Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad by Brian A. Catlos Terms like “jihad” and “caliphate” get batted around Western media; this book offers some context for those ideas 390 pages (324 without Glossary, Notes and Background Reading) Oof! This book felt dense after breezing through […]
Fortunately, it’s been a good year so far with respect to reading material. These two are the only Reject Pile candidates, and the second is a rather soft selection at that. The Mark Inside: A Perfect Swindle, A Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con by Amy Reading 304 pages (I gave […]
Katrina: After the Flood by Gary Rivlin Alternately maddening and inspiring, the story of the American phenomenon I can only call the “clusterflood” 462 pages (419 pages through the epilogue, which is worth reading) This is a book I’ve been waiting for. Not this title or author specifically, but I’ve been waiting for years so […]
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder Pretty much everything in every Cold War spy novel you ever read happened to this guy or someone he knows 396 pages (380 pages before Acknowledgments and Index) Bill Browder’s story appeared recently on CBS’s “60 Minutes” […]
City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence Follow nine Somali refugees and learn what a refugee camp is really like: you may be surprised 384 pages (364 pages until Notes); Read the author’s Postscript It’s been a long time since I read my last book of history in Africa, but that is in part because good […]
How to Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace Something to consider in case you need a new game plan for next Valentine’s Day 403 pages (320 pages of content until Register of American Heiresses, Index, etc.) As a Downton Abbey fan, I […]
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly Read more about the three women focused on by the Oscar-nominated film and learn about more like them 373 pages (Acknowledgements begin about page 243) When I saw the trailer for […]
Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back by Janice P. Nimura Consider this engaging narrative about three young Japanese women for your book club, even if your group usually goes for fiction 336 pages (277 pages before Acknowledgements, Notes and Index) One hardly ever sees a book of Japanese history […]
The Reject Pile, July-December 2016 I wasn’t going to do a year-end Reject Pile post because most of what I read in 2016 was pretty good. Even the book I’d been passing over, Rosen’s The Third Horseman, turned out not to be the preachy rant I’d been half afraid to find. Yes, as we put […]
Agent Zigzag: The True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben MacIntyre Action-packed and clever, but this bit of history has just enough “Hogan’s Heroes” to make you shake your head 364 pages (305 pages without Appendix and Notes) Who doesn’t love a spy story? Some of the best ones come from information […]
