As complex in their own was as their Mitford cousins, Winston and Clementine Churchill's daughters each had a unique relationship with their famous father. Rachel Trethewey's biography, The Churchill Sisters, tells their story.
Bright, attractive and well-connected, in any other family the Churchill girls – Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary – would have shone. But they were not in another family, they were Churchills, and neither they nor anyone else could ever forget it. From their father – ‘the greatest Englishman’ – to their brother, golden boy Randolph, to their eccentric and exciting cousins, the Mitford Girls, they were surrounded by a clan of larger-than-life characters which often saw them overlooked. While Marigold died too young to achieve her potential, the other daughters lived lives full of passion, drama and tragedy.
Diana, intense and diffident; Sarah, glamorous and stubborn; Mary, dependable yet determined – each so different but each imbued with a sense of responsibility toward each other and their country. Far from being cosseted debutantes, these women were eyewitnesses at some of the most important events in world history, at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam. Yet this is not a story set on the battlefields or in Parliament; it is an intimate saga that sheds light on the complex dynamics of family set against the backdrop of a tumultuous century.
Drawing on previously unpublished family letters from the Churchill archives, The Churchill Sisters brings Winston’s daughters out of the shadows and tells their remarkable stories for the first time.
Welcome to the Blog Blitz for Carved in Ebony by Jasmine L. Holmes, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Carved in Ebony
Author: Jasmine L. Holmes
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: November 2, 2021
Genre: Christian History / Biography
Through the lives of Elizabeth Freeman, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Amanda Berry Smith, Mamie Till, and others, author and speaker Jasmine Holmes shares the significant role that Black women have played in the formation of our faith--and are playing in our formation as modern-day women of faith.
As these historical figures take the stage with Holmes, you will be inspired by what the stories of these women can teach us about education, birth, privilege, and so much more. Carved in Ebony will take you past the predominately white, male contributions that seemingly dominate history books to discover how Black women have been some of the main figures in defining the landscape of American history and faith.
Come along on Jasmine's journey and be encouraged by the powerful and persuasive Black women of our past so that you can help inspire a better, more inclusive future.
The untold story of three Golden Age titans and the confrontations, cutthroat business strategies, and eccentric personalities that built the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus
Millions have sat under the “big top,” watching as trapeze artists glide and clowns entertain, but few know the captivating stories behind the men whose creativity, ingenuity, and determination created one of our country’s most beloved pastimes.
In Battle for the Big Top, New York Times–bestselling author Les Standiford brings to life a remarkable era when three circus kings—James Bailey, P.T. Barnum, and John Ringling—all vied for control of the vastly profitable and influential American Circus. Ultimately, the rivalry of these three men resulted in the creation of an institution that would surpass all intentions and, for 147 years, hold a nation spellbound.
Filled with details of their ever-evolving showmanship, business acumen, and personal magnetism, this Ragtime-like narrative will delight and enchant circus-lovers and anyone fascinated by the American experience.
Welcome to the Blog Tour for How Do You Kill 11 Million People? by Andy Andrews, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think Author: Andy Andrews Publisher: Thomas Nelson Release Date: March 17, 2020 Genre: Motivational/Inspirational Political Science
Become an informed, passionate citizen who demands honesty and integrity from our leaders or suffer the consequences of our own ignorance and apathy.
In this updated and expanded New York Times bestselling nonpartisan book, Andy Andrews urges you to believe that seeking and discerning the truth really, really matters and that believing lies is the most dangerous thing you can do. You’ll be challenged to become a more “careful student” of the past, seeking accurate, factual accounts of events and decisions that illuminate choices you face now.
By considering how the Nazi German regime was able to carry out over eleven million institutional killings between 1933 and 1945, Andrews advocates for an informed population that demands honesty and integrity from its leaders and from each other. He includes several key documents written by our Founding Fathers as examples of America’s core principles that present and future leadership should live up to and embrace.
We can no longer measure a leader’s worth by the yardsticks provided by the left or the right. Instead, we must use an unchanging standard: the pure, unvarnished truth.
Reading about World War II and the Holocaust is one of those topics that is hard to avoid. It's a horrible stain on our worlds history but one that we should never forget. Looking at the inhumane occurrences that happened to thousands of people makes one realize just how truly blessed we are to live the lives we live. I hesitated picking up Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar but I am so thankful that I did.
Auschwitz Lullaby is the harrowing story of Helene Hannemann, an Aryan German woman who married a Gypsy violinist, Johann, and had five beautiful children. The family is living in Germany in the early 1940's and despite the hatred that was spewed on Johann and Helene by racist Germans and Nazis the Hannemann's had lived a fairly normal life up until World War II. At the time that the war breaks out Helene is the sole provider for the family and works as a nurse while her husband Johann looks for a job.
