The cruise mentioned in this book was a diplomatic cruise sent by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 to handle relationships in Asia. The author of this books attempts to look at the decisions made by Roosevelt in a manner that typical historians do not take. I could actually appreciate that, as US historians can be guilty of taking a positively biased view of historical figures. As it turns out, the author of this book was tremendously biased, and I found no neutrality or hard fact finding throughout most of the book. I was really disappointed. There were some ideas that really could have been researched more and elaborated on, such as xenophobia, that were simply passed over.

This book, in my opinion, was not particularly well-researched. The book had so much potential, especially for discussing aspects of United States history that are often whitewashed all to hell or overlooked entirely. In a time when we really need to make sure that we are covering history accurately and thoroughly, this was a letdown. If you want to read this, that is your business, but this is not one I would recommend. 

 This book is the personal account of a United States Army nurse serving in Vietnam. I think this is a tremendous book, as accounts from nurses and even medics and doctors are fewer in number than other service members' accounts. Nurses are often unsung heroes, and especially those in combat situations. The conditions were miserable, and the supply issues and other challenges certainly didn't help matters. I enjoyed this book and learned a lot. 

 This book focuses on the Siege of Plei Me. The Plei Me camp was established in 1963 by the United States Army Special Forces. The service members there were in charge of gathering intelligence and supporting the South Vietnamese military forces. The siege lasted from October 19 through October 25, 1965. The North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam encircled the camp and began a series of attacks before the siege was ended by US and South Vietnamese forces. The author of this book was a Captain at the time of this event and details his experiences in Vietnam. He also recounts this siege and his efforts to save those who were wounded. It also discusses the aftermath of wartime experiences on service members who go through traumatic events.

I thought this book was wonderful. I do not know a whole lot about the Vietnam war and bought several books on the subject. My grandfather was a Vietnam veteran, and books like this make me understand certain things about him that I never considered before. Many Vietnam veterans do not speak about their wartime experiences, so this book is extremely valuable to the historical record for that reason, among others. I would caution anyone who has personal experiences with PTSD to be aware that there is some graphic content. 

 This book was written by a Latvian man who was given an ultimatum by Nazi forces: fight in the SS or go to a concentration camp. People automatically assume that everyone who fought for the Nazi regime were Nazis at heart, or otherwise racist and cruel people, but in many instances, people found themselves between a rock and a hard place. I can completely understand why one would make the choice of risking it on the front line as opposed to a concentration camp. The author of this book relates his experiences with his hometown being overran by Nazis and his time fighting for them on the Eastern Front. He was wounded multiple times and had some really harrowing experiences. I found this book to be pretty moving and also interesting since it offered a perspective different than the mostly Allied forced related books I typically find. 

 

This is a pretty decent accounting of the attack on the United Stated by Japan on December 7, 1941. This book features accounts by people who survived the attacks on the ground (or on the ships), as well as accounts by Japanese military members who participated in the event. I have had this book for quite a while and am working hard to finish up anything unread that I own, and I am annoyed that I did not read this sooner. I could have used this as reference material for a class I took not long ago. At any rate, this was a solid read.

 

 This book is the personal account of Jillian Lauren, a young woman who found herself in a seedy "casting director's" office one second and on a plane to Singapore to hang out and party with some rich man who needed pretty girls for his parties. (If you have ever wondered how people wind up in crazy situations, this gives you an example of the bizarre underbelly of the entertainment world.) As it turns out, the "rich businessman" was Jefri Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III, who is the son of the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III. This man is interesting in his own right, and I was shocked by his massive art collection that includes works by two artists I love: Renoir and Degas. The place that the author stayed was extremely opulent, which was a shock for a starving artist type.

I did not really enjoy the storytelling of this book. I felt like there were some really dull parts. Aside from that, I found it fascinating how a random American girl ended up in a harem in Asia living in luxury. 

This is the second book from Nicholas Irving. This book discusses his career as a sniper in the United States Army Rangers. Irving is certainly a very skilled marksman and proved that with his record during deployment for direct-action kills. I found the book to be interesting and not nearly as egotistical as I imagined. This book is not for everyone, but for those who are interested in military history, you would probably like it. I am trying very hard to clear off some of my military history unread books this year, so if you are not interested in that.... skip my reviews for this entire month of April 2025. 

 This was a really good book by a really good author. I have never read a book by Stephen Ambrose that I disliked. This was a well-researched and comprehensive book about strategic bombing during World War II. It was really interesting to consider how different warfare would have looked in World War II (and now) without the use of aviation. If you are into aviation or military history, you would like this book. 

 

The Nuremberg Trials took place in Nuremberg, Germany in the aftermath of World War II. Multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by the Nazi regime during World War II. Many of the architects of the Holocaust were tried there, as well as many Nazi doctors who experimented on human beings confined to concentration camps. I did not find this book to be very informative or supremely well done, but that may be because I specialized in World War II history and my scope of understanding runs a little deeper than this book provided. If you are just getting interested in this topic due to current events, this may be a good starter book for you.

 

 

This book covers a Gilded Age murder and subsequent tabloid war between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Children found a torso, sans head, floating along in the East River. Police shrugged it off as a prank by medical students, until the next day when more pieces were discovered in the Harlem River. The way that the identity of the victim was uncovered was really wild, but I will not spoil it for those who are unfamiliar with this case and are interested in the book. I can assure you I would have never thought about checking any location such as that for a missing person, but someone certainly thought of it and helped to blow the case wide open. This book definitely took some turns I was not expecting. The Gilded Age was a really dramatic time.

I would also like to note that it seems crazy to me to do reenactments of the murder in the middle of Times Square, but I suppose the reenactments that we watch on True Crime shows is essentially the same thing. I find it equally crazy that MEDICAL STUDENTS would leave body parts from their cadavers laying around for shits and giggles.

I have the Audible version of this book, which I really enjoyed. If you are interested in the physical copy, it is a little less than 300 pages. I thought it was really well done. The research was sufficient. I really learned a lot about this case. I always like learning about older cases like this. I think it is really interesting to see how tabloid news has continued to feed off of scandal and tragedy all the way up to the present day. I know I have always picked up the tabloid magazines while waiting in the grocery store checkout, but TMZ has really left a bad taste in my mouth for things like this. I find them to be the bottom of the barrel and just scummy. Tabloids have a longer history that I ever considered, and this was a good book for learning about that.