Jonathan

The Work, Not the Spectacle: Simon Turney's "Agricola: Commander" Simon Turney’s Agricola: Commander arrives at a point of confidence, settling into productive tension—between the machinery of conquest and the cost of operating it, between what the sources tell us a...

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

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When Plague Comes Home: Maggie O'Farrell's "Hamnet" This Review Contains Spoilers

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.

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Tracing America's Political DNA: "The Pursuit of Liberty" by Jeffrey Rosen In The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs.

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.

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Beneath the Surface: Chloe Michelle Howarth's "Heap Earth Upon It" Four siblings arrive in a small Irish town in the 1960s, determined to appear ordinary.

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.

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Between Word and Fact: Paul Gillingham's 'Mexico' In 1511, a Spanish sailor named Gonzalo Guerrero washed ashore on the Yucatán coast.

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.

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Writing Against Silence: Susanna Crossman and the Radical Honesty of "The Orange Notebooks" When Susanna Crossman speaks about her new novel The Orange Notebooks, she talks about process, practice, and experimentation—terms that suggest not a tidy narrative but a living, breathing act of cre...

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?

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A.S. Dillingham | Murder at Sea Since President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971, US policies of mass incarceration at home and interdiction and...

‘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.
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The Dragon's Tale We Deserve: Joe Hill's "King Sorrow" Joe Hill’s King Sorrow is an audacious and deeply layered exploration of guilt, myth, and the moral cost of violence—his most ambitious and accomplished novel to date.

“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.

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The Detective Persists: A Review of Charles Finch's "The Hidden City" In The Hidden City, the fifteenth installment of the Charles Lenox Mysteries, Charles Finch delivers a work of precision and gravity—a study not only in detection but in endurance.

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

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Steven Kaplan Reframes Ethiopia's Ancient Past in "The Ethiopians" Steven Kaplan’s The Ethiopians: Lost Civilizations offers a concise yet considered examination of one of Africa’s most enduring and complex civilizations.

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.

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The Spacious Realm: David McCullough's "History Matters" Few historians have captured the living spirit of the past as vividly as David McCullough.

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.

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Old Songs Through New Voices Amy Jeffs and Gwen Burns' "Old Songs: Stories of Love and Death from Traditional Ballads"

“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.

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Corporate Horror Meets Biological Fantasy in "The Works of Vermin" by Hiron Ennes Tiliard breathes with the moon.

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.

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🚨 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
#AdaPalmer #MythBusting #FakeHistory #HistoricalNarratives

The Far Edges of the Known World A revisionist history of the ancient world that shifts our focus from Athens and Rome to the long-ignored societies on the borders., The Far Edges of the Known World, Life Beyond the Borders of Ancien...

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.

The Far Edges of the Known World by Dr Owen Rees | Waterstones Buy The Far Edges of the Known World by Dr Owen Rees from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

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!

Two Centuries of Bloodshed: Michael Livingston Expands the Frame of Medieval Warfare in "Bloody Crowns" Michael Livingston’s Bloody Crowns: A New History of the Hundred Years War undertakes what might be called a re-mapping of one of Europe’s most examined conflicts.

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.

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Shauna Lawless's "Daughter of the Otherworld": Fantasy Rooted in Medieval Ireland's Collapse Shauna Lawless’s Daughter of the Otherworld opens the second era of her Gael Song series in medieval Ireland at its most fractured—roughly a century and a half after the Battle of Clontarf, amid the p...

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.

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From Insurance Fraud to Moral Outrage: The Legal Origins of British Abolition A Review of Siddharth Kara's "The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery"

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 ⬇️

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My formative years were spent listening to alternative music on college radio in the early 80’s. I was introduced to some amazing music. I look back with fondness and appreciation at that time.

Beyond the Ballad: A Review of John U. Bacon's "The Gales of November" Before opening John U.

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.

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The Threads That Bind Civilization: An Interview with Author Tim Queeney Tim Queeney’s father left behind more than memories—he left a knot.

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.

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From Indifferent Observer to Cultural Resister: Reframing Henri Matisse A review of Christopher C. Gorham's "Matisse at War"

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.

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Reverence Where Due, Irreverence Where Deserved in Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi’s “How to Kill a Witch” In 2022, two self-described “quarrelsome dames” achieved something remarkable: they successfully petitioned the Scottish government to issue a formal state apology to the estimated 4,000 people accuse...

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.

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When the Dead Demand Justice: Dana Elmendorf's Unique Take on Southern Gothic Horror Dana Elmendorf is quick to describe herself as a “bird nerd.” She collects feathers on her runs, sorts them by species and placement, and admits with a laugh that she hopes the FBI doesn’t come knocki...

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.

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Trading Pillars for Megaliths in Ken Follett's "Circle of Days" Ken Follett's Circle of Days represents a bold departure from his familiar medieval epics, transporting readers to prehistoric Britain around 2500 B.C.E.

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

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Rethinking Human Progress, One Fiber at a Time: A Review of Tim Queeney's "Rope" What if the most crucial technology in human history wasn't the wheel or the computer, but something so ubiquitous we barely notice it?

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.

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Owen Rees's Material Challenge to Historical Bias in "The Far Edges of the Known World" "There is a fundamental problem when considering the edges of the world: the edges are determined by where we think the centre is." With this observation, Owen Rees sets the stage for his revisionist ...

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.

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What the Southwest Reveals About America's Future: Kyle Paoletta's "American Oasis" As someone who has lived in the American Southwest for over thirty-seven years, Kyle Paoletta's American Oasis resonated deeply with me.

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."

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What Price Motherhood?: A Review of Samantha Browning Shea's "Marrow" When I picked up Marrow, I was expecting something more mystical—what I got was entirely different.

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.

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