Title: Flags of Our Fathers
Author: James Bradley
Unlike your typical World War II book, “Flags of Our Fathers” does not just chronicle the Battle of Iwo Jima from beginning to end. The book tells the life stories of each of the six American soldiers who raised the flag on Mount. Suribachi during the World War II battle for the island. While Bradley tells the stories of each of these men, including his deceased father John, he disperses within the book the story of the actual battle without boring the reader with too many statistics and military jargon. While the six men fought on the island together, Bradley exposes the reader to their vastly different backgrounds, and the fates following the war of the three who made it through the battle and off the island. This book gives some insight into the inner workings of a soldier’s mind, why some choose to remember and celebrate wars after they end and why others rather live a life apart from their battle experiences. I highly recommend this book to any child or grandchild of a veteran or anyone who wants to read a World War II book without getting bogged down by facts and statistics. – Ashleigh Egan
Title: Foucault’s Pendulum
Author: Umberto Eco
By now almost everyone has read Dan Brown’s formulaic thriller “The DaVinci Code.” However, few have read “Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco, which contains a stunning amount of esoteric history and basically refutes Brown’s conclusions even though it predates “DaVinci Code” by nearly two decades. More than simply a novel, Eco questions the very notion of history and how man interprets and records it. While the book sometimes gets confusing as it tries to draw connections between everything from the Knights Templar and Mohammed to Mickey Mouse, it’s a deeply satisfying experience that makes you realize that history is not so straightforward and simple as authors like Brown would like to make you believe. – Steven M. Andrews
Title: Everything is Illuminated
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
“Everything is Illuminated”, Jonathan Safran Foer’s debut novel, even if it’s innovation was overestimated, is still a brilliant, insightful book. It is ostensibly about an American tourist’s attempt to revisit holocaust sites in Eastern Europe, but what Foer says about humanity and the nature of men has implications for any topic. In that regard, the best piece of American art since Eugene O’neill’s play “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” -Tara E. Lynch
Title: The Power Broker
Author: Robert A. Caro
For all you Long Islanders out there who find yourself lounging under the sun at Jones Beach this summer, it might do you some good to read Robert A. Caro’s epic of a book, “The Power Broker.” The biography follows the rise of one of the most influential men in the history of New York City, Robert Moses. If you have ever crossed a bridge in New York City, seen a Met’s game at Shea Stadium, or saoked up the sun at Jones beach, then you’ve been touched by this man’s legacy. An important historical work, “The Power Broker is required reading for anyone living within the New York metropolitain area. – Ryan Blair
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Author: Bill Bryson
Did you know that you can only view about 2,000 stars from any one place on Earth at a given time? Or that on the entire surface of the planet right now there are only about 20 francium atoms scattered about? I could go on, Bill Bryson certainly does in “A Short History of Nearly Everything,” a book that defies easy classification. At its heart, it’s the story of our universe and how we came about, but it reads nothing like the textbook you’d expect. Instead, Bryson weaves his tale around often hilarious historical anecdotes or amusing analogies which help one visualize the massive numbers he throws around. He’s not a trained scientist or professor, but his impeccable research backs up the book and proves it’s not impossible to have a good time while learning some dense topics. – StevenM. Andrews
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