This is a wonderful continuation of D-Day. It picks up right where the previous book left off. This is a pretty decent sized book, over 500 pages, and features very detailed information about the people he has chosen to focus on. Stephen Ambrose is a wonderful historian, in my opinion, and does his due diligence during the research process. His writing style is detailed and his books are pretty long, but it isn't overwhelming or dull to read. I really enjoyed following the people's experiences in this book, and learning more about the European Theatre and how the United States Army made it from Normandy to fight at the Battle of the Bulge. Highly recommend this author and this book for those interested in military history and World War II. 

 This book discusses the French Riviera, Cote d'Azur. Both the rich and famous love to visit this area, as it is full of luxury resorts and shopping, as well as being on the Mediterranean coast. There are many attractions there for people wanting to visit, including a beautiful art museum that I would personally love to see. I looked up some pictures of this place as I am an untraveled American, and the architecture is amazing. It is truly a beautiful place, and I can see why it is a holiday destination. Specific to this book, there were some very well known visitors to the area between 1930 and 1944. The Mitfords, Kennedys, Pablo Picasso, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and Coco Chanel were all circulating the area at this time. This discusses how people sought a respite from wartime problems, which all ended when France surrendered to Germany. Of course, we also know that some of those mentioned above had close ties with members of the Nazi Party.

I really have enjoyed all of the books that I have read by this author. I think the writing is very engaging, and easy to read and follow. The research is well done, and gives a lot of historical context to the people and places that are discussed in the book. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for people who are interested in World War II and how people navigated holidays and shady doings. 

 Steve Gonsalves is one of the most well known names in the paranormal field. He has been on Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters Academy, and Ghost Nation. This book discusses how he became interested and involved in the paranormal, and some of his favorite and most memorable experiences from his time in the field.

Steve Gonsalves has always been my favorite member of the TAPS team. I have enjoyed seeing him on all the projects he has worked on. I love the relationships he has with everyone on the team. I really enjoyed this book and learning more about Steve and his experiences. I bought the Audible version of this book, which was narrated by Steve. I loved that he narrated his own book. 

 Fey von Hassell was the daughter of Ulrich von Hassell, who was a German politician and Hitler's ambassador to Italy. Her father was also a member of the Resistance, and was part of the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944. Fey was married on January 08, 1939 to Detalmo Pirizo-Biroli. The couple moved into his ancestral home, Castello di Brazza, located in northern Italy. The couple had three children, and lived in relative peace and security until 1943. Their home was taken over by SS troops and the Wehrmacht when Germany began the invasion of Italy. Unfortunately for her, her father's failed assassination attempt caused her some serious trouble. She was arrested, along with her family, and held as a prisoner of the SS. She was held in concentration camps, facing inhumane and unsanitary conditions. The story of Fey and her family was very harrowing and extremely interesting. I had never heard of her family, though I do remember briefly reading her father's name in connection with the July 20th plot.

Catherine Bailey is a terrific author. I have read another of her books and really enjoyed her writing style and attention to detail. I didn't realize that this was a book by the same person, but I am glad that I wound up finding it on sale. I really enjoyed it, and I hope to read some more of her work one day when I get some of these unread books beaten down. If you are into nobility and their actions during World War II, this would be a really great book to pick up. 

 FINALLY finished this one. This was actually the textbook for my HIS-260: Modern China class, which is why it took me so long to get finished. This book gave a comprehensive look into China through the years up to fairly present day. The book was published in 2019, so it is just slightly out of date, but did contain a lot of information. The major complaints that I have about this book revolve around the lack of details about the things I was actually interested in. Being a World War II major, I was very interested in China's role during World War II, because most of my area of study has revolved around the European Theatre. This contained very little about that. Very little was mentioned about the Rape of Nanjing, and even less was mentioned about any experiments conducted by the Japanese on the Chinese during this period. Unit 731 was briefly mentioned, and I wish it would have been covered more. 

 Nadezhda Durova was born in 1783. Her father was a Russian general, and her mother came from a wealthy family. Unfortunately, her mother did not like her and was abusive to her as a child. Once, she even threw her out the window of a moving carriage. Her father tended to her with help from his soldiers, who taught her all manner of military things. She did wind up married, but nothing about her husband is mentioned in this book. Apparently, she did not find him or her marriage very impressive. She did, however, love military life. She posed as a male and participated in many military engagements. She saved the lives of two compatriots, loved weapons, and was apparently quite skilled.

I picked this book up on a whim, because I was looking at books on Napoleon. It was a dollar, and I thought that was a decent price, which I stand behind. This painted a really detailed picture of what life in the Russian military during this era was like. I enjoyed the book well enough. 

 This is the story of Adolph Korn, a ten year old boy who was captured by an Apache raiding party in Texas in 1870. Adolph and his twin brother, Charlie, were out tending the sheep one afternoon when the Apache raiding party came through. Charlie was able to report the abduction to his parents, who were obviously disturbed by the events. His father traveled a great distance to report the abduction to authorities. Eventually, Adolph was traded to the Comanche, where he learned how to live and survive the way Indigenous people did. In fact, he had a hard time for the rest of his life reintegrating back into White society. Adolph was part of a German immigrant community, who were notoriously very strict and worked children as though they were miniature adults. Indigenous communities were much different, and I can see why a child, especially a male one, would be taken with the hunting, riding, fishing, raiding, etc. I can imagine that probably was pretty action packed for a preteen boy. It did strike me as odd that he had such a difficult time being returned to white society at age thirteen. It didn't seem like he was gone long enough to make reintegration hard, but I am no psychologist.

