In The Honourable Company, John Keay takes a long hard look at the "Company of Adventurers Trading in the East Indies". His account is frank and direct, taking to task many of his predecessors and many of the myths of the mighty East India Company. He pulls into his narrative both the personalities of the Company in the "field", i.e. outside of London, from scattered attempts at settlement in South Africa, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, to the much better known adventures on the Indian subcontinent. He also ties in the various ventures in Indonesia, the Malay Peninsula, and China and Japan. Against these personalities, their complex motivations, many of them less than stalwart, Keay also arranges the personalities in London in government and in the Company whose interests were often in opposition to those in the field, though the could also be of tremendous assistance. Finally, Keay brings into the story the many native rulers and the push and pull they exerted, often in opposition to their long-term self-interest.
 
Somehow, Keay is able to keep the reader on track, making sure we understand who the players are, where events are unfolding, and the various factors affecting the result. There is a lot of detail; the book is not for the casual reader or the faint-hearted. However, for one interested in how Britain became an Imperial Power almost in spite of itself, or how the decay of the Moghul Empire and the factions within the other native rulers both assisted and thwarted the Company, or how the Europeans engaged for over 200 years in violent conflict with each other in this area, despite peace in Europe, this is a fantastic read.

The List of Soiled Doves is the latest offering by Redding Walters. In her previous novels, Redding has taken us to the contemporary Pacific Northwest and to the court of King Charles I of England, crafting entertaining tales wrapped with humor, history, romance, and lots of flavor of the area, the times, and the people.
This novella is no different, I am pleased to say. Walters takes us to Vancouver in the period 1895-1905. You can smell the sea and the coal smoke, hear the raucous roughness of the town as it tries to gain that genteel veneer of a maturing gold rush city. She takes as her inspiration small slips of paper she found stuffed in the back of a court clerks book of verdicts and penalties, “bordello raid sheets” where the “soiled doves” were listed with the fines they paid when the police swept through the town’s red light district.
Walters takes these lists of names and numbers and tells the story of the women, through the eyes of one particularly literate “dove”.  You feel their desperation, their humor, their humanity. Walters has captured the vernacular and the lives – the what, why, how – as well as the who, of these women and contrasts them, again through our narrator’s eye, to the men, and the women who, but for a twist of fate, live on the “better” side of town.
The story is fascinating, fast-moving, well-researched, funny, and poignant all at once. Highly recommended!

Martin writes a concise history of a pivotal campaign in the American Revolution. It traces clearly, yet with significant detail, the campaign that included the major battles of Germantown, Brandywine, and Guilford Court House as well as the famous encampment in Valley Forge and a relatively unknown but fascinating struggle for the navigation of the Delaware River from the Atlantic to the city of Philadelphia.

Martin includes vignettes for more detail about key figures, like Baron von Steuben, semi-mythical figures, like Molly Pitcher, and the Hessians who fought for Great Britain. There are many illustrations and several maps.

As with most military histories there are not enough maps. The largest negative with the book, however, was a significant number of typographical errors, including one where the date of an event was entered incorrectly in one paragraph even though it was correct in the immediately preceding paragraph!

​Despite this, and its age (26 years since publication when I read it) the book holds up well and tells an important story.

Subtitled Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe this fascinating quadruple biography traces the contemporary lives of the four men, sometimes rivals, sometimes allies, who ruled most of Europe for the first half of the 16th century. 
It was, perhaps, a unique half-century, where four skilled monarchs ruled in direct contact with each other. None of their immediate successors was either as successful or ruled as long. Suleiman brought the Ottoman Empire to its peak. Henry laid the groundwork on which Elizabeth made England both a great sea power and a bastion of Protestantism. Charles, arguably, ruled at the height of Habsburg power. He was the most powerful ruler in Europe throughout the period. Finally, Francis, with the weakest position, surrounded as France was by Charles and his subordinates, played the foil skillfully, keeping a balance in Europe and, eventually, breaking up the amalgamated possessions of Charles, leaving his successor, Philip II, weakened and the position of France improved.
The book deals with the monarchs and their wives and mistresses, their courtiers and ambassadors. It delves into their obsessions - Henry's with procuring a male heir, Suleiman with conquest in eastern Europe, Charles and, later, Francis, with religion. Norwich describes the relationships between the four men who knew each other well and, with the exception of Suleiman, spent time with each other. The pomp and extravagance, the patronage and great works are described, providing a fullness to each character as they progress, and age. 
A most excellent biography and history of Europe in the first half of the 16th century. Recommended.

​​Elizabeth Cobbs has written a history long overdue. While that, in itself, would be a fantastic contribution to anyone's U.S. History book shelf she gives us a bonus of tying the history of America's first women soldiers to that of a second great struggle that stretched across the globe from California to the furthest reaches of Siberia for the 70 years prior and for really the next hundred years as well.

At its core this book is the story of the 223 American women who served in the Signal Corps in the First World War at the express request of General John  Pershing because they could do what the men could not - operate the complicated switchboards of the telephone systems of the day better than the men. Cobbs explains why this was so as well as carefully detailing the horrors of war that the operators, as they were called, had to endure, including bombing and shelling, co-located with their male counterparts.

But she also tells the story of how their service furthered greatly the cause of suffrage for women in the United States. She also details how many men saw them as a threat and did everything in their power to diminish their service, including denying them veterans benefits upon their return. Finally, she also details the men who saw them as co-equal and eventually helped the few survivors see justice within their lifetimes - recognition of service, military honors, and their place in history.

The only negative I would mention is that Cobbs ends up being a little repetitive and could come off, a few times, as pedantic. However, the book is well-written, well-edited, and well-researched.

Strongly recommended!