Book Review: Romanov Empress
The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by C.W. Gortner Blurb: "Narrated by the mother of Russia’s last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia’s most compelling...
Book Review: “Burr” by Gore Vidal
Burr by Gore Vidal Vidal is a master of his craft. This novel starts from the point of view of Charles Schuyler, a young law clerk working in the law office of an aged Aaron Burr. His employer inexplicably invites him on a mysterious carriage ride which ends in...
Review: Vikings and Goths
Vikings and Goths: A History of Ancient and Medieval Sweden by Gary Dean Peterson I have a complicated history with Vikings. Until I wrote Twilight Empress, they were blood-thirsty raiders who raped and raided Europe in the middle ages and “discovered” the New...
Book Review: The Princess Diarist
Book Review: The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher Most of my readers know about my dual fascination with both history and science and my love of fiction in both genres. I mostly blog about the history and science stuff, but also review books or movies about HF and...
Rebecca Solnit: Two Books for Activists
Rebecca Solnit: Two Books for Activists Coming out of Women's History Month, I wanted to share with you a women historian, writer and activist I recently discovered. Rebecca Solnit has been active in social justice movements and writing for nearly forty years. How is...
Exceptional Women in History Part II
Exceptional Women in History Part II: She Captains, Scientists, and Musicians Last week in Part I, I introduced you to three books of exceptional women in history which primarily covered royals and aristocrats. This week we look more closely at (un)common women in...
Exceptional Women in History Part I
Exceptional Women in History Part I: Scandalous Women, Bad Princesses and Female Kings It's Women's History Month and I thought I'd provide readers and writers alike with some resources on exceptional women in history. I have a soft spot for a particular a kind of...
Book Review: Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong
Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong— and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story by Angela Saini I love science and history and truly enjoy it when they overlap in books such as Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That's Rewriting...
Book Review: Notorious RGB: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik It's Women's History Month so here is another entry in books by and/or about women. I've been a fan of Ruth Bader Ginsburg since my earliest feminist days. The second woman to...
Book Review: Hidden Figures
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly "Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians know...
Book Review – March: Book Three
March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin (co-authors), Nate Powell (Illustrator) I finished the third volume in civil rights icon John Lewis' graphic memoir about his early days in the movement leading up to the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. (If you...
Book Review – March: Book One and Two
March: Book One and March: Book Two by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin (Co-authors), Nate Powell (Artist) Blurb: March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the...