Category Archives: history

The Looming Tower

Posted on September 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Looming Tower: Al-Queda and the Road to 9/11 © 2006 Lawrence Wright 480 pages “[…] we’re told that they were zealots, fueled by religious fervor…religious fervor. And if you live to be a thousand years old, will that make … Continue reading →

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A Nation Challenged

Posted on September 23, 2018 by smellincoffee

A Nation Challenged: A Visual History of 9/11 and Its Aftermath© 2002 The New York Times240 pages The first few anniversaries of 9/11 had a weight as they approached — not only for what memories they evoked, but for the … Continue reading →

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Fly Girls

Posted on September 11, 2018 by smellincoffee

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied the Odds and Made Aviation History© 2018 Keith O’Brien352 pages “Women must try to do things as men have tried. Where they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.” – … Continue reading →

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Antiquity

Posted on September 10, 2018 by smellincoffee

Antiquity: The Civilization of the Ancient World© 2003 Norman F. Cantor256 pages Perhaps western history is all Greek to you. In that case, Norman Cantor’s Antiquity may shed a little light on the subject. It is a brief work, scarcely over … Continue reading →

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The New Tsar

Posted on August 14, 2018 by smellincoffee

The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin© 2012 Steven Lee Myers592pages When the Soviet Union collapsed abruptly at the dawn of the 1990s, the world order changed overnight. Optimists predicted the ‘end of history’.   Such an end … Continue reading →

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Broad Band

Posted on August 9, 2018 by smellincoffee

Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet © 2018 Claire Evans288 pages When the ENIAC was first displayed for the public, its proponents bragged that it could do complex mathematical calculations in seconds which would have … Continue reading →

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How the Post Office Created America

Posted on July 5, 2018 by smellincoffee

How the Post Office Created America:  A History© 2016 Winifred Gallagher336 pages Once the conduit of revolution, then a mainstay of communities both rural and urban, the post office has fallen on rough times as of late.   Amid speculation that … Continue reading →

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Forgotten Founders

Posted on June 22, 2018 by smellincoffee

America’s Forgotten Founders© 2011 ed. Gary Gregg II185 pages After reading several thoughtful full-length biographies in this series, I expected the same quality in miniature from this collection. That is not the case at all; after a lengthy opening essay … Continue reading →

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Fire and Blood

Posted on June 20, 2018 by smellincoffee

Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico  © 1973 T.R. Fehrenbach 675 pages Fire and Blood is an epic history of Mexico, one that begins at the dawn of time and takes its time moving on.  Case in point: the 20th … Continue reading →

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Replay

Posted on June 8, 2018 by smellincoffee

Replay: The History of Video Games© 2010 Tristian Donovan501 pages Video games emerged in the late 20th century as a completely novel form of entertainment.  Replay recounts the history of how programming experiments and text-based adventures were transformed first into … Continue reading →

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