One fateful day, while on the way to taking her children to school, Helene is confronted by SS guards and told that they have come to take her husband and children away. She has heard rumors of the concentration camps but had hoped up until this point that her family could somehow survive the war undetected. Now her worst fears are materializing right in front of her. Helene, being of pure Aryan blood, spares her but she chooses to stay by her husband and children and the family is immediately taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Auschwitz Lullaby goes into great detail of the horrors that the Hannemann family endures while traveling to Auschwitz and their stay there. Johann is immediately taken away to a separate work camp and Helene is forced to protect her five young children and do everything she can to survive. Her being Aryan, and being a nurse, she gets a job at the medical barracks and a particular doctor, Herr Doctor Mengele, takes a liking to her and puts her in charge of a kindergarten that he is wanting to create inside the camp. This bides her and her family time but as you get closer and closer to the end of the book you wonder if Helene and her children will survive Auschwitz and the war.
This the first story I've read by Mario Escobar and I have to say that I am incredibly impressed. He puts you in that concentration camp with Helene and her children. You feel the anguish that Helene feels when she watches her friend choose to clutch the electrified fence and commit suicide and the torment of watching children waste away or being taken away to their deaths. You can see the meanger bits of food that was provided to sustain the Gypsies, visualize their bones protruding from their fragile frames, feel the hatred that was spewed on the inmates by the SS guards, and can almost smell the sickening smell of burning flesh.
Helene Hannemann's story is a true story and almost every event in the story did in fact happen to her and her children. Helene is the narrator of this heartbreaking tale but the journal that she supposedly wrote, of which this book is based off of, is false. This is the author's interpretation of what he believes Helene might have written based on several reliable sources and I believe he's done a wonderful job. As a mother myself, I hope I would've done what Helene did to protect her children from this deplorable place and even though she is long gone I commend her for her bravery in the face of utter darkness.
To say that I highly recommend this book is an understatement. Auschwitz Lullaby is a pained history that everyone should know, a true tale about a woman who did everything she could to protect her children in one of the evilest places ever to have been created.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson and NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.
With the release of Hidden Figures in 2016 many have realized the importance that mathematicians, or "human computers" as they were otherwise known, were in the Space Race in the 1950's and 1960's. There were exceptional women who worked behind the scenes. They were the Hidden Women.
Hidden Women is the incredible story of four women African-American mathematicians who were momentous in the NASA program and the space race. They worked behind the scenes, fought to overcome sexism as well as racial strife, and overcame it all, becoming instrumental in the NASA program.
As I read this book I was awe-struck by the strength that each woman incapsulated. To go through what they went through and do what they did is so inspiring! They helped put a man on the moon as well as broke barriers not only for their race but also their gender. After reading this book I wonder how different the journey to the moon would've been without these incredible women.
Hidden Women is well written, fast paced, and incredibly informative. It is geared towards an 8-12 year old audience but I believe older audiences would also enjoy it. Highly recommend!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Capstone and NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.
Over the years there have been numerous assassination attempts on the President of the United States. According to Wikipedia, there have been more than 30 attempts on the president's life and four attempts were successful. Being from Dallas, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is still talked about to this day in our area, and everyone knows about President Abraham Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre, but what about the other two presidents that were murdered in cold blood while in office, and what about the men that assassinated them?
Jessica Gunderson and Joe Tougas tackle this tough subject, wanting to "examine the lives of each killer and his victim," in Assassins' America.
Published by Capstone, this book targets children ages nine to fifteen, but is still informative for an older audience as well. It is extremely well written, well researched, and does not diminish the violent acts in which each presidents was assassinated, or the depiction of their killers. There are a few little facts that are left out but they are nothing that takes away from the validity of the each individual stories. The book is laid out in an easily readable format, which could be used for teaching as well as casual reading.
I was refreshed on my knowledge of Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy, both their lives and their deaths, and learned a lot about Presidents Garfield and McKinley, who's lives and assassinations I knew very little about. What's heartbreaking is how public each assassination was. I cannot imagine what the spectators of these horrific acts experienced. I also found it extremely interesting that this book delved into the killers minds and circumstances during that time. Years later my heart still hurts for these presidents and my mind wonders how different America would be if any of them had lived to carry out their terms.
Assassins' America is currently only available for purchase through Capstone and is actually broken down into four individual volumes, each focusing on one president. I highly recommend this book for young adults as well as teachers and libraries. Wonderful resource!
*I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Capstone and NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.
"She'd shed enough tears to create a river the past few weeks, and she'd finally told the Lord that enough was enough. The only way she could make it through was with His help. Her new recitation became I can do this."
