Bailing can get you out of jail. (Image credit: Daniel Schwen)
As I age, I remember that my reading days ahead of me are fewer than those I’ve already enjoyed. I need to be discriminating in the books I spend time with.
As a result, I’ve become an enthusiastic tosser of unsatisfying books. I bail on books often. When I bail, I usually do so within the first 30 pages; sometimes it happens within the first two. As a younger reader, I would push through to the end of books that were snarky, dense, unconvincingly emotive, lacking in a narrative, and dull. No more. If I finish a book, that means I liked it. I treasure the many books I have liked and loved.
These are the reasons why I stop reading certain popular-history books:
• I dislike the narrative voice. The know-it-all voice is the worst.
• I don’t trust the book’s veracity. I recently set aside a memoir in which the author repeated verbatim, within quotation marks, conversations he heard when he was three years old.
• The book has too wide a focus, too many words, or too much unessential information. I have never finished any of Robert Caro’s celebrated nonfiction books, and corpulent biographies almost always inspire me to bail.
In Damn History you'll find, as usual, recommendations on good and popularly accessible historical reading, with tips on writing and updates on my own work.
Follow me on X at @Jack_ElHai, on Bluesky at @jackelhai.bsky.social, and on Threads at @jackelhai1.
Contact me by email at [email protected]
Personal Notes
More than meets the eye: Read my short piece about “vaudeville’s worst act.”
On the Feminism, Fascism, and the Future podcast, hear me explain why Dr. Douglas M. Kelley believed any culture could tilt to fascism.
If you have been alive for a while, you may remember Art Linkletter’s House Party kids – the ones who said the darndest things on TV. I wrote about my experiences as one of them.
For my recommendations of popular-history books, search X, Bluesky, or Threads for #popularhistory.
Recent Popular History from All Over
You may find some of these articles behind a paywall if you’ve exceeded the publisher’s allowance of free views.
A World War II POW’s journal reveals surprising dimensions.
America’s first war on drugs also targeted jazz music.
The search continues for the rarest book in American literature.
Soldiers received the biggest book giveaway in history.
Learn about the rise and fall of the public bench.
Pittsburgh’s old porn palaces have become cultural riches.
When journalists interview dictators, it feels like “hunting wild game.”
Making a case for ugly flags.
A family rescues a Holocaust-era book of songs that sat in a cupboard for decades.
There’s hidden history on Istanbul’s Ebe Hanim Street.
A harsh obituary: “This world is a better place without her.”
The Boeing 747 reaches the end of its runway.
The “persistent hiss” of radio astronomy has transformed our view of the cosmos.
Did a family of monkeys take possession of Mickey Mantle’s first home run?
Compositors set text like the wind in 19th-century typesetting contests.
Resources
Here are tips on collaborating on writing a novel with a deceased parent.
Google includes AI chatboxes in selected ebooks.
A Victorian-era parlor trick serves up novelty with pain.
“The whole idea of this sort of novel ranking is pure nonsense.”
There were notable historical artifacts in Diane Keaton’s estate auction.
“To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.” – Octavia E. Butler
Housekeeping
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About me: I'm a history and science writer. I've contributed hundreds of articles to such publications as Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Wired, Scientific American, Discover, GQ, Longreads and many others. My books include The Lost Brothers: A Family’s Decades-Long Search, The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness, Non-Stop: A Turbulent History of Northwest Airlines, and The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Goering, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WW2.
I frequently give talks and lead workshops on the topics of my books as well as on the craft of nonfiction writing. To book me for your event or to make media inquiries, please contact Ann Aronson at [email protected].
Please feel free to get in touch.
