Category Archives: history

Images of America: Selma

Posted on October 31, 2015 by smellincoffee

Images of America: Selma © 2014 Sharon Jackson 168 pages When I heard that the Images of America series had commissioned a book on Selma, I stood midway between excitement and dread. The series offers a pictoral recounting of small-town America, … Continue reading →

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Hitler’s Undercover War

Posted on October 25, 2015 by smellincoffee

Hitler’s Undercover War: The Nazi Espionage Invasion of the U.S.A.© 1989 William  Breuer358 pages Wars are not confined to battlefields, even when the fields of conflict are as wide-open as the open oceans and the very sky itself, as they … Continue reading →

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Downtown

Posted on October 24, 2015 by smellincoffee

Downtown: Its Rise and Fall (1880 – 1950)© 2001 Robert Fogelson544 pages Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city!Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty — how can you lose? The lights are much brighter … Continue reading →

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Napoleon’s Buttons

Posted on October 24, 2015 by smellincoffee

Napoleon’s Buttons384 pages© 2003 Penny LeCouter Napeolon’s Buttons is microhistory in the truest sense of the world, a mix of science and history that not only dwells on the historical impact of various substances (cotton, sugar, chloroflourocarbons, silk), but examines … Continue reading →

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The Miracle of Dunkirk

Posted on October 23, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Miracle of Dunkirk© 1982 Walter Lord323 pages In September 1939, British troops arrived in Europe to defend France against a rapidly expansionistic Nazi regime.  Germany’s leader of six years, Adolf Hitler, had already annexed Austria and Czechslovakia, and following … Continue reading →

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Called to Serve

Posted on October 14, 2015 by smellincoffee

Called to Serve: A History of Nuns in America© 2013 Margaret McGuinness277 pages Long before the suffrage and feminist movements allowed women to assume a more publicly active role within society,  women religious were taking an active role in shaping … Continue reading →

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The Egyptians

Posted on September 26, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Egyptians© 1997 Barbara Watterson368 pages “We stand where Caesar and Napoleon stood, and remember that fifty centuries look down upon us; where the Father of History came four hundred years before Caesar, and heard the tales that were to … Continue reading →

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Ornament of the World

Posted on September 4, 2015 by smellincoffee

Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain© 2002 Maria Rose Menocal315 pages            Ornament of the World is the story of a unique civilization in medieval Europe, one … Continue reading →

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The Spice Route

Posted on September 1, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Spice Route© 2005 John Keay308 pages Spock was right. Having a thing is often not as pleasant as wanting a thing. It is not logical, but it is often true. Such was the case with the spice trade, which so … Continue reading →

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Vanished World

Posted on August 13, 2015 by smellincoffee

A Vanished World: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval Spain© 2005 Chris Lowney320 pages Vanished World sets medieval  Spain before the reader with the warning; we may be blessed or cursed by emulating its example. The Iberian peninsula is the very perimeter of … Continue reading →

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