Books

• 
• 10/27/19
  

  New Jim Mattis Memoir Avoids Criticizing Trump, Instead Lashes Bush, Obama, and Others

  by Jeffrey J. Matthews

  With consequential elections forthcoming now is the time for Mattis to tell voters the unvarnished truth about Donald Trump.     

• 
• 10/13/19
  

  The Original War on Terror

  by Eric Laursen

  A review of Nunzio Pernicone and Fraser M. Ottanelli, Assassins against the Old Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in Fin de Siècle Europe.

• 
• 10/13/19
  

  Author Christian Di Spigna Is On a Mission to Honor a Revolutionary War Hero

  by Michael McQuillan

  A review of Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution’s Lost Hero.

• 
• 10/13/19
  

  The Moral Compass of America’s Most Distinguished Soldier and Statesman

  by James Thornton Harris

  George Marshall’s honesty and modesty were a key to his success.

• 
• 9/29/19
  

  Myth vs History: A Study of Vietnam War Stories and Journalism

  by Jerry Lembcke 

  Australia’s Vietnam by Mark Dapin is important for the rectification it brings to public memory of Vietnam War homecomings.

• 
• 9/22/19
  

  A Family History of the Red Scare

  by David L. O'Connor

  A review of David Maraniss' A Good American Family: My Father and the Red Scare.

• 
• 9/15/19
  

  Expansion and Motivation: Frontiers and Borders in the Past and Present of the United States and Russia

  by Robert W. Thurston

  Greg Grandin's The End of the Myth, David McCullough's The Pioneers, and Angela Stent's Putin’s World push us to consider and compare the history of the frontier and borders. 

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  A Nation Headed to Civil War: The Compromise of 1850

  by Sidney Blumenthal

  An excerpt from ALL THE POWERS OF EARTH by Sidney Blumenthal.

• 
• 8/25/19
  

  Israel’s 2007 Decision to Attack a Syrian Nuclear Facility is History and Warning

  by Edwin Black

  When reading Katz’s book, we are reminded that as complex and difficult as the Syrian strike was, any similar action on Iran’s nuclear capability would be infinitely more daunting and riskier. 

• 
• 8/18/19
  

  Book Review: Jeremy Black's Imperial Legacies

  by Jeff Roquen

  While Black lapses into a biased apologia and generalizes at the expense of factual evidence, Imperial Legacies, on the whole, delivers a long overdue re-contextualization of the British Empire.

• 
• 8/4/19
  

  “Mr. Straight Arrow,” John Hersey, and the decision to drop the atomic bomb

  by D. M. Giangreco

  What recent histories getsright--and wrong--about Harry S. Truman's decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan. 

• 
• 6/16/19
  

  A Fresh Take on Watergate Illuminates the Present

  by James Thornton Harris

  While Richard Nixon’s rise and fall has been repeatedly examined — there are more than a dozen biographies of him — John Farrell’s book, Richard Nixon, a Life, offers many new insights.

• 
• 5/19/19
  

  Into the Teeth of the Dragon’s Jaw in Vietnam

  by Erik Moshe

  The Thanh Hoa, or “Dragon’s Jaw” bridge was one tough target to crack for war strategists and military pilots during the Vietnam War. Erik Moshe interviewed the authors of Dragon's Jaw to learn more. 

• 
• 4/19/19
  

  The Coming of American Fascism, 1920–1940

  by Chris Wright

  Michael Joseph Roberto's The Coming of the American Behemoth: The Origins of Fascism in the United States, 1920–1940 is particularly timely, as the old structures of American fascism have deepened in the last generation and colonized much of the world. 

• 
• 4/28/19
  

  Racism’s Longue Durée: Why the Citizens’ Councils Matter Now

  by Anders Walker

  A review of Stephanie Rolph's new book Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989.

• 
• 4/21/19
  

  Presidential Personality and Politics

  by Jerome Braun

  A review of American Dialogue: The Founders and Us by Joseph J. Ellis. 

• 
• 4/7/19
  

  The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton

  by James Thornton Harris

  The Ghost, a new biography of Angleton by Jefferson Morley, a Washington journalist, provides an intriguing look at this powerful, enigmatic Cold Warrior.

• 
• 3/31/19
  

  The Holocaust and the Christian World

  by Patrick Henry

  A new book offers reflections on the past of antisemitism and challenges for combatting it today. 

• 
• 2/10/19
  

  Revisiting the Wright Brothers and the History of Human Flight

  by Ken Lawrence

  What William Hazelgrove's Wright Brothers, Wrong Story gets wrong about the Wright brothers.

• 
• 1/31/19
  

  Marie Colvin: an Amazing Woman Whose Life Was Cut Short Trying to Present Us with the Truth

  by James Thornton Harris

  In Extremis, Lindsey Hilsum's new biography of the journalist,  shows that underlying the glamor of celebrity and the adrenaline-rush of dodging gunfire was a committed humanitarian.