The pathologisation of homosexuality in fascist Italy by Gabriella Romano – The Case of ‘G’ – is a short book I read for my studies. Because of the writing and the topic I don’t think it will have a large appeal/interest, so I will say…
Bloc Life by Peter Molloy – Stories from the Lost World of Communism – is a book on three members of the Eastern Bloc – East Germany, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. It showcases how life was in these countries during the Cold War. It presents a…
Approaching an Auschwitz Survivor by Jürgen Matthäus – Holocaust Testimony and its Transformations – is a compilation of 5 essays on the testimony of a Holocaust survivor. Each chapter is written by an expert in Holocaust, Atina Grossmann, Konrad Kwiet, Wendy Lower, Jurgen Matthaus, and…
A History of the Baltic States by Andres Kasekamp is a very short book considering it reveals the history of 3 countries: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. With only 200 pages on the topic as the rest are notes and so on, the material is very…
An Anti-Communist on the Eastern Front by Vladímir Kovalevski* is a must read! I loved this book for so many reasons. First of all it offers one of the most unusual perspectives of WWII and a bit of the Spanish civil war. It was written…
Yugoslav Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War by Vjeran Pavlakovic is a short, but really good book on the Yugoslavia’s involvement in the Spanish civil war. The numbers were not high, as about 2,000 volunteers joined, but the book covers what happened in a very…
How to Manage Your Slaves by Jerry Toner or, it’s full title: How to Manage Your Slaves by Marcus Sidonius Falx by Jerry Toner, is a fun book. Toner wrote the book in “collaboration” with Falx. In fact, it’s an interpretation of what a Roman…
The World Health Organization: A History by Marcos Cueto, Theodore Brown, and Elizabeth Fee is a book on the history of WHO. I don’t have a lot to say besides that I was annoyed by their views on Eastern Europe – the whole “buffer” between…
A Concise History of Italy by Christopher Duggan – Cambridge Concise Histories is a good book which I enjoyed. It’s focused on the modern history a bit too much for my taste, hence the 4 stars instead of 5. For example, the period between 400…
The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan – A Cold Case Investigation – is a newly published book on the research a team undertook for 6 years, to discover what happened to Anne Frank, and one of the team was a retired FBI agent.…
I find medicine, especially in a historical context, fascinating. So I was keen on reading Greco-Roman Medicine and What It Can Teach Us Today by Nick Summerton* which is a book that did not disappoint at all. I gave it a very well deserved 5…
Philip, Prince of Greece by John Carr, Constantinos Lagos* has the subtitle The Duke of Edinburgh’s Early Life and the Greek Succession. Today would have been Prince Philip’s 100th birthday and so I mark this occasion by sharing my thoughts on this book, published very…
Modernity and Bourgeois Life by Jerrold Seigel – Society, Politics, and Culture in England, France and Germany Since 1750 is one of the books recommended for University. It was very interesting, but it is quite a long book, at over 500 pages (without notes, although…
Peaceful Conquest by Sidney Pollard – The Industrialization of Europe 1760-1970 might not be on our wish list for Christmas, but it is surely a very good book for students reading history. I’ve read it quite fast and I like the amount of data included…
Europe’s Uncertain Path 1814-1914 by R.S. Alexander – State Formation and Civil Society – is one of the books I was recommended for European History at University. It is well written and I’ve enjoyed reading it. As the subject is not exactly easy, I don’t…
The Revolutions in Europe by Robert Evans and Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann is a collection of essays about the 1848 revolutions in Europe. As it happens with this kind of books, some chapters are more intriguing that others, both due to the subject and to…