Gun Curious: A Liberal Professor’s Surprising Journey Inside America’s Gun Culture

In 2011, David Yamane, a liberal sociology professor from the San Francisco Bay Area, stood at a firing range with a gun in his hand for the first time. That single moment sparked a journey that would take him deep into the heart of America’s gun culture, a world he had never imagined entering. Now, … Read more

Book Review: ‘American Hunting Rifles II’ by Craig Boddington

My intention had been to review Craig Boddington‘s most recent book, Buffalo II!. But in a video interview with Craig at the Dallas Safari Club Convention, he did a wonderful job of reviewing the whys, hows and whats of this book. Craig managed to pull off what he called ‘insane’, publishing four major works in … Read more

Book Review: 4 Seconds Until Impact: The Skyrocketing Attacks by Predators on Humans

In 4 Seconds Until Impact, Bruce Buckshot Benning reveals that over the last three decades, attacks by large predators against humans have been skyrocketing in North America. It is not just a matter of reporting. Attacks by bears, mountain lions, wolves, and coyotes, have become expected, where they used to be rare or denied altogether. … Read more

Book Review – Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor

You may have read Black Hawk Down and/or Lone Survivor. If you have (hell, even if you haven’t), next on your reading list should be Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor by Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha. The publisher calls it “[t]he only comprehensive, firsthand account of the fourteen hour firefight at the Battle of … Read more

Book Review: Soft Target by Stephen Hunter

After my book review of Stephen Hunter’s 2010 release, Dead Zero, I didn’t think that the good folks at Simon & Schuster would be offering me an advance review copy of another book, especially something written by Stephen Hunter. I guess I underestimated the publisher’s tolerance for pain. So it was with mild bemusement that I opened the package bearing the imprint of The Sower that arrived on my doorstep a couple days before Thanksgiving and extracted Soft Target, the latest thriller by Stephen Hunter. I’m glad they did.

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Book Review: Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva

After the release of Daniel Silva’s book The Rembrandt Affair last year, I speculated that it might be the last book we see from Silva featuring his tragic hero, Israeli Mossad assassin Gabriel Allon. Silva played coy when I asked him if it was the end of the line for Allon. We now have his unequivocal answer. Portrait of a Spy, released this month, features a wiser and less tragic Allon. Silva now says that he never had any intention of retiring Allon. Of course, that’s easy for him to say now that he has a fat new contract with publisher HarperCollins and a multi-movie deal with Universal Studios in the works. There are literally tens of millions of greenback reasons for Silva to keep writing about Gabriel Allon. But that’s all shop talk. Is the book any good? Read on.

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Book Review: Silent Enemy by Thomas W. Young

I sought out my contact at Putnam’s Penguin Group to request a copy of Daniel Silva’s upcoming book for review. No dice. Silva has taken his talents to HarperCollins. But, offered the marketing maven at the imprint of the flightless water fowl, would I be interested in reviewing Silent Enemy by Thomas W. Young? Young is a veteran flight engineer with nearly 4000 hours logged on C-130 and C-5 aircraft for the Air National Guard and he has flown combat missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo. Exploiting his unique background, Young made a big splash in the thriller novel genre last year with his first novel, The Mullah’s Storm. Would I like to review his new book? Don’t mind if I do.

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Book Review: Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

 

 Perhaps no other American president was a better embodiment of the people he represented than Theodore Roosevelt.  Roosevelt was a tough self-made man who ran a Dakota cattle ranch during the days of the Wild West.  He was bellicose speaker and notorious hunter.  But there was more to the man than a cartoon persona of burly weight-lifter’s physique, walrus mustache, and snapping choppers.   He was an intellect without equal among his fellow office holders, with the possible exception of Thomas Jefferson.  He is the only sitting president to have earned a Nobel Peace Prize.  His public policies were nuanced and he was a tender-hearted husband and father.  In Colonel Roosevelt, biographer Edmund Morris explores the final, often violent, years of the former president’s life.

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Book Review: The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva *UPDATE*


“I read the entire book while I waited in line.” “I’m sorry, you did what?” the successful author asked without looking up from the book he was signing.  The Rembrandt Affair, which I reviewed last week, is the tenth novel by Daniel Silva featuring the Beretta 92 toting Mossad assassin, Gabriel Allon.  At the end of my review I concluded that this would be the last Gabriel Allon novel – at least for a while. “I’m just kidding.”

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