Category Archives: History
Torn from the World: A Guerrilla’s Escape from a Secret Prison in Mexico – John Gibler
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “This word: disappeared. They have so many ways of erasing you, “of trying to make you doubt the truth of your own life.” After five days, after every two hours, after only having felt a world … Continue reading
Posted in History, World Issues
Tagged dissent, freedom fighters, guerrilla warfare, Mexico, poverty, sociology
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How to Remove a Brain: and other bizarre medical practices and procedures – David Haviland
(Reviewed by JD Jung) So why would anyone want to remove a brain? Author David Haviland answers the “why” and the “how” in this informative and entertaining book. Haviland also shares with us a gross method of contraception in ancient … Continue reading
Posted in History, Non-fiction
Tagged humor, medical history, Non-fiction
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A Drinkable Feast: A Cocktail Companion to 1920s Paris- Philip Greene
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “When spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise.” – Henry … Continue reading
Posted in Food & Cooking, History, Special Interests
Tagged 1920s, cocktails, Hemingway, Lost Generation, Paris, Prohibition, WWI
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A Divided Life: A Personal Portrait of the Spy Donald Maclean – Robert Cecil
(Reviewed by Ila Bullinger) Who was Donald Mclean? The son of a parliament member born to class in Marylebone, London in 1913. He was privileged, educated, handsome and charismatic. So why did he become a spy? Could you be persuaded … Continue reading
Gigolo: Inside the Secret World of the Super Rich – Ben Foster, Clifford Thurlow
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…I had plenty of money but always needed more. I had thought of myself as a healer when I started work at the spa. I had turned into a total slut. I played every client until … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, History, Politics
Tagged Britain, class, massage, prostitution, rich, society
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Serial Killers: Horror and Murder: Scary and True Stories of the Most Terrifying Serial Killers the World has Ever Seen! – Frank C. Chastain
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Don’t be fooled by the book cover! You may think it was taken right out of a tabloid headline. No, Serial Killers takes a mostly objective look at some of the world’s darkest and most notorious … Continue reading
Posted in Dark/Sordid/Bizarre, History
Tagged Crime, murder, psychopaths, serial killers
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Maharishi & Me: Seeking Enlightenment with the Beatles’ Guru – Susan Shumsky
(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) “Merely by being in his presence, we disciples entered an utterly timeless place and rapturous feeling, and, at the same time, realized the utter futility and insanity of the mundane world.” I don’t know why I … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, History, Philosophical reads, Spiritual/mystical
Tagged Maharishi, philosophy, spirituality, TM
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A Better Ten Commandments: A Guide to Living Life with and on Purpose – James Miller
(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) I must admit I almost didn’t review this book. I was reading it and put it aside. Ironically, because it espouses tossing out the old Moses tablet-engraved rules, I thought at first that it was a … Continue reading
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Philosophical reads, Your Best Self
Tagged Non-fiction, purpose, self-awareness
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Five Days That Shocked the World: Eyewitness Accounts from Europe at the End of World War II – Nicholas Best
(Reviewed by Glenda W. Anderson) Another WWII book? Since this reviewer devours this period of history, before even opening the pages, I thought, “Ah, the last days in the bunker, the Russians getting the honor of performing the coup de … Continue reading
Posted in History, Our Best, WWII
Tagged Audrey Hepburn, book reviews, Hitler, Non-fiction, WWII
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Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment -Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The militias referred to in the Second Amendment were intended as a means for white people to eliminate Indigenous communities in order take their land, and for slave patrols to control Black people.” American historian Roxanne … Continue reading
Posted in American Politics, History
Tagged gun control, mass murders, violence
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