Author: ecarlson

Many times, authors or publishers will give a book about a very narrow topic a very general title in order to sell more copies.  This is an example of the opposite phenomenon.  Art historian Steven Nadler has written a marvelous book that is certainly about Rembrandt’s interactions with (including drawings and paintings of) Amsterdam’s Jews–but is also…

I have just finished reading The Crimean War, by Orlando Figes, Professor of History at the University of London. The book came out a few years ago, but for once my slowness to get to a book paid off. It could not be more timely. Through his discussion of the Crimean War, Figes cast a…