This is the story of Derek Niemann and his family. The author was born and raised in Scotland, and he happened to discover that his grandfather was an SS officer during World War II. He went on a search to find out more about his German heritage and what his grandfather was involved in during the war. This was a very good book. I wonder how many other people are like this author, with their family hiding secrets under the rug or not knowing anything about the past of someone so central in their lives. I would suggest this book to anyone interested in World War II. 

 I watched a documentary a while ago about Flint, Michigan. It was about the poverty, crime, and the water crisis. Some of the things they said about the city seemed so negative, but then as I came back to do write my thoughts on this book, I realized some of those things they said in that documentary must be pretty true. This book is about the murder of Nancy Billiter, who was found injected with battery acid and heroin and sexually assaulted. Police began working the case and traced the murder back to her friend and her boyfriend. That murderous duo had another secret as well. This book was a good read, but it really makes you wonder where in the world people come up with these ideas they have to get themselves into such trouble. 

 Martin Cortes was born in 1523 in an Aztec palace in Mexico. His mother was Malinche, a Native woman who served as an interpreter and guide for the Spanish Conquistadors who committed genocide against Native populations, especially the Aztecs. His father was Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador who destroyed the entire Aztec civilization. What a legacy. His mother married someone else while his father was away looking to find more people to destroy, and upon his return, they went back to Spain. Martin was legitimized by the Pope, and spent quite a bit of time in the royal court before becoming a page to Philip II of Spain. He stupidly returned to Mexico, where he was arrested as part of a plot, but managed to escape death. He was tortured and sent packing back to Spain to exile. (He really should have kept his little butt in Spain to begin with instead of hoping to capitalize on the genocide of his father as though people were pleased about that and happy to offer him slaves. Insert eye roll.) He was eventually exonerated from the conspiracy charges and died in Spain.

As far as the book itself goes, the research was very well done. In fact, the author actually takes you on the research trip in the book. That was really great for me to read, because I love to travel and the descriptions of the adventures were entertaining. I really enjoyed the story that she told. The only real issue I had with the book was that she did speculate some about what Cortes must have thought or felt, which wasn't as factual as I generally like. It wasn't a big enough deal for me to not enjoy this book. I am not really very keen with this era of history, so it was great to learn more about it. 

 This book covers the Sandy Hook school shooting, perpetrated by Adam Lanza. Twenty six people lost their lives in this tragedy. Lysiak does a good job of providing information about each victim. It really makes you feel like you knew them a little bit. It is so terrible think about one of my kids going to school and not coming home, or experiencing this and being traumatized for the rest of their lives. You always imagine that school is a safe place to send your kids, but schools are vulnerable to natural disasters and horrific killings such as this. This event, and others like it, have really made me more conscious of telling my kids how much I love them every single morning before they get out of the car. I didn't really know much about Lanza or this event other than that it happened, so I learned quite a lot from this book. 

 This is a really well written book about the life of Nicholas II from his teenage years up through his death. It includes a great amount of detail about his policies and actions as Tsar of Russia, and includes a great deal of information about Alexandria and their family. I think that Alexandria was a misunderstood person in general, and that certainly did not help their public impressions. The book also featured correspondence between Nicholas II and Alexandria, which was personal and enlightening. Overall, a very good book on these two people and Russian history in general. 

 This was one of the first books about the Holocaust that I read on my own, and it really jump started my interest in World War II and the Holocaust. I have other books written by Elie Wiesel, and he is always very articulate and tells his story in such a touching manner. This is a classic that everyone should read, even if they aren't interested in World War II as a whole. 

 Robert Jay Lifton is one of my favorite writers in the psychology/historical psychology genre. He is always well researched, well written, and posits things in a way that everyone can understand. This book was extremely good. It went into detail about the roles that Nazi Doctors played in the Holocaust, and how some of their tactics are employed as standard practice in modern medicine. It is very interesting to see how the doctor's reconciled the oath they have to take to become doctors with the experimentation, torture, and murder of thousands upon thousands of people. Truly, a lot of information was gained from these horrific times from the human test subjects, but at what cost to humanity as a whole? I appreciated the unbiased factual presentation of the methodology of the experiments and results, but it is terrible to think about these people being unwilling and just absolutely destroyed.


This book is featured on The Last Podcast On The Left reading list. (Episodes 348-350, Josef Mengele) 

 This book is the personal memoir of Jim Kristofic. Jim moved to the Navajo Reservation in Arizona from Pennsylvania right before starting second grade. His mother was a nurse, and had taken a job at a hospital on the reservation. Jim experienced a little bit of a culture shock, a white kid trying to fit in with Natives. There are a lot of experiences and memories recounted in this book that I don't want to share so that it doesn't spoil the whole thing, but I really appreciated the candor. Eventually, Jim went on to have some siblings that were half Native. The family moved off of the reservation and back into the mainstream white dominated world, and that was another culture shock. I loved learning different things about Native culture, and also about the struggle to fit in. I loved the lessons of love and acceptance in this book. There was also some humor in the book, which I loved. I hardly ever read a book that has humor in it, so when I find one, it is a real treat for me. 

 The Navajo language is very difficult to translate into other languages and is not a written language. This, in part, was the reason why the United States Marine Corps enlisted the help of 29 Navajo men to create a code that could be used in military movements. The Navajo Code Talkers assigned Navajo words to specific words and movements in an attempt to thwart the enemy combatants. This was really smart and successful. These men participated in every major battle in the Pacific Theatre, which is terrifying to think about.

I was recommended this book by a World War II book page on Instagram that I follow. A follower submitted it with a story about how his grandfather was one of the Navajo Code Talkers. This was a really neat book. We never learned anything about them in my history classes, which is a shame. I went into debt for that college education with a specialization in World War II history, yet it seems as though I paid to know nothing. Check this book out, so the memory of these men can spread. 

 The series has made it to the double digits! Anita returns to St. Louis after a sixth month hiatus to attempt to reconnect and make amends with her friends and lovers. Anita has gained some new powers that she is having to learn to control, which causes some issues. There are problems with some local vampires that must be sorted out, issues with several were groups, and she gains more lovers. Richard still has a sour attitude, and cannot go away fast enough.