Gerard DeGroot reviewed Howard Blum's Dark Invasion 1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America for the Washington Post.
‘How’s the book?” my daughter asked when I was reading “Dark Invasion.”
“It’s okay,” I replied. “But it’s more like a crime novel than a history book.”
“So?” came her response. “You like crime novels.”
And therein lies my problem.
Professional historians are often suspicious of history books that seek blatantly to entertain. We’re a sober lot, which is a polite way of saying that we’re frequently dull. We have a remarkable talent for distilling the rich commotion of human experience into something boring and lifeless. The historian able to convey the drama of the past in a captivating yet accurate manner is unusual.
Given their oppressive solemnity, my colleagues will probably not like “Dark Invasion.” In style, it’s more like Lee Child than Richard Hofstadter. It breaks all the rules of historical writing, wantonly and repeatedly. Yet, partly for that reason, it’s wonderfully gripping.
You can read the rest of the review via the below link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dark-invasion-1915-the-hunt-for-the-first-terrorist-cell-in-america-by-howard-blum/2014/02/07/e1a29fce-851b-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html
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