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Jonathan

@jdcnlv.bsky.social

89 followers 84 following 124 posts

Book lover, freelance writer, and history enthusiast. I interview authors of fiction and non-fiction, sharing thoughtful conversations on social media and Substack. Exploring the stories behind the storytellers and more.

Posts Replies Media

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

I've met Matt Dinniman twice, own all his books, and “Operation Bounce House” is the first I've actually read. Now I feel ridiculous for waiting. Remote-controlled warfare as mass entertainment? Dark, sharp, and disturbingly plausible. I'm converted. Review up now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Entertainment as Extermination in Matt Dinniman's "Operation Bounce House"

Matt Dinniman’s Operation Bounce House is a science-fiction novel that recognizes what many genre books miss: satire requires coherent systems.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

In “The Tudor Theatre 1576-1642,” Nicholas Fogg strips away the mythology: Shakespeare made money from shareholding, not writing. Plays risked treason charges. The Elizabethan stage was a volatile industry in which economic pressures shaped what we call literature. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Nicholas Fogg's Material History of the Elizabethan Stage

On December 28, 1598, about sixteen men assembled in Shoreditch with saws and axes.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

What if Easter Island's fall was genocide, not ecocide? Mike Pitts uses forgotten 1914 research to dismantle the self-destruction myth we've been told. Full review available now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Debunking Easter Island's Fall in Mike Pitts's "Island at the Edge of the World"

A review of Mike Pitts's "Island at the Edge of the World"

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Goldsworthy's Augustus rejects the "two men" theory—ruthless warlord vs. benevolent statesman. Same person, different strategies. He didn't transform morally; moderation just became more effective once power was secure. My full review is available now on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

The Warlord and the Statesman: Adrian Goldsworthy's "Augustus"

I requested this advance copy under the mistaken impression that it was a new book.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Norse gods meet Boston sports in The Impudent Edda—where Tom Brady is Balder, the RMV is hell, and every season ends in apocalypse. It's profane, funny, and fatalistic mythology. Full review is up now. www.instagram.com/p/DTSuGzAjsA...

Jonathan on Instagram: "From Norse Gods to Boston Sports: Rowdy Geirsson’s “The Impudent Edda” Swipe through for my full review In Rowdy Geirsson’s “The Impudent Edda,” Norse gods collide with Boston...

jdcnlv on January 8, 2026: "From Norse Gods to Boston Sports: Rowdy Geirsson’s “The Impudent Edda” Swipe through for my full review In Rowdy Geirsson’s “The Impudent Edda,” Norse gods collide with Bo...

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Alice Albinia says Britain's small islands, not the mainland, were the real centers of power for thousands of years. “The Britannias” turns traditional history on its head with careful research and bold ideas. My review is now available. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Alice Albinia's Britannias: History from the Margins

Alice Albinia’s The Britannias: An Archipelago’s Tale (The Britannias: An Island Quest in the UK) seeks to reorient British history by shifting focus from the mainland to the numerous smaller islands ...

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

"Art remains," the filmmaker tells himself. Kehlmann's The Director follows G.W. Pabst from Weimar Berlin to the Nazi film industry. A novel about how talented people justify collaboration with evil. Full review available now on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Film, Fascism, and Moral Compromise in Daniel Kehlmann's "The Director"

Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director (translated from the German by Ross Benjamin) opens with an elderly man in a Viennese sanatorium, his memory flickering like damaged film stock.

