Neptune's Fortune

Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire by Julian Sancton

Family of Spies

Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor by Christine Kuehn (Celadon Books 2025)

This may be considered hidden history, or maybe hidden in plain site. Fascinating and unusual story of a German family in the 1930s and 40s who ended up spying for the Japanese before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Kuehn family was in Germany, having no luck getting into good positions with the up and coming Nazis. Except one daughter, Rose, who was having an affair with Goebbels. Rose was adopted and turned out to be half Jewish. When this was found out it was arranged that the family would relocate to Hawaii and spy on the US military there for the Japanese. The Japanese paid them very well and they used the income to live large and bought real estate and entertained lavishly. In particular entertaining members of the American military, in order to get intel to pass on to the Japanese. They traveled occasionally to Japan to meet with officials. This went on from the mid 1930s through the 1940s until some of the family was arrested and tried.

It is amazing how open Honolulu was for so long that the father could drive around Oahu and take photos of military installations to pass on to the Japanese. The book is written by the granddaughter of the main spy, whose father never talked of his childhood in Hawaii. She was only able to start to get info on the family activities after enough time passed and documents were made available in the 1970s and 1980s. Among the many fascinating things this book reveals is that because of this spy family the Germans knew that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked right from the time it was being planned.

The Six Loves of James I

The Six Loves of James I by Gareth Russell

This is an interesting history of Scottish and English history in the late 1500s and early 1600s. This is a complicated history and this book is good at helping to decipher all the moving parts. Here is the basic lineage that this book deals with: Henry VIII had two daughters that lived to adulthood. He did have one son, Edward VI who lived to be 15. His Daughters, Elizabeth and Mary lived to adulthood. Mary became Mary I, queen of Scots, AKA bloody Mary. Elizabeth became the long reigning Elizabeth the first.

Mary had a son, James in Scotland who became James the VI of Scotland and when Elizabeth I died childless James VI of Scotland was the nearest heir so became James I of England. This was a complicated and violent time for the British isles. Witchcraft was actively prosecuted and execution for many crimes was common.

In this history, of the six loves of James, 5 of them were male. At the time they were known as the king's 'favorites' and acted as his personnel 'entourage'. Many went on to gain prominent places in the hierarchy of the titled and landed classes. During all of this there is the schism between Catholic and Protestant, and the rivalry and intermarriage of the Hapsburgs and Bourbon families. So it is all very complicated and filled with intrigue. One thing interesting and non conventional about James is that he was a pacifist and never went to war during his reign.