Today’s suggested topic by the folks at Armchair BEA is Best of 2012. Here are five of my favorites, I tried to make some eclectic picks. Let me know if your read any and what you thought. I arranged them in alphabetical order.
Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
by Moshe Arens
More than anything, the book tells of the inability of humans to set aside ideological differences to fight a common enemy. The book chronicles how two groups of Jews were prevented by ideology to join and fight the Nazi murder machine
Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation
by Deborah Davis
This well researched book touches on politics of the era as well as the fragile and difficult race relations after the American Civil War.
The book extensively goes into the events that shaped the breakthrough meal, starting with the end of the Civil War and short biographies of the two main players. It was striking to see how parallel the lives of two men, each at one end of the social spectrum (an ex slave and a privileged white) were eerily similar. Both men, close at age, got married at approximately the same time, had kids at around the same time and suffer devastating losses.
Hell Above Earth: The Incredible True Story of an American WWII Bomber Commander and the Copilot Ordered to Kill Him
by Stephen Frater
An exciting book which proves the old adage that “truth is stranger than fiction”. This is an epic buddy story which would have seemed absolutely ridiculous, if it wasn’t true.
Prague Fatale
by Philip Kerr
Bernie Gunther is the perfect anti-hero, a tough and cynical Berliner, he is appalled by himself, the job he has to do, the country he loves and the people he works for and with. Bernie goes through life, agonizing over past actions, trying to do as little damage as possible, using a wry gallows humor as a defense strategy.
When General Grant Expelled the Jews
by Jonathan D. Sarna
The unbelievable, but true, title of this well written and well researched book about one of the most deliberate cases of ant-Semitism in the short history of America.
Such a great list, I have to add Prague Fatale to my TBR, I love an anti-hero
You always read such fascinating books, and definitely eclectic. That’s why I enjoy your blog.
Guest of Honor looks really interesting! I love your list of books. Ones I haven’t really heard of, but they look great.
Great books ZOhar, awsome taste and great reviews.
Hi, great list, hope you’re enjoying Armchair BEA. 🙂
Hi Zohar, interesting and thought-provoking selection. I like it!!
These don’t sound like my cup of tea but I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Three of them are already on my wishlist!
I didn’t like Prague Fatale at all.
The book’s official synopsis describes a murder investigation at the home of Reinhard Heydrich in 1941 Czechoslovakia. But, it turns out, that’s not where the book begins. Bernie Gunther, the narrator, doesn’t even get there until well after 100 pages.
From page 1, this book is full of details about the people, places, and events in Germany and Czechoslovakia in the early 1940s. That could be why it’s reviews are so good. I take another view because the story is overtaken by all the historical details as Kerr RAMBLES ON AND ON with Gunther’s thoughts about them. As a result, the story gets buried and is slow, not thrilling.
If you’re looking for combination mystery/thriller-historical fiction, better choices are any book by Joseph Kanon.
PRAGUE FATALE is one book in a series. This is the only one I read, though.
Thanks for the comment – you made my day as these are the type of conversations I imagined when starting my blog.
I think people, like myself, who like the Bernie Gunther series really enjoy not just the historical detail as you mentioned but also the anti-hero aspect of the books where even the good guys aren’t good and the noir feel of them.
I do agree with you that it’s not for everyone and that the synopsis, while accurate, was only a small a part of the story – but I thought that was part of the charm.
Have you read any other Bernie Gunther books?
I need to get my hands on Guest of Honor.
You’d love it Ryan