Book Review Index

The right hand column of this page has brief notes on books that I've read recently — not all of them but those that I've liked enough to want to recommend to other people (and maybe an occasional clinker that I want to warn them against). I also occasionally post longer reviews on the main Stromata site. In case anyone is interested, here are links to them, sorted more or less topically:

Religion
The Reality of Ancient Israel: William G. Dever, What Did the Biblical Writers Know & When Did They Know It?
First Steps in Christian Beginnings: Bart D. Ehrman (ed.), After the New Testament: A Reader in Early Christianity
A "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy", Restoration Style: J. P. Kenyon, The Popish Plot
The First Great Bishop: William Painter, Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition; Luke Timothy Johnson, The Letter of James: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary
How Early Is Early? : J. A. T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament
Less Than the Whole Laud: Hugh Trevor-Roper, Archbishop Laud
The Subtlety of Scripture: Joseph W. Trigg, Origen

History
Fascinating Particulars About Nondescript Generals: Bruce S. Allardice, More Generals in Gray
Lifestyles of the Rich and Imperial: Fenton Bresler, Napoleon III: A Life
The Land of a Thousand Gods: Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites; Trevor Bryce, Life and Society in the Hittite World
For Armchair Kitcheners: C. E. Callwell, Small Wars: Their Principles and Practice
Imperial Shadows: P. J. Casey, Carausius and Allectus: The British Usurpers
Sun Tzu in Practice: David A. Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900
Vivid Colors, Fuzzy Shapes: Lawrence James, Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India
Rome's First Great War: J. F. Lazenby, The First Punic War: A Military History
Father Turk's Story: Andrew Mango, Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey
His Red Eminence at War: David Parrott, Richelieu’s Army: War, Government and Society in France, 1624-1642
A Discarded Victory: Lewis Sorley, A Better War
The Right Man in the Wrong Times: C. V. Wedgwood, Thomas Wentworth, First Earl of Strafford, 1593-1641: A Revaluation
A Tangle of Kings: Ian N. Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751

Shakespeare and the Shakespearean Pretenders
VERitable Lunacy: Michael Brame & Galina Popova, Shakespeare's Fingerprints
A New Stratfordian Champion: Scott McCrea, The Case for Shakespeare: The End of the Authorship Controversy
A Malcontent of High Degree: Alan H. Nelson, Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Deconstructing the Stratford Man: Diana Price, Shakespeare's Unorthodox Biography: New Evidence of an Authorship Problem
A Test of Sobran's Method: Joseph Sobran, Alias Shakespeare
The Player's the Thing: John Southworth, Shakespeare the Player: A Life in the Theatre
Strange Hobbies of a Supreme Court Justice: Paul Streitz, Oxford: Son of Queen Elizabeth I
Roger A. Stritmatter, The Marginalia of Edward De Vere’s Geneva Bible: Providential Discovery, Literary Reasoning, and Historical Consequence. Multi-part review (still in progress): Part 1: Overview; Part 2: Handwriting Evidence; Part 3: Mastery of Latin; Part 4: Literary Analysis; Part 5: Statistical Analysis

C. S. Lewis
What the Inklings Did: Diana Pavlac Glyer, The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community
Encyclopedia(s) Lewisiana: Walter Hooper, C. S. Lewis: A Companion and Guide; Jeffrey D. Schultz & John G. West, Jr. (eds.), The C. S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia
Lewis' Cinderellas: C. S. Lewis (Walter Hooper, ed.), The Dark Tower and Other Stories
Lewis on Storytelling: C. S. Lewis (Walter Hooper, ed.), Of Other Worlds
The Earliest Lewis: C. S. Lewis, Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics
Kay Lindskoog, Detective: Not Sherlock Holmes After All?: Kathryn Lindskoog, Sleuthing C. S. Lewis: More Light in the Shadowlands
Not Even Good Irony: A. N. Wilson, C. S. Lewis: A Life

Literature
Through Drab to Gold: C. S. Lewis, Poetry and Prose in the Sixteenth Century
Poets of the Queen: Steven W. May, The Elizabethan Courtier Poets: Their Poems and Their Contexts
Remnants of a Genre: B. P. Reardon (ed.), Collected Ancient Greek Novels
Life (5 Stars) and Lit Crit (Zero): David Riggs, Ben Jonson: A Life
The Lesser Life: Alan Stewart, Philip Sidney: A Double Life
Trollope Abroad: Anthony Trollope, Nina Balatka (1867); Linda Tressel (1867); Lady Anna (1874); Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874)
No Bottom to This Barrel: P. G. Wodehouse (David Jasen, ed.), The Uncollected Wodehouse

Science Fiction
As Others See Us: Camille Bacon-Smith, Science Fiction Culture
Indispensable to the Science Fiction Bibliophile: Jack L. Chalker & Mark Owings, The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Critical and Bibliographic History
Mystical Lore and a "Perfect" Murder: Clyde B. Clason, The Man from Tibet
Our Kind of Fen: Marcy Lyn-Waitsman, 6 in 60
Fannish Facts and Fancies: Dick & Leah Smith, The Old Fan's Almanac
Nightmares and Hope: J. N. Stroyar, The Children's War
Shakespeare the Patriot: Harry Turtledove, Ruled Britannia
Odin, Tenure and Christ: Lars Walker, Wolf Time
The White Stuff: James White (Mark L. Olson & Bruce Pelz, eds.), The White Papers

Games & Sports
Not a Nightmare, But a Really Odd Dream: Michael Laver, Playing Politics: The Nightmare Continues
Baseball's Elder Brother: Tom Melville, Cricket for Americans: Playing and Understanding the Game; Tom Melville, The Tented Field: A History of Cricket in America