Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Fuck your Southern “honor”

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

by 3 Comments

CBR 17 BINGO: Culture, because the culture of the pre-American Civil War South is prominent in this book Erik Larson is one of my favorite non-fiction writers, and if American history is your jam, this is a must-read. Folks like myself who are less war-curious might still find it interesting; however, I felt it sometimes got bogged down in the logistics of pre-war strategy. I found the sections dedicated to the personalities involved and the beliefs of the times more interesting, and also more rage-inducing. […]

Thunderstruck

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

by Leave a Comment

Thunderstruck is the story of Marconi and the first radio receiver/transmitter. It is also the story of the first murder solved by radio telegraphy. In that classic Erik Larson style, he weaves together two storylines, making a single cohesive narrative about some relatively dry history that becomes a thrilling race against time. Marconi invented radio telegraphy, aka the ability to wirelessly transmit telegraph signals. This was a critical invention, for at the time there was little understanding about radio waves, and monopolies on literal cable […]

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

by 2 Comments

Wow. Fantastic. It took me a while to get through (it’s over 500 pages) but very much enjoyed. I loved the focus on Churchill, his family, and the rest of the inner circle that kept Britain going during WWII. We also get some insights into Germany, Hitler, and others who were focused on trying to take out Churchill since they saw him as the reason for Britain’s continued defiance. The book goes very briskly after the U.S. enters the war. Larson wraps things up on […]

Churchill, the Blitz, and British Grit

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

by Leave a Comment

I’ve read most of Erik Larson’s books, and you really can’t go wrong if you want an interesting (some say cinematic) take on history. That said, I had more trouble becoming engaged with The Splendid and the Vile than I have some of his other works, my interest in London during the Blitz notwithstanding (and really, will Larson ever be able to top Devil in the White City?). Slow to get going, the book picks up in the second half, and it’s definitely worth sticking out to […]

Hubris is the name of the game.

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson

by Leave a Comment

This was just an okay read for me. A narrative non-fiction account of the hurricane in 1900 that was one of the most destructive in American history, Isaac’s Storm is really a feat of research and documentation. It’s clear Larson did his homework. It just never really grabbed me, until it did grab me but in a very unpleasant way. Larson painstakingly accounts the days leading up to the hurricane, mostly focusing on Isaac Cline, who headed up the Galveston, TX branch of the weather […]

It’s the end of the world as they knew it

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

by Leave a Comment

I’m a new-er fan of Erik Larson. I read Devil in the White City only last year (or last last year?) which makes me unique in these parts, these parts being the Chicagoland area. That book details the creation of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, as well as the horrific serial killings by H.H. Holmes during that time period, and it is compelling. It’s pretty much required reading here, much like (shudder) Kate Chopin’s The Awakening in Louisiana which I read, I dunno, 5 […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo