Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Patriots

Posted on May 29, 2015 by smellincoffee

Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse© 1995 James Wesley Rawles400 pages So…much…testosterone. Well, D.C. finally spent itself into oblivion. After decades of deficits and a series of bailouts that do nothing but inflate the problem, the financial … Continue reading →

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Harvest of Rage

Posted on May 28, 2015 by smellincoffee

Harvest of Rage: Why Oklahoma City is Only the Beginning© 1997 Joel Dyer307 pages In the spring of 1996, the peace of Oklahoma City was shattered when a truck bomb ignited outside a federal office.  Nearly two hundred people were … Continue reading →

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The Fiery Cross

Posted on May 26, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America© 1998 Wyn Craig Wade528 pages Living in the country as I did,  the bus ride to school always lasted over an hour, and in elementary school I remember being utterly petrified … Continue reading →

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The Wars of the Roses

Posted on May 25, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Wars of the Roses© 1996 Alison Weir496 pages The wars of the roses sounds like a gardening contest run amok, but no genteel horticulturists were involved.  The strange appellation refers to a series of dynastic crises in 15th century … Continue reading →

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Agincourt

Posted on May 25, 2015 by smellincoffee

Agincourt: Henry V and the  Battle that Made Englandbetter subtitled in the UK as The King — The Campaign — The Battle© 2006 Juliet Barker464 pages In the fourteenth century, nation-states as we know them did not exist. There was a … Continue reading →

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The South since the War

Posted on May 16, 2015 by smellincoffee

The South Since the War: As Shown by Fourteen Weeks of Travel and Observation in Georgia and the Carolinas© 1866 Sidney Andrews400 pages In the autumn of 1865, as the dust and ashes were still settling over the graves of … Continue reading →

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Hanging Curve

Posted on May 12, 2015 by smellincoffee

Hanging Curve © 1999 Troy Soos272 pages St. Louis, 1922. Babe Ruth reigns as the king of baseball. Mickey Rawlings is no king, not even a prince, but he is at least in the peerage: a utility infielder for the … Continue reading →

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Ender’s Game

Posted on May 7, 2015 by smellincoffee

Ender’s Game © 1985 Orson Scott Card384 pages             Andrew Wiggin is only a young boy, but in the eyes of his world’s leaders, he may be humanity’s only hope.  Decades ago, Earth was ravaged by invasions of swarming insect-like creatures … Continue reading →

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The Fall of Saxon England

Posted on May 7, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Fall of Saxon England© 1975 Richard Humble242 pages History never rests. In the middle of the first millennium, the great tide of the Roman Empire began at last to recede. Its legions stationed in distant reaches of the realm, … Continue reading →

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The Copperhead

Posted on May 5, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Copperhead© 1893 Harold Frederic108 pages War can destroy a city without the first shell falling on it. Such was nearly the fate of Four Corners, New York, a small farming community in its upper reaches. Far removed from the … Continue reading →

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