Adventures With Alex

Tag: History

  • BR313) “Command and Control” Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser.  3/5 rating. 485 pages. Book #29 of 2019. Read July 23, 2023. This book presents an array of near-misses in the history of nuclear weapons. I just sat reading this for large sections literally with my mouth agape at…

  • BR273) “Unbroken” Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. 4/5 rating. 398 pages. Book #40 of 2022. Read November 7, 2022. This book tells the incredible true story of Louis Zamperini, a WWII POW who was once one of the fastest people alive. Louis ran track at USC, went to…

  • BR243) “Lies My Teacher Told Me” Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen. 4/5 rating. 318 pages. Book #10 of 2022. Read February 4, 2022. This is about the issues with how history is taught – the serious flaws, how this impacts students, and how we can begin to fix this. I picked…

  • BR173) “A People’s History of the United States” Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present by Howard Zinn. 4/5 rating. 688 pages. Book #9 of 2021. Read January 26, 2021. History is written by the victors. This is almost always true. But lucky enough for us, Howard has cleared away the view from these “winners” of history and looked at…

  • BR122) “A History of God” Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    A History of God: The 4,000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong.  2/5 rating. 399 pages. Book #47 of 2020. Read July 19, 2020. I was super excited to read this book because anthropological looks at religion are some of my favorite books (wow, writing that sounds like a joke, but…

  • BR113) “Born in Blood & Fire” Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    Born in Blood & Fire: A Concise History of Latin America by John Charles Chasteen.  3/5 rating. 340 pages. Book #38 of 2020. Read June 15, 2020. This book tells “a concise history of Latin America” from the time of the Aztec, Inca, and Maya before Columbus up to today. John does a good job…

  • BR97) “The Spartans” Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece by Paul Cartledge.  2/5 rating.  Book #22 of 2020. Read April 12, 2020. This was an in-depth discussion about Ancient Sparta, from before their rise to prominence and power, all the way to their eventual fall and movement into a normal city in Greece (from…

  • BR54) A Short History of Nearly Everything Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.  4/5 rating. Book #129 of 2019. Read November 16, 2019. If you are going to read one science/history/civilization book over your entire life, let it be this one! This is the second book of Bill’s that I have read and it cemented the fact that he…

  • BR12) The History of Cuba Book Review

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    Alex Furst
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    The History of Cuba by Clifford L. Staten. 3/5 rating. Book #83 of 2019. Read June 30, 2019 A short, yet interesting history of Cuba. It is amazing to look at Cuba’s history in a less biased way where it is apparent the sway that American-lead politics and hegemony have had on Cuba. It is…