Four from the O.S.S!

Rogak, Lisa.  Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the O.S.S.  New York: 

        St. Martin's Press, 2025.  ISBN: 9781250275592. 

How much do you know about the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II predecessor to the CIA? Want to learn more, then join Lisa Rogak as she twines the tales of four women who worked in the Morale Operations branch of the OSS.

 

Lisa Rogak opens with background chapters on each of the four women in Propaganda Girls - Elizabeth "Betty" McDonald, Jane Smith-Hutton, Barbara "Zuzka" Lauwers, and Marlene Dietrich.  The background chapters lay the groundwork and motivation of why each woman volunteered to be part of the OSS's black propaganda operation.  The next several rounds of chapters laid out the various jobs they held and how each of these jobs whether in Washington D.C., in India, China, Italy, or France managed to aid the Allied cause while raising havoc with the Axis forces.  For example, Zuzka had toilet paper created with the image of Hitler's face and the German phrase "Use this side" airdropped behind enemy lines.  She also used POWs to sneak behind German lines in Italy with pamphlets saying that the war was over and Kesselring was in charge.  Betty used her skills as a newspaper reporter to create newsletters dropped on Japan and behind the lines in China to create division in the enemy population.  Jane used her hard-earned knowledge the Japanese language and culture to hold "rumor mill" sessions that proposed various rumors to be spread by spies and to create black propaganda items.  Marlene was involved  radio broadcasts from London that were beamed to Allied troops, but picked up the Germans as well.  She was also in the MUZAK Project which had popular American songs sung in German by German artists.  Marlene recorded 12 songs, some with special lyrics, for the program.  Years later, all 12 songs were released as an album.  Finally, Lisa Rognak covers the lives and careers of all four women after the end of the war.

So, if you are looking for a readable, well-documented account of some of the women who worked for the OSS, pick up Propaganda Girls and settle in for the ride.

Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs Revisited

Clavin, Tom.  Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West.  

          New York: St. Martin's Press, 2024.  ISBN: 9781250282408

The Wild West!  Cowboys and Indians!  Rustlers and train robbers!  All the stuff of Hollywood movies, right?  Well maybe, but often not.  As Tom Clavin illustrates so well in Bandit Heaven,  Hollywood got a lot wrong when screen writers and directors take history and put it on the big screen, particularly in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).  So to get a glimpse behind the tinsel, dive in with Tom Clavin.

 

Tom Clavin opens the book with an 1899 Wild Bunch train robbery, laying out how it was planned and how it occurred in the Prologue.  The book itself is laid out in three acts.  Act I - Heaven on Earth - provides the background and setting for Brown's Hole, Hole-in-th-Wall, and Robbers Roost and the early outlaws.  The reader learns about the cattle and horse rustling business and the conflict between cattle barons and homesteaders and sheep herders.  Act II - Leader of the Pack - introduces Robert Leroy Parker born on April 13, 1866, a Friday, to British Mormon immigrants in Utah.  He grew up working with livestock and drifted into rustling and the outlaw life where he later acquired the nickname Butch Cassidy.  He was joined on the outlaw trail by Elzy Lay, an Ohio boy, Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, from Pennsylvania, who became the Sundance Kid, and Harvey Alexander Logan from Iowa, also know as "Kid Curry."  Then there the women like Ethel Place and the sisters Josie and Ann Bassett who sometimes accompanied the gang.  Act III - The Lawman Trail - discusses the strange evolution of law in the west and the role of vigilantism and the Pinkerton Detective Agency.  These chapters also highlight individuals such as Charlie Siringo, Joseph Shelby LeFors, John T. Pope, and others who chased outlaws, infiltrated union organizations, solved murders, and brought in fugitives from justice.  Act IV - Fall From Heaven - covers the end of the outlaw life.  As more folks settled the West and telegraphs spread alongside the railroads, it became harder for outlaws to disappear after a robbery.  Bank note numbers would be circulated around the country and folks were getting nabbed in strange locations when they tried to spend their ill-gotten gains.  Also, the bandits did themselves no favors when a group visited Fort Worth (TX) for a wedding and had a group photo taken which got used as advertising by the store.  That photo would lead to the arrest and or death of a number of the Wild Bunch.  This slow closing of the noose led Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid and Ethel Place to move way south to Argentina where they managed to set up a ranch until their past and old ways caught up with them and closed the book on some of the most famous outlaws of the Wild West.

 

So if you have an interest in the "true" Wild West of outlaws and rustlers, pick up Tom Clavin's Bandit Heaven and indulge yourself.  You will not regret it! 

Don't Want to Watch the Movie?

