A well-researched history of Delaware’s strategic role during the Second World War.
A military historian explores an unheralded front of World War II.
As a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, Grayson has long studied military history and is the author of multiple books and articles in that field. He’s also made periodic visits to Delaware’s Atlantic coast, where he, like many fellow Washington, D.C.–area residents, passed weekends of relaxation and fun. Visitors to that coastal string of resort towns can’t help but notice the collection of “mysterious towers” that dot Route 1. Despite a number of local “myths borne of guesswork,” very little has been published about the towers’ history—not even pamphlets at state parks. Written as a remedy to this historiographic silence, this book centers on little-discussed civil defense measures taken during World War II on Atlantic coasts adjacent to the nation’s capital. The aforementioned towers, such as those located at Delaware’s Fort Miles, served as essential elements of homeland defense, providing radar signals and observation posts for those that kept watch for naval threats throughout the war. This concise book provides a brief but detailed look at the role of Delaware’s U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps in protecting the country’s shores during that era. In doing so, the author hopes to not only provide curious Delaware residents with an accurate history of the towers, but also highlight the valor of soldiers who “are not specifically depicted or credited for their front line obedience to orders during the war’s darkest hours.” This hagiographic approach feels a bit overplayed at times. However, the book’s strength lies in its unusual, in-depth examination of the military’s use of its towers and artillery defense networks. It also provides a detailed survey of the underlying science and math behind observation towers, which allow corpsmen to see approaching ships beyond the horizon. It’s an accessible narrative, overall, and it’s accompanied by historical photographs, text-box vignettes, maps of tower locations, and weaponry-related charts that add up to an engaging reading experience.
A well-researched history of Delaware’s strategic role during the Second World War.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66554-236-4
Page Count: 194
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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