Murder by the Book: A Sensational Chapter in Victorian Crime by Claire Harman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Murder by the Book is the true story of the murder of Lord William Russell on May 6, 1840 in the Mayfair area of London. In many ways this is a classic Victorian Age murder mystery, but it is more than that too. The prime suspect claimed, in at least one of several published confessions after being convicted, that the inspiration for the crime was a sensational novel of the time. This eventually draws in many literary figures, including Dickens and Thackeray.

The author does a great job of describing the crime and the investigation. And she does an excellent job of describing the social and literary scenes of the period. It is a fascinating story and it is well told; the book can be read in a single afternoon. There is not too much more I can say, without running the risk of spoiling it, but there are some unanswered questions about the murder and the perpetrator, and the author reviews these at the end of the book, and gives some of her own ideas on the crime and the motive.

Lotharingia: A Personal History of Europe’s Lost Country by Simon Winder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the third volume of the author’s trilogy of personal histories of Europe, the first two being Germania and Danubia, concerning Germany and the Habsburg lands respectively. As usual, Mr. Winder takes the “personal history” part seriously – the narrative is very anecdotal and jumps from place to place, though it does remain in chronological order, more or less.

The subject of this volume is Europe’s “lost country” – the lands of Lothar, from the Treaty of Verdun in 843, where Charelmagne’s empire was divided between his three grandsons. One part became Germany, another part became the basis for France and the part in between was given to Lothar. It stretches from the Low Countries to Switzerland and Italy, but never really became a nation-state.

As always, the anecdotal style is somewhat problematical for the narrative, but it is entertaining and easy to read. There is a lot of history here, but because things are scattered geographically, it can be hard to keep track of where things are taking place. The maps do help, but it can be a little confusing in places.

Overall I enjoyed the book, but I think it is not as quite as good as the previous two volumes.

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very interesting book, and I would definitely encourage people, especially people who identify as white, to read it. I think that if one reads this book with an open mind, there is much that can be learned.

The author starts by carefully defining terms, such as bias, prejudice and discrimination before going on to define racism. The important thing to remember is that she does not use the colloquial definition of racism, but the more standard definition based on which groups have the power within our society.

I’m not going to rehash her entire premise on white fragility – as I mentioned above, it’s definitely worth reading – but white fragility definitely exists. I’ve seen it in action and I’ve had my own moments of white fragility too. It is a hindrance for all of us; we all need to be able to talk about racism if we are going to eliminate the systemic racism within our society.

Metropolis by Philip Kerr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve been a fan of the Bernie Gunther series since I first picked up the Berlin Noir trilogy; I’ve read them all and enjoyed them. This one is one of the better ones in the series and sadly, with the death of Philip Kerr, it is the last one of the series.

This book is a prequel or sorts. It’s set in Berlin in 1928 towards the end of the five golden years of the Weimar Republic. Bernie Gunther has just been promoted to the Murder Commission and there is a serial killer on the loose. I really can’t say much more about the plot for fear of spoilers. But I will say that during the course of his investigation, we meet several people from the Weimar cultural scene, and we also learn more about Bernie’s service during the First World War.

The murder mystery is interesting, but for me the best part of the book was the atmosphere of Berlin in 1928 and seeing the young Bernie learning the ropes as a detective on the Murder Commission. I really enjoyed the book, and if you’ve liked any of the previous Bernie Gunther books, I’m sure you’ll like this one too.

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m sorry that this is going to be a rather short review, simply because there is very little I can say without giving away major parts of the plot. The story begins in 1468 with a young English priest, Christopher Fairfax, making his way from the cathedral at Exeter to the small village of Addicott St. George. The local priest has died and the bishop has assigned Fairfax the task of presiding over the funeral and burial.

That’s about all I can say, except that things are not always as they seem, and the situation in 1468 has some curious echoes of Covid19 pandemic that we are dealing with today.

I really enjoyed the book; Harris tells a very interesting tale and it’s well worth the time spent reading it. I will say that the ending seems a little abrupt and although all of my questions were not answered, it is a satisfying conclusion.

Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have very mixed feelings about “Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit.” On one hand, it does provide some interesting insights into Robert Kennedy as a person, and how he grew and changed over the course of his life. On the other hand, it is a somewhat muddled book; it could easily be a biography of John Kennedy and parts of it could be classified as being autobiographical.

