The First All-Star Game

The First All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, FDR and America at the Crossroads by Randall Sullivan

The first all star baseball game took place in July of 1933 in Chicago. At the time it was called the game of the century, but was so popular that it was repeated each year as the all star game. It also inspired the Negro leagues to have their own all star came in Chicago in september of 1933. The origial idea came from a sports writer for the Chicago Tribune. This was the depth of the depression, and when the depression began it was first thought that professional baseball was depression proof, but by 1933 atendance began to drop as more people were out of work and could not afford to go to games. The teams were chosen by ballots that were printed in newspapers and that people mailed in.

Dark Summit

Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season by Nick Heil

This is the chronicle of the 2006 season on Everest. Another year with a lot of fatalities. Also included is some history of Himalayan climbing, back to Mallory. This will be familiar ground to those who have read about other tragedies about climbing, which sometimes seems like the only kind.

The author does provide a nice summary list of the books published about the 1996 season “Before long a small library of firsthand accounts emerged, most notably Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, Anatoli Boukreev’s The Climb, Beck Weathers’s Left for Dead, Kenneth Kamler’s Doctor on Everest, and Matt Dickinson’s The Other Side of Everest.”

The Will to Climb and K2

The Will to Climb: Obsession and Commitment and the Quest to Climb Annapurna--the World's Deadliest Peak by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts, and K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts

These two books are the story of Eds climbing these two mountains, which was covered in his No Shortcuts to the Top book, but here he goes into more detail. These are also histories of climbing on these two mountains, which is rather involved since they are extremely difficult to climb mountains. The early history of attempts to climb are interesting because to get to the base of these mountains originally involved weeks of hiking and employing a lot of porters to carry gear. As opposed to presently people just flying into the base of the mountains.

No Way Down

No Way Down: Life and Death on K2 by Graham Bowley

A history of expeditions to attempt to climb and to climb K2, the second highest mountain in the world. K2 is located in Pakistan so that alone makes it difficult. K2 is considered the most dangerous high mountain to climb in the world as the death rate and success rate are rather staggering.

The Aviator and the Showman

The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon by Laurie Gwen Shapiro.

This is a very detailed biography of Amelia and George and provides lots of details on their life and work. They both had very unconventional lives, which at times were tumultuous and hectic. It really comes out in this book how unprepared Amelia was for her around the world flight, and so much of what was known at the time was hype from George that was loosely based on the facts and used to raise funds. She genuinely was in many ways an aviation pioneer but was pulled in so many directions that she was not able to practice many technical aspects of flight that she really needed.

After Amelia's death George was left scrambling to make ends meet, since his success was so closely tied to Amelia. Oddly enough he ended up in life owning the Stovepipe Wells hotel in Death Valley.

Mickey & Billy

Mickey & Billy: The Glory and Tragedy of a Yankee Friendship by Tony Castro

Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin both played for the Yankees in the 1950s, Mickey's first year was 1951. This book is mostly about Mickey, but also their friendship and the trouble they would get into. All night binges and bar fights, missing flights and trains and generally making the management mad. However, one of them was Mickey Mantle so lots of it was overlooked. Billy was ultimately traded, as he was a 'bad influence', it was thought, but since that did not end Mickey's behaviour that turned out to not be the case. A great narrative of an important time in baseball and the impact the stars made on the game.

Book and Dagger

Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham

The story of the US intelligence agencies, as they started in WW2. At the beginning of the war the US had no military intelligence people. What little had been in place after WW1 was dismantled in the 1920s, so FDR was starting from scratch. Interestingly, the people who put together the 1940 intelligence system chose to focus on people from the humanities. This first version was the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which after the war became the CIA. The strategy for recruiting academics and librarians to form the first intelligence service was that they wanted people who were used to and familiar with spending hours doing research in libraries and archives. These were not James Bond type spies, these were people spend hours going over newspapers, phone books, railroad time tables and scientific journals, gleaning information that was useful and that was in plain site. Also, being academics helped provide a cover, they were setup as book buyers in Istanbul and Stockholm, which gave them access to people and material that they could use to compile their reports. Also, since they were secretly working for the government, they had a pretty limitless budget to purchase books and other materials.

A fascinating story of the evolution of the intelligence world.

Skies of Thunder

Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World Hardcover by Caroline Alexander

The story of Berma in WW2. The amazing efforts to supply China with material, lend lease, during WW2. Astounding efforts were made with primitive airplanes to fly over the 'hump', basically the Himalayas. At the same time the Berma road was being constructed, through a dense jungle and over tough terrain. The numbers of lives lost, and the corruption of the Chinese that allowed much of the material to end up in the hands of the Japanese is heart breaking. While the effort was astounding, the author cannot really justify the human and monetary costs.