Mary Elizabeth is wary of the future. Standing on the deck of the ship Speedway in 1620, she reminisces about her life in Holland and is worried about her trip to the New World. Holland wasn't home but it was where her mother had taken her final breath, and having to leave her behind is gut wrenching for Mary Elizabeth, her little brother David, and their father. They are hoping the New World will also mean a new and better life away from persecution. A new beginning.
Mary Elizabeth and her family are members of the Separatists, a religious sect who had chosen to break away from the Church of England, in pursuit of spiritual freedom. This choice has made them detestable in their land and so they fled to Holland to break free from religious persecution. Now a number of their congregation are headed to the New World to help start a new settlement where they can freely worship and live for the Lord.
William is also ready for a fresh start. He is an orphan who has had a hard knock life thus far, being kicked out of his foster home at the tender age of nine, and was on the streets barely able to survive. This is until a kind-hearted gentleman took him in and taught him the trade of carpentry. He is on the Mayflower, the ship that is to sail alongside the Speedway, loaded with supplies for the New World.
The Mayflower Bride tells this harrowing story of the trip across the Atlantic through the eyes of Mary Elizabeth, William, and several other inhabitants aboard the Mayflower. Your hopes rise and fall with the characters, who deal with a ship that almost sinks, bouts of seasickness and scurvy, and such severe illness that it brings with it death. Intermingled with the sadness there is also the beautiful story of love, friendship, finding inner strength, and living by faith and faith alone.
This is the first book in The Daughters of the Mayflower series and I believe it to be an incredible beginning. What I really enjoyed the most was the Note to the Reader at the end of the book where the author explains in greater detail the genealogy of several of the characters that were actually on the Mayflower and connecting them to famous figures that we all know and love today! Ms. Woodhouse was even able to trace her own lineage to Virginia in 1659!
There are a few historical inaccuracies which the author does explain both at the beginning and ending of the book, but in my opinion they do not hurt the integrity of the actual story of the Separatists or the circumstances of the Mayflower voyage whatsoever. I highly recommend this book for those that love history and appreciate the plight the early settlers had to endure to create the freedom we have today.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.
I have always been squeamish about war. Growing up in a classroom, you tend to be desensitized to the effects of war. It's just words on a page when you're a child, but I remember, even at a young age, never really liking to learn about wars past. The loss of life, the anger and hatred that fuels each battle, and the utter destruction of everything that is connected with each encounter is hard to swallow. Don't get me wrong, I understand the reasoning behind many of the battles, but it's still a tough subject for me to grasp.
When I sat down to start reading Scars of Independence by Holger Hoock I had little bit of a pit in my stomach. What was this book about the Revolutionary War going to teach me that the history books haven't already?
I have read books about the Revolutionary War before but so many of them are hardened, strictly sticking to the facts, and not giving any indication to the thoughts or feelings of those that participated, or were witness, to these battles. Scars of Independence is different and you realize that from the first few pages that you read. You see viewpoints from different people and their reasons for fighting for what they believed in. You see the stages being set and the battle lines being drawn. You can hear the cries of the wounded and the screams for victory. Yes, it is hard to read the bloody details of the Revolution but it is a story that we should all hear and not one that should be romanticized. This is where we came from! This is the birth of our nation!
Mr. Hoock must have done hours of research with all of the details that are within these pages. He has a wonderful writing style that captures the imagination and is easy to understand, though I will say it is hard to sit down and read it cover to cover. It has a dry, textbook feel to it which makes it hard to not feel like you're studying. In saying that, Scars of Independence is a wonderful resource that could easily be used in a classroom setting and taken apart piece by piece to be studied.
If you love studying about the Revolutionary War, or American wars, I would highly recommend this book. The research that was done and details about the war are well worth the effort!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
It's been awhile since I have read a book that has left me with tears streaming down my face, my stomach in knots, and my mind unable to wrap itself around what I've just read. There is no way this could've really happened, right? These were human beings! Women just trying to help out their families and their country in times of war and uncertainty and what did they get in return? Death. Sickness. Ailments so unimaginable that you think as you're reading the symptoms that you're actually reading a horror novel from Steven King instead of a true story. This is real. It really happened, in our country, and it happened to the Radium Girls.
During World War I, many women across the United States were called to work various jobs to aid in the war effort. One of the most coveted jobs of the time was dial painters. Women pained clock faces with a new and amazing substance called radium. These women were paid top dollar compared to other working women during that time so this job was highly coveted.
Radium at the time was all the rage with numerous health claims, including being a cure for cancer! Companies were putting it in everything from medicine to cosmetics and everything in between. It was a wonder substance that could do anything! It could cure your sickness and make you shine!
Radium has a luminescent quality which was perfect for watches being used during the war because the soldiers would be able to see the time at night which was invaluable at the time.
