by envisionmg | Jan 25, 2017 | Jim Reviews
You might be surprised to know that throughout much of the 19th century Europe and the United States were overrun by a series of pandemics that killed thousands. The disease was Cholera, which is cause by a bacteria that essentially causes its sufferer to discharge...
by envisionmg | Jan 11, 2017 | History, Jim Reviews
I know what you are all thinking, “Why hasn’t anyone written a history of the Compromise of 1850?” Well, your heart’s desire has been granted. Fergus Bordewich’s America’s Great Debate is just such a book. For those of you who are...
by envisionmg | Oct 19, 2016 | Jim Reviews
The Special Air Service (SAS) is the grandfather of all special forces units. Every time you read about the exploits of the SEALS or Green Berets you are looking at organizations built on the lessons of the SAS. Rogue Heroes is described as an authorized history, but...
by envisionmg | Oct 5, 2016 | Jim Reviews
One of the big take-aways from reading Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes is how incredibly inept the CIA is. Weiner excoriates the CIA from top to bottom. Very few people escape his critical eye. One that does though was Antonio Mendez. You might know Mendez without...
by envisionmg | Sep 29, 2016 | Jim Reviews
Richard Rhodes’ Hell and Good Company is the title for the October History Book Group (meeting Oct 19 at 7) and being more organized that I usually am I set down to read it well in advance. I have always found the Spanish Civil War fascinating. For one its a...
by envisionmg | Sep 12, 2016 | Jim Reviews
Swarup’s Six Suspects opens with a murder. Vicky Rai, a disreputable playboy, is having a party to celebrate getting off on a charge of murdering a bartender. In the middle of the party Rai is shot to death and as the title of the book suggests there are six...
