FACT-RICH, CHARMINGLY readable bio of Voltaire sheds new light on the life and work of the Enlightenment figure.

CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER Charles Hamilton Houston, mentor to Thurgood Marshall, profiled in engaging book. B PLUS

ROOT AND BRANCH: CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON, THURGOOD MARSHALL, AND THE STRUGGLE TO END SEGREGATION
Bloomsbury USA
2010

ORANGE COUNTY through the eyes of the creator of “Ask A Mexican!”; well-researched, irreverent, poignant, and real. B PLUS

ORANGE COUNTY: A PERSONAL HISTORY by Gustavo Arellano
New York: Simon and Schuster
September 2008

RICHLY DETAILED BIOGRAPHY of Victorian England’s greatest acting duo follows the public and private lives of each. A MINUS

A STRANGE EVENTFUL HISTORY: THE DRAMATIC LIVES OF ELLEN TERRY, HENRY IRVING, AND THEIR REMARKABLE FAMILIES by Michael Holroyd
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux
March 2009

19TH CENTURY US SOCIAL HISTORY, centering on a star-studded 1882 banquet honoring Social Darwinist Herbert Spencer. SOLID A

BANQUET AT DELMONICO’S: GREAT MINDS, THE GILDED AGE, AND THE TRIUMPH OF EVOLUTION IN AMERICA by Barry Werth
New York: Random House
January 2009