Angleica "Geli" Raubal was born in Austria-Hungary in 1908. Her mother got work as Adolf Hitler's housekeeper in 1925. Geli was actually the half-niece of Adolf Hitler, and was seventeen years old when her mother first went to work for him. She remained in close proximity to her half-uncle, Hitler, for the rest of her life. In fact, she moved into his apartment when she began studying medicine, but she did not finish school. Hitler began being more controlling over her as his power was growing. I think that was partly because he enjoyed having control over everyone and everything, and partly because he had a sordid interest in her. He went absolutely mad whenever he discovered she had a relationship with his driver, Emil Maurice. He forced them to end the relationship, stopped allowing her to have friends, and fired the driver. He made someone he trusted or he himself followed her around any time she left the apartment. She was not allowed to continue singing or anything else that she loved to do.

After one particular row in 1931, supposedly over her wanting to have a relationship with a boy from her hometown and continuing her singing career, she shot herself with Hitler's pistol. She was only twenty three years old when she died. There are rumors that he killed her, which is possible. She also could have possibly killed herself, and I wouldn't blame her at all, because that is no way to live. Unfortunately, anything she wrote was destroyed. He had total control over everyone and everything, so who is to say that a cover up of some kind did not happen. There were rumors that he had a very brutal and bizarre sexual relationship with her, which is terrible and gross if true. There were also rumors that he was physically abusive, which he probably was, but he was certainly emotionally and mentally abusive to her. He did not attend her funeral, as he was too upset. He kept pictures of her in his offices and kept her room as she had left it. He also claimed she was the only woman he ever loved.

This book was interesting, but it was really full of speculation. There aren't a lot of hard facts about their relationship, so we can only speculate on it. It wasn't a boring read by any means, just presented as 100% factual, and I do not believe it to be. How could anyone know what her thoughts and feelings and her side of the story is when everything about her was destroyed or disappeared? What is factual is that her life was cut tragically short by the unfortunate way she was sucked into Hitler's black hole. 

 Anita and Edward are back at it again in this twentieth book. They are on the trail of someone who is killing were tigers, unfortunately they cannot share all they know with the local police. Olaf and Bernardo join Anita and Edward on the case, which was a welcome change from some of the previous books in which absolutely nothing other than whining and sex happened. There is, of course, sex in this book, with some of Anita's fellows fighting with each other. All of the hunters have met an unusual circumstance. This was certainly one of the better books, beyond the tedium of the ardeur. 

 This book is an in depth look into the German women who were part of the Nazi regime. There were some who were witnesses to the treatment of the "undesirable" people. They took, or bought cheaply, items belonging to Jewish families. They shopped in ghettos, taking the last items off the backs of these starving people. There were secretaries, nurses, and guards in prison camps. Some of these women participated in murder and abuse themselves. There were several Nazi women who were put on trial after the war for their crimes. I think everyone should read this book. It was very informative. 

R einhard Heydrich was the Chief of the Nazi Criminal Police, Gestapo, and the SS Security Service. He was also instrumental in the design and execution of the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. He was assassinated in Prague in 1942, and this book outlines his life and career, as well as his death. This was an informative book, though I was bored with it at times. 

 You know on television shows when people do that long, slow whistle when they just simply do not know where to start or how to react? Imagine me doing that right now. Whew.

Dennis Nilsen was born in 1945 in Scotland. He had a difficult childhood, as his family was not well off financially. (A lot of people were not in the post war years.) His mother and father did not have the best relationship, ultimately splitting up. In this book, Nilsen calls his paternity into question as well. He also speaks about the relationship that he had with his grandfather, which involved sexual abuse. If that is not something that you can handle reading, steer clear of this book, because he discusses it in graphic detail. He also discusses his sexuality, and all of his sexual encounters, in graphic detail. I can imagine the pressure that society put (and still does) on people who are not heterosexual can be really stressful. It was certainly not socially acceptable to be gay in this time period, especially as a member of the armed forces, and later a policeman.

Nilsen moved into a private apartment in the late 1970s, and began inviting men home. He subsequently killed at least twelve men, probably more, and attempted to kill another seven. A lot of those were homeless people he lured in by offering them a place to stay, or gay men he met and lured back for sexual encounters. He kept the bodies inside the apartment for a considerable amount of time before disposing of them in various ways. His method of disposal was what finally got him caught. Be warned that he does go into extreme detail about this topic. I am not going to go into detail here, partly because I don't want to spoil the book and partly because it is grim, but if you want to know more about his crimes before deciding to read this, there is plenty of information out there. I didn't realize that he died to recently (2018) until I did a Google search for images of his apartment.