Reposted by Jonathan

JMcN @jmcn.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

The Discovery of Britain's most uncomfortable claim: Britain's class system isn't broken—it's working as designed. Norman surnames still predict elite status 1,000 years later. The past isn't past; it's happening. Full review on my Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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A Two-Wheeled Time Machine: Graham Robb's "The Discovery of Britain"

Graham Robb cycled backwards through two thousand years of British history—metaphorically traversing those millennia to read time inscribed in the landscape.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

You might have never heard of the 1986 LA Central Library fire—it happened the same day as Chernobyl. Susan Orlean uses that buried story to examine what libraries mean and why their loss matters. Full review linked below. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Ashes and Archives: Susan Orlean's "The Library Book"

The Library Book, by Susan Orlean, is an investigation into the 1986 fire that ravaged the Los Angeles Central Library, destroying or damaging more than a million volumes.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Rome destroyed Carthage in 146 BCE, then spent centuries controlling its story. Eve MacDonald's new history uses archaeology to break that monopoly. I've reviewed the book—looking at what MacDonald sets out to do, how she does it, and whether she succeeds. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

History Before the Victory: Reframing Ancient Carthage

In Carthage: A New History (Carthage: A New History of an Ancient Empire in the UK), Eve MacDonald sets out to recover a civilization known primarily through the testimony of its executioners.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Four centuries of royal profit. Four centuries of royal silence. One book that refuses to stay quiet. ”The Crown’s Silence,” by Brooke N. Newman In my review, I examine why this book matters now—and why some histories can't be unwritten. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Royal Silence, Archival Voice: A Review of Brooke N. Newman's "The Crown's Silence"

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Simon Turney's “Agricola: Commander” is the third installment in his Agricola series, and it's the strongest yet. See my review here: open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

The Work, Not the Spectacle: Simon Turney's "Agricola: Commander"

Simon Turney’s Agricola: Commander arrives at a point of confidence, settling into productive tension—between the machinery of conquest and the cost of operating it, between what the sources tell us a...

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Revisiting Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet” ahead of the film: a haunting portrait of plague, grief, and the cost of creation. What survives—love, or the art made from its absence? My spoiler-filled review is up. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

When Plague Comes Home: Maggie O'Farrell's "Hamnet"

This Review Contains Spoilers

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Jeffrey Rosen's “The Pursuit of Liberty traces” how the Hamilton-Jefferson rivalry has shaped every major American political fight from 1791 to today. We're still having the same argument—and that's by design. See my review here. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Tracing America's Political DNA: "The Pursuit of Liberty" by Jeffrey Rosen

In The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Four Irish siblings. One buried secret. Howarth makes you feel the cost of every unspoken word. “Heap Earth Upon It” is psychological suspense at its finest. Read my review on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Beneath the Surface: Chloe Michelle Howarth's "Heap Earth Upon It"

Four siblings arrive in a small Irish town in the 1960s, determined to appear ordinary.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Mexican history lives in the gap between word and fact—what Spain claimed vs. what happened, revolutionary promises vs. boss rule, drug war rhetoric vs. civil war reality. Check out my review of Gillingham's ambitious revisionist history. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Between Word and Fact: Paul Gillingham's 'Mexico'

In 1511, a Spanish sailor named Gonzalo Guerrero washed ashore on the Yucatán coast.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

In this conversation with novelist and arts therapist Susanna Crossman, we explore “The Orange Notebooks”—a haunting meditation on grief, art, and time that asks: how do we live with our dead while still choosing life? open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Writing Against Silence: Susanna Crossman and the Radical Honesty of "The Orange Notebooks"

When Susanna Crossman speaks about her new novel The Orange Notebooks, she talks about process, practice, and experimentation—terms that suggest not a tidy narrative but a living, breathing act of cre...

Reposted by Jonathan

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 05/11/2025

‘Gone is any semblance of due process, presumption of innocence or assistance of counsel. Instead, the self-styled “secretary of war” shares videos on social media of each “lethal kinetic strike”.’ A.S. Dillingham on US government attacks on small boats, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...

A.S. Dillingham | Murder at Sea

Since President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971, US policies of mass incarceration at home and interdiction and...

