The Son and Heir: a Memoir by Alexander Munninghoff

“The Son and Heir” tells the story of a man whose not-uncommon fractious relationship with his father led to the very uncommon step of joining Hitler’s army, becoming an SS officer who fought on the Russian front. The author, Alexander Munninghoff was a small boy unaware of the meaning of … Continue reading

The Black Prince: England’s Greatest Medieval Warrior by Michael Jones

The Black Prince: he sounds like a super-villain guilty of oppression and vile deeds; or a shadowy figure of mystery lost in the mists of time; but in this case he was the very opposite of those things. What kind of man could earn a moniker as awesome as that … Continue reading

The Shadow Queen: A Novel of Wallis Simpson: by Rebecca Dean

At the beginning of the 20th century Wallis Simpson was just an ordinary girl from an affluent family in Baltimore. By the end of it she was a subject of infamy. The woman who stole the king/defamed the royal family/scandalized the nation/was connected to Nazis/caused the abdication of (current monarch … Continue reading

Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter; A Biography of Princess Louise: by Lucinda Hawksley

Queen Victoria: the maternal dragon who gave name to the Victorian era had eight children and was none too fond of any particular one. In fact to one degree or another she managed to emotionally cripple each one well into adulthood. The child who may have given her the most … Continue reading

Empress of Fashion: A Life of Diana Vreeland by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart

Diana Vreeland: the original Dragon Lady, fashion trendsetter, jet-setting socialite and notorious eccentric. Once called ‘a beacon of fashion for the twentieth century’, Diana Vreeland set her own boundaries on life, and lived it to the full. Born in 1903, she was a curious creature who helmed Harper’s Bazaar for … Continue reading

On The Trail of Genghis Khan: by Tim Cope

In 2004 Tim Cope, a young Australian adventurer, set out to do what hadn’t been done since ancient times: to travel on horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, from Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine to the Danube River in … Continue reading