Category Archives: history

Iran and the United States

Posted on May 13, 2016 by smellincoffee

Iran and the United States: An Insider’s View on the Failed Past and the Road to Peace© 2014 Seyed Hossein Mousavian368 pages The United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran have not been on speaking terms since the hostage … Continue reading →

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American History: the Index

Posted on May 13, 2016 by smellincoffee

Across the Bering:  Native America Twilight of the Mammoths,  Paul Martin The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America, James Wilson Kingdoms of Gold, Kingdoms of Jade: Peopling the Americas, Brian Fagan 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before … Continue reading →

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After the Prophet

Posted on May 4, 2016 by smellincoffee

After the Prophet: the Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split © 2009 Lesley Hazleton256 pages When Muhammad lay in his deathbed, legend has it that he cried to God for pity on those who would follow him. With no sons and … Continue reading →

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Waterloo

Posted on April 20, 2016 by smellincoffee

Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles© 2015 Bernard Cornwell352 pages Bang upon the big drum, crash upon the cymbals We’ll sing as we go marching along boys, along And although on this campaign There’s no whiskey … Continue reading →

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Dawn of Battle

Posted on April 19, 2016 by smellincoffee

Four hundred years before, near a village called Azincourt, an English army had waited to do battle with the French, and on that October night it had rained and rained and the sky had echoed with thunder. It had been … Continue reading →

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The English Resistance

Posted on April 15, 2016 by smellincoffee

The English Resistance: the Underground War Against the Romans© 2006 Peter Rex I was scandalized to learn, in seventh grade, that once ages ago, England was conquered. Already I had acquired the mythic conception of England as an indomitable island … Continue reading →

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The First Congress

Posted on March 29, 2016 by smellincoffee

The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government© 2016 Fergus Bordewich416 pages The first attempt at creating an American confederation resulted in a chronically bankrupt and impotent organization which no one … Continue reading →

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The Scotch-Irish

Posted on March 26, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Scotch-Irish: A Social History© 1989 James Leyburn397 pages         Though they have long ceased to be a distinct ethnic group outside of Appalachia, for years the greatest non-English minority in the United States were the Scotch-Irish. … Continue reading →

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Dixie’s Forgotten People

Posted on March 12, 2016 by smellincoffee

Dixie’s Forgotten People: the South’s Poor Whites© 1979 Wayne Flynt200 pgs Just poor people is all we were, tryin’ to make a living out of black land dirt.. When Franklin Roosevelt referred to the forgotten man, he was likely thinking … Continue reading →

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The Cult of the Presidency

Posted on February 14, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power © 2008 Gene Healy 264 pages Every four years, men and women with permanently-fixed smiles assure us that they will end corruption in D.C, get the economy moving, and … Continue reading →

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