Neptune's Fortune

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

This book chronicles a shipwreck of a Spanish treasure galleon that was taking treasure from south America to Spain when it was pursued and sunk by a contingent of British ships. What was different about this ship sinking is that it sunk fairly intact, unlike other ships that sunk at this time was that they other ships were sunk mostly by storms, and their cargo was spread over a large area. The fact that this sunk intact meant that they treasure sure be in one place. This was a well known treasure ship for many years, but the general knowledge was that it was in a location where it was not.

The author also spends a lot of time putting the ship in context by providing a history of Spanish colonialism in central and south America. The ship was found within the legal waters of Colombia, but when it was found Spain tried to assert that it was their ship so their treasure. However, the fact that there is no longer a Spanish empire took precedent over Spain's claim. The author also goes into the history of treasure hunters and the international laws that govern this kind of treasure.

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.

The Bounty

The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty by Caroline Alexander

The story of the Bounty and Captain Bligh is fairly well known, several movies have been made of this and numerous books. This book offers very detailed information on the voyage and many of the members of the crew and their families. The original purpose of the Bounty voyage was to bring back Breadfruit plants that were to be brought to the Caribbean to be used as a cheap but viable food source. The Breadfruit is very nutritious and can be used as a single source of food. What was surprising to me was that after the mutiny and Bligh's amazing voyage back to England he made a second trip to get the Breadfruit. This time he was given a much bigger ship and an escort ship with a military force, that way there would not be a second mutiny. This second trip was successful and breadfruit is now a common food in the Caribbean.

Voices from the Kitchen

Voices from the Kitchen: Personal Narratives from New York's Immigrant Restaurant Workers (Beacon Press 2025) by Marc Meyer

This book contains the transcript of 27 interviews with people who work in restaurants in NY. All of them are immigrants, and they tell their stories of how they ended up where they are. It is mostly interesting, but does get a little repetitious as most of the stories are the same. But there are a few excpetional stories. Definately stories of our times.

The Twilight Forest

The Twilight Forest: An Elegy for Ponderosa in a Changing West (Island Press 2025) by Gary Ferguson

The author is a widely published nature writer. In this book he travels through New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and California documenting the decline of the ponderosa pine. He provides background on the evolution of the ponderosa, its place in the culture of the west and information about the different varieties of the ponderosa. Basically his premise is that the ponderosa is in decline and may disapear. Mostly this book is the story of the effects of climate change and how it is reshaping the landscape, in particular in the western US. Very good writing.

The Gardner Heist

The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser

On March 18, 1990 the Isabel Stewart Gardner musuem, in Boston, was robbed of art works worth tens of millions of dollars. The case was never solved and the art works have never been recovered. The theft included 2 Rembrandts, a Vermeer, a Monet and several Degas drawings. Since the theft was never solved, this proves a problem writing a book about the event since there is not really an ending to the story. So the author spends a lot of time talking about art theft in general, the state of art museums, famous art thefts and stories of the famous theives and there hauls. A theme throughout is the incompetence of many people who run these museums, and boards that aren't really qualified but made up of people with pestigious names.

1929

1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation by Andrew Ross Sorkin

A history of the 1929 crash and the major players who were involved. The author does go into the background of finance and Wall Street that setup the conditions of the crash, and then follows up what happened to some of these people after the crash and the depression set in. The author is very good at explaining complex financial concepts in a way that a novice can understand.

The Gales of November

The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon

The Edmund Fitzgerald (Fitz) is well known from the Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name. The majority of this book is a history of shipping on the Great Lakes, but goes into detail about the Fitz. The ship was specifically built as an ore transport on the great lakes, and was extremely well known at the time for the records in set. The author also goes into a brief history of the song, which of course gave a wider exposure to the ship beyond people who were 'lakers'.

1942

1942: WHEN WORLD WAR II ENGULFED THE GLOBE by Peter Fritzsche

As the title indicates this is a chronicle of 1942, a pivotal year in WW2. The author does go into the years leading up to 1942 to provide background, while there is not really new material in this book, it is well written and organized.

The Big Year

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik

In birding, a Big Year is when a person starts on January 1st and spends the year listing as many birds as they can for one year. While there is no prize invovled it is very competitive for the participants, who become obsessed with having as big a list as possible. While this can involve many people, this book concentrates on the activities of 3 people to tell the story. This was made into a movie, which I have not seen.

Launching Liberty

Launching Liberty: The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War by Doug Most

This is a history of the Liberty Ships that were the work horse for the Allies in WW2. The ships were built in several locations in the US, and while they didn't exist at the beginning of the war, by the end they were being built at record speeds. Several different companies built these ships, but this books concentrates on the California shipyards of Henry Kaiser. Kaiser was the person who build Hoover damn. As part of his innovation in building the ships, he wanted his workers to have access to health care without having travel far, so he created what would become Kaiser-Permanente.