Hughes, Emily C.  Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too 

        Scared to Watch.  Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2024.  ISBN: 9781683694250

 

Do you like watching horror movies?  If you answered yes, you might want to skip this book.  However, if you answered No, this book may be for you!  Especially if you have friends who like watching horror movies and you are feeling left out.  Emily Hughes in Horror for Weenies offers a guidebook to influential horror movies from the 1960s to 2010s.

 

Emily Hughes opens with a essay on why horror matters and why people enjoy watching horror movies.  She follows that up with a brief history of horror movies before the 1960s before getting into the meat of the book - twenty-five films with short overviews, a plot synopsis, and fun facts to tell at parties.  She starts Horror in Upheaval (The 1960s and 1970s) with Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, The Wicker Man, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Carrie, and  ends with Halloween.  In Doom and Boom (The 1980s and 1990s), she includes The Shining, Poltergeist, The Thing, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Fly, Hellraiser, Candyman, Scream, and The Blair Witch Project.  Then in Toward the Unknown (The 2000s and 2010s), she provides The Ring, 28 Days Later, Saw, The Conjuring, The Babadook, It Follows, Get Out, and Hereditary  with their time in the spotlight.  She finishes up with a list of horror resources for the reader.

So if you need a refresher on one of these movies or just want to find out why these movies are important in the horror genre, pick up a copy and read Horror for Weenies!  Just remember to keep the lights on!

 

 

 

SAS Leading the Charge!

Lewis, Damien.  Forged In Hell: The Gripping True Story of the Special Forces Heroes who Broke 

         the Nazi Stranglehold.  New York: Citadel Press/Kensington Publishing, 2024.  ISBN 

        9780806542706

 

What do you know about the Special Air Service (SAS)?  Do you know how they ran wild in North Africa behind enemy lines destroying airfields, attempting to capture Rommel, and generally creating havoc?  But what would they do after North Africa was captured?  The after part is what Forged in Hell seeks to tell, at least in part.

 

After an attention grabbing introduction,  Damien Lewis takes the reader to a small eastern Mediterranean village of Azzib where the 1st SAS under Colonel "Paddy" Mayne was training for a particular task - scale a Sicilian cliff in the dead of night to take out guns that would threaten the Operation Husky invasion  fleet.  That was accomplished methodically and with few casualties among the SAS.  After a few days of rest they were invited to invade the town of Augusta which they managed despite not knowing all of the defenses they would encounter.  That invasion was a close-run affair that they survived due to their training and good luck.  Their luck ran out on their next adventure when they helped spearhead the invasion of Italy proper.  The landed on the wrong beach at Bagnara which turned out to be a blessing, but then they got pinned down by German forces as they advanced up the ridge line.  Height means sight, and what could be seen could be and would be shelled.  Thankfully more forces arrived and the Germans pulled back.  After this the 1st SAS ran several small operations behind enemy lines trying to help prisoners escape.  But then they were called on for a quick dash and grab operation at Termoli.  The SAS and other forces were to grab Termoli on the east coast of Italy by sea behind enemy lines and hold it until the British forces could cross the Biferno River and break open the Viktor Line.  Well the SAS and the British Commandos succeeded in seizing Termoli and some of the bridges but before British forces could cross in force, nature intervened with flooding rains that washed out the bridges leaving the SAS and their companions trapped and under siege by elite German paratrooper and panzer divisions,  Here is where the SAS emphasis on training paid off.  Despite extremely heavy losses, the SAS and the Commandos held until bridges were built and British tanks crossed over to relieve them.  Their next stop - England for more training and another invasion.  But that is the tale for another book!

If you are interested in small unit actions, the SAS, and/or the invasions of Sicily and Italy from a British point of view, Damien Lewis's Forged in Hell is a must read.  He carefully tells the story with respect and proper documentation that lets the reader in on the viewpoint and emotions of the participants.  Do take the time to read this exciting tale of heroism in combat! 

                    

        

 

 

Virus vs Bacteria!

Zeldovich, Lina.  The Living Medicine: How a Miraculous Healing Therapy was Nearly Lost -- 

         and  Why It Will Save Humanity When Antibiotics Fail.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 

        2024.  ISBN: 9781250283382

 

So what is a living medicine? And why would you want to take it?  In this title, it is a phage or more properly a bacteriophage which is a virus that attacks specific bacteria.  They are found anywhere there is bacteria and they "eat" that bacteria and leave other bacteria alone.  Plus they can work when antibiotics fail.  That is part of the point Lina Zeldovich  is making in The Living Medicine, part medical discovery, part historical account and part biography.