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

“King Sorrow” is Joe Hill's masterpiece and one of 2025's best horror novels. Six friends make a catastrophic choice that corrupts them for decades. Morally complex, structurally daring, genuinely unsettling. Full review here. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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The Dragon's Tale We Deserve: Joe Hill's "King Sorrow"

Joe Hill’s King Sorrow is an audacious and deeply layered exploration of guilt, myth, and the moral cost of violence—his most ambitious and accomplished novel to date.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

What endures when the body fails? In “The Hidden City,” Charles Finch delivers a mystery about resilience, recovery, and persistence. Full review up now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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The Detective Persists: A Review of Charles Finch's "The Hidden City"

In The Hidden City, the fifteenth installment of the Charles Lenox Mysteries, Charles Finch delivers a work of precision and gravity—a study not only in detection but in endurance.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Steven Kaplan’s”The Ethiopians” reexamines a civilization long shaped by myth and ideology—a study of how Ethiopia’s past was continually rewritten, and what those revisions reveal about power and identity. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Steven Kaplan Reframes Ethiopia's Ancient Past in "The Ethiopians"

Steven Kaplan’s The Ethiopians: Lost Civilizations offers a concise yet considered examination of one of Africa’s most enduring and complex civilizations.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Few writers made the past feel as alive as David McCullough. History Matters—a posthumous collection of his speeches and essays—reminds us that history isn’t a record of what was, but a guide to who we are. New review out now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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The Spacious Realm: David McCullough's "History Matters"

Few historians have captured the living spirit of the past as vividly as David McCullough.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

“Old Songs”—a collaboration between Amy Jeffs, Gwen Burns, and Natalie Bryce that brings traditional ballads back to life through prose, painting, and music. History you can see, hear, and feel. Review up now on my Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Old Songs Through New Voices

Amy Jeffs and Gwen Burns' "Old Songs: Stories of Love and Death from Traditional Ballads"

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Hiron Ennes's “The Works of Vermin” is corporate horror spliced with biological fantasy—demanding, hallucinatory, and unlike anything else. It is, without hesitation, my top fantasy read of the year so far. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Corporate Horror Meets Biological Fantasy in "The Works of Vermin" by Hiron Ennes

Tiliard breathes with the moon.

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Reposted by Jonathan

History Rage Podcast @historyrage.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

🚨 THIS WEEK🚨 🌟 Golden Ages? 🌑 Dark Ages? 🚫 They’re not history. They’re propaganda. Historian @adapalmer.bsky.social joins #HistoryRage to smash one of the biggest lies in how we tell the past. 🔥 Listen now: pod.fo/e/3401b1 #AdaPalmer #MythBusting #FakeHistory #HistoricalNarratives

Reposted by Jonathan

Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

The Far Edges of the Known World is now available in North America! If you like ancient history, global history, reading about different cultures, or just fancy an escape - give it a look.

The Far Edges of the Known World

A revisionist history of the ancient world that shifts our focus from Athens and Rome to the long-ignored societies on the borders., The Far Edges of the Known World, Life Beyond the Borders of Ancien...

Reposted by Jonathan

Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

My book is in Waterstones' preorder sale for books released in 2026. Today is the last chance to get 25% off the paperback edition for when its released next February!

waterstones.com

The Far Edges of the Known World by Dr Owen Rees | Waterstones

Buy The Far Edges of the Known World by Dr Owen Rees from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

New review: "Bloody Crowns" by Michael Livingston. It began with a murder over fresh water in 1292. It ended with a treaty in 1492. Two hundred years of bloodshed that forged modern France. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Two Centuries of Bloodshed: Michael Livingston Expands the Frame of Medieval Warfare in "Bloody Crowns"

Michael Livingston’s Bloody Crowns: A New History of the Hundred Years War undertakes what might be called a re-mapping of one of Europe’s most examined conflicts.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Shauna Lawless's “Daughter of the Otherworld” is historical fantasy at its finest: Descendants vs. Fomorians in medieval Ireland's brutal collapse. The otherworld mirrors reality here. Start with this one—no prior knowledge needed. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Shauna Lawless's "Daughter of the Otherworld": Fantasy Rooted in Medieval Ireland's Collapse

Shauna Lawless’s Daughter of the Otherworld opens the second era of her Gael Song series in medieval Ireland at its most fractured—roughly a century and a half after the Battle of Clontarf, amid the p...

