Books
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy’
Robert Hardman's "The Making of a King" looks at a world most readers will never directly experience.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘A Fabulous Failure’
A minor blunder in Bill Clinton's first year in the White House seemed to portend the false hope of a free trade regime that now defines working-class discontent with global capitalism.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Search for Reagan’
In a world seemingly in chaos dealing with wars abroad and unstable domestic politics, it is heartening to see that author Craig Shirley has produced yet another important study of Ronald Reagan.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘How Do We Get Out of Here’
I could write a book review here, but I don't feel like it. I feel more like writing a story of a friendship in commemoration of a great memoir. So begrudge me.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Environmental Strategic Communication”
A need for enhanced environmental communication has been building over the past few decades. The need became quite apparent with the advent of angst over climate change and COVID-19.
Adan Canto, known for his roles in ‘X-Men’ and ‘Designated Survivor,’ dies at 42
Adan Canto, the Mexican singer and actor best known for his roles in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and "Agent Game" as well as the TV series "The Cleaning Lady," has died. He was 42.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Life We Chose’
I thought Matt Birkbeck's book about mobsters William "Big Billy" D'Elia and Russell Bufalino was interesting, especially the sections on South Philadelphia, where I grew up.
A Christmastime roundup of true crime and crime fiction for aficionados
This Holiday season, one might want to buy the crime aficionado on your shopping list one or more of this year's fine true crime or crime fiction books.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare From 1945 to Ukraine’
Does war work? This question lingers in the pages of Andrew Roberts' study of the roles that strategic leadership, exemplary tactics and technological prowess played in determining the outcome of conflicts.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Lumumba Plot’
Patrice Lumumba was an inspirational hero to millions of his countrymen.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Deception: The Great COVID Cover-Up’
Americans have a right to know if their tax dollars were indirectly used to create the COVID-19 pandemic.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West’
Igor Gouzenko, Oleg Penkovsky and Oleg Gordievsky are not names that immediately come to mind when thinking about the people who influenced the outcome of the Cold War.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Italian Squad,’ part two
As I noted in part one of my coverage of Paul Moses' "The Italian Squad: The True Story of the Immigrant Cops Who Fought the Rise of the Mafia," I'm half Italian, and I grew up in South Philadelphia's Little Italy.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Plague of Models’
The fact that a studious work is not available on Amazon is enough to pique curiosity. After all, Amazon usually gives the public access to nearly all books, including those on the extreme left and extreme right.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Italian Squad’
Being half Italian and growing up in an Italian American neighborhood in South Philadelphia, I was aware of organized crime at an early age.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Democrat Party Hates America’
"The Democrat Party Hates America" is a book to be read, cited, and quoted from.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land’
With the first sentence of his kaleidoscopic guide to Eastern Europe's past, the journalist Jacob Mikanowski reveals that his work is meant to discover, to unearth: "This is a history of a place that doesn't exist."
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Follow Me to Hell’
I've read and enjoyed Tom Clavin's earlier Western histories, such as "Dodge City," "Tombstone" and "Wild Bill," all of which I've covered here.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Life Sentence’
Mark Bowden is perhaps best known for books about the military, such as "Black Hawk Down," but he has also written several books about crime.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Dangerous Company’
What would Hunter's life look like today if his last name weren't Biden?
