Since my last On Today’s Bookshelf post (On Today’s Bookshelf XXVII) my library has grown. I want to point out a couple of the books.
The first is Joseph Nigg’s The Phoenix: An Unnatural Biography of a Mythical Beast. It is listed below under nonfiction as I wasn’t really certain how to classify the book. It is a well-written “biography” of a fiction. The phoenix has played an important role in the rise (and fall) of civilizations and remains a cultural constant. The second book I want to point to, which I have not yet read, is American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution by A. Roger Ekirch. I bought this book because of its relevance to the problem of sanctuary today. I thought a historical perspective might be worthwhile.
The list includes several interesting biographies (particularly Karl Marx and Rasputin) and several books that fit into my lifelong quest to understand genocide, especially the Holocaust.
Here is a list of some of the hardcovers and ebooks that I have acquired and either read or added to my to-be-read pile since the last On Today’s Bookshelf post. Hopefully, you will find some books of interest to you:
Nonfiction –
- The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914 by Richard J. Evans
- Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery: The Other Thirteenth Amendment and the Struggle to Save the Union by Daniel W. Crofts
- Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 by Volker Ullrich
- Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America by Patrick Phillips
- Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea by Mitchell Duneier
- Harry Truman and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Shogan
- Karl Marx: Greatness and Illusion by Gareth Stedman Jones
- Why? Explaining the Holocaust by Peter Hayes
- Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933-1949 by David Cesarani
- The Phoenix: An Unnatural Biography of a Mythical Beast by Joseph Nigg
- The Gestapo: A History of Horror by Jacques Delarue
- Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs by Douglas Smith
- Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
- Archie and Amelie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age by Donna M. Lucey
- Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay
- The Hands of War: A Tale of Endurance and Hope, from a Survivor of the Holocaust by Marione Ingram
- Madison and Jefferson by Andrew Burstein
- American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution by A. Roger Ekirch
- Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law by James Q. Whitman
- The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust by Amos N. Guiora
- Who Betrayed the Jews? The Realities of Nazi Persecution in the Holocaust by Agnes Grunwald-Spier
Fiction –
- The Falcon Throne by Karen Miller
- Recluce Tales: Stories from the World of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
- Of Sand and Malice Made: A Shattered Sands Novel by Bradley Beaulieu
- With Blood Upon the Sand by Bradley Beaulieu
- The Emperor’s Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne Series #1); The Providence of Fire (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne Series #2); and The Last Mortal Bond (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne Series #3) by Brian Staveley
- Skullsworn by Brian Staveley
- The Stars Are Legion (Signed Book) by Kameron Hurley
- The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
- Whill of Agora (Books 1-4) by Michael James Ploof
- Earthrise (Her Instruments, #1) by M.C.A. Hogarth
- Black & Blue by Emma Jameson
- Rise of the Dragons (Kings and Sorcerers Book 1) and Rise of the Valiant (Kings and Sorcerers Book #2) by Morgan Rice
- Unforeseen (Thomas Prescott Series #1) by Nick Pirog
- The Lead Cloak by Erik Hanberg
- The Smuggler’s Gambit by Sara Whitford
- The Midnight Sea by Kat Ross
- Code Name: Camelot – A Noah Wolf Thriller by David Archer
- A Quest of Heroes (Book #1 in the Sorcerer’s Ring) by Morgan Rice
- Slave, Warrior, Queen (Of Crowns and Glory Book 1) by Morgan Rice
- Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
- Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan
For the complete collection of On Today’s Bookshelf essays, click on this link. Share books you recommend with us by listing them in a comment.
I mentioned retirement in an earlier essay (see Thinking About Retirement). Looking at my to-be-read (TBR) pile and wondering how many years it will take me to read all of the books I currently have in the TBR pile, the ones that I have preordered and will be coming, and the ones I do not currently know about but that I will buy in the coming months has finally made me take the first steps toward retirement. I have begun to say “no” to project offers more frequently and am spending more time reading. The yet-to-be-answered question is how long I will resist saying yes to new projects.
Richard Adin An American Editor
An American Editor 