Mystery Writing at its Best — The Collector by Steven M. Moore

Steven M. Moore’s most recent mystery novel, The Collector, is an impressive addition to the author’s Castilblanco-and-Chen series. The book is out is of the gate on the first page as a narrator awakens to find herself bound, gagged and locked in the truck of an automobile with another unknown female companion. The trunk opens…

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Pearl Harbor Galvinized the Nation and Brought the U. S. into the War

Seventy-three years have passed since the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor The attack took place during the early morning hours of December 7, 1941. President Roosevelt declared it “A date which will live in infamy” in his memorable speech to Congress just hours after the devastation was reported.  News of the attack galvanized the…

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Paperbacks Reshape American Culture

Ah, the lowly paperback. It has had a powerful impact on American culture. Author Paul Rabinowitz delineates the role it has played since first appearing for sale on American newsstands, drugstores, and coffee shops in the 1930’s. Her book, American Pulp: How Paperbacks Brought Modernism to Main Street, examines the often overlooked influence that the…

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Halloween Season — Remembering Washington Irving

Halloween Reading Penguin Books is promoting the paperback version of the classic Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories intimating during this Halloween season that it could be almost companion piece to the currently popular animated television program Sleepy Hollow appearing currently on FOX network stations. Hopefully, that doesn’t present anyone with…

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Blog Hop — Going from One Web Site to Another

Blog Hop. I never heard of one until a few weeks ago. But now, as the old story goes, I are  tagged in one. A blog hop, as it turns out, is a bit like a chain letter. The person tagged, in this case yours truly, chooses to participate by answering four questions on his…

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Marilyn Monroe — Icon: The Life, Times and Movies of Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe died on August 5, 1962, yet she has remained alive in the minds and hearts of people throughout the world ever since. While 600 books have been published about the actress, Gary Vitacco-Robles’ biography, Icon: The Life, Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe, is a prodigious achievement that easily relegates the efforts of…

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Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment by James C. Thompson – A Review

Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment James C. Thompson is published by Commonwealth Book Publishers of Virginia which was founded by the author in 2009. According to their press announcement Commonwealth “publishes three-dimensional stories about ideas—where history, philosophy and art meet.” The book succeeds on all on all three counts­, but the achievement is virtually negated because of…

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Duryea: The Movies — An Exquisitely Presented Book from BearManor Media

    Duryea: The Movies, by Joseph Fusco, is another beautifully produced book by BearManor Media. The publisher presents books that are thoroughly researched and brimming with documentation including news articles, vintage photos and advertizing. Like so many other volumes from BearManor, Duryea: The Movies not only makes for an engaging first read but will…

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