MR. AMERICA : HOW MUSCULAR MILLIONAIRE BERNARR MACFADDEN TRANSFORMED THE NATION THROUGH SEX, SALAD, AND THE ULTIMATE STARVATION DIET
by Mark Adams

Bernarr MacFadden was a brilliant, ambitious, eccentric genius, in the early part of the twentieth century, who influenced the world with his take on health and diet. From his humble upbringing, being orphaned at eight years of age, he would eventually become a multimillionaire with Physical Culture, a magazine that dictated exercise, how and what to eat, fasting, alternative medicine (he never went to a doctor) and sex education.
MacFadden would launch the New York Evening Graphic considered to be the worst newspaper in United States history. Walter Winchell was the gossip columnist. The sports writer was Ed Sullivan. At one point, Eleanor Roosevelt was hired to edit articles about babies.
Mr. America is a wonderful biography of a lost American entrepreneur. The book is inundated with a fascinating array of trivia. Upton Sinclair, Charles Atlas, Jack LaLanne, Fiorello LaGuardia, C.W. Post, John Harvey Kellogg and many others all make some kind of appearance within the pages.
The author, Mark Adams, is a terrific writer and has done incredible research. Check out the Acknowledgments on who he interviewed and what he found. The Notes and the Bibliography are quite extensive.
If you want to learn how to live a long and healthy life, read this book and have a good laugh at the same time.
Highly recommended.

HUNTING EICHMANN : HOW A BAND OF SURVIVORS AND A YOUNG SPY AGENCY CHASED DOWN THE WORLD'S MOST NOTORIOUS NAZI
by Neal Bascomb

He was chief of Department IVB4, following Hitler's orders to annihilate the Jews. His goal was to remove every one of them from Hungary. But then, the war ended, Hitler committed suicide and the operational manager of the Final Solution vanished.
Adolf Eichmann spent the next fifteen years living, incognito (or so he thought), in Buenos Aires.
Many people searched for him and it became an international manhunt.
Eventually, the Mossad captured him and brought him back to Israel for trial.
Hunting Eichmann is an incredible story. Neil Bascomb used newly declassified documents and exhaustive research and has written a masterpiece.
If you want drama and suspense, pick up this book.
Highly recommended.

THE LOST CITY OF Z : A TALE OF DEADLY OBSESSION IN THE AMAZON
by David Grann

Percy Harrison Fawcett was such a great Victorian explorer that accolades were written about him for decades. His adventures enthralled the public: he lived in the jungles of South America and was attacked by tribesmen; fought anacondas, piranhas, vampire bats and other nasty creatures; drew maps of unexplored regions. Fawcett was called the "David Livingstone of the Amazon." Scientists would flock to hear him speak whenever he returned from his exploits.
In 1925, Fawcett set off for the Amazon convinced that there was an ancient civilization. His oldest son, Jack, came with him. It was a small expedition consisting of only a few men. While they were away, Fawcett sent dispatches that were carried through the jungle and were eagerly gobbled up by every man, woman and child.
Then, messages stopped coming. Nothing further was heard from them.
They had simply vanished.
The Lost City of Z is one hell of a story. David Grann is a superb writer and keeps you riveted.
Using diaries, letters, journals and logbooks, his terrific skills as a reporter enables him to piece together the true-to-life tale of what really happened to Fawcett.
Truly, one of the best books I have ever read.
Highly recommended.

THE GARDNER HEIST : THE TRUE STORY OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST UNSOLVED ART THEFT
by Ulrich Boser

Isabella Stewart Gardner always dreamed, as a teenager, to be a collector of art masterpieces and have a place to display them. Fifty years later, her dream came true when a four-story palazzo was built, in Boston, and filled with paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, drawings and pieces of antiquity.
On March 18, 1990, two men broke into the museum and stole a Vermeer, three Rembrandts, and five Degas. It was the largest art heist in history.
Harold Smith was an art detective and he worked on the case for years. After he died, the author, Ulrich Boser, who is a reporter and editor of a crime magazine, tried to pick up where Smith left off. Boser explored the art underworld and met an extraordinary group of personalities. He eventually uncovers the names of the men who burglarized the museum.
The Gardner Heist is a terrific story. Even though the artwork has never been found, just reading about the potential leads is riveting. It's very well-researched with sources for every chapter. There's even a website : www.thegardnerheist.com for anyone interested in knowing more about the case or having information on the locations of the paintings.
Don't miss this one.
Highly recommended.

THE SECRET OF THE GREAT PYRAMID : HOW ONE MAN'S OBSESSION LED TO THE SOLUTION OF ANCIENT EGYPT'S GREATEST MYSTERY
by Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin

Of all the seven wonders of the world, only the pyramids still stand and there are one hundred and seven of them dispersed throughout Egypt. The largest one is the Great Pyramid, on the Giza Plateau. It's been photographed and analyzed through the centuries more than any other pyramid and yet mysteries still abound. Nobody knows how it was built. There is no documentation.
What is known is that it took twenty years and 25,000 men to construct it.
The author, Bob Brier, is an Egyptologist, who has researched pyramids and tombs in fifteen countries. He met Jean-Pierre Houdin, a French architect, who became obsessed with how the Great Pyramid was built, spending ten hours a day, on his computer, until he found the secret, unseen for 4,500 years.
The Secret of the Great Pyramid is a terrific story. Brier does a great job, effortlessly, weaving ancient and modern history together.
Highly recommended.

THE LAST DAYS OF THE ROMANOVS : TRAGEDY AT EKATERINBURG
by Helen Rappaport

There have been many books written about the Romanovs. Most of them were highly romanticized, with speculations, half-truths, not willing to discuss the flaws of the royal family.
Until now.
In The Last Days of the Romanovs, Helen Rappaport, a historian, gives the most detailed account of their final days. She draws on a wealth of archival evidence that has never been revealed before; the political climate between England and Germany during World War I; the frightening escalation of the Bolsheviks' reign of terror.
Meticulously researched and impossible to put down until the bloody end.
If you're a diehard Romanov follower, you don't want to miss this book.
Highly recommended.

TAKING AIM AT THE PRESIDENT : THE REMARKABLE STORY OF THE WOMAN WHO SHOT AT GERALD FORD
by Geri Spieler

The only woman to ever shoot a gun at a U.S. president, Sarah Jane Moore was not pictured to be an assassin. She was middle-aged, had a young son and was gracious and charming, but on her own terms. In actuality, Sarah Jane was a woman of many contradictions.
Moore grew up in a small, rural town in West Virginia with extremely strict parents. They had high expectations and were not warm and loving. While in high school, she got involved with the theater, which offered her an escape and with this background, eventually, she was able to mislead people by shifting identities.
She was married five times, abandoned her children (they ended up living with her parents), spied for the FBI and infiltrated radical underground movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
Geri Spieler has written a fascinating tale of an unknown woman, who almost killed a president. For twenty-seven years, the author met with Moore and corresponded with her, plus did her own research.
A good read.
Recommended.