Briar Patch Books

Category: History

  • Around the world

    What a great, immensely entertaining book – and it’s educational, too. This would be a good choice for a book club, for vacation reading or any time you want to get transported by a good story. By Linda C. Brinson EIGHTY DAYS: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World. By Matthew Goodman.…

  • Insights into history

    How did that happen? How did the United States win World War II, only to find itself within months embroiled in a frightening, costly “cold war” with one of its former allies? Paul O’Connor looks at a book that provides some insights. By Paul T. O’Connor SIX MONTHS IN 1945: FROM WORLD WAR TO COLD…

  • Out of the South, into life’s travails

    For a debut novelist, it doesn’t get much better than what is unfolding for Ayana Mathis and The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. It’s Oprah’s pick for her book club, and it was featured on the cover of The New York Times Book Review on Jan. 6. The book deserves the attention. It is a haunting,…

  • Jefferson: No more Mr. Nice Guy

    Paul O’Connor takes a look at – and a listen to – the latest re-examination of Thomas Jefferson, one of our greatest presidents (or was he?). By Paul T. O’Connor THOMAS JEFFERSON: THE ART OF POWER. By Jon Meacham. Read by Edward Herrmann. Random House Audio. 15 CDs. 19 hours. $50. Also available in hardback…

  • The Civil War – did it have to happen?

    Full disclosure: Although he’s lived in North Carolina for decades, and knows more about the workings of government in the Tar Heel State than just about anybody, Paul O’Connor is a Connecticut Yankee. Bless his heart. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, he approached this book about the causes of the Civil War (aka,…

  • A terrible history in the making

    Would we recognize evil if we saw it walking around? Tom Dillon, a veteran newsman himself, takes a look at a book about American journalists and others who witnessed firsthand the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. By Tom Dillon HITLERLAND: AMERICAN EYEWITNESSES TO THE NAZI RISE TO POWER. By Andrew Nagorski. Simon and Schuster, 2012.…

  • Challenging questions

    The Rev. Dr. Charles P. McGathy, aka Chuck, takes a look at a provocative book about the existence of Jesus as a historical person. By Charles McGathy DID JESUS EXIST?: THE HISTORICAL ARGUMENT FOR JESUS OF NAZARETH. By Bart D. Ehrman. HarperOne. 361 pages. $26.99. Bart D. Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of…

  • A new greatest generation?

    I hope those who have access to the Greensboro News & Record will read a column I wrote on today’s Ideas front. The article talks about the importance of a new book written by members of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 2002, which I review briefly below. It also gives information about two appearances…

  • A wonderful deception

    Sometimes I choose to listen to an audiobook because I figure I’d never read the print version. That’s especially true in the case of serious nonfiction books. Perhaps because I worked in the newspaper business for so long, I have a difficult time making myself read nonfiction for pleasure. I started listening to the book…

  • Civilization’s lessons

    Paul O’Connor is sojourning in Oregon. I’ve tried to tempt him back to North Carolina with reports of fried squash, but to no avail. At least he continues to read and review books.  I suppose he’ll return when the semester begins at Chapel Hill. By Paul T. O’Connor CIVILIZATION: THE WEST AND THE REST. By…