Henry VI, Part II – William Shakespeare, c. 1591 ★★★½

Predators and Pray

The middle installment of Shakespeare’s first historical trilogy bursts out of the gate on all cylinders and never looks back, serving up a royal soap opera of scheming and backstabbing a la “Game Of Thrones.”

Despite being an early entry in the Bard’s canon, Henry VI, Part II has the polish of a pro job and ample wit to spare.

Henry VI, Part I – William Shakespeare, c. 1591-92 ★½

Days of Whine and Roses

If we can’t call this Shakespeare’s bitchiest play, that’s only because we don’t quite know how much of Henry VI, Part I is his. Otherwise, this is a bitchfest in two ways: A vast array of interchangeable characters bicker with one another from first scene to last; and you have one of Shakespeare’s most reprehensible female villains, Joan of Arc.

The Little War Of Private Post – Charles Johnson Post, 1960 ★★★

Remembering the Maine and More

When it comes to America’s forgotten battles, Vietnam and Korea have nothing on the Spanish-American War. Despite an unprecedented territorial yield, our country’s first multi-ocean conflict receded from memory long before its last acknowledged American veteran died in 1992. Fighting two world wars over the next 50 years can do that.

Brighton Rock – Graham Greene, 1938 ★★★½

Catholicism Made Deadly

Tip for parents: Don’t have sex in front of your kids. You may think they’re too young to register anything, but they aren’t. Consider the protagonist of Brighton Rock, teen crime lord Pinkie Brown.