About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Candice Millard
Rave New York Times Book Review A lean, fast-paced account of the almost absurdly dangerous quest by those two friends turned enemies, Richard Burton and John Speke, to solve the geographic riddle of their era ... This is not new ground...but Candice Millard has earned her legions of admirers. She is a graceful writer and a careful researcher, and she knows how to navigate a tangled tale ... She takes pains to put her story in context.
Mark Synnott
Positive The New York Times Book Review ... Synnott skillfully describes early-20th-century exploration, then dives into a story about Everest that merges mystery, adventure and history into a single tragic bundle ... When many books have been written on a subject, like Everest, we turn to a new one largely in the hope that the author will make a good guide and traveling companion. Synnott measures up nicely ... Synnott knows how to keep readers turning the pages, and they will speed their way to his mystery’s resolution.
Greg Grandin
Positive The New York Times Book Review \"... fine, elegantly written ... Grandin is a fine explainer with a knack for pithy summary ... Grandin keeps his cool — he prefers the stiletto to the club — but he grows angrier as his history reaches the present day.\
Christopher Knowlton
Rave The New York Times Book Review Knowlton has a sharp eye for details — in cattle towns, boardinghouses featured communal toothbrushes dangling from strings — but his real aim is the big picture. Cattle Kingdom is a cautionary tale of boom and bust. Despite the gunslingers and cowpokes, this lively history evokes the headiest days of the housing bubble of the early 2000s or the tulip mania that hypnotized Holland in the 1600s. The analysis does not bog down the storytelling. Knowlton deftly balances close-ups and bird’s-eye views.
Timothy Egan
Rave The New York Times Book Review Egan has a gift for sweeping narrative — he moves briskly through the Great Hunger, the open-air prison that was Australia, the Civil War — and he has a journalist’s eye for the telltale detail...This is masterly work.