#history – Page 47 – Cannonball Read 17

You can always learn something, even amid explosion sound effects

Rivals! Frienemies Who Changed the World by Scott McCormick

July 21, 2019 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

They say this is for ages 8 and up, and the sound effects and voices help with that, but there really is a lot of information in this! After finishing my other Audible Original for the month of July, The Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs, I thought I was pretty caught up on my dino knowledge. Turns out, nope! That didn’t even mention anything (that I remember) that was featured in this section! Maybe it was due to the fact that that one was made in […]

“If there is one man to whom I do feel myself inferior, it is a coal-miner”

The road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

July 20, 2019 by tillie Leave a Comment

George Orwell is not a great writer, but he is an admirable journalist. He does not shy away from difficulty or experiencing hardship on his own body. I admire him a lot for this trait of character. In The road to Wigan Pier he was commissioned by “the left bookclub” to write about the experience of miners in Yorkshire and Lancashire. Orwell has never been anything but clearly socialist and this is a book about socialism and an attempt to argue for its benefits for […]

Must-read historical fiction.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

July 17, 2019 by kella Leave a Comment

CBR11 Bingo – History/Schmistory After reading Quinn’s previous novel, The Alice Network, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her new book. I adore her way of portraying women in historical fiction – finding the badass women who are the heroines of the story, not the background players. One part of this story follows the journey of Nina Markova, as she journeys from the wilds of the Soviet Union to Moscow, in order to join the Night Witches – a legendary group of […]

Infamy, infamy! They’ve all got it infamy!

Dangerous Days in the Roman Empire by Terry Deary

July 16, 2019 by TheShitWizard Leave a Comment

Dangerous Days in the Roman Empire is the second of my Terry Deary haul and proved to be far more information packed than the one I read on Ancient Egypt, covering three centuries of Roman history from the rule of Augustus to Rome’s fall. While lip service is given to some aspects of plebeian life, such as a look at some of the jobs that a Roman citizen might have, it’s very much a look at its rulers instead in a whistlestop tour through the […]

Keep A Diary

Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon's Downfall by Elizabeth Drew

July 10, 2019 by Jake Leave a Comment

Read as part of CBR11 bingo: History Elizabeth Drew’s Washington Journal is making me wish I had kept a diary about the Trump era to document these last few years. I often talk about how the Trump Era is the “lol nothing matters” times of nihilism and obstinance. Seems like a lot of that was going on in 1973-1974. Drew covers the last year of Nixon’s presidency from the perspective of an insider journalist living in the hermetically sealed bubble of Washington, DC. She did a great […]

“Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” Martin Niemöller

Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust by Hedi Fried

July 8, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

#cbrbingo11 #history There was this finished copy of Hedi Fried’s Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust sitting among the reader copies. It was short. It had a pleasant cover. I was hoping it would not be too dry or too academic. Nonfiction can be a drawn out with the author trying to get all their points across and, even, converting you to their way of thinking. And how would these questions work? What it turned out is an interesting way to teach the Holocaust. […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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