There were a few things that I did not enjoy about this book, one of which being the liberal use of the words Indian and Indianization. I have never liked the fact that Indigenous people were called Indian, because they are not from India. That was a misnomer from a colonizer ages ago, and I just dislike it. Perhaps my opinion as a white person on this particular topic is unwarranted, unwanted, and unimportant, but I am just leaving my honest review and opinion of the book. I thought the book was going to be really good, and while it was a good book, it didn't quite deliver in the way that I want it to. However, I am not trying to discourage anyone from reading it. It was very thought provoking about why someone would prefer to remain with Indigenous tribes with whom they had nothing in common instead of returning to their families.

I did like that the author researched the experiences of other children who had been abducted by Indigenous people, and others who had lived during that time period. I enjoyed that the author researched someone in his family that he knew little about to gain a deeper understanding. I wish that I could do that myself with a few of my family members I have uncovered via ancestry dot com. I thought the book was very valuable for presenting the perspective of people who lived hundreds of years ago and went through this shared experience. I cannot imagine being abducted by anyone. It was a really interesting situation to consider. The book also gave a really good impression of what life was like on the Texas frontier in the late 1800s. Overall, a decent read, especially for the dollar I spent on it. 

 Fire broke out in Thomas Farriner's bakery on Sunday, September 2, 1666. The fire began to spread rapidly, and Sir Thomas Bloodworth, the mayor, was called in to get permission to demolish adjacent buildings to create a firebreak. Unfortunately, he did not grant permission and should bear some responsibility for the further spread of the fire due to his inaction. By Monday, the fire had threatened to burn across London Bridge. It had also reached the financial district, prompting a frantic dash to rescue coinage before it melted into lumps. By Tuesday, St. Paul's Cathedral was ruined, thanks to wooden scaffolding surrounding it that caught fire. Firebreaks were created around the Tower of London to prevent gunpowder stores from exploding. On Wednesday, firebreaks began being more effective as winds began to die down. It is crazy to think that fires were still burning two and three months after the fact, but there were apparently several cases of coal in basements continuing to burn.

This book discussed firefighting in this time period in addition to the fire, which I was extremely interested in. I grew up in a fire and first responder family, so I always love learning about that type of thing. I would love to visit one of the fire museums here to see some similar equipment from this time period. I appreciated the outlining of coordinated firefighting efforts and how firebreaks were used in trying to control this massive fire.

One thing that I learned while reading this and looking up subsequent photos, was that Samuel Pepys was alive and viewed this fire in real time. I had no idea. Another thing I learned was that this fire developed into a firestorm. I suppose I thought it just went from one building to the next, but it created it's own weather. I also learned that there are monuments and a historical tour you can take if you are in London. If you happen to live in that area, or are planning to visit, this would probably be a really neat thing to check out. As far as this book goes, I bought it for .75 at my local used bookstore, and it was absolutely worth that amount of money. I think this was also on sale on Audible/in the Plus Catalog not too long ago, so if you use Audible, check that out. I thought it was researched very well, and written in an attention keeping way. I am so-so on the accuracy of the death toll. I find it difficult to believe that this fire only killed 10 or less people, for the amount of area that was burned. I find it especially difficult to believe when considering that there were people in tents and shacks in one area of the city. This was also not a typical fire, it was a firestorm. The temperatures were certainly hot enough to cremate bodies. I am just not really believing that death toll, and I can see why it is challenged by historians and those who are experts in fires. 

 This book discusses the Armenian Genocide, which occurred during the period of World War I. The genocide was perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, now in modern day Turkey. Armenians were forced to endure several injustices prior to the start of the genocide. They were forced into labor, taxed illegally, crimes against them were ignored, and were generally the minority where they were living. There were also some land issues that involved the Armenians. Ultimately, there were massacres in Armenian villages, forced death marches through the Syrian deserts, and forced conversion to Islam amongst Armenian women and children. Of course, the Ottomans did everything possible to deny their actions and prevent news of these crimes from spreading. They were unsuccessful in that attempt, and the genocide was formally condemned by Russia, Great Britain, and France. The United States called this a genocide as early as the 1980s, and has been considered as such in the following years. The government of Turkey still denies the genocide happened and refuses to take any responsibility or accountability for it.

I firmly agree with the assessment that the actions perpetrated against the Armenian people was a genocide. I think the response of governments around the world during the World War I period were lacking and disheartening. I think Turkey's continued denial of these events are pathetic. A lot of people are up in arms about Turkey denying this happened because people living today should not be held responsible for the actions of people 100 years ago. There is still a collective responsibility of society to admit and accept injustices that were done and make a collective movement forward in an attempt to restore relationships or advocate for things like this not happening again to anyone else. Especially in the current climate that so many people are living in... Overall, the research on this book is well done and very informative. Certainly worth reading. 

 The HMS Bounty was a small merchant vessel that was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1787. The ship was purchased specifically for a singular mission to travel to Tahiti to get some breadfruit plants to ship to the British West Indies to provide food for the enslaved population there. Captain Willian Bligh is portrayed in popular culture as a terrible tyrant of a captain, who just dished out abuse left and right. However, it seems as though he was a fairly capable captain, with a lot of experience. At one point during the voyage, Fletcher Christian replaced the Sailing Master. The crew on the ship essentially split during the mutiny, with about half on Christian's side and half on Bligh's side. I won't go into anymore details than that for those who are unfamiliar with this story and want to read the book. There was a lot more to the story than I had heard up to this point.

This book was extensively researched, and written in a very captivating way. I wasn't expecting to be as interested in this book that I was. The voyage itself was a lot more arduous than I knew, with weather complications on top of the mutiny. I also had no idea why they were on the ship in the first place, so this was a great source of information for me. This was a pretty enjoyable book. First one for October completed!