Category: History

  • Gripping tale of history resonates today

    Paul O’Connor is a longtime journalist who grew up in New England and has spent decades living in North Carolina, observing and writing about government, politics, political machinations and a range of other topics. This time, he’s considering some history that sounds eerily familiar. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor   LINCOLN ON THE VERGE: THIRTEEN…

  • Pieces of a life

    Bob Moyer takes a look at a biography that gives new life to a 15-year-old Jewish girl in Norway who was killed in the Holocaust. Reviewed By Robert P. Moyer KATHE — Always Been in Norway. By Espen Sobye. Krakiel Publishing. 208 pages. $24.95. Early in his career, writer Espen Sobye was a statistician. He…

  • A house filled with tears

    Rob Moyer loves detective fiction, it’s true. But from time to time, his interest in human nature – including its darker sides – takes him into the serious nonfiction realm, and particularly into the horrors of the Holocaust. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer LETTERS TO CAMONDO. By Edmund de Waal. Farrah, Straus and Giroux. 182…

  • A good story – that raises questions

    Bob Moyer, aficionado of mysteries and thrillers, also has an abiding interest in nonfiction books about the Holocaust. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE SPIRAL SHELL: A French Village Reveals Its Secrets of Jewish Resistance in World War II. A Memoir. By Sandell Morse. Schaffer Press. 239 pages. $24.95. Sandell Morse did not know what…

  • A different perspective

    Paul O’Connor, a veteran journalist, offers a review of a book that he says isn’t easy to read – but worth the effort. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor CASTE: THE ORIGIN OF OUR DISCONTENTS. By Isabel Wilkerson. Random House. 388 pages. $32, hardcover. Many weekday mornings, a friend calls to discuss the news and express…

  • How could he?

    Bob Moyer reviews a book that’s both mystery and thriller, as are many of the ones he reads, but this is a nonfiction book of history. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer MENGELE: Unmasking the Angel of Death. By David G. Marwell. Norton. 432 pages. $30. He stood on the ramp, as scores of Jews flooded…

  • On duty, always

    My husband, Lloyd Brinson, was a Marine officer (oops; I’m told there’s no such thing as a former Marine, so should I say is?) who served in Vietnam. Much later, he was an elementary school principal. He finds that this children’s book has much to offer readers of all ages. Reviewed by Lloyd Brinson GOODNIGHT…

  • Out of ‘faded shadows’

    Bob Moyer reviews a memoir that’s also the story of piecing together a very personal puzzle. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer WHEN TIME STOPPED: A Memoir of My Father’s War and What Remains. By Ariana Neumann. Scribner. 321 pages. $28. Growing up in Caracas, author Ariana Neumann knew of her father’s family only from the…

  • A memoir, and much more

    Bob Moyer loves New Orleans and visits often. Here he reviews a book about a side of New Orleans most tourists don’t visit, a book about “people that people don’t write books about.” Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE YELLOW HOUSE. By Sarah M. Broom. Grove Press. 304 pages. $26. New Orleans has certain phrases…

  • The ties that divide

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson SPYING ON THE SOUTH: An Odyssey Across the American Divide. By Tony Horwitz. Penguin Audio. 17 hours; 14 CDs. Read by Mark Deakins. $45. Also available in print from Penguin Press. The news of Tony Horwitz’ untimely death from cardiac arrest came as I was in the midst of listening…