Andrew Mellon, the former Treasury Secretary who built the National Gallery of Art.  I also learned about the real conspiracy theory that the 16th amendment, and the federal income tax, is illegal. 

Author Talk

 Matisse At War:  Art and Resistance in Nazi Occupied France.  Christopher C. Gorham.  Citadel, 2025.  320 pages. Thanks to Kensington Publishing and Citadel for the review copy.

Christopher C. Gorham is an excellent researcher and biographer.  In his newest book, his subject is the great 20th century French artist Henri Matisse, specifically his life in Nice France during Nazi occupation.  Unlike other European creatives who fled Europe during the late 1930s and the early days of World War II, Matisse decided to remain in his home and to continue working, a decision not solely based on patriotism.  As the war progressed, Matisse's health declined, to the point of near death at least once.  It was during this period that he began to move away from painting and adopted the medium of paper cutouts and collage, creating most of my personal favorites of his works.  Gorham discusses his work as skillfully as any art historian, but his real focus is to try to determine what, if anything, Matisse did to aid the Allied war effort, a question that has not been satisfactorily answered in other biographies.   What does he find after a thorough search through letters, journals, and other primary sources?  Spoiler alert:  not much.  No, Matisse didn't join the military Resistance or send coded messages revealing German troop movements or hide Jews downed Allied pilots and help them escape. Instead, Matisse worked, often incorporating French and American patriotic symbolism in his art.  In fact, his mere presence, as others fled, became sort of a minor rallying point for people who knew of it.  Question answered, but honestly, it's not the most exciting answer.  The real excitement and action lay in the lives of Matisse's ex-wife and their children, all of whom risked their lives, and nearly lost them, and joined active resistance cells.  Even Matisse's son Jean, who had already moved to New York before the war and become an important art dealer, worked hard to help Jewish (and other) artists escape to New York and to help them make a living.  It's a good book about Occupied France and an artistic genius.  

Short Lydia Knag interview

Pseudoscience:  An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them.  Lydia Kang, MD, and Nate Pedersen.  Workman Publishing Company, 2025.  320 pages.  

Dr. Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen's previous book Quackery was a fun and informative look at various medical frauds, missteps,  and deceptions over the years.  In this book they broaden their investigation to look at many pseudosciences and conspiracy theories, investigate their origins, debunk them, and offer explanations for why anyone believed them.  A partial list of the topics covered:  rumpology (reading one's character and future by examining his/her butt), cryptids, UFOs, crop circles, spontaneous human combustion, the Bermuda Triangle, polygraphs, personality tests, faked moon landing conspiracy, world ice theory, flat Earth theory, and ghost hunting. I recommend this book and Quackery for those interested in science history and in human nature in general.