I learned about Nilsen through an episode of a podcast (The Last Podcast On The Left) that I listen to regularly. I read another book about him in the past, but this one was written by him. I ran across it, and thought I would give it a try. I hardly ever find books written from the point of view of the actual culprit, and I was interested to see how he would portray himself. A lot of times, killers will try to paint themselves in a different way that what the evidence clearly shows, but I believe that he was very reflective and truthful about his life experiences and murderous habits. He was well spoken, and the book was not hard to read or even enjoy, as bad as that sounds to say. I saw other reviews that warned about the extreme graphic detail throughout the book, and I can imagine it could be very triggering for someone who has experienced sexual abuse or violations like that. I would strongly warn you to think about that before making the choice to read this book. I thought it was very interesting to get inside the mind of someone so notorious that committed some really grim crimes. If you are into true crime or psychology, this might be a great book for you to try out. 

 I have been working through this Haunted America series on Kindle Unlimited, and this one was good. I like the short stories and history lessons you get about each place. I think this one was a little over 100 pages, so it was a fast read. Savannah is one of my favorite cities, and I love reading anything about it. I have a huge list of places to visit, and every time I read one of these Haunted America books, I add more places. I love the paranormal aspect, but the historical happenings are so interesting to me. 

 This book is part of the Haunted America series that I have been trying to read through. It was fairly short, just about 200 pages. It was great to read while sitting in the school pick up line, as I could read one or two of the chapters while sitting there. These books aren't overly good, but I do enjoy a ghost story and I love the mini history lesson about the locations mentioned in the book. I wouldn't pay the asking price for this book on Amazon, but it was free to read with the Kindle Unlimited subscription. I look forward to reading the rest of the ones that are available on Kindle Unlimited. 

 This book was just over 300 pages, so if you are looking for a fairly short book, here you go. I am still working through my selections for the year, reading anything short or already partially finished. This is really going to help my goal of downsizing for moving while also clearing out my massive TBR list.

Anyway, the book is a decently researched shot biography of George Washington. If you are wanting something comprehensive about Washington without having to purchase a massive tome, this might be something for you to look into. I liked the fact that this book did not just cover his military and political strategies, but also showed him as a human being...with real emotions and other issues. We are often only taught about Washington, and others of this vein, as perfect people who are simply genius at what they have done. It's a little bit unrealistic to teach that way, because they are flawed people. I prefer a more honest view of historical figures, which this book provided on a small scale. This is the second book that I have read by this author, and I enjoyed both of them. I have two more by this author, and I am looking forward to reading them as well. 

 I watched a documentary about Japanese survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I have been wanting to find books from that perspective. I ran across this on on accident on Audible, so I used my credit to get it. It is weird to say that I enjoyed this book, but I did. It kind of amazed me that the hospital that they used was still standing and somewhat functional. I cannot imagine how hard it was for medical professionals to treat something that they had no clue about. The radiation sickness is so torturous, I don't think I could bear it. So much was learned about the effects of radiation from this, that it has been beneficial for nuclear accidents and other exposures in the years since, but gosh. What a horrible thing. 

 This book begins with Conrad Hilton, a man with a dream. He made investments in hotels, and his refusal to default on his loans during The Great Depression bolstered his reputation as someone who was dependable and trustworthy. He had expanded his hotel business to the global scale, which was really impressive to me, as he started out with literally nothing. Conrad married his first wife, Mary, and had three children. Conrad II, Barron, and Eric. (I found it interesting that he was a hotel man and has children named after himself, Barron and Eric.....and most recently Donald Trump had a child named after himself, as well as children called Barron and Eric.) Conrad remarried an actress, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and had one child with her. (She later claimed that he raped her during their marriage, which was how she conceived. The child, Francesca, died in 2015 after several years of courtroom and media battles for recognition.) He eventually married again, and that marriage lasted until his death. He had an interesting relationship with his religion as well.

Conrad II, known as Nicky, was Elizabeth Taylor's first husband. Zsa Zsa reported that he had also had an affair with her as well while she was his stepmother. Elizabeth and Nicky divorced after eight months, citing his abusive behavior and drinking. He married another lady, Patricia, having two sons with her. He ultimately died from alcohol related heart problems.

Barron was very business oriented like his father. He oversaw the operations of the business, and, in his own right, was an accomplished pilot. He served in the US Navy. He wound up with eight children. He was also one of the founders of the American Football League, and the original owner of the LA Chargers. His son, Richard, would go on to be the father of Paris and Nicky Hilton, who mostly everyone is familiar with these days. Paris has recently been back in the public eye due to her speaking out against Provo Canyon School and their abuse of teens.

Overall, this book was well researched and very informative. I learned so much about the Hilton family. Prior to this, I was only aware that they were a hotel family, as well as Paris being in the media when I was a teenager for partying and her ditzy persona. In actuality, she seems like a very intelligent person, and I am glad to see her standing up for herself and others who were mistreated at the Provo Canyon School. I plan to look more into that issue. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in United States family dynasties.