My Favorite Reads of 2022

Happy New Year! 2022 is finally over. Even though this year was miserable on many fronts, I read 56 awesome books, some even published this year! Here are some of my favorite/most interesting reads of the year. Amanat: Women’s Writing From Kazakhstan Selected and Translated by Zaure Batayeva and Shelley Fairweather-Vega If you know me, … Continue reading My Favorite Reads of 2022

Book Review: Lost Enlightenment by S. Frederick Starr and Polymaths of Islam by James Pickett

Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane by S. Frederick Starr, published by Princeton University Press, 2013 Polymaths of Islam: Power and Networks of Knowledge in Central Asia by James Pickett, published by Cornell University Press, 2020 I enjoyed both books and would highly recommend them to anyone interested in … Continue reading Book Review: Lost Enlightenment by S. Frederick Starr and Polymaths of Islam by James Pickett

Special Episode-6 Books on the Irish War of Independence

We reached 101 followers on Spotify this weekend and so we produced this special episode to celebrate! We discussed the 6 books we used the most when writing our scripts for our episodes on the Irish War of Independence. List of Books mentioned: The Republic: the Fight for Irish Independence by Charles Townshend Vivid Faces … Continue reading Special Episode-6 Books on the Irish War of Independence

Book Review for Making Uzbekistan by Adeeb Khalid

Rating: 5/5 Pros: A comprehensive exploration into the creation of Uzbekistan and its neighboring states A long overdue overview of an often-neglected region of the world Well-researched and detail heavy but still easy to read Cons: Need to know a little about the region before reading Is VERY detail heavy and needs to be reread … Continue reading Book Review for Making Uzbekistan by Adeeb Khalid

Review for the Irish Civil war: Law, Execution, and Atrocity

Irish Civil War: Law, Execution, and Atrocity by Sean Enright, Merrion Press, 2019 4/5 A slightly dry, but fascinating read about the executions that took place during the Irish Civil War. Like his prior book on the Easter Rising Trial, Sean spends the first half of the book providing historical and legal context for the … Continue reading Review for the Irish Civil war: Law, Execution, and Atrocity

Book Review of Richard Mulcahy from the Politics of War to the Politics of Peace 1913-1924

Book Review of Richard Mulcahy from the Politics of War to the Politics of Peace 1913-1924 by Padraig O Caoimh, Irish Academic Press 2019 Rating: 4.5/5 Pros: A long overdue biography on a vital founder of the Irish Free State and Irish Army Rich analysis that is easy to read Provides needed context on the … Continue reading Book Review of Richard Mulcahy from the Politics of War to the Politics of Peace 1913-1924

Book Review: Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt

Review of Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt by Rosalie David. Published by Penguin in 2002 4/5 This book, while different from what I had been expecting, was a well written and insightful read. It focuses on the development of the Ancient Egyptian belief system chronologically, focusing on the historical events that affected who and … Continue reading Book Review: Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt

Book Review: The Year of Liberty: the History of the Great Irish Rebellion of 1798

The Year of Liberty: the History of the Great Irish Rebellion of 1798 by Thomas Pakenham. Published in 1993 by Random House, Inc.   I have been fascinated by the 1798 rebellion ever since I first discovered the band the Wolfe Tones and realized they were named after an Irish rebel. Needless to say, I … Continue reading Book Review: The Year of Liberty: the History of the Great Irish Rebellion of 1798

Book Review: The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille

The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille by George Thenault. Published in 2009 by Bibliolife I’m sure one can imagine my excitement when I saw this memoir in my local military library. George Thenault was the French commander of the Lafayette Escadrille from the very beginning to the moment it was swallowed by the American Expeditionary … Continue reading Book Review: The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille

Book Review: Portrait of a Revolutionary

Portrait of a Revolutionary General Richard Mulcahy and the Founding of the Irish Free State by Maryann Valiulis Published in 1992 by University Press of Kentucky Richard Mulcahy is a criminally underappreciated Irishmen. Born in the 1890s and starting his career as a postal worker, he would eventually study to become an engineer, before taking … Continue reading Book Review: Portrait of a Revolutionary

Book Review: Easter 1916 the Irish Rebellion

Easter 1916 the Irish Rebellion by Charles Townshend. Published in 2015 by Penguin I’m going to start this review with a warning: Charles Townshend is one of my favorite historians. I have read few historians who can take complicated messes and break them down into short, easy to understand chapters within a chapter, while also … Continue reading Book Review: Easter 1916 the Irish Rebellion