Genre: History

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The Con Men: Hustling in New York City

When I started reading Con Men I was expecting stories about big time cons in New York. I was thinking about the classic con men like we see in the The Sting, The Grifters, or Catch Me If You Can. That really isn’t what this book is about. This book is about the street level hustler. The guys paying three card monte and running scams on neighborhood stores. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this book. If you are looking for a behind the scenes look on how someone can talk tourists out of their money, convince a store to let merchandise walk out the front door, or set up Ponzi schemes, then this book delivers. The authors spend years with scam artists plying the streets of New York and delivers an amazing view into that world you can’t get from reading news accounts or trial transcripts. They tell you… Read more »

Glorious War: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer

Glorious War is a biography covering the exploits of George Custer’s Civil War career as well as touching on some of the years just before and after the war. It attempts to give a more in-depth look at one of the few soldiers whose life after the Civil War over shadowed his actions during it. I read a lot of biographies and to me they are really hit or miss. While the subject is important in getting me interested in a biography it is really the tone the author uses that makes or breaks it for me. In Glorious War Thom Hatch uses a flowing narrative style that does an excellent job of combining the need to relay information about the subject’s life while still making it an enjoyable read. For me this is one of the most enjoyable biographies I have read and joins a small group of similar… Read more »

1914: The Year the World Ended

1914: The Year the World Ended is an accounting of the origins of World War I. It takes on myths that surround the war and tries to show why the powers that be in Europe allowed the world to dissolve into one of the bloodiest conflicts in history. The author, historian Paul Ham, asks why 8.5 million people had to die. There is no denying that Paul Ham is a skilled historian. His research for this book is thorough and meticulous. He has a very firm grasp of all the events that built up and eventually lead to the war and the players involved. This book is very detailed and gives a very complete explanation of the causes of World War I. While as a history text it does succeed, in every other way this book fails. It is billed as a narrative account and it is anything but that. … Read more »

Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior

Review by Travis Starnes While I usually read more conflict oriented military history focusing on particular wars there is an interesting sub-genre that focuses on the building and structure of the military. Books in this sub-genre are more history and cultural study hybrid that true history. For me Chosen Soldier is one of the highlights of the genre. This book takes that sub-genre and makes it even more focused, and is all the better because of that. Dick Couch’s choice, with the exception of the first chapter, of focusing solely on the training of Green Berets rather than on the whole history of the outfit as a whole really lets him go into details that broader texts miss. As a former SEAL Couch defiantly knows about Special Forces and is able to translate that into really detailed and clear explanation of what these men go through. He gives enough background… Read more »