This is almost two books, one about the creation of the Chicago World’s Fair, or World’s Columbian Exposition; the other basically a true crime story about a serial killer who took advantage of the Fair to lure some of his victims. He is the “devil” of the title; the White City was the nickname for Read More
Author: Julie Crain Miguel
White Lies, by A J Baime
This is a biography of a man named Walter White, who not only was the head of the NAACP in its early years, but also investigated a number of lynchings in the 1920’s. He was able to do this because while he identified as Black, he could easily pass as white. In fact the subtitle Read More
Appetite for America, by Stephen Fried
The subtitle of this book is “How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West”. While I had heard of Fred Harvey, and about the “Harvey Girl” movie starring Judy Garland, I didn’t realize the impact these restaurants had on the country. The person Fred Harvey was an Englishman Read More
Destiny of the Republic, by Candice Millard
This book is about the life, and short presidency, of James A Garfield. The subtitle is “A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President”. I had not learned much about Garfield, aside from the fact that he was assassinated after only a few months in office. This book brings his personality and Read More
Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick
If you are looking for just the history of the people who arrived on the Mayflower, then this might not be the book you are looking for. If you want to not only learn about the passengers of the Mayflower, but also about their children and grandchildren, then this will fit the bill. The first Read More
Love & Hate in Jamestown, by David A Price
Jamestown predated Plymouth Plantation as the first continuous English settlement in North America. However, due to poor planning, disease, and conflict with Native populations, it almost did not survive. Much of the story at the beginning of the colony has come down to us in a mythologized form. While there is some truth behind the Read More
Switchboard Soldiers, by Jennifer Chiaverini
In this historical fiction novel, the author follows several young women from their civilian lives in various cities in pre-WWI America, through their training, and into France where they connect the calls that helped the Allies win the war. While much of the story takes place “over there”, the women, as well as all of Read More
The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough
We all learned about the Wright brothers in school – Orville & Wilber, Kitty Hawk, airplanes. But that is the much simplified version. This book goes into much more detail. Of course, the Wright’s were not the first to come up with the idea of creating a flying machine, but they were the first to Read More
The Great Influenza, by John M Barry
This is a book not only about the influenza in 1918, its impact on America and the world in a time of war, but also about the men (and a few women!) who were trying desperately to stop it. The first part of book is actually more of a history of the development of modern Read More
Booth, by Karen Joy Fowler
In the early to mid 1800’s, the most famous Booth was not John Wilkes. His older brothers June and Edwin, and their father Junius before them, were well-known in the theatrical world. Since most of the family members are either anti-secession or apolitical, they seem to have been mostly blindsided by John’s actions. I don’t Read More