Wolf  Hall by Hillary Mantel examines power, influence & intrigue in the life  of Thomas Cromwell, advisor to Henry VIII and confidant to Anne Boylean.  New York by Edward Rutherfurd tells the Big Apple’s Story.  The patriotic epics No Less than Victory by Jeff Shaara and To Try Men’s Souls by Newt Gingrich revisit the Battle of the Bulge and Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware.  And the DVD Rough Riders recounts how Teddy Roosevelt’s rag-tag regiment of cowboys, scouts and  society men stormed San Juan Hill.