William S. Belko, “Philip Pendleton Barbour in Jacksonian America: An Old Republican in King Andrew’s Court” (U. of Alabama Press, 2016)
Though not a household name today, Philip Pendleton Barbour was a leading political and judicial figure in antebellum America. In Philip Pendleton Barbour in Jacksonian America: An Old Republican in K...
18 Aug 201648min
Richard L. Davis, “From Warhorses to Ploughshares: The Later Tang Reign of Emperor Mingzong” (Hong Kong UP, 2015)
Ruling as he did during the Five Dynasties period of Chinese history, the emperor Mingzong (r. 926-933) has not received the same degree attention from historians as have many of his counterparts. In ...
17 Aug 20161h
Robert O’Kell, “Disraeli: The Romance of Politics” (U. of Toronto Press, 2014)
Benjamin Disraeli was unique among British prime ministers in the 19th century in many ways, but perhaps none more so than for his career as a novelist. Whereas many scholars have treated Disraeli’s l...
11 Aug 20161h 15min
James K. Libbey, “Alben Barkley: A Life in Politics” (U. Press of Kentucky, 2016)
Known as the Iron Man of politics, Alben Barkley enjoyed a career that took him from rural Kentucky to the vice-presidency of the United States of America. In his book Alben Barkley: A Life in Politic...
13 Jul 201657min
Dermot Meleady, “John Redmond: The National Leader” (Merrion Press, 2014)
Though in many ways the forgotten man of Irish politics, John Redmond came closer to achieving the long-sought goal of Home Rule for Ireland than had his more illustrious predecessors Daniel O’Connell...
8 Jul 20161h 36min
Reza Zarghamee, “Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World” (Mage Pub, 2013)
From his modest beginnings in southern Iran, the Persian king Cyrus II went on to conquer three of the dominant kingdoms of the ancient Near East those of the Medians, the Lydians, and the Babylonians...
5 Jul 20161h 1min
Jessa Crispin, “The Dead Ladies Project: Exiles, Expats, and Ex-Countries” (U. of Chicago Press, 2015)
Biography is a genre of largely unexamined power: a literary field that preserves stories of lived lives and, through them, perpetuates notions that there are certain ways lives can be lived. This is ...
1 Jul 201634min
Norman L. Macht, “The Grand Old Man of Baseball: Connie Mack in His Final Years, 1932-1956” (U. of Nebraska Press, 2015)
At the start of The Grand Old Man of Baseball: Connie Mack in His Final Years, 1932-1956, the third volume of Norman L. Macht’s biography of baseball legend Connie Mack, the Philadelphia A’s which he ...
28 Jun 201655min