The book traces Kennedy’s life from being one of the younger children in a large family, to his death in 1968. It is well-written but in places it relies heavily on anecdotes. I also had the feeling that in some sections of the book things were left out or over simplified just to keep the page count down. There are also several errors, either in editing or fact checking, which should have been caught.

Overall I like the book. I appreciated the focus on Kennedy as a person, but this is not a substitute for a more thorough biography.

Under Occupation by Alan Furst
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Under Occupation is the latest story by Alan Furst. I’ve read all of the books in his Night Soldiers collection, and this one is just not as good as the others. In places it really seems more like an outline, that will be filled in later.

The story follows journalist/author Paul Ricard in Occupied Paris in 1942. Through a chance encounter with a man being pursued by the Gestapo, Ricard becomes drawn into the activities of the Resistance. And that’s about all I can say without spoilers.

The main problem with the book is that it does not seem like a finished work. Ricard’s activities with the Resistance seem like unconnected episodes. Minor characters appear then disappear only to reappear as needed. Random chance seems to play an unusually large role in some of the activities.

I really can’t recommend this book. If you’re a fan of the series like me, then of course you will read it. If you are new to the series, I strongly recommend reading a few of the early novels before reading this one.

Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their History by Simon Winder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book in a series of three books by the author on the history of Central Europe; I have read them out of sequence, having finished “Danubia” before reading this book. The author is not kidding about the “wayward pursuit” aspect of the book. As I mentioned in my review of “Danubia” the narrative is very anecdotal and tends to jump from place to place geographically, though it does remain in roughly chronological order.

The main topic is Germany, which Mr. Winder covers from the Roman times up to 1933. Most of his personal stories are interesting and work with the narrative very well. This is especially true for the long stretch between the Thirty Years War and Napoleon when there were literally hundreds of small German states. Sure, we might be familiar with Austria, Prussia, Bavaria or Saxony but what about Hesse-Darmstadt and Schaumburg-Lippe?

There is a lot of history in here, and for the most part it’s a good read. There are many parts of the book where I thought the author did an outstanding job in explaining things, for example his discussion of the coming of the First World War is very good. But there are a few places where the personal stories kind of overwhelm the narrative, so I think this book is not quite as good as his next book “Danubia”. But overall I think it is a book that is well worth reading if you are interested in German history.

For That One Day: The Memoirs of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Commander of the Attack on Pearl Harbor by Mitsuo Fuchida
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For That One Day is a very interesting memoir from Captain Mitsuo Fuchida who planned and executed the raid on Pearl Harbor and eventually wound up becoming a Christian missionary. He lived an interesting life to say the least!

Fuchida has written about the Pacific War elsewhere, so this is really more of a personal remembrance as opposed to a military history. It does contain a lot of interesting details about the Pearl Harbor attack and his experience at Midway. Because it is not a military history, Fuchida is not shy about offering his opinion on people and events. He is not too happy with most of the admirals that he served under – they were too timid.

I found the story of his conversion to Christianity to be fascinating. And his stories of his mission trips to the United States are very interesting as well – he was able to meet with many of his former adversaries, like Nimitz and MacArthur and also then President Eisenhower.

Fuchida never really completed this memoir – he had some serious medical issues and only wrote about a third of what he had planned to write. Even so, it’s a very compelling story. The editor and translators did a remarkable job. I strongly recommend this book.

Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe by Simon Winder
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Danubia is, for me at least, a rather unusual history book. The author is not kidding about the “personal history” aspect! The narrative is very anecdotal and tends to jump from place to place within the former Habsburg empire, but it does remain in roughly chronological order. Although the personal stories form the places that the author visited can make for a choppy narrative in places, it also makes it easy to put the book down and pick it back up again a week or two later.

I found that the author’s personal stories about the places he visited in the course of his research really brought the Empire to life and added quite a bit of color to what can often be the tedious tale of the Habsburgs and their domains. There’s a lot of Central European history here, but by focusing on places and people and their stories, the book is much more enjoyable than most of histories of the Habsburg empire. I really enjoyed reading it, and if you’re interested in the history of Central Europe I recommend that you give it a try.