History/Nation/Law

By Sebastian Junger My quick notes: I really enjoyed Junger’s “Tribe” and was intrigued by his newest book. It’s eclectic and dynamic. He takes a look at the meaning of freedom and breaks the book down into sections on running, fighting and thinking. He includes history and combines it with his personal travels across [...]

By Joseph M. Marshall III My quick notes: As my Native American knowledge has grown over the past few years, Crazy Horse was a name I wanted to learn more about. This is a tremendous history of the person and legend that was Crazy Horse. The author tells it with such appreciation and passion [...]

By Lindsey Fitzharris My quick notes: Holy smokes this was a good read, but it is certainly not for the fainthearted. I was so taken in by Lindsey’s descriptive history of the evolution of surgery. She brings us back to Victorian era England and the raw, violent and often disgusting world of medicine. My, [...]

By David Grann My quick notes: Wow, what an awesome read. It’s the type of historical non-fiction that makes you wonder how in the heck it’s real. I breezed through it in three sittings. It has every aspect of a thriller, driven additionally by the fact that it actually happened. This book outlines that [...]

By Christopher Browning My quick notes: This is a book that’s been in my queue for quite some time. With a difficult subject matter - Nazis, Hitler, atrocities toward Jewish people - I wanted to give it the attention and study it deserved. This was an incredibly insightful look at how a group of [...]

By Timothy Egan My quick notes: Loved this book. I picked it during COVID (2020) because we are currently dealing with our own hard time. It helped give me perspective on difficult times in the past while instilling hope and belief that we, too, will persevere and get through this. The book focuses on [...]

By Timothy Egan My quick notes: Holy cow, I can't say enough about this book. It's part history, part travelogue, part pursuit and total passion. Edward Curtis's fascinating life and mission to record every aspect of North American Native American cultures before those cultures were erased from the Earth is an unbelievably rich ride. [...]

By Dan Flores Categories: Science/Nature, History/Nation/Law My quick notes: I had heard Dan Flores on a podcast years ago and put American Serengeti in my queue. This is a fascinating look at the history of animals in North America, from the Pleistocene Era (Ice Age) to today. This books incites awe and wonder at [...]

By Douglas Preston My quick notes: I came across this book by way of "The Devil in the White City." They have a similar feel: travel, mystery, intrigue, wonder, adventure. Author Douglas Preston takes us on a ride to South America to uncover a lost city in Honduras. As a former Spanish teacher who [...]

By Heather Morris My quick notes: What an incredible book. While difficult to read at times due to its subject matter, I believe books like this make us better, more aware, more empathetic people. This is a love story based on real people during the Holocaust. Both heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. [...]