I've met Matt Dinniman twice, own all his books, and “Operation Bounce House” is the first I've actually read. Now I feel ridiculous for waiting. Remote-controlled warfare as mass entertainment? Dark, sharp, and disturbingly plausible. I'm converted. Review up now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

In “The Tudor Theatre 1576-1642,” Nicholas Fogg strips away the mythology: Shakespeare made money from shareholding, not writing. Plays risked treason charges. The Elizabethan stage was a volatile industry in which economic pressures shaped what we call literature. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

What if Easter Island's fall was genocide, not ecocide? Mike Pitts uses forgotten 1914 research to dismantle the self-destruction myth we've been told. Full review available now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Goldsworthy's Augustus rejects the "two men" theory—ruthless warlord vs. benevolent statesman. Same person, different strategies. He didn't transform morally; moderation just became more effective once power was secure. My full review is available now on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Norse gods meet Boston sports in The Impudent Edda—where Tom Brady is Balder, the RMV is hell, and every season ends in apocalypse. It's profane, funny, and fatalistic mythology. Full review is up now. www.instagram.com/p/DTSuGzAjsA...

Alice Albinia says Britain's small islands, not the mainland, were the real centers of power for thousands of years. “The Britannias” turns traditional history on its head with careful research and bold ideas. My review is now available. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

"Art remains," the filmmaker tells himself. Kehlmann's The Director follows G.W. Pabst from Weimar Berlin to the Nazi film industry. A novel about how talented people justify collaboration with evil. Full review available now on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

The Discovery of Britain's most uncomfortable claim: Britain's class system isn't broken—it's working as designed. Norman surnames still predict elite status 1,000 years later. The past isn't past; it's happening. Full review on my Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

You might have never heard of the 1986 LA Central Library fire—it happened the same day as Chernobyl. Susan Orlean uses that buried story to examine what libraries mean and why their loss matters. Full review linked below. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Rome destroyed Carthage in 146 BCE, then spent centuries controlling its story. Eve MacDonald's new history uses archaeology to break that monopoly. I've reviewed the book—looking at what MacDonald sets out to do, how she does it, and whether she succeeds. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Four centuries of royal profit. Four centuries of royal silence. One book that refuses to stay quiet. ”The Crown’s Silence,” by Brooke N. Newman In my review, I examine why this book matters now—and why some histories can't be unwritten. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Simon Turney's “Agricola: Commander” is the third installment in his Agricola series, and it's the strongest yet. See my review here: open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Revisiting Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet” ahead of the film: a haunting portrait of plague, grief, and the cost of creation. What survives—love, or the art made from its absence? My spoiler-filled review is up. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Jeffrey Rosen's “The Pursuit of Liberty traces” how the Hamilton-Jefferson rivalry has shaped every major American political fight from 1791 to today. We're still having the same argument—and that's by design. See my review here. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Four Irish siblings. One buried secret. Howarth makes you feel the cost of every unspoken word. “Heap Earth Upon It” is psychological suspense at its finest. Read my review on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Mexican history lives in the gap between word and fact—what Spain claimed vs. what happened, revolutionary promises vs. boss rule, drug war rhetoric vs. civil war reality. Check out my review of Gillingham's ambitious revisionist history. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

In this conversation with novelist and arts therapist Susanna Crossman, we explore “The Orange Notebooks”—a haunting meditation on grief, art, and time that asks: how do we live with our dead while still choosing life? open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

‘Gone is any semblance of due process, presumption of innocence or assistance of counsel. Instead, the self-styled “secretary of war” shares videos on social media of each “lethal kinetic strike”.’ A.S. Dillingham on US government attacks on small boats, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...

“King Sorrow” is Joe Hill's masterpiece and one of 2025's best horror novels. Six friends make a catastrophic choice that corrupts them for decades. Morally complex, structurally daring, genuinely unsettling. Full review here. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

What endures when the body fails? In “The Hidden City,” Charles Finch delivers a mystery about resilience, recovery, and persistence. Full review up now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Steven Kaplan’s”The Ethiopians” reexamines a civilization long shaped by myth and ideology—a study of how Ethiopia’s past was continually rewritten, and what those revisions reveal about power and identity. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Few writers made the past feel as alive as David McCullough. History Matters—a posthumous collection of his speeches and essays—reminds us that history isn’t a record of what was, but a guide to who we are. New review out now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

“Old Songs”—a collaboration between Amy Jeffs, Gwen Burns, and Natalie Bryce that brings traditional ballads back to life through prose, painting, and music. History you can see, hear, and feel. Review up now on my Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Hiron Ennes's “The Works of Vermin” is corporate horror spliced with biological fantasy—demanding, hallucinatory, and unlike anything else. It is, without hesitation, my top fantasy read of the year so far. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

🚨 THIS WEEK🚨 🌟 Golden Ages? 🌑 Dark Ages? 🚫 They’re not history. They’re propaganda. Historian @adapalmer.bsky.social joins #HistoryRage to smash one of the biggest lies in how we tell the past. 🔥 Listen now: pod.fo/e/3401b1#HistoryRage#AdaPalmer #MythBusting #FakeHistory #HistoricalNarratives

The Far Edges of the Known World is now available in North America! If you like ancient history, global history, reading about different cultures, or just fancy an escape - give it a look.

