Tag: world war II
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Book Review: Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac
I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf since I read Chester Nez’s memoir Code Talker. Joseph Bruchac’s Code Talker is similar in the sense that the main character in this book lives a similar experience as Cheater Nez, however, this is a fictional account, and aside from the general Navajo experience during this time period, there is…
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Top 5: Favorite Nonfiction Reads of 2025 (so far)
I’ve read a fantastic assortment of fiction books this year, but I think my nonfiction reads have surpassed those. It was difficult to build this list…
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Book Review: Nagasaki by Susan Southard
I knew going into this book that it was going to be upsetting, but even when you imagine the worst about a nuclear strike, it’s still worse than you could ever envision on your own…
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Book Review: Maria by Michelle Moran
I’ve been so excited to read this book since I heard it was coming out last summer, but even though I preordered it, I decided it was more important to wait for the perfect season to read it. I know The Sound of Music is typically associated with Christmas, but personally, I’ve never understood why.…
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Book Review: The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone
Elizabeth and William Friedman were renowned codebreakers who got their start in the early 20th Century. Until modern times, it was William who got a lot of the glory for his career, largely thanks to his wife’s persistence to put him in the history books. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s contributions were left as quiet footnotes. In this…
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Book Review: The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan
Yet again, I procrastinated reading a book that I’ve been actively wanting to read for several years. In this case, I’m going to use the excuse that I was letting this age like wine on my bookshelf. I enjoyed Mark Sullivan’s Beneath A Scarlet Sky so much that I think I was a little nervous that another…
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Book Review: Blitzed by Norman Ohler
The idea of Adolph Hitler on high doses of drugs doesn’t change the perception of the evil he embodied, but the idea that drugs might have been commonplace in the homes of the German people explains a lot about (or at least part of) why he was able to dominate them with his radical ideologies…
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Book Review: The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield
Initially, I was surprised to see this written in the third person and I wasn’t sure how I was going to take to it as I’m accustomed to Holocaust memoirs where they’re more like a diary of sorts (if not literally a diary). I’m glad I didn’t let my assumption stop me from adjusting as…
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Book Review: Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre
I somewhat blindly picked this book up after reading Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre. Though it was quite interesting, the subject, Ursula Kaczynski codenamed ‘Sonya’, covered so much of the WWII-era Europe that I struggled to keep track of it all…
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Book Review: The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz by Sara Leibovits & Eti Elboim
I’ve read a number of Holocaust memoirs over the years. While they are all unique and heart-wrenching in their own right, The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz is a standout…