Tag: World War II

  • Love, war and murder

    Chris Bohjalian is without a doubt one of the finest writers in America today. His novels are literary without pretension and compelling stories without unnecessary artifice. He writes about terrible events so that we comprehend their enormity without being blinded by our horror to their greater truths. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE LIGHT IN…

  • Into the viper’s nest

    Rarely is a history lesson as entertaining as in the Maggie Hope World War II novels. Here’s a review of the latest one, No.  3 in the series. Review by Linda C. Brinson HIS MAJESTY’S HOPE. By Susan Elia MacNeal. Bantam Trade Paperback Original. 354 pages. $15. Susan Elia MacNeal’s Maggie Hope novels just keep…

  • 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…

  • The Third Reich and the power of fiction

    Bob Moyer doesn’t throw glowing adjectives around lightly. If he calls a book “amazing,” it’s worth taking note. By Robert Moyer HHhH: A Novel. By Laurent Binet. Translated by Sam Taylor. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 327 pages. $26. The heated battle began shortly after World War II. As artists turned to the horrors of the…

  • Danger at Windsor Castle

    As readers of this blog know my now, I love historical fiction, especially novels set in the early 20th century. World War I and its aftermath in England have long been a particular interest of mine, partly because that conflict wrought such profound changes on the world as the British knew it. Charles Todd’s novels…

  • Spies, air raids, Churchill – and a young lady who can handle them all

    I like fiction that deals with fairly recent history and sometimes includes real people. Maybe that’s because most of the history courses I had in school stopped at about the beginning of the 20th century, so fiction grounded in fact helps to fill in the gaps. Maybe it’s because the links between what happened in…

  • A two-handed review

    Our roving contributing editor, Paul O’Connor, has interrupted his travels to review a novel set during World War II. Since his travels took him to Oregon when the author was there, he also was able to hear Jeff Shaara discuss his writing. By Paul T. O’Connor THE FINAL STORM. By Jeff Shaara. Ballantine Books. 446…