 

Lina Zeldovich opens the book with a description of the present day and the problem with antibiotic resistant bacteria.  She then jumps back to World War I and the search for cures to infectious diseases such as dysentery, cholera, and typhus.  They had vaccines, but those took time to prepare.  Giorgi Eliava was a doctor in Georgia (the country) who was working on cholera in Tbilisi when he accidentily discovered phages that were eating cholera bacteria in the samples he was testing, not that his microscope was powerful enough to see them, but he could see the results.  Around the same time Felix d'Herelle at the Pasteur Institute in Paris encountered similar action in regard to dysentery.  After the war Eliaya and d'Herelle got together in Paris and worked on refining the process of manufacturing phages that would kill various infectious diseases.  In the 1920's and 1930's they worked on creating institutes in Tbilisi (Soviet Republic of Georgia) and Paris.  Other folks started their own businesses doing the same in other parts of the world.  But capitalism killed phages in the US since there was no governmental regulation and the public did not trust the manufactures.  In the Soviet Union, phage research continued under government scrutiny and sort of thrived.  Phages played a part in saving Stalingrad from the German invasion by preventing a cholera outbreak.  But then there came the end of the Soviet Union and disintegration of many institutions which included the library of phages collected from all over the Soviet Union.  But with the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, scientists and the FDA in the United States are more willing to try other means.  So do not be surprised if you get treated with phages in the near future. 

If you are looking for an engaging book dealing with history, science, and medicine, pick up Lina Zeldovich's The Living Medicine!  Your time will be rewarded!

 

Mountain Man Icon

Drury, Bob, and Tom Clavin.  Throne of Grace: A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the 

         Bloody Conquest of the American West.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2024.  ISBN:  

         9781250285836  

How much do you know about the Mountain Men?  I mean the men who in the early 1800's who ventured west from St. Louis (MO) to trap beavers for their pelts.  Men such as Jim Bridger lauded by Johnny Horton  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SmZy_b-qlU) among others.  But among this company of men, Jedediah Smith stands out.  He stands out for his bravery, his fortitude, his knowledge and his honesty.  Throne of Grace is his story told in the context of history.

Jedediah Smith arrived in St. Louis (MO) in 1822, having grown up along Lake Eire in Pennsylvania and Ohio.  He joined General William Henry Ashley's fur trading expedition, and headed west up the Missouri River to explore.  But that expedition encountered trouble partway up the river with Madan Indians.  But the fighting he encountered did not deter Smith.  Nor did the hardships of winter weather in the Rocky Mountains, the close encounters with hostile forces (Native Americans, Spanish, or British), or dangerous animals which included a very close encounter with a grizzly bear.  Due to his bravery, common sense, and leadership, Jedediah Smith rose from being one of Ashley's men to a partner in charge in the Rocky Mountain area.  H set up rendezvous points in the spring for the mountain men to gather and trade their pelts for supplies.  He also led expeditions that opened up large sections of the West to  settlers traveling to Oregon and California.  He was know for mapping everything he encountered and kept multiple journals documenting his finds.  He kept this up until he decided to retire.  But he went on one last venture with his brothers leading a wagon train to Santa Fe when he had a fatal encounter with Comanches.

Bob Drury and Tom Clavin did a masterful job of documenting the life of Jedediah Smith in the context of his time using his journals and other sources to pain a picture of the West in 1820's in all its gore and glory.  Take the time to read a tale of a true Western adventure!

The Inside Story of LEGO!

Konstanski, Daniel.  The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Story of a Design Icon.  n.p.: Unbound, 

          2024.   ISBN:  9781464234415  

Have you ever played with LEGO bricks?  Watched The LEGO Movie?  Bought a set just for yourself, not for some child in your life?  Then you are likely a LEGO fan and can appreciate the work Daniel Konstanski put into The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks!

 

In eleven chapters and 300+ pages, Konstanski takes the reader through the history of the LEGO company from its beginning as a wooden toy company to the concept of building with plastic bricks to the powerhouse company it is today.  Along the way the reader gets to see part of the patent for that first plastic brick, then follow the process on how sets are designed, storyboarded, prototyped, and manufactured.  The reader follows the evolution of the LEGO brand from sets being designed for kids to free build their imagination to sets to create familiar setting such as homes, fire stations, police stations to more exotic setting such as castles, pirates, and space travel.  Then along came Technic and Bionicle along with licensed sets such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avengers, and the like aimed for adults as well as children.  Along side that LEGO developed its own intellectual properties with Ninjago and its related TV series and stuffed toys which led to The LEGO Movie and its spin-offs.

 

So if you are interested from hearing from the people behind the LEGO products you love, read  The Secret Life of Lego Bricks!  You will not regret it!