A two month long drought and extreme heat in Minnesota fostered the perfect conditions for wildfires. Fires started up in the pine forests due to those conditions and the logging practices in the area. A massive firestorm ran through the area from September 1 to September 6, 1894. The fire burned 200,000 acres of land, and destroyed several towns. The description of people trying to escape was very harrowing. Many people left via trains driven by two engineers, and that was also a harrowing part of the story. I cannot imagine being in that position, but I know if a smoldering train pulled into my station and told me to run, they wouldn't need to tell me twice. So many people just shrugged off the warning, only to become trapped by the fire not long after. This fire destroyed so much, including over 400 lives. The description of the devastation it caused was amazing. The fire was so hot that it melted wheels on train cars, warped tracks, and melted nails and other things together.

I grew up in a fire family, so books like this are always interesting to me. It is interesting to compare major fires like this one from long ago to the more recent ones, like the one that took out Paradise. I thought the author, who was a relative of one of the survivors of this fire, did a wonderful job of telling the story of these people in a way that let you feel like you knew them. He had the benefit of an inside track, but also did an amazing amount of research. I liked the photos that were included in the book, including the ones of what the place looked like before and after the fire, and even one of a site as it appeared at the time the book was published. I highly recommend this book. 

 This is the personal memoir of Flor Edwards, a child who grew up in the Children of God cult. Children of God was headed by a man, David Berg, who went by a host of other aliases. Berg founded the cult in Huntington Beach, California. He influenced his followers to practice "flirty fishing" as a way to influence wealthy men to either join or support the cult. There were a lot of abuses perpetrated towards women and children in this group, which the author outlines in this book. Children were beaten mercilessly and many were treated differently than others. The author really went though a lot as a child, and didn't come to understand her experiences until later in her teen and adult years.

I had listened to a podcast about this cult a while back, and found this book on an Audible sale. I really enjoyed the first hand account of life inside this cult, even if it was through a child's eyes. Children are often more honest in their assessments of things anyway. If you are interested in learning more about this cult, this would be a good book for that. If you get the Audible version, it is about a six hour listen. 

 Anglomania is the excessive admiration of English customs. English customs are very formal compared to American customs, even today. Particularly in the late 1800s and early 1900s, American heiresses desired to live in grand manor houses, participate in formal parties, have a fancy title, and travel to places abroad. Around 100 American heiresses married men abroad, bringing with them large sums of money to bolster failing estates in exchange for a noble husband with a title. This book only highlighted a few of those American women, but it gave a very nice glimpse into entire institution.

This book was suggested to me because I am a fan of both Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age. I really enjoyed getting to know some of the women who left the United States to marry overseas. This author has published other books that look really interesting, which I will be adding to my excessive to be read list. She has a wonderful way with words, making the story really engaging. I appreciated the research she put into this book, and her use of quotations by the people mentioned in the book. 

 This book outlines the relationship of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. The two were married in 2011, but it seems like longer to me. They have been the subjects of much gossip and drama, especially as of late. This book also outlines the relationships that Prince William has had while with his wife...which goes to show you that cheating isn't based solely on looks. She is beautiful and he looks like a horse, which is an insult to horses, really. I can imagine that it must be extremely complicated to have a relationship as a public figure, because people are always commenting on it and sticking their noses in. The book was written in an engaging way, but it wasn't for me. 

 This is another memoir by Homer Hickam. Hickam eventually grew up to work for NASA, contributing a lot to the space program. This memoir focuses on his life in Coalwood, West Virginia. In particular, this book focuses on an incident with his father in the mine where he worked. I think this series of books gives an amazing picture of life in coal mining towns and the struggles they face. It is especially interesting to compare today's coal mining towns to what they were in the 1950s and 1960s.

Hickam is very eloquent and paints a very vivid picture of his life experiences and memories. If you are interested in coal mining towns or the space program and want to learn more about Homer Hickam, I strongly suggested reading this triad of memoirs. 

 Homer Hickam was born in Coalwood, West Virginia in 1943. He and his friends became interesting in rockets, and began building them. They wound up participating in the 1960 National Science Fair, where they won gold and silver medals. He eventually wound up working for NASA. Hickam is an extremely intelligent person, and that comes through in his writing. Learning about this man who had such an interesting and amazing career really sucked me in more than I expected it to.

This book inspired the movie October Sky, which I watched a long time ago. I have to admit it wasn't really at the top of my interests, but I found it for a good price used. I decided to give it a try, and I am glad I did. It was well written, and considerably entertaining. If you are interested in space and the contributions to NASA from Homer Hickam, try out this series of memoirs. 

 The author of this book, Clint Hill, was the Secret Service agent assigned to Jackie Kennedy. He details their personal and professional relationship in this book, from the births of her children to the death of her husband and beyond. This is not a gossip filled tell all, but a genuine recollection of a relationship between two people, as well as some interesting career moments from Hill. I really enjoyed reading this book. 

 This book outlines the lives and contributions of nine American women who changed the country. Some of the women I had heard about before, others I had not. My favorite person to learn about that was featured in this book was Alice Hamilton. Hamilton was a physician who made tremendous contributions for toxicology and industrial medicine. I really enjoyed learning about all of these women.

I thought it was interesting that the author of this book is the oldest daughter of Al Gore. She did a wonderful job highlighting iconic and important American women that made big impacts on the country. She did a good job researching each woman and getting all of the important details and snippets of personalities out in this book. 

 Bill Donovan was born in New York in 1883. He served during World War I and World War II. His World War II service was very interesting to me, as I specialized in that for my war history major. Donovan met with many key people during the war years, and made no secret about what his opinions of the Axis powers were. He became involved with the OSS, and did all manner of spy-style things. His efforts for the Nuremberg trials were exceptional, and I really wish I would have known more about this before know. He also helped form the CIA and was an Ambassador to Thailand. He really did have an interesting life.

I, unfortunately, did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I had hoped. I got it for a dollar at the used book store, so, for the money, it was worth reading. The author did his research, and he did provide a decent amount of information about Wild Bill Donovan and the OSS. The issue that I had was that the tone of the book was just stale, there seemed to be an unnecessary amount of information and documents about the OSS that were not really needed that made it seem like page filler as opposed to important information, and it seemed like the author didn't quite have a grasp on the personality of his subject enough to integrate that into the writing. There were some really interesting parts, but as a whole, I do not think I would recommend this book. 

 Elizabeth II was born in 1926. She was originally Princess Elizabeth of York, but when her uncle Edward VII abdicated the throne, her father became King George VI. She married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. They had four children: Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. She was an extremely dynamic woman, from her thoughts and activities, her wartime service, love of horses and dogs, to her reign. She died at the age of 96 in 2022.

I genuinely enjoy books by this author. I own all of them, and I have read them all except one. I appreciate the level of research this author does on her works, and I also appreciate the way she is able to convey the historical record in a way that is an interesting and informative read. I was very pleased with this book, especially because I found it used for a dollar!