The On The Bookshelf Podcast

Another great Kid's Holidy Book from Sandra Magsamen

 

A SPOOKTACULARLY FUNNY NOVELTY BOARD BOOK FEATURING A SILLY LITTLE WITCH'S FEET AND BRIMMING WITH HOWL-ARIOUS JOKES FROM BESTSELLING CREATOR SANDRA MAGSAMEN!

 

SILLY WITCH

 

Did you know that witches like to tell a silly joke or two? 

That's what makes them so witchy... who knew?

 

Get ready for a silly Halloween treat with this tall novelty board book that

includes hilarious jokes on every page -- perfect for the youngest fans eager to tickle their funny bones! Featuring a silly witch and her silly feet, toddlers and little ones will love holding, touching, and giggling along. With Sandra Magsamen's signature message of love, this spellbinding board book is perfect for the Halloween season!

 

Q: Why didn’t the skeleton go to the dance?

A: He had no “body” to go with!!

 

SANDRA MAGSAMEN is the author and illustrator of many books for young children, including the picture book When I Grow Up I Want to Be Me, as well as a number of bestselling novelty titles, including Everybody Goes Nighty-Night, named a Best Board Book of 2018 by The Children's Book Review; Baby Love; I Love You, Little Pumpkin; and Peek-a-Boo, I Love You. As an artist, an art therapist, and a mom, she uses her creativity to remind people to express themselves and connect with others. Her lifestyle brands, products, and books are sold worldwide. Visit her at sandramagsamen.com.

 

The True Nature of the American Revolution: Existential Warfare

War Without Mercy: Liberty or Death in the American Revolution

by Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin

(Osprey Publishing)

 

The Revolutionary War was fought by those caught up in the belief that they had nothing to lose by fighting without regard for the rules of so called “civilized warfare.” This new history reveals that the clarion call to arms “Liberty or Death” was far more than rhetoric to these revolutionaries. At its grimmest level, it was a conflict in which military restraint was more the exception than the rule, a struggle in which combatants believed their very existence was in question. This led to an acceptance of violence against people and property as preferable to a defeat equated with political, cultural, and even physical extinction. It was war with an expectation and acceptance of ferocity and brutality – anything to avoid defeat.

 

A number of able historians have concluded that United States’ founding struggle reached a level of ferocity few Americans now associate with the movement for independence. However, these studies have described what happened, without looking in detail at why the conflict took so violent a turn.

 

Written by two esteemed Revolutionary War historians, War Without Mercy does exactly that. Based on years of research and enlivened by little known primary sources, this is an intriguing and fresh look at a period of history we thought we knew.

 

Mark Edward Lender is Professor Emeritus of History at Kean University. He is author or co-author of over a dozen books including, with James Kirby Martin, the acclaimed A Respectable Army: The Military Origins of the Republic, 1763–1783 (Wiley, 2015) and, with Garry Wheeler Stone, the award-winning Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle (Oklahoma, 2016). He served on the design team for the Army’s special 250th Anniversary Exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Army. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.

 

The Late James Kirby Martin was Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Houston, where he was also Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Professor. He held visiting professorships at The Citadel and at West Point. Martin was the author or editor of a number of important books including Men in Rebellion: Higher Government Leaders and the Coming of the American Revolution (Rutgers, 1973), and the award-winning Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered (NYU, 1997). He was also a historian advisor to the Oneida Indian Nation of New York.

 

Robert J Morgan: God Hasn't Forgotten You

Pastor Robert Morgan, who teaches the Bible on his weekly podcast show, is an expert at sharing truths from Scripture and relating them to everyday life. His new book is God Hasn't Forgotten You: 24 Remarkable Ways God Is Working in You and Through You (Thomas Nelson). In it, he shares 24 "God lessons" from Luke chapter 1, illustrating how the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth reminds us that God remembers us and keeps His promises.

 Robert Morgan dives deep into Scripture around the birth of the Messiah and helps us discover the glorious,victorious life that awaits us in Christ.
The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth is often overlooked in the story of Christmas, as people jump right to Luke chapter 2, glossing over the importance of this elderly couple's story. The angel Gabriel announced to them that they would bear a son, John, who would prepare the way for the Lord Jesus. They were the original heroes, faithfully serving the Lord and studying His Hebrew Scriptures every day, when God burst into their lives and gave them the opportunity to set into motion the events triggering the first coming of Christ.
God has been planning something special for you for a long time! Maybe it feels as long as those 400 years between the Old and New Testaments, and you've grown weary of waiting for a Word from the Lord. Are you discouraged? Have you given up hope? As you examine closely the amazing story in Luke chapter 1, you will discover
24 God lessons that will impact your life, including how

God appointed you for this very time,
God works grace into your grief,
God wants to use you whatever your age,
God can eradicate fear from your heart, and
God desire your help in raising up a new generation to serve him.

God intends to give you Spirit-filled life and a Christ-centered victory. He intends to use your preordained personality for His preordered purposes.

Zechariah and Elizabeth want to tell us that God delights in sneaking up on His children with blessings unforeseen, with grace

John Bacon-The Gales of November & The Edmund Fitzgerald

At the height of America’s postwar boom, no region was more vital to the nation’s economic strength than the Great Lakes. It was the beating heart of the global economy—possessing all the power and prestige that Silicon Valley enjoys today. This industrial dominance depended on Great Lakes freighters getting iron ore from the shores of Lake Superior to the factories in Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland. Few endeavors have bound time so mercilessly to money as Great Lakes shipping did at its peak, and no vessel had been more perfectly designed to maximize both than the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald. At 75 feet wide and 729 feet long, the Fitzgerald was at the time of her launch the largest ship on the lakes, and she repeatedly broke her own records for the largest loads, the fastest runs, and the biggest season hauls throughout her career. She was a champion heavyweight, sprinter, and workhorse, all in one.

 But on November 10, 1975, when the “storm of the century” threw 100 mile-per-hour winds and 50-foot waves on Lake Superior, the Mighty Fitz found itself at the worst possible place, at the worst possible time. When she sank, she took all 29 men onboard down with her, leaving the tragedy shrouded in mystery for a half century.

 In THE GALES OF NOVEMBER, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on more than 100 interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the vital role Great Lakes shipping played in America’s economic boom, the uncommon lives the sailors led, the sinking’s most likely causes, and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind—“the wives, the sons, and the daughters” as Gordon Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.

Focused on those directly affected by the tragedy, THE GALES OF NOVEMBER is both an emotional tribute to the Fitzgerald’s captain and crew and a propulsive, page-turning narrative history of America’s most-mourned shipwreck.

John U. Bacon has authored fourteen books on sports, business, and history, the last seven of which are critically acclaimed national bestsellers, including five New York Times bestsellers. He lives in Ann Arbor and Northern Michigan with his wife and son.

 

Mark Stille on how PearlHarbor was Japan's Greatest Disaster

Pearl Harbor: Japan's Greatest Disaster by Mark Stille (November 4, 2025) is the first comprehensive treatment of Pearl Harbor since the early 1990s, respected Pacific War naval historian Mark E. Stille traces the road to war and the Japanese attack itself. He discusses:

The myths surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor

 How the United States was prepared for an attack

Why the attack was a tactical disappointment, an operational failure and a strategic disaster

How it led to the destruction of the Japanese Empire and caused them to create a word for "surrender" in their language (which never existed before because they had never lost a war!)