Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




History Book Reviews Available Now (page 3)


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Cover art for BEYOND WAR
NONFICTION
Released: April 22, 2013

"A clarion call for change and more--not less--engagement with Islam."
A stirring account of where American Middle East policy has gone wrong. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE UNPREDICTABLE SPECIES
NONFICTION
Released: April 21, 2013

"A fascinating though occasionally crotchety scholarly presentation of the relationship among biology, genetics and culture. May be difficult going for some general readers."
Lieberman (Emeritus Linguistics/Brown Univ.; Toward an Evolutionary Biology of Language, 2006, etc.) examines the unique creative potential of the human brain. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE THIRD COAST
NONFICTION
Released: April 18, 2013

"A valuable contribution to the history of Chicago, worthy of a place alongside William Cronon's Nature's Metropolis (1991)."
A readable, richly detailed history of America's second city--which, laments novelist/historian and Chicagoan Dyja (Walter White: The Dilemma of Black Identity in America, 2008, etc.), has become a third city, perhaps even less. Read full book review >
Cover art for IN THE CITY OF BIKES
NONFICTION
Released: April 16, 2013

"An excellent choice for bikers and those who appreciate how a city's history can be changed by the simplest of passions."
A history of bicycles and cycling in Amsterdam. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE GENIUS OF EARTH DAY
NONFICTION
Released: April 16, 2013

"A fascinating treatment of both environmentalism and the structure of activism at the time."
The story of how April 22, 1970, began the tradition of Earth Day and helped to create the modern environmental movement. Read full book review >
Cover art for RETURN OF A KING
NONFICTION
Released: April 16, 2013

"A rich excavation of both British and Afghan sources, with gorgeous colored reproductions of Muslim and romantic renderings of the action and characters."
An intensively focused study of the ill-begotten launch of the Great Game in Afghanistan. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE UNDIVIDED PAST
NONFICTION
Released: April 12, 2013

"A generally persuasive, impassioned book-length essay. While his conclusions (and language) sometimes grow repetitive, they nonetheless serve to underscore at every turn an incisive argument buttressed by millennia of evidence."
Historian and editor Cannadine (History/Princeton Univ.; Mellon, 2006, etc.) constructs a stirring critique of history that questions conventional approaches to narrating the human chronicle. Read full book review >
Cover art for DEFIANT BRIDES
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"Read this book for the portrait of Benedict Arnold. The tales of the two Revolutionary-era women leave a great deal to be desired."
Stuart (The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation, 2008, etc.) draws on her long experience writing about women and social history to show that strong women have always driven their husbands to perform prominent actions, both good and bad. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE HUNT FOR HITLER'S WARSHIP
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"Armchair military historians will relish this account of bringing down the biggest prey in the German fleet."
Military historian Bishop (Battle of Britain, 2009, etc.) fashions an exciting, detail-packed account of the British obsession with dismantling Hitler's prize battleship. Read full book review >
Cover art for HOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT WIFE
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"A darkly enlightening tale--thoroughly researched, gracefully written--about Enlightenment thought, male arrogance and the magic of successful matrimony."
The award-winning author of The Knife Man (2005) returns with a true-life, truly bizarre tale set in Georgian England. Read full book review >
Cover art for JULY 1914
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

McMeekin (History/Koç Univ.; The Russian Origins of the First World War, 2011, etc.) treads familiar ground but delivers a thoroughly rewarding account that spares no nation regarding the causes of World War I, although Germany receives more than its share of blame. Read full book review >
Cover art for DEATH IN THE BALTIC
NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013

"An engaging study of a shocking tragedy, in which the author takes pains to view all sides."
The story of the worst maritime disaster in history--and it wasn't the Titanic. Read full book review >