Book Review: Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America’s First Imperial Adventure

Book Review:  Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America’s First Imperial Adventure by Julia Flynn Siler Disclaimer: I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway in the expectation that I would write a review of it. This is not the happy story of how altruistic Americans freed the Hawaiian people from tyranny.… Continue reading Book Review: Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America’s First Imperial Adventure

Book Review: Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion

Book Review: Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion by Tansy E Hoskins Disclaimer:  I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Fashion…isn’t something I notice a lot.  I buy clothes when I have to, and try to wear matching socks, but I don’t know a lot… Continue reading Book Review: Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion

Book Review: Mingo Dabney

Book Review: Mingo Dabney by James Street Mingo Dabney is a Mississippi woodsman from Lebanon who falls in love with the lovely but exotic (white-haired) Cuban woman Rafaela Galbran when she comes to his hometown seeking money and arms for the 1895 Cuban revolution. Being a passionate young fellow, he winds up following her to… Continue reading Book Review: Mingo Dabney

Book Review: Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town

Book Review: Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town by Mirta Ojito Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. In 2008, an Ecuadorian immigrant, Marcelo Lucero, was murdered by a group of teenagers in Patchouge,  New York.  They had been looking for “Mexicans”… Continue reading Book Review: Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town

Book Review: The Thirty-Ninth Man

Book Review: The Thirty-Ninth Man by D.A. Swanson Disclaimer:  I received this book in a giveaway by the author on the grounds that I would review it. On December 26th, 1862, thirty-eight men were hanged in the largest mass execution in American history.    They were convicted of murder and other crimes in connection with… Continue reading Book Review: The Thirty-Ninth Man

Book Review: Tom Swift and His Motor-boat

Book Review: Tom Swift and His Motor-boat by Victor Appleton When I was a lad, lo these many years ago, one of the things that delighted me was running across  old boys’ adventure books, from when my grandfather was young.  The world they described was so strange and far away, even then.  So when I… Continue reading Book Review: Tom Swift and His Motor-boat

Book Review: Koko

Book Review: Koko by Peter Straub Four Vietnam veterans, among the very few remaining from their old unit, meet at the Vietnam War Memorial’s dedication.  One of them has noticed a series of murders that indicate another member of their unit is alive and a serial killer.  He convinces the others to go searching for… Continue reading Book Review: Koko

Book Review: Nick Carter Volume 1

Book Review: Nick Carter Volume 1 Nick Carter, master detective, is a character with a long history, in three distinct phases.  He started in 1886 in stories most associated with the dime novels, was reinvented in 1933 for the pulps, and then again in 1964 as “Nick Carter Killmaster” for a long running series of… Continue reading Book Review: Nick Carter Volume 1

TV Review: The Adventures of Jim Bowie

TV Review: The Adventures of Jim Bowie I watched several episodes of this 1950s television show via a Mill Creek DVD.  As you might have guessed, this series is a heavily fictionalized story about the famous land speculator and knife fighter, Jim Bowie, popularizer of the blade that bears his name. The series is primarily… Continue reading TV Review: The Adventures of Jim Bowie