Quick Book Reviews Blog

  Short Summary Douglas Brunt veered off the path well-known to him and chose to dabble in non-fiction when he recently published The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel . In it, he points his attention to the often overlooked inventor of engine by the same name, giving us a window into his complicated life, leading us all the way to its known conclusion, which leaves all too much room for speculation.

  Short Summary Edwin Black has become a celebrated thorn in the sides of many corporate and governmental entities, going to great lengths to pull their darkest secrets out from the shadows. In IBM and the Holocaust , he chronicles in minute detail how IBM co-planned and co-organized the Holocaust for the Nazis, and the unsavoury alliance which blossomed between the two.

  Mark Bittman has spent much of his career exploring the topic of food from every possible angle, and most recently he published the culmination of many years of effort and research, titled Animal, Vegetable, Junk .  In it, he explores human history and its progression when viewed through the scope of its consistent need for food, arguing it played a pivotal role in shaping our civilization, and might play an even more critical role in its decline.

Annie Jacobsen is an author who has taken it upon herself to bring the truth to light no matter how uncomfortable it may be, with her area of speciality seemingly revolving around government affairs. In one of her latest books, Phenomena , she decides to delve deep into the four decades during which the U.S. government intently poured their resources into extra-sensory perception research, attempting to develop and unlock the secrets of telepathy and psychokinesis.

James Gleick Asks the Pertinent Questions To go back or forth in time, travel the fourth dimension, to wind the clock whichever way we want it to... that's one of the many seemingly unachievable wishes all of humanity shares. Mastering our movement through time would definitely make life much easier, but of course, that's a concept that comes with many paradoxes that raise valid questions about its viability.

A Royal Family in Royal Peril The early 20th century was a period of great turbulence in many places around the world, and Russia was certainly one of the more prominent ones with a countrywide revolution taking place in 1917 . It was a period of terror, death and chaos, one where many prominent people met their maker at the hands of the Bolsheviks.

The Second World War is one of those historical periods that will undoubtedly be studied over and over again for decades, if not centuries to come. Even with all the memories and records that were lost to war and destruction we are still digging up more and more information to fill our textbooks and libraries with.

The way in which the United States government is treating it's veterans is sure a hot topic today, but unfortunately, it's a phenomenon with nothing new to it. Indeed, the U.S. seems to have a track record of mistreating its veterans that, at the very least, goes all the way back to the First World War, the horrors of which were soon unjustly overshadowed by the second one.

The deep-buried past of which we can only catch glimpses has forever been a point of fascination for people; where there are blanks to fill, possibilities for the fantastic, grandiose and even surreal arise. We like to think that the closer we get, in terms of history, to the beginning of our society, the more meaningful and far-reaching are the intentions and actions of people.

While on one hand the invention of planes opened the doors for quick worldwide travel, as it happens, they also became a new (seemingly popular) target for terrorists who are looking to take some people hostage. Many airplane-related tragedies have occurred in the past decades, yet there are few that can compare to what happened in 1976 when Flight 139 from Tel-Aviv to Paris was taken hostage by German and Arab terrorists, demanding the release of many others. The plane was diverted to Entebbe airport , under the rule of Idi Amin who had exactly zero interest in getting involved.

There are few professions out there that inspire the same atmosphere of intensity, danger and adventure as spying. Though it is true that in many cases being a spy amounted to getting some documents from point A to point B until one gets caught, there are some out there who went about their line of work with real panache, leaving behind a trail of stories fitting for a novel. Moura Budberg is one such person, often referred to as Russia's most seductive spy, at least during her time. Deborah McDonald (who specializes in biographies) and Jeremy Dronfield have decided to examine that woman's life and weave a narration worthy of her exploits, which resulted in them publishing A Very Dangerous Woman .

When the era of communism dawned to a close in the Soviet Union, with the country becoming Russia in 1991, a very turbulent and violent period began during which the country faced a “Wild West”-type scenario, or at least as much as modern civilization permits such a thing to happen. The perestroika led to countless revolts and a change of regime, but most importantly, it left a huge chunk of power hanging in the air for anyone to claim as their own.

Dictators inhabit the pages of our history books quite comfortably and have done so for quite some time. Tyrannies are nothing new, and they have existed for so long that many have developed a certain fascination with them, seeking to understand their mechanics to the very core. Perhaps because of sheer bad luck (or the Illuminati) the 21st century gave rise to a fair number of dictators who left their bloody marks on the world. But more than that, they also left their children, turning them into a chosen few who have been dealt a rather strange hand by life.

Though the Third Reich may have only lasted a dozen years it remains to this day one of the most scrupulously studied regimes and time periods. The National Socialist movement paved the way for a tyranny the likes of which we seldom see, of unrivalled cruelty, discrimination, brainwashing and organization... a tyranny that set an ethnic cleansing into motion.

As much as we would like for wars to end when the conquered surrender and peace treaties are signed, the truth is that the spirit of conflict floats over the people for months, if not for years after. This was true for World War II as well; though the Nazi government may have been vanquished, it left a lot of living Nazis behind, people who had committed atrocities and seeking to start anew... a chance they got in America.

No matter how much hatred one holds for the Nazis, there is no denying that they were at the peak of the mountain in terms of technological research. That is to say, they had some of the most brilliant scientific minds the world had ever seen working for the Third Reich . After the Second World War came to an end the winning countries had to decide what to do with those people, and that's when the United States put in motion the operation that would secretly bring over those Nazi scientists, putting them to work on American soil, for American interests. Annie Jacobsen has written an entire book about the whole thing, titled Operation Paperclip .

With the kind of security the President of the United States benefits from today, it would be hard to imagine someone succeeding in an assassination. No resources are spared in ensuring the safety of arguably the country's most important person, whether it be intelligence investigations, armoured cars, or security agents.

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, better-known by its acronym DARPA, is a rather well-guarded secret of the state, and as such draws a lot of suspicion by its very nature. When such a huge and unknown mass of mystery hangs in the air, it always draws people who want to pierce it and expose its true nature.

The General George Patton is certainly one of the more recognizable historical figures on the Allies' side during both World Wars, having many heroics and victories to his name. The amount of exploits he is known for would take years to enumerate, though sadly, amongst them is his death.

Digging through history's archives feels like going through a never-ending gold mine, one where you are always liable to uncover some hidden gem with the next swing of the pickaxe. The people whose stories are worth telling were countless, and there are some who take it upon themselves to shine the spotlight on the lesser-known periods and exploits in history.