The Young Hemingway   Michael Reynolds
Concentrates far more on Hemingway’s family and antecedents than I needed, but Reynolds does a good job of constructing Hemingway’s early milieu and influences. Makes the case that all Hemingway’s values come out of his early life in Oak Park. My interest began at Chicago as a step toward Paris. There’s plenty about Hadley. Also wanted more about the war, of which there is almost nothing. Only hints at the development of his style. I’m interested in the writing, not the life. Good enough to get me started on Paris.

The Third Reich in Power   Richard J. Evans
The second volume of Evans' trilogy, this volume is a measured, scholarly, detailed, 930-page history of the Nazi state from spring 1933 to the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. Well organized by topics such as intellectual life, education based on “brutal physical prowess”, religion, the economy, labor, coordination, agriculture, rearmament, rampant political corruption, etc. to show the complete nazification of all aspects of German life. And, of course, the systematic aryanization, racial hygiene, eugenics, and vicious anti-Semitism. An excellent, well-written history, but difficult to read because of the subject. I knew they were really bad, but the more you know about the Nazis, the worse they are.

Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War   Barbara Ehrenreich
Very well written account of how war developed in human culture. Fascinating, and I think, persuasive hypothesis that religion developed out of our hominid, then human, experience as prey. Even more interesting than war. Excellent ideas about how the modern nation state was created and is defined by war. Interesting idea about the form that nationalism takes in the United States. And, maybe war is a meme. Interesting and useful book, especially about the origins of religion.

The Dog Stars   Peter Heller
Beautifully written, sad dystopian novel set in the United States after almost everyone is killed by a new flu. Interesting and exciting plot device toward the end. Surprising sense of meaningful survival, and even redemption, through others, what humans require. Deeply moving meditation on loss. Loved this book.