For three decades, the nation now known as Tanzania was a German colony. In 1891, the country and adjoining territory (including Rwanda and Burundi) became Deutsch-Ostafrika. But when Germany lost World War I, the British, Belgians, and Portuguese took over. The lion’s share was first a...
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On Sunday, October 9, 2022, the cover story in the New York Times Book Review featured Adam Hochschild’s American Midnight. Reviewer Thomas Meaney characterized the book as “masterly” and applauded its reminder that “there are other contenders than the period beginning in...
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Harini Nagendra’s debut in crime fiction, The Bangalore Detectives Club, opens in the South Indian city of Bangalore in 1921. It’s a gripping historical murder mystery but also well worth reading for its close observation of class and caste dynamics in...
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Book critics write a lot about unreliable narrators, and no wonder. They’re so numerous in the mystery and suspense genre that they seem to form a sub-genre of their own. But there is another, related species of fiction. You’ll find it from time to time when you encounter an author who...
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What do we learn about Vladimir Putin from the news media in the West? He’s a kleptocrat, with a fortune variously estimated at $40 billion or $100 billion. A thug, with a brutal history as a KGB officer. He came to power in 2000 on the strength of a series of FSB operations that cost the...
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Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.