In the author’s note to The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee notes that “Cancer is not one disease, but many diseases.” It anticipates Mukherjee’s history, a look at cancer starting in the ages and proceeding forward to the modern day. It’s a 4,000 year history, and Mukherjee tells it well. The […]
Review | Lost in Shangri-la by Mitchell Zuckoff
2013-01-23 · by ·
In the closing months of World War II, twenty-four serviceman and WACs climbed aboard a military transport plane for a day of sightseeing over a recently discovered “hidden valley” deep in the interior of Dutch New Guinea. Surrounded by high, jungle covered mountains and far from civilization, the valley was home to natives undiscovered by […]
Review | Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 by Charles Murray
2013-01-04 · by ·
I have friends who remind me, regularly, that wealth is becoming more and more concentrated among the wealthy. Further, the “not rich” are making less than they used to, relative to the wealthy. In other words, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. There is a divide growing in America, argues Charles […]
Review | With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain by Michael Korda
2012-12-16 · by ·
Ranked among the greatest battles in British history, along with Waterloo, defeating the Spanish Armada, and Trafalgar, the Battle of Britain stands as a turning point during World War II when the Nazi juggernaut finally faced a foe that would not fall. Though few recognized it immediately, it was the turning of the tide in […]
Review | Civilization: the West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson
2012-05-24 · by ·
The elevator pitch for Niall Ferguson‘s “Civilization: The West and the Rest” is simple: Western civilization has risen to dominate world affairs over the last five hundred years, a record unmatched in world history and at odds with its population and geography relative to other countries and civilizations, due to six “killer apps” that have provided an advantage […]
Review | The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
2012-04-06 · by ·
Michael Lewis can tell a story like no other. In fact, even before I finished reading his “The Big Short,” I wanted to work the book into every conversation I had. The story was that interesting and compelling. Anyone who can take the financial crisis of the last few years, find a story in it that […]
Review | 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann
2012-04-05 · by ·
“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” But what happened next? More than just the discovery of the new world that we call the Americas,Christopher Columbus set off globalization of ecology, trade, biology, and nationality beyond anything that preceded it, argues Charles Mann in “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.” The discovery of America did more than […]
Review | Grand Strategies: Literature, Statecraft, and World Order by Charles Hill
2012-03-21 · by ·
I’m always on the look out for new books to read (but what I really need is more time). Suggestions from friends, mentors, reviewers, blogs, and references in other books send me off on an endless cycle: hear about a book, find it on Amazon (or the library), purchase (or check out) said book, bring […]
Review |1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
2011-11-28 · by ·
I’ll be the first to admit that my interests in the historical have generally been Eurocentric, especially the Roman Republic and Empire. Recently, though, I found reason to pick up Charles C. Mann’s “1491,” and I have had a hard time putting it down since. The children’s nursery rhyme reminds us that “In 1492, Columbus […]
Review | Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris
2011-11-27 · by ·
To read the first in Edmund Morris’ biographical series on Theodore Roosevelt (see my review here: “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt“), one might be left with the feeling that it was inevitable that Teddy someday become President. Individuals from his German tutor while he studied abroad to those who came into contact with him while […]
