Stuff that keeps me awake in the wee hours of the night, Part One

Terrific books I've read recently that kept me up far too late:

The Eighty Dollar Champion by Elizabeth Letts.  A horse headed for the slaughterhouse is purchased by Harry de Leyer and the rest is magic.  A wonderful true story about a Cinderella horse, to put a cliche on it.

Under Fire, the Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi, by Fred Burton and Samuel M. Katz.  Burton is an expert on security, terrorists and their organizations.  He is a former State Department counterterrorism deputy chief ad DS agent.    Katz is an expert on Middle East terrorism, counterterrorism, and special operations.  An astonishing reconstruction of the events of Sept. 11, 2012, as well as background in the region.   Very readable and informative, though you will be heartily tired of acronyms and semi-colons by the end.

Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.   The story of how and why Jesus was killed.   Lots of research here which puts the whole story into historical perspective.   This is a history book, not a religious book, and by the end I had a better understanding of the man known as Jesus and the political forces that demanded his execution.   This book is every bit as readable and educational as the authors’ Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy.