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"The Lords of Finance," a book about the four most powerful investment bankers and how they responded to changing economic conditions in the 1920s and 1930s, shouldn't be half as engaging as it is. Ahamed does an excellent job of bringing the Great Depression and the inevitable failure of the gold standard to life by bringing the people responsible to life. Instead of being treated as distant ciphers, the central bankers of the US, UK, France and Germany are treated as human beings — people with friendships, beliefs, romantic relationships, and, alas, horribly misguided beliefs on how monetary policy should function and who it should serve.

Over a decade after it's publication, this book remains an approachable and engaging overview of the all top human decisions that ultimately led to the worst economic cataclysm in modern human history.

What would an in-universe professional historian have to say about the events of the Star Wars universe — the rise and fall of the Empire, followed by the rise and fall of the First Order? How would they contextualize each event? Whose actions would they focus on?

That is the concept behind this book, which quite clearly and intentionally has things to say about the real world of its readers, just as Star Wars has something to say about the nature of good and evil, of heroes and villains, and how otherwise minor characters can sometimes step up and change the galaxy. A poignant read from page 1, it fully commits to the bit — in-universe citations are liberally sprinkled through each chapter and no canonical stone is left unturned.

This book is well worth the time and attention for casual and committed Star Wars fans alike.

In this book, Dan Carlin, host of the "Hardcore History" podcast, walks the reader through several possible disasters that struck civilizations in the past — or, in the case of nuclear Armageddon, nearly did. Pandemics made the list as a seemingly near-unthinkable option; naturally, history demonstrated its sense of humor by bringing COVID-19 to everyone's awareness months after the book was published.

In many respects, this book reads like one of his podcast episodes, with several asides sprinkled in as footnotes. Sources are present but rarely referred to directly, which also matches the approach of his podcast.

If you like "Hardcore History" enough to want to read one of his scripts without listening to him read it to you, this book is for you. Personally, I prefer his audio work.

In this book, Dan Carlin, host of the "Hardcore History" podcast, walks the reader through several possible disasters that struck civilizations in the past — or, in the case of nuclear Armageddon, nearly did. Pandemics made the list as a seemingly near-unthinkable option; naturally, history demonstrated its sense of humor by bringing COVID-19 to everyone's awareness months after the book was published.

In many respects, this book reads like one of his podcast episodes, with several asides sprinkled in as footnotes. Sources are present but rarely referred to directly, which also matches the approach of his podcast.

If you like "Hardcore History" enough to want to read one of his scripts without listening to him read it to you, this book is for you. Personally, I prefer his audio work.