My book is in Waterstones' preorder sale for books released in 2026. Today is the last chance to get 25% off the paperback edition for when its released next February!

New review: "Bloody Crowns" by Michael Livingston. It began with a murder over fresh water in 1292. It ended with a treaty in 1492. Two hundred years of bloodshed that forged modern France. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Shauna Lawless's “Daughter of the Otherworld” is historical fantasy at its finest: Descendants vs. Fomorians in medieval Ireland's brutal collapse. The otherworld mirrors reality here. Start with this one—no prior knowledge needed. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

The case of the slaves was the same as if horses had been thrown overboard." Britain's Chief Justice, 1783. He thought he was settling an insurance claim. He actually ignited the abolition movement. Review of The Zorg ⬇️ open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

New review: “The Gales of November” by John U. Bacon. More than a shipwreck story—it's about regulatory failure, industrial ambition, and the 29 men lost when profit was prioritized over safety. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

How a basement discovery became a 400-page history spanning Neanderthals to NASA. Tim Queeney on rope as the invisible thread binding civilization together. New interview available on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Christopher Gorham’s Matisse at War shatters the myth of Matisse’s wartime indifference—revealing an artist whose presence, art, and family ties became acts of resistance. Read my full review on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

In “How to Kill a Witch,” Claire Mitchell & Zoe Venditozzi turn Scotland’s dark past into a call to action—showing how fear, misogyny & power still fuel persecution today. Read my full review for the complete story of how history becomes activism. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

What happens when the dead demand justice? In Grave Birds, Dana Elmendorf reimagines Southern Gothic horror. Melissa Wyett and I spoke with her about grief, corruption, and the power of haunting stories. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Reviewed Ken Follett’s Circle of Days: a leap from medieval cathedrals to Stone Age monuments. An ambitious epic of survival, belief, and community. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

My latest review explores Tim Queeney’s Rope, a book that redefines human progress through something we often overlook. From Stone Age tools to Mars rovers, rope has shaped civilization in ways you won’t expect. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

My latest review explores Owen Rees’s “The Far Edges of the Known World,” a bold rethinking of ancient history that shifts focus from Greece and Rome to the overlooked edges of antiquity. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

If the rest of the country wants to understand what lies ahead, it would do well to start here, or as Kyle Paoletta so aptly concludes in “American Oasis,” "In order to see where America is going, we have to look at where the Southwest has already been." open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Samantha Browning Shea’s Marrow isn’t just a thriller—it’s a sharp, unsettling look at power, motherhood, and autonomy. I dig into its strengths and flaws in this review. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

In my latest review, I dive into Jinwoo Park’s debut, “The Oxford Soju Club”—a spy thriller layered with questions of identity, heritage, and belonging from a Korean Canadian writer to watch. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Grief resists tidy endings. In my review of Susanna Crossman’s "The Orange Notebooks," I examine how this luminous and unsettling novel reimagines loss as a narrative of enduring love. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Just posted my review of Hampton Sides’s “The Wide Wide Sea.” A vivid, unflinching look at Cook’s final voyage—where exploration, empire, and Indigenous voices collide. Narrative history at its best. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

Just posted my review of Robert Winder’s “Three Rivers,” a brilliant blend of history, geography & biography. How rivers shaped Europe’s past—and why their future matters now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

What connects us to a 5,000-year-old clay tablet? Oxford’s Moudhy Al-Rashid on empathy, humor & everyday lives in Mesopotamia. My interview with her: open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

In my latest review, I explore Lucy Steeds’s “The Artist”—a dazzling, layered debut set in 1920s Provence that asks not just what we see in art, but what we choose not to. Review linked. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

UChicago ebook 75% off sale! Perfect time to grab “Inventing the Renaissance” if you still need it! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/vi...

#Worldcon unofficial Terra Ignota meet-up will happen tonight at 9 pm. Due to rain we’ll meet in Sheraton floor 3; we’ll have little flags you can spot us by that. Looking forward to conversation! We’ll do another meetup Saturday before the Hugo’s. @seattlein2025.org

Just posted my review of @adapalmer.bsky.social ’s Inventing the Renaissance—a thoughtful, incisive look at how the “Golden Age” myth was built, sustained, and used from the Renaissance to today. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...