Category Archives: Reviews

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 →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Battle of Britain

Posted on October 28, 2015 by smellincoffee

Battle of Britain© 1980 Len Deighton224 pages “When I told them that Britain would fight on alone, whatever [the French] did, their generals told their  prime minister and his divided cabinet, ‘In three weeks England will have its neck wrung … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Seven Deadly Sins

Posted on October 27, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Seven Deadly Sins: A Tomistic Guide to Vanquishing Vice and Sin © 2015 Kevin Vost 224 pages In the first centuries of the Christian epoch, devotees retreated into the desert wastes to flee temptation. Even away from the cry … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

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 →

Posted in history, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

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 →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Reads to Reels: The Martian

Posted on October 21, 2015 by smellincoffee

It has been seven weeks since I ran out of ketchup.  Last week I stopped at Books-A-Million while waiting for the 3:00 showing of The Martian, and thought of purchasing a shirt — “THE BOOK WAS BETTER THAN THE MOVIE” … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | 3 Comments

Dawn of the Eagles

Posted on October 17, 2015 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Terok Nor: Dawn of the Eagles© 2008 S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison435 pages The days are dark for Bajor. More than thirty years into the Occupation, the once-promising Resistance has very nearly been broken by a planet-wide surveillance … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Science TBR

Posted on October 17, 2015 by smellincoffee

Every time I write down a list of books to go after, I lose the darn thing, so I’m posting this one! 10% Human: How Your Bodies Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness, Alonna Callen Domesticated: Evolution in a … Continue reading →

Posted in science | Tagged , | 3 Comments