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Recent Reviews
Helena Merriman
Rave New York Journal of Books Merriman’s story is absolutely compelling, written in the style of a novelist, but based totally on the author’s interviews with the men and women who participated in the most successful escape of the Cold War. She had access to documents that had been released from the secret police files after the \'workers’ and peasants\' state\' fell in 1990 ... Merriman tells the story as a fine reporter. She makes you identify with the participants ... Tunnel 29 is a riveting story about what happens when people lose their freedom. A true hero risked everything to win it back for those he did not know.
Clint Smith
Rave New York Journal of Books \"... a magnificent nonfiction retelling of America’s battle with itself over race and slavery ... Historians rarely have his gift for language ... It is beautifully written, lyrical, and poignant. His affecting narrative continues throughout his entire project ... At times, Smith’s writing sounds like a travelogue, much as could be found in a book about Nazi death camps ... Each chapter is filled with revelations about a sorrowful time in the nation’s history. \
Brian Matthew Jordan
Positive New York Journal of Books Brian Matthew Jordan, a Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist on the faculty of Sam Houston State University, relates the war experiences of German immigrants who had settled in northeastern Ohio and volunteered to serve in the Union army ... In his new book, A Thousand May Fall: Life, Death and Survival in the Union Army, Jordan uses a broad variety of sources—diaries, letters and unpublished memoirs—to tell the story of one battalion that suffered through the worst of the national catastrophe. His scholarly notes and bibliography are significant additions to the narrative ... Jordan relates the soldiers’ agony using the letters of those who survived combined with official records of the battle. At times, Jordan’s reliance on phrases from these communications results in choppy prose, but he accurately relays the tenor of those trying times ... Jordan’s impressive history tells their story of courage in the face of danger and undeniable hazard. The Ohio 107th and their counterparts throughout the Union army saved the nation in its time of greatest peril.
Connor Towne O'Neill
Positive The New York Journal of Books Connor Towne O’Neill, a Pennsylvania native author and journalist who teaches at Auburn University in Alabama, set out to understand American racism by visiting monuments of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who represented all that was evil about the South ... O’Neill’s first book is a dazzling reminder that American racism is robust and virulent. He writes with a fluency of American culture that portends well for his books to come.
Sasha Abramsky
Rave New York Journal of Books Sasha Abramsky’s best work addressed Dod’s Swiss adventures in mountain climbing ... Little Wonder is Abramsky’s first book-length effort in the field of sports history. Readers will hope it is not his last. Abramsky offers a fascinating portrait of the life of this forgotten sports heroine in fluid prose. Little Wonder is a worthy addition to the sports literature.
Volker Ullrich, Trans. By Jefferson Chase
Rave The New York Journal of Books ... superb and will be considered the definitive work about this evil despot ... Ullrich’s work is a monumental undertaking, with 632 pages of text, followed by an extraordinary set of notes and maps of the war. Jefferson Chase, a Berlin-based journalist, translated Ullrich’s text, retaining the cadence of the original German ... Even students of the Fuhrer’s notorious rule will learn about new incidents that occurred during Hitler’s regime ... Ullrich’s work is a remarkable treatise on the malevolence of power in modern times. Take care, lest we fall into the trap of autocracy.
Nicholas Griffin
Positive New York Journal of Books ... a well-written narrative of the events of that transformative year ... Griffin writes nonfiction with a spice of fiction. His character development excels. 1980 was an astonishing year for Miami that changed the metropolis forever. Walking down Caya Ocho, any visitor could tell that Miami had become firmly fixed as the capital of Latin America. This is not just another cookie-cutter American town.
Valerie Hansen
Rave The New York Journal of Books It was a massive challenge to cover almost a millennium of events. Hansen’s work is written in a workmanlike style much like a college textbook. Each chapter starts with a map to assist the reader. There are nuggets of facts that demonstrate the extent of Hansen’s expertise, data that will add to the knowledge base of even the most skilled professional ... Hansen’s narrative illuminates the Dark Ages in this masterwork on globalism.
Heather Cox Richardson
Rave New York Journal of Books ... marvelous ... Richardson’s search for the truth carries the reader from the first European settlers to modern day, not an easy task in a comparatively short narrative. Her text combines articulacy with accuracy. Her analysis is compelling ... Her narrative moves quickly ... Richardson’s scholarly work puts to an end the fantasy of American exceptionalism.
Burt Solomon
Positive The New York Journal of Books ... a splendid tale ... Solomon uses the Pittsfield setting with aplomb ... Solomon’s conclusion of this investigation exceeds the boundary of the actual facts. The coroner in Pittsfield had found the 1902 South Street collision to have been an accident. Burt Solomon does not, and his conclusion is much more satisfying to the reader and to President Roosevelt.
Clare Clark
Positive The New York Journal of Books ... splendid ... a beautifully written novel about a time in history not far from our own with contemporary echoes that should give us pause.
Brian Windhorst
Positive The New York Journal of Books This is not the book from which to learn how LeBron became one of basketball’s all-time greats. LeBron’s skills on the court are evident for all to see. However, his work behind the closed doors of Nike, Gatorade, Coke, and Kia are not public knowledge. This is the book that explains, as no one has done before, how the business of basketball, including most importantly the endorsement game, is played.
Matti Friedman
Rave The New York Journal of Books A noteworthy and authentic spy story ... filled with riveting vignettes. There are many available histories of the entire 1948 War. This is rather a splendid retelling of one small part of the effort to create a Jewish homeland. That effort continues ... Friedman’s account of the Arab Section is an eye-opening narrative of the early days of the State of Israel. It is not an optimistic story, but a genuine and sorrowful one.
Cailin O'Connor and James Owen Weatherall
Positive New York Journal of Books \"... notable ... The Misinformation Age explains systematically how facts are determined and changed—whether it is concerning the effects of vaccination on children or the Russian attack on the integrity of our electoral process ... O’Connor and Weatherall’s work will help us face the \'alternative facts\' that Trump relies upon.\
Bradley W. Hart
Positive The New York Journal of Books In a well-written and well-researched new book, Hart relates the stories of American groups and leaders who marched the streets of our cities in the 1930s to prepare the nation for Hitler’s triumphant arrival. America has always had an alt-right fringe of bigots and racists ready when called upon to return their distorted view of \'greatness\' to the United States ... Hart systematically describes the German-American Bund, the Silver Legion, radio preachers such as Father Coughlin and others ... Hart’s new book raises issues that are not limited to history. The streak in the American psyche for authoritarianism and racism is evident today. Hart’s Hitler’s American Friends should serve as a useful reminder of the calamity we must avoid.