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

The case of the slaves was the same as if horses had been thrown overboard." Britain's Chief Justice, 1783. He thought he was settling an insurance claim. He actually ignited the abolition movement. Review of The Zorg ⬇️ open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

From Insurance Fraud to Moral Outrage: The Legal Origins of British Abolition

A Review of Siddharth Kara's "The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery"

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

New review: “The Gales of November” by John U. Bacon. More than a shipwreck story—it's about regulatory failure, industrial ambition, and the 29 men lost when profit was prioritized over safety. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Beyond the Ballad: A Review of John U. Bacon's "The Gales of November"

Before opening John U.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

How a basement discovery became a 400-page history spanning Neanderthals to NASA. Tim Queeney on rope as the invisible thread binding civilization together. New interview available on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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The Threads That Bind Civilization: An Interview with Author Tim Queeney

Tim Queeney’s father left behind more than memories—he left a knot.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Christopher Gorham’s Matisse at War shatters the myth of Matisse’s wartime indifference—revealing an artist whose presence, art, and family ties became acts of resistance. Read my full review on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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From Indifferent Observer to Cultural Resister: Reframing Henri Matisse

A review of Christopher C. Gorham's "Matisse at War"

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

In “How to Kill a Witch,” Claire Mitchell & Zoe Venditozzi turn Scotland’s dark past into a call to action—showing how fear, misogyny & power still fuel persecution today. Read my full review for the complete story of how history becomes activism. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Reverence Where Due, Irreverence Where Deserved in Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi’s “How to Kill a Witch”

In 2022, two self-described “quarrelsome dames” achieved something remarkable: they successfully petitioned the Scottish government to issue a formal state apology to the estimated 4,000 people accuse...

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

What happens when the dead demand justice? In Grave Birds, Dana Elmendorf reimagines Southern Gothic horror. Melissa Wyett and I spoke with her about grief, corruption, and the power of haunting stories. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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When the Dead Demand Justice: Dana Elmendorf's Unique Take on Southern Gothic Horror

Dana Elmendorf is quick to describe herself as a “bird nerd.” She collects feathers on her runs, sorts them by species and placement, and admits with a laugh that she hopes the FBI doesn’t come knocki...

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Reviewed Ken Follett’s Circle of Days: a leap from medieval cathedrals to Stone Age monuments. An ambitious epic of survival, belief, and community. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Trading Pillars for Megaliths in Ken Follett's "Circle of Days"

Ken Follett's Circle of Days represents a bold departure from his familiar medieval epics, transporting readers to prehistoric Britain around 2500 B.C.E.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

My latest review explores Tim Queeney’s Rope, a book that redefines human progress through something we often overlook. From Stone Age tools to Mars rovers, rope has shaped civilization in ways you won’t expect. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Rethinking Human Progress, One Fiber at a Time: A Review of Tim Queeney's "Rope"

What if the most crucial technology in human history wasn't the wheel or the computer, but something so ubiquitous we barely notice it?

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

My latest review explores Owen Rees’s “The Far Edges of the Known World,” a bold rethinking of ancient history that shifts focus from Greece and Rome to the overlooked edges of antiquity. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Owen Rees's Material Challenge to Historical Bias in "The Far Edges of the Known World"

"There is a fundamental problem when considering the edges of the world: the edges are determined by where we think the centre is." With this observation, Owen Rees sets the stage for his revisionist ...

