Today, June 14, is flag day in the United States so I thought this post would be appropriate. My daughter who just finished second grade, decided to do her biography project on Betsy Ross (she had to do several persuasion papers, a biography, autobiography, an entrepreneurial project (design, build, and sell for profit a product – in her case an easel made out of popsicle sticks) and more), which I found a bit disconcerting. As an astute student of history I know that the only “proof” we have of Betsy Ross sewing the first American flag is a family legend which started after she died by her grandchildren. At first I was put off by my daughter’s choice, mostly because of the tale told about Ms. Ross is now told so often and is printed in so many history books that it actually became fact, with absolutely no evidence. Much like George Washington’s wooden teeth (they were made of bone – could you imagine chewing with wood splinters?), or that Columbus discovered the Earth was round (the first globes went on sale the year Columbus sailed, by the way he didn’t “discover” America either) and many more. If you’re interested…

These stories makes you appreciate where you came from, and what people have done to preserve our way of life. The most fascinating parts are not the stories of the men and women who went on to bigger and better things, but the stories of those who came home, settled down, and lived a full life.

Pepper: A History of the World’s Most Influential Spice by Marjorie Shaffer is a non-fiction book tracing history through the trade of black pepper

Superman: The Unauthorized Biography by Glen Weldon is a non-fiction book chronicling the fictional history of the Man of Steel in comic books, radio, TV, theater, music and movies. Mr. Weldon is a contributor to NPR’s podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour.

Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff tells about the epic search for missing World War II Coast Guard soldiers who were on a rescue mission. The book provides and intense glimpse into a forgotten moment in history.

Article first published as Book Review: Pain, Parties, Work by Elizabeth Winder on Blogcritics. About: Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder is a non-fiction book about time mentioned in the title. The book paints a portrait of Ms. Plath during a stressful, eventful and personal emotional summer of her life. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post. 288 pages Publisher: Harper Language: English ISBN-10: 0062085492 My rating for Pain, Parties, Work – 4 Buy this book in paper or electronic format Thoughts: Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder (@elizawinder) is the kind of book which seems to be gaining popularity, a short non-fiction book about a specified time-frame of a person. These books seem to replace the all encompassing biographies. At this day and age where a somewhat descent, encompassing biography on almost every important, not-so-important and, let’s face(book) it, not-important-at-all people is at one’s fingertips 24/7 these type of short biographical portraits are flourishing. I can certainly understand why, when I ran a restrictive search for “Sylvia Plath biography” on…

Article first published as Book Review: Swoon by Betsy Prioleau on Blogcritics. About: Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them by Betsy Prioleau is a non-fiction book which tries to analyze what makes a ladies’ man. The book makes an interesting read and I only wish I would have read it when I was single and still looking for a mate for life. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post. 288 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English ISBN-10: 0393068374 My rat­ing for Swoon— 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* Thoughts: Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them by Betsy Prioleau (website | Facebook | @BetsyPrioleau) has bad news for us guys – being a ladies’ man cannot be learned, one has to be born with “it”. The author found out that there is no template for being a Casanova, it’s neither money nor attitude but complex, and sometimes distinct, personalities. Ms. Prioleau analyzes the great lovers of our time and from ages long ago from Casanova to Ashton Kutcher and those who aren’t famous but get the ladies, the schmos down the street which…

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson is a biography of the famed scientist. Einstein lived a tremendous life full of science, math, politics, religion and love; I admire Mr. Isaacson’s courage in tackling such a project.

Capital of the World by Charlene Mires is dense, but fun book. It is no wonder the UN can’t make any decisions, if the way they decided to chose a “home” would have been any indication (committees for committees result in their resolve to make resolutions) they might would have rethought the way they do business.

About: Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab is a bestseller describing a patrol by the English Special Air Services (SAS) in Iraq during the Gulf War. The book was recommended to me by Helen Maryles Shankman (http://helenmarylesshankman.wordpress.com/). 432 pages Publisher: Island Books; Language: English ISBN-10: 0440218802 My rat­ing for Bravo Two Zero— 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* Thoughts: Bravo Two Zero: The Harrowing True Story of a Special Forces Patrol Behind the Lines in Iraq by Andy McNab (website| Facebook | @the_real_mcnab) was recommended to me, as mentioned above, and simply by reading the synopsis I thought I’d like the book. However, as someone with military experience I have to call bullshit on some of the stories. I don’t know about the torture scenes and frankly hope never to find out, but some of the operational procedures and bravado seems to be utter machismo more to do with a Hollywood movie than with a book presenting itself as fact. For example, no way did an eight man team kill 250 people or took on a whole platoon and/or company by themselves. They might have killed a few and ran away (as would be the smart thing to…