Book Review: This Book is All Elite: The Inside Story of All Elite Wrestling by Keith Elliot Greenberg

This Book Is All Elite: The Inside Story of All Elite Wrestling by Keith Elliot Greenberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

All Elite Wrestling put out an official book looking back at its first five years of existence, you know what that means. This Book is All Elite: The Inside Story of All Elite Wrestling by Keith Elliot Greenberg & All Elite Wrestling reveals how the wrestling promotion began and developed over its first five years through interviews with cast and crew along with a dazzling number of photographs to reveal moments in the ring and backstage.

When it debut on TNT in October 2019, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) broke the near two-decade monopoly that had existed since the demise of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) yet as explained in the book it took more than a billionaire wanting to start his own promotion, it needed the right circumstances in the industry and media connections to get on a well-known platform. Through 218 pages, Greenberg chronicles how AEW came about but how it developed and rose to meet challenges, most notably the pandemic in front of no crowds, during its first five years of existence through quotes from talent and crew as well as detailing what transpired from 2018 to the end of 2024. Save for the last few pages, the book is chronological with the only deviation being Greenberg’s decision to end the book with AEW’s biggest moment, All In 2023 in front of over 81000 attendees in Wembley Stadium. While not directly addressing some of the more controversial moments—the assaults by one individual against coworkers on multiple occasions—of the promotion, the unaddressed reasons for some individuals leaving or being away are telling. While the page is over 200 pages long, its coffee table format means that images take up more space than words and so while a chronicle, it’s not in-depth. Overall, it can be said the book is meant for the promotion’s fans than for a general audience, which frankly is what AEW is known for, adhering to and focusing on keeping its core audience.

This Book is All Elite chronicles through interviews, retelling, and photographs the journey of All Elite Wrestling from idea to a year’s long airing weekly television show.

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Book Review: Lessons of Faith from Joshua by Barna Magyarosi

Lessons of Faith from Joshua by Barna Magyarosi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The battle of Jericho is one of the most well-known stories from the Bible, yet while it is the most famous incident recorded in the book of Joshua it’s on the tip of the iceberg for importance in said book. Lessons of Faith from Joshua by Barna Magyarosi is the supplemental book of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study (4th Quarter 2025) covering the first book of the Bible after the Pentateuch as Israel went to conquer the Promised Land. Over the course of 128 pages divided into 13 chapters along with an introduction, Magyarosi covers the entire book of Joshua bringing out important lesson that not only Israel learned and were to retain but could also be applied for us today. Though a supplementary book for a 13-week Sabbath School lesson, this book can also be used when reading the book of Joshua on your own to enhance your understanding.

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Book Review: Toward the Night by James Swallow

Toward the Night by James Swallow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A planet circling a star that is suddenly acting erratic causing the inhabitants to deal with it in a radical solution, one that will eventually get the attention of Starfleet not once but twice. Toward the Night by James Swallow is the third book featuring the characters from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in a novelization surrounding one of the latest Star Trek series.

Taking place between the second season episodes “Among the Lotus Eaters” and “Charades”, the book follows the crew of the Enterprise as it tracks down a distress signal from century-lost early Federation vessel in a disputed system between the Federation and Klingon Empire only to find a chronological enigma. I don’t know if there is a record for the number of cliché plot-of-the-week thrown into one story, but this has to be up for consideration as there is a new alien civilization, mysterious derelict starship, mysterious orb, time travel and not ruining the timeline, finding hardboiled shipwreck survivors, long lost family member who isn’t what you imagined, deadly planet in two different time frames, and fighting Klingons just off the top of my head. If this was a single 60-minute episode, it would be bad, but thankful this is in a book allowing all these cliches to meld together in a great narrative scope conceived and executed by James Swallows. Using numerous points of view from the show’s main characters as well as those created for the story, Swallow does a good job bringing the show characters onto the page and bring forth engaging new characters for them to interact with. Of the three books of the Strange New Worlds line, this is easily the best not only in story but in how the author brings all the characters across.

Toward the Night is an example of a media tie-in novel that uses its medium for maximum potential to bring an entertaining story that would be too much for a single episode to the reader for their enjoyment.

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Book Review: The War for the Union, Volume I: The Improvised War, 1861-1862 by Allan Nevins

The War for the Union: The Improvised War, 1861-62 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was a conflict that seemed to be destined to occur for years, but neither side was particularly ready for when it happened even though one side had been preaching for while to be independent and didn’t prepare. The War for the Union, Volume I: The Improvised War, 1861-1862 is the fifth book of Allan Nevin’s Ordeal of the Union series as the war that appeared inevitable after secession start but in a haphazard fashion that leaves both sides scrambling to raise, arm, and supply men while fighting one another.

Through 416 pages of text, Nevins details the lead up to and the fallout of the firing of Ft. Sumter that resulted in Lincoln’s call for volunteers which sent almost half of the border states into the Confederacy and how both sides figured out how to fight a war. As Nevins expertly relates while contemporary feeling—from both sides—demanded fighting, logistically it wasn’t so simple as arming men and getting them arms to fight with and supplies to live on were a challenge early on. The challenges, especially with political considerations for Lincoln, to getting raised troops to where they were needed and how state governments more than the underdeveloped U.S. government were essential early on. Nevins focuses on fighting when it needs to, but this volume is dedicated to revealing about how unorganized either side was to even fight and thus why 1861 is comparatively bloodless. The struggle to get arms and supplies leading to both sides contracting foreign contractors is enlightening and Nevins analysis on how both sides did was very informative. Besides the arming and logistics information, Nevins goes into the political maneuvering that was new to me especially in Missouri and how the Blair family cost the Federal war effort three-years of guerilla warfare due to their machinations when the state could have been firmly pacified by the end of the year. Nevins also goes into how each side, though mainly the Federals, squandered opportunities to get easy victories that would quiet public demand for action and improved strategic lines for defense of important areas even if the lines moved a few miles. Overall, this volume while “light” on fighting shows the forgotten importance of supplies and logistics when it comes to warfare in this period.

The War for the Union, Volume I: The Improvised War, 1861-1862 reveals how two political factions switched from talking to fighting and Allan Nevins reveals the complicated transition that took place to bring it about.

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Book Review: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

Around The World In 80 Days by Jules Verne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second half of the 19th Century saw the world shrink for those living and fantastic speculation began to be put forth about how long it would take with improved modes of transportation to go around the Earth. Around the World in Eighty Days is one of Jules Verne’s most well-known works that follows the adventurous journey of Phileas Fogg and his servant Passepartout along with Detective Dix and Aouda who join them under various circumstances.

In a short 208 pages, Verne introduces us to our two protagonists, sets up the fantastical journey, and allows us to follow along they and additional companions attempt to get around the Earth within a specific timeframe. I wasn’t expecting the characters to be a layered, but I was surprised we had as much insight into a few of them as we did. The journey itself is filled with cliched scenes of riding an elephant in India, a Native American attack on a train while crossing the Great Plains, as well as characters—well one most of the time—doing things like the locals. The main protagonist is very English, the love interest has a tragic backstory and fawns over her rescuer, the comedic sidekick does funny stuff, and the letter-of-the-law police detective antagonist is honorable though mistaken; all the boxes were checked. Honestly, this was a quick fun read and is a classic for a reason.

Around the World in Eighty Days provides an enjoyable experience when reading, it’s a classic adventure tale chalk full of stock characters and cliché scenes but fit the time and became timeless just for that reason.

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