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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…
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When reality and conscience collide
I somehow missed reading Tracy Chevalier’s international best-selling novel, Girl With a Pearl Earring, which became an Oscar-nominated movie. Missing such books that everyone else is reading is one of the perils of being a book-review editor; if someone else is reviewing a book for me, I often feel that my reading the book would…
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French food, light mystery – what’s not to like?
Tom Dillon was almost apologetic when he inquired about reviewing Peter Mayle’s latest mystery novel for Briar Patch Books. The book is “light stuff,” he acknowledged. Never fear, I replied. Light is good, too. And on this blog, the only rules are the ones I set. Besides, how can someone whose most recent review was…
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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…
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The casualties in industry’s assault on science
The book Denis DuBay reviews here was published in 2008, but it is, unfortunately, just as relevant today as it was then. By Denis DuBay. DOUBT IS THEIR PRODUCT: HOW INDUSTRY’S ASSAULT ON SCIENCE THREATENS YOUR HEALTH. By David Michaels. Oxford University Press, 2008. 384 pages. $29.95. Once upon a time, seemingly in another galaxy…
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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,…
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A few good midshipmen
With all the emotion and aura of Saturday’s annual Army-Navy game fresh in my mind, I’m reviewing a recent novel set at the Naval Academy in the (Go Navy, Beat Army!) late 1980s-early 1990s. By Linda C. Brinson THE RECIPIENT’S SON: A NOVEL OF HONOR. By Stephen Phillips. The Naval Institute Press. 270 pages. $28.95.…