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

If the rest of the country wants to understand what lies ahead, it would do well to start here, or as Kyle Paoletta so aptly concludes in “American Oasis,” "In order to see where America is going, we have to look at where the Southwest has already been." open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

What the Southwest Reveals About America's Future: Kyle Paoletta's "American Oasis"

As someone who has lived in the American Southwest for over thirty-seven years, Kyle Paoletta's American Oasis resonated deeply with me.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Samantha Browning Shea’s Marrow isn’t just a thriller—it’s a sharp, unsettling look at power, motherhood, and autonomy. I dig into its strengths and flaws in this review. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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What Price Motherhood?: A Review of Samantha Browning Shea's "Marrow"

When I picked up Marrow, I was expecting something more mystical—what I got was entirely different.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

In my latest review, I dive into Jinwoo Park’s debut, “The Oxford Soju Club”—a spy thriller layered with questions of identity, heritage, and belonging from a Korean Canadian writer to watch. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Behind the Masks: A Review of "The Oxford Soju Club" by Jinwoo Park

Jinwoo Park's debut novel, The Oxford Soju Club, begins as a spy thriller: a North Korean operative, a Korean-American CIA agent, and a South Korean restaurateur become entangled in a web of surveilla...

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Grief resists tidy endings. In my review of Susanna Crossman’s "The Orange Notebooks," I examine how this luminous and unsettling novel reimagines loss as a narrative of enduring love. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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The Spectrum of Grief: A Review of Susanna Crossman's "The Orange Notebooks"

"Grief drives through us with churning blades.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Just posted my review of Hampton Sides’s “The Wide Wide Sea.” A vivid, unflinching look at Cook’s final voyage—where exploration, empire, and Indigenous voices collide. Narrative history at its best. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Cook's Final Voyage Reconsidered: A Review of "The Wide Wide Sea" by Hampton Sides

In 2015, to mark my (gulp) fiftieth birthday, I planned a trip to the Cook Islands—drawn by little more than their reputation as a tropical paradise.

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Just posted my review of Robert Winder’s “Three Rivers,” a brilliant blend of history, geography & biography. How rivers shaped Europe’s past—and why their future matters now. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Currents of Civilization: A Review of Robert Winder's "Three Rivers"

2025 for me is turning out to be the year of the river.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

What connects us to a 5,000-year-old clay tablet? Oxford’s Moudhy Al-Rashid on empathy, humor & everyday lives in Mesopotamia. My interview with her: open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Clay Portals: Moudhy Al-Rashid and the Living History of Mesopotamia

When the child Moudhy Al-Rashid placed her palm on the cool stone of Baalbek, imagining another hand that had pressed there millennia before, she felt tears rise.

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Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

In my latest review, I explore Lucy Steeds’s “The Artist”—a dazzling, layered debut set in 1920s Provence that asks not just what we see in art, but what we choose not to. Review linked. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Light and Shadow: A Review of "The Artist" by Lucy Steeds

"How does it make you feel?"

Reposted by Jonathan

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

UChicago ebook 75% off sale! Perfect time to grab “Inventing the Renaissance” if you still need it! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/vi...

press.uchicago.edu

Subject catalog: 75% off e-book sale!''}

Subject catalog for 75% off e-book sale.

Reposted by Jonathan

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

#Worldcon unofficial Terra Ignota meet-up will happen tonight at 9 pm. Due to rain we’ll meet in Sheraton floor 3; we’ll have little flags you can spot us by that. Looking forward to conversation! We’ll do another meetup Saturday before the Hugo’s. @seattlein2025.org

Jonathan @jdcnlv.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Just posted my review of @adapalmer.bsky.social ’s Inventing the Renaissance—a thoughtful, incisive look at how the “Golden Age” myth was built, sustained, and used from the Renaissance to today. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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The Great and Terrible Renaissance: Ada Palmer Pulls Back History's Curtain in "Inventing the Renaissance"

In Inventing the Renaissance: Myths of a Golden Age (published in the USA as Inventing the Renaissance: The Myth of a Golden Age by University of Chicago Press), historian Ada Palmer performs an ambit...