Category: history
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The Cold War by Odd Arne Westad goes over in painstaking details one of the most tumultuous events, spanning several decades, post-World War II. Here is yet another crucial point in human history that was only briefly glanced over during high school history, and yet, the events that occurred shaped not just the United States…
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Sovereign by C.J. Sansom is the third book of seven in his Matthew Shardlake Mysteries series. After having been a bit disappointed with Dark Fire, Sovereign puts the series right back on track to my liking. At almost 700 pages, I found myself quite surprised, yet once again, at how fast I devoured it in…
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Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age by Stephen Platt goes over one of China’s most embarrassing moment in its imperial history that still plays a role today in how modern China behaves. The Opium War fascinates me so much because I’ve seen it play a role is so…
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Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the Dollar Changed the World Order by Saleha Mohsin talks about a critical topic concerning both today and the future in regard to the world’s most used currency, the United States dollar. Over the decades, the dollar has been slowly used to transform both the economic landscape around the…
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Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson is an incredibly insightful book on just why is it that some nations are prosperous while many others are not. The authors go to explain how and why many explanations conjured up by economists regarding this topic get it wrong.…
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The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson covers a not-often talked-about subject that helped shaped the United States into what it is today: The Great Migration of the colored people from the Southern slavery states to the North and West. I had great interest in this topic, not because I am a colored person,…
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All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein recounts one of the most shocking political sabotage and espionage at the highest level of the United States within the 20th century. While almost five decades late, I finally can say that I read the book! The movie may come next, but I still need…
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The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 by John Toland documents the beginning, middle and end of World War II as it concerned Japan. It is brilliantly researched and written, hence winning the 1971 Pulitzer Prize in the General Nonfiction category. I didn’t realize this was such a much-needed read…
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The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson talks about Britain’s involvement and defiance in Germany’s invasion of World War II. In particular, it focuses on Britain’s newly elected prime minister, Winston Churchill, and his first year in office when Britain was constantly bombed by…
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Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright goes over in spectacular details one of the more popular cult-like religion that started in the late 1950s that is still spreading its roots all over the world today. With billions of dollars in the church’s coffers along with its huge influence in…
The Mindless Catalog 