Books
Women’s Military Stories from the American Revolution of Afghanistan
Jerri Bell and Tracy Crow
Praised by The Wrath-Bearing Tree:
“In It’s My Country Too, there are stories about women in all the branches of military service, even disguised as men so they could fight. There’s even a story about a woman who served in the US Lighthouse Service. The breadth and depth of the stories the editors included is remarkable. There are uplifting stories and ones that are ugly. Another thing that makes these stories compelling is that they are first-person accounts. There’s a lot of background provided by the editors, but the stories come from the women themselves.”
How Whiskey Law Shaped America
Brian F. Haara
Recommended by MCBA:
“Perhaps you can tell that I really enjoyed this book. It is a fun read but it is chock full of legal case citations if you want to fall down the rabbit hole and dive into the unique facts of bourbon litigation. I highly recommend it to those interested in bourbon or justice.”
How Baseball’s Strangest Game Ever Gave a Broken City Hope
Kevin Cowherd
Review on Brooklyn Fans:
“The story comes vividly to life through the eyes of city leaders, activists, police officials, and the media that covered the tumultuous unrest on the streets of Baltimore, as well as the ballplayers, umpires, managers, and front-office personnel of the teams that played in this singular game, and the fans who watched it from behind locked gates.”
A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux
Amos Bad Heart Bull and Helen H. Blish
Featured by Tribal College:
“This lavish 50th anniversary edition of A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux is indispensable not just for specialists, but anyone interested in American Indian history. Through a careful reading of Bad Heart Bull’s drawings, Lakota history and culture come to life, offering a wholly Native perspective on this transformational time.”
How Game of Thrones Explains Modern Military Conflict
Edited by Max Brooks, John Amble, ML Cavanaugh, and Jaym Gates
Foreword by James Stavridis
Reviewed on Veterans Today:
“Each chapter of Winning Westeros provides a relatable, outside‑the‑box way to simplify and clarify the complexities of modern military conflict. A chapter on the doomed butcher’s boy whom Arya Stark befriends by World War Z author Max Brooks poignantly reminds us of the cruel fate that civilians face during times of war.”
Personhood and Place to Tohono O’odham Songs, Sticks, and Stories
Seth Schermerhorn
Review in the Tucson Star:
“Schermerhorn’s personal, informal academic prose, moreover, does make it accessible. And one layman’s takeaway? At waila festivals, you should glide, as is proper to the O’odham, rather than bounce to the music.”
My Life in the NFL and the Rise of America’s Game
Upton Bell and Ron Borges
Called an “enjoyable read” by Vito Stellino:
“Upton said that his father was asked (Bell doesn’t say who asked) to check with Capone (who was in prison at the time) if the Lindbergh baby kidnapping was the work of the Mob. Within 48 hours, Capone got back to him and said it wasn’t. Those are just two of the fascinating anecdotes that Bell included in his book.”
Wisdom on the Weekly Torah Portion
Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben
Featured by the Jewish Book Council:
“The author makes clear that his book is not designed to be read cover to cover, but ’to be read and used each week to help illuminate the Torah portions one at a time.… My hope is that, all together, these will stimulate reader contemplation, elicit personal reflections that further illustrate or develop the ideas in this book, and motivate readers to make our tradition’s profound teachings ever more meaningful and impactful in their own lives.’ A Year with Mordecai Kaplan does just that, while at the same time sharing the wisdom, passion, and insights that Kaplan can continue to offer us into the next phase of Jewish life.”
On the Trail of the Yellow Tiger
War, Trauma, and Social Dislocation in the Southwest China During the Ming-Qing Transition
Kenneth M. Swope
Called “Masterful” by the Michigan War Studies Review:
“Kenneth Swope’s book offers a masterful analysis of the strategies and tactics of the main players in a brutal, multilayered conflict, including peasant rebels, the Southern Ming, and the Manchu Qing. He could have reinforced his arguments by elaborating on the broader trends that swept China during the Ming-Qing transition. But this is a minor critique. On the Trail of the Yellow Tiger is a lucid, often thrilling treatment of its subject; it will appeal to both scholarly and general audiences.”
Race, Religion, and Identity for America’s Newest Jews
Helen Kiyong Kim and Noah Samuel Leavitt
Reviewed on Reading Religion:
“This interdisciplinary study wonderfully attends to the lived experience of multi-racial Jews themselves. As such, the authors take seriously the questions, struggles, and strategies of these individuals and families in affirming and asserting their Jewishness in conjunction with their multiracial identity, as well as in the context of cultural racial presumptions of what constitutes Jewishness. In so doing, they discuss and demonstrate the compatibilities of Asianness and Jewishness both historically and culturally, thereby expanding the conception of American Jewishness beyond normative racial and ethnic categories.”
The Humble, Original, and Now Completely Forgotten Game of English Baseball
David Block
Praised on Brooklyn Fans:
“In the new book Pastime Lost, David Block unearths baseball’s buried history and brings it back to life… Pastime Lost is one of the best baseball books, as well as world history works, you will ever read, and will give you a greater appreciation of why the Yankees are going over there.”
Authors
Rodger McDaniel
Interview on Wyoming PBS.
Matt Cavanaugh and Max Brooks
On History of Westeros Podcast.
Ray Locker
Interviewed on The Opperman Report and Press Pool.
Joe Bonomo
Steven Wingate
Guest on Write the Book.
Rosalyn LaPier
Interview on New Books Network.
UNP blog 