THE PHONY WAR, 1939-1940. Between the time that Germany and the Soviet Union carved up Poland between them, in September of 1939, and the invasion of France and the Low Countries by Germany in May of 1940 was a period in which the war fell into a lull, eight months that became known as “the […]
Books
The FBI-KGB War
THE FBI-KGB WAR: A Special Agent’s Story, by Robert J. Lamphere and Tom Shachtman. This is the inside story of the leader of the FBI’s counterintelligence unit during the height of the Cold War, and a personal account of the man who uncovered and broke the Russian atomic-spy ring centered around Julius Rosenberg. It also […]
Airlift To America
AIRLIFT TO AMERICA: HOW BARACK OBAMA SR., JOHN F. KENNEDY, TOM MBOYA, AND 800 EAST AFRICAN STUDENTS CHANGED THEIR WORLD AND OURS was published in 2009 by St. Martin’s Press. Reviews from the Washington Post and The Nation echoed pre-pub reviews by Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. The foreword is by the great singer and social […]
Decade of Shocks
DECADE OF SHOCKS, Dallas to Watergate, 1963-1974. America entered the post-World War II era with a set of assumptions that were both widely held and fundamental to our identity. We believed in the security, decency, and legitimacy of our leaders, in the vigor and continuing health of our economy, in our incomparable military strength, […]
Beachmaster
BEACHMASTER: A STORY OF DANIEL AU FOND, by Tom Shachtman. Illustrated by Jamichael Henterly. “The sections of the book that stand out are those that illustrate the pleasures and perils of a sea lion’s life …. The description is memorable … the author is able to evoke strong feelings of compassion for the animals [and […]
Wavebender
WAVEBENDER: A STORY OF DANIEL AU FOND. Illustrated by Jamichael Henterly. “A gripping, well-researched novel that explains the day-to-day existence of a sea lion; a nature story full of life and certainly worth reading.” School Library Journal Shachtman introduced readers to a sea lion named Daniel au Fond in his first book, Beachmaster ; Wavebender […]