It didn’t feel like I was reading a…

It didn’t feel like I was reading a children’s book (88) — it’s so informative, so somber, so full of great and exciting tidbits for any reader, and so apparently that the author/historian/researcher was not necessarily concerned with presenting the book for a young audience (not that it won’t be highly readable and of interest to those fascinated by the topic or that it won’t be totally appropriate for 13 and 14 year old readers to enjoy).  I was quite taken by the true stories behind one of the most significant modern historical event that truly altered the courses of human race and also really appreciate the even tone by an obvious conscientious “reporter.”  There were times, though, I thought: a few scattered historical photos or images of primary source documents would have enhanced the “reality” of the story.  (Not that the narrative itself isn’t already vivid.)  And there were times, I thought, “Hmm… this is quite a lull in the narrative… I miss the end of the last chapter when some of the daring ‘characters’ performed audacious deeds.”  Of course, this is not the fault of the author historian: we couldn’t expect things being made up just to heighten the narrative tension.  I also wished that so many passages/chapters do not always start with the exact same pattern: the description of weather or setting of a day and a place + one or two ‘characters’ and what they were doing at the time.”  But all these are nitpicking — I truly thought this was a feat of a book and an impressive addition to a full shelf of books dealing with this topic, offering an interesting angle.