All About Books

  Title: Echo's Bones Author: Samuel Beckett Publisher: Faber & Faber, London Year published: 2014 121 pages Echo's Bones is a short story first written in 1933 and only published decades later.  It was intended as an additional tale to Beckett’s collection More Pricks Than Kicks but was initially rejected for being too strange and unsettling. The story follows Belacqua Shuah, Beckett’s recurring anti-hero, who has already died in the earlier collection.  In Echo's Bones, he is resurrected and wanders through surreal and bizarre encounters that mix death, sexuality, and absurd humor.  The narrative unfolds in a fragmented, dreamlike style filled with puns, mythological allusions, and grotesque imagery. The text reflects Beckett’s early experimentation with themes that would define his later work: the futility of existence, the absurdity of human desire, and the blending of comedy with despair.  It is both difficult and playful, showing the seeds of his matur...

  Title: The Day The World Went Nuclear Author: Bill O' Reilly Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, New York Year published: 2017 302 pages The Day the World Went Nuclear provides a detailed yet approachable account of the pivotal moment in history when nuclear weapons were first used in warfare.  The book takes readers through the final stages of World War II, explaining how the war in the Pacific had reached a brutal stalemate, with Japan showing no signs of surrender despite suffering heavy losses.  O’Reilly outlines the key military and political challenges faced by the Allies, particularly President Harry Truman, who had assumed the presidency after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death and was suddenly confronted with the responsibility of making a decision that would alter the course of history. The narrative examines the Manhattan Project, the secret U.S. effort to develop the atomic bomb, and the race to create the weapon before Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan could do th...

  Title: The World at War Publisher: Igloo Books, Sywell Year published: 2017 304 pages The World at War offers a comprehensive yet accessible exploration of the major conflicts that defined the twentieth century, primarily focusing on the First and Second World Wars.  It traces the origins of global tensions, beginning with the build-up to World War I, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the tangled web of alliances that plunged the world into war.  The book outlines the key battles, strategies, and turning points of the Great War, including trench warfare on the Western Front, the use of new technologies like tanks and poison gas, and the social and political upheaval that followed. The narrative then shifts to the interwar years, examining the rise of totalitarian regimes, the economic turmoil of the Great Depression, and the failure of appeasement policies that ultimately led to World War II.  It delves into the causes and consequences of Hitler’s ...