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Category Archives: Non-fiction – History
A Review of James Romm’s Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero
Is it just me or is everyone talking about the Stoics lately? One of the adult students I tutor works them into conversation at least once per session, and somehow or other I am part of a Facebook group called … Continue reading
A Review of Stephen F. Knott and Tony Williams’ Washington & Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America
I came to this book because of my obsession with Hamilton, of course; I was interested to read a book that focused entirely on the relationship between Hamilton and Washington, and I was also interested to learn about the years … Continue reading
Thoughts on Paul Kriwaczek’s In Search of Zarathustra: Across Iran and Central Asia to Find the World’s First Prophet
I read this book because the protagonist of one of the many novels I want to write was born into Zoroastrian family. I am well aware that the previous sentence way well be the most interesting sentence in this review, … Continue reading
Thoughts on Reza Aslan’s Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
When I teach and tutor students in history, I often start each unit by advising students to “follow the money.” I didn’t coin that phrase, I know, but it’s a surprisingly simple and effective way to get one’s bearings in … Continue reading
A Review of Lesley Hazleton’s After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
I’ve been interested in the ancient and medieval Middle East for a long time – since I was a teenager, really, but this current flurry of reading on the subject dates back to my reading of The House of Wisdom … Continue reading
Final Thoughts on Jonathan Lyons’ The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization
The anti-intellectualism of early Christianity makes me genuinely angry. This anger dates back to my reading of Charles Freeman’s The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason in the winter of 2012, but … Continue reading
Algebra and Basic Human Decency: Early Thoughts on Jonathan Lyons’ The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization
I read the coolest little tidbit today in The House of Wisdom. It has to do with the invention of algebra. According to this author (and the source he cites; more on this in a moment), algebra was developed by … Continue reading
A Quick Review of Holly Tucker’s Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution
This will need to be a brief review, as my newly-reconstituted work schedule requires me to go to bed early some nights, including tonight. But that’s OK – all I really need to tell you is that this book is … Continue reading
The Hamiltome is Here!
THE HAMILTON SOUNDTRACK has been in my car’s CD player for 108 days. It arrived from Amazon on December 22, when I plucked it from the mailbox right before I went out to do one last round of Christmas shopping. … Continue reading
A Review of Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
Can you imagine childhood without dinosaurs? I can’t. What did three year-olds do before there were books of dinosaurs to pour over? How did they learn to pronounce multisyllabic words in the absence of archaeopteryx, velociraptor, and tyrannosaurus? Were they … Continue reading
Postcards From Purgatory 