history Archives

It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History

It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History Author: Jennifer Wright Have you ever been in the mood for some light snark peppered into nonfiction vignettes with enough bite to make you laugh while you learn? If so, meet It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History. I came to this book from an Audible sale, and finally pressed play one day when I wanted some entertainment, was out of true-crime YouTube fodder (where are you lately Bailey Sarian!?), and didn’t want to invest too heavily in something that required immense concentration. It Ended Badly was perfection. [...]

Frances Carden2026-09-14T17:09:48-07:00September 14th, 2026|Tags: breakup, history, humor, Jennifer Wright, nonfiction, read, reading, romance|

Hell’s Half Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, America’s First Serial Killer Family

The Benders: Fact or Fiction? Author: Susan Jonusas It’s 1873, Labette County, Kansas and the West is still very much wild. It’s no surprise then that a family of serial killers could remain, preying off lonely travelers, for years. It’s also no surprise that this family, knowing that they were finally discovered, were able to easily disappear, leaving police, investigators, and heartbroken relatives of the murdered to chase answers and justice for two decades with few results and no real answers. Even still, the story of the infamous Benders is more legend than fact, speculation piled on top of a [...]

Frances Carden2026-09-13T17:17:30-07:00September 13th, 2026|Tags: book review, history, read, reading, serial killer, true crime|

Secret Lives of Color

"Color is the fruit of life." - Guillaume Apollinaire Author: Kassia St. Clair The sensory elements of our world, especially color, tell us so much about ourselves, about one another, about culture, and about the natural world. Colors affect our moods and even our value judgements. Kassia St Clair knows this about color – that it is an entire cosmos in and of itself: that it has defined groups of people (positively and negatively), that it has marked wealth and poverty, driven trends, and showcased everything from religious fever to taste. Colors have started and influenced the outcomes of wars, warned of [...]

Frances Carden2026-01-05T15:29:46-07:00January 4th, 2026|Tags: book review, color, history, nonfiction, reviews, secret lives of color|