I did actually have a decent reading experience while reading this book. Finding out, though, that this book won the “History and Biography” category of the Goodreads Choice Awards over all of the other books in the category – and I haven’t finished the category yet – soured my opinion of the read. I appreciate reading the different stories about various historical witches, the subtitle set up a premise that the book failed to deliver on. ≈
I did actually have a decent reading experience while reading this book. Finding out, though, that this book won the “History and Biography” category of the Goodreads Choice Awards over all of the other books in the category – and I haven’t finished the category yet – soured my opinion of the read. I appreciate reading the different stories about various historical witches, the subtitle set up a premise that the book failed to deliver on. While not the worst of the 20 books in the category, for me, this book ranks in the bottom 25%.
I appreciated this read which highlights several remarkable female scientists who faced a number of hardships in their careers, most notably being the rise of the Nazi regime. While the author did not wow with her prose or break completely new ground (impossible for this nearly overstudied time period although I would really love for some people to learn from that study) she brought needed light to these stories with capable prose.
Greenblatt did a decent job telling the history of this time although I would definitely describe the book as a history over a biography of Marlowe. I struggled to write this review because nothing really stuck out about the book either positive or negative, quite disappointing.
Once again, I have discovered a 5-star nonfiction book that engages me emotionally with anger for how so many of those children were treated and how white supremacy decided that they “deserved” to be educated. I have had on of Ewing’s previous works on my TBR for years; reading this book motivated me to pick that book up sooner rather than later.
Being the history nerd I am, I have studied various aspects of Latin American history, including Argentina’s “Dirty War” and the thousands of disappearances before. I always appreciate learning more. Gilliland did such a good job in telling these stories, the stories of the “Abuelas” who searched for decades for their grandchildren, children born to the disappeared and placed in completely different families with no knowledge of their
origins. This book needs to be read by so many.
Survival/adventure stories like those that comprise this book tend to be rather popular. I, however, do not tend to reach for these types. I do not dislike them but am not drawn to them though I learn from well-written books like this. Prior to reading this book I had no idea that men used airships to explore the arctic. It’s a decent read.