To put the paint onto the dials of the clocks, the girls used a technique called lip pointing. They would put the paint brushes in their mouths and twirl it with their tongue to create a fine point. Then they would dip it in the radium paint and paint the dials.
Over and over, sometimes hundreds of times a day, day by day these girls were ingesting more and more radium. Not to mention the fine powder that covered the girls and the entire factory that gave off this eerie, luminescent glow. The girls lived in a radium world that stayed with them even after they left work. They would paint themselves with the radium and walk around town almost ghost-like. It was fun and many were envied by their friends.
The girls were told that there were such minute traces of radium in the paint that it was harmless, so the girls worked away, day after day, blissfully unaware of what they were actually doing. They were ingesting and inhaling poison, little by little, and before long a few of the women started getting sick. That's when the fun stopped and the nightmare began.
Kate Moore is the director of These Shining Lives which depicts the lives of the women in the radium dial factories. Kate is actually from the United Kingdom, but after hearing the stories of the radium girls, she decided to write a story that was different than any other that has been written about the radium dial workers. She wanted to give these victims a voice. One that they did not have during their brief lives. And she did.
As you read about each of the girls, and what was going on in their lives, you start to think of them as sisters. When you read about the girls getting sick and the unimaginable things that happened to their bodies and you read about the doctor's being baffled at what's happening to them you cringe. You know what's wrong with them, and you want to shout it out through the pages yet you can't.
Your anger flares as you read about the radium dial companies and their denial about radium being the reason for these girls getting sick. These girls are dying and they don't care! They knew it was harmful and yet they continued their practices anyway for profit, putting the mighty dollar ahead of a person's life. Sickening.
The one girl that I identified most with was Catherine Donahue. Her and her husband had only been married for a few years, just like me and my husband. They had two children, just like me, and Catherine fought for justice for the "ghost girls" to the end. I hope that if I were ever in that situation I would do the same.
As I read the depiction of her taking her last breaths, tears were streaming down my face. My heart ached for this woman that lived so long ago. Having fought so hard, then to die like this. I think she really hoped she would overcome this poisoning but in the end the radium won, and she left this world literally screaming. Tears spring to my eyes even writing this now. It's unfathomable. No one should ever have to go through such torture. Now Catherine no longer is in pain and the fight that she started has had a major impact on our world today, including the creation of the EPA.
"The radium girls," the governor of Illinois announced, "deserve the utmost respect and admiration...because they battled a dishonest company, an indifferent industry, dismissive courts and the medical community in the face of certain death. I hereby proclaim September 2, 2011, as Radium Girls Day in Illinois, in recognition of the tremendous perseverance, dedication, and sense of justice the radium girls exhibited in their fight."
To this day, the EPA continues to clean the sites of where the radium dial factories both in New York and Illinois once stood. The radium still lingers just like the memories of these women.
I have never felt so connected to a true life story like I did with the Radium Girls. This story could've happened to any of us. It hit so close to home. I HIGHLY recommend this book! It's a hard story to hear but one we should all listen to.
If you would like to see the play in which this book was based off of check out These Shining Lives on YouTube.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
My dad was born in 1960 and grew up in a suburb of Dallas. One of Dad's earliest memories happened on November 24, 1963 when his mother was glued to the television, as was the rest of the world. He remembers his mom jumping up and shouting when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby on national television. The assassination of the president of the United States happened 20 minutes away from where my three-year-old dad was which birthed a life-long fascination of the events of that day that he passed down to his oldest daughter.
I've always been fascinated with that time period in American history for numerous reasons but the fact the president was killed where I grew up makes it all the more intriguing.
Over the years I have read numerous books about John F Kennedy and the assassination which always leave me feeling creepy and The Assassination of JFK by Robert A Wagner was no exception. It's a hard subject to read about and a horrible mark in American history. Wagner goes into painstaking detail about the events of November 22, 1963 and dispels many of the conspiracy theories that have been circulating since Walter Cronkite announced on national television that the 35th president of the United States was assassinated on the streets of Dallas.
"The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, is as compelling as any drama written by William Shakespeare. It is the great American tragedy." - James Swanson, End of Days
I have to admit that I have never believed that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone but Wagner brings up many points that I have never previously considered. It does raise reasonable doubt as far as my beliefs are concerned but I still don't know if I'm completely sold on Oswald acting alone.
This book was extremely hard for me to get through because of the authors very technical writing style but it is thoroughly researched with many resources cited if you want to go into more study about one particular aspect of the case.
If you are one that loves the details and shares my fascination of the Kennedy assassination I would highly recommend this book. If you get bogged down with details there are many other books on the subject that would better suit your tastes.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
Title: How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think
