Tag Archives: 1910s

Fenway 1912

Posted on May 13, 2025 by smellincoffee

Fenway Park in Boston is the oldest continually operating major-league ballpark in the United States, and has developed into a character or an attraction in its own right for that reason.  Fenway has not lasted as long as it has … Continue reading →

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

Ty Cobb

Posted on May 7, 2025 by smellincoffee

I’ve known the name Ty Cobb since I was a kid: baseball is an anomaly in that it’s the only sport I’ve ever cared enough to read about,  both as a boy and now in my dotage. I encountered Cobb … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hitler’s Heralds: The Freikorps

Posted on December 7, 2024 by smellincoffee

I’ve had this review written since September, but had intended to feature it as part of a series on inter-war Germany. That’s not going to happen this year, as I’m certainly not spending Advent reading about Weimar and Nazis! After … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Hello, Everybody!

Posted on November 13, 2024 by smellincoffee

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a host of technologies released that utterly transformed society, and few as dramatic as radio. Hello, Everybody! is an engaging history of the early decades of radio, filled with some dramatic, unbelievable … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Old Lion

Posted on October 21, 2024 by smellincoffee

Imagine if someone wrote a fictional biography of Chuck Norris, but they used the internet legend version of Norris as their inspiration rather than the actor himself. That’s what impression The Old Lion gives me, frankly, a worshipful depiction of … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Precipice

Posted on October 8, 2024 by smellincoffee

Summer 1914: there’s a man dead in Sarajevo, and ominous rumors of war are drifting from eastern Europe. Across the Continent, war machines are slowly cranking up. At 10 Downing Street, though, the long-serving Prime Minister has more pressing issues: … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Damned Un-English

Posted on August 6, 2024 by smellincoffee

Gilbert Maltravers, of His Majesty’s Ship Hindustan, has just been promoted to full lieutenant and has decided to jump ship. The Hindustan, anyway, not the Navy, though he has his doubts about his future there unless there’s a war. Gilbert … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade

Posted on June 26, 2024 by smellincoffee

France, 1918: the Great War is almost over, but it doesn’t feel like it for civilians close to the lines, where the threat of a German resurgence hangs as close to the battered ground as the dust from the constant … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club

Posted on June 5, 2024 by smellincoffee

Constance is a young woman who’s just arrived in Hazelbourne, there to take care of an older family friend who’s just had a bout with flu. She enters into a new social circle thanks to this connection, and despite the … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Dangerous Years

Posted on April 25, 2024 by smellincoffee

Hard to believe, but the bloody war’s over. Lieutenant Kelly McGuire distinguished himself as much as he was able, but it wasn’t much of a naval war, the Great One. But while the big war might be over, peace isn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments