Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




History Book Reviews Coming Soon (page 3)


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Cover art for LINCOLN UNBOUND
NONFICTION
Released: June 11, 2013

"A quick, smoothly readable account of Lincoln the political striver, the embodiment of the Declaration's "central idea…that every man can make himself.""
The editor of the National Review sketches the political character of our 16th president. Read full book review >
Cover art for BALANCE
NONFICTION
Released: June 11, 2013

"The authors' tone is less alarmist than, say, David Stockman's, but there's not much room for good news here, either. "We might be wrong," they write. "History has yet to be written, after all." But if they're right, then there's plenty of cause for worry."
The enemy is at the wall--but no worry, since the city inside is pretty well destroyed already. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE FOUNDING CONSERVATIVES
NONFICTION
Released: June 13, 2013

"Groundbreaking history not to be missed--a book to quote and to keep, as the material is rich enough to merit rereading."
Offering a corrective to traditional accounts depicting united American revolutionaries, this valuable revisionist assessment profiles the men who struggled against the nascent nation's more radical elements. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE GIRL WHO LOVED CAMELLIAS
NONFICTION
Released: June 14, 2013

"Duplessis' string of lovers was sufficiently fascinating to become the basis of books, plays and Verdi's opera. As a chronicle of French life, Kavanagh's book is great fun; as biography, it's scattered."
Intelligent Life contributing editor Kavanagh (Nureyev: The Life, 2007, etc.) attempts to sort out the biography of the short-lived Parisian courtesan Marie Duplessis (1824–1847). Read full book review >
Cover art for THE NORMAN CONQUEST
NONFICTION
Released: June 15, 2013

"A thoroughly enjoyable book from a historian's historian who can write for the masses."
The story of William the Conqueror's invasion of England is hardly new, but the situations that prompted it on both sides of the English Channel have never been told in so much depth. Read full book review >
Cover art for A JOURNEY THROUGH TUDOR ENGLAND
NONFICTION
Released: June 15, 2013

"A clever history of how the Tudors ushered England into the medieval age, illustrating the broad influence they exerted both then and now."
Lipscomb (Early Modern History/Univ. of East Anglia; 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII, 2009) combines her credentials as historian/TV presenter/author to give us a thorough history/guided tour of the Tudors. Read full book review >
Cover art for PARIS FRANCE
NONFICTION
Released: June 18, 2013

"A unique, romantic memoir and a perfect introduction to a unique American voice."
A contrarian expatriate's impressionistic rendering of her adopted country, just before the ax fell. Read full book review >
Cover art for QUEEN BEE OF TUSCANY
NONFICTION
Released: June 18, 2013

"While exploring the life of his human subject, Downing also effectively draws us to visit Tuscany, to stay and absorb its magic."
Downing (The Calligraphy Shop, 2003) delivers an illuminating biography of Janet Ross (1842–1927), who led the Anglo-Florentine community through the belle epoque and into the 1920s. Read full book review >
Cover art for SPELL IT OUT
NONFICTION
Released: June 18, 2013

"An entertaining mixture of erudition, attitude and wit that crackles, spits and sparkles."
A noted linguistics scholar and prolific author asks and answers the question, "Why do we spell words the way we do?" Read full book review >
Cover art for 1940
NONFICTION
Released: June 18, 2013

"A sympathetic, entertaining portrayal of two presidential opponents and ultimate colleagues--a nice complement to Lynne Olson's more comprehensive, sweeping Those Angry Days (2013)."
A warmly characterized study of Franklin Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie as they battled for the presidency of 1940 within a yawning national chasm over the war. Read full book review >
Cover art for FORBIDDEN MUSIC
NONFICTION
Released: June 18, 2013

"An important text whose dense design may dissuade some general readers but whose thorough research supplies some significant pages in the account of some of history's darkest decades."
A veteran recording producer and authority on Jewish music debuts with a richly detailed history of Jewish musicians--not just composers--who were threatened by the Holocaust. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE MARQUESS OF QUEENSBERRY
NONFICTION
Released: June 18, 2013

"While formal and academic, this portrait presents compelling new evidence of Queensberry's humanity."
A straightforward attempt to rehabilitate Oscar Wilde's tormentor as a family man. Read full book review >