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History and Current Events February 2026 |
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The Best True Crime Stories of the Year 2025 Bestselling author Douglas Preston selects the best true crime writing from the past year, aided by series editor Pete Crooks, to produce an eclectic collection of intriguing, mysterious, and exciting true tales.
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Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida
by Gilbert King
A chilling exploration of one of America's most haunting wrongful conviction cases. Based on the hit podcast, Bone Valley dives into the dark heart of rural Florida, where a young man's life was upended by a tragic miscarriage of justice. Captivating, enraging, and all too true. --Bob Kolker, New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road Bone Valley is a work of rare moral clarity and deep compassion. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking In 1987, Leo Schofield was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Michelle. Always insistent on his innocence, he was poorly served by his legal defense: the investigation was sloppy, the case flimsy, and numerous pieces of evidence were ignored. He was sentenced to life in prison. Over thirty years later, Gilbert King is tipped off to Leo's case and is astonished by what he found: layers of corruption, flawed evidence, and deep-seated errors. He can't shake the story and starts to get to know Leo and his family. Leo shows an incomprehensible amount of grace and love about his situation, which spurs Gilbert even more to tell his story. Bone Valley is at once a revelatory investigation into a murder, a chilling portrait of the criminal justice system, and a uniquely powerful story of grace and redemption.
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Captain's Dinner: A Shipwreck, an Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History
by Adam Cohen
On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve to death or resort to cannibalism. Their decision to sacrifice the youngest--17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker--ignited a firestorm of controversy upon their rescue. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, a landmark murder trial that would establish the legal precedent that necessity cannot justify murder--a principle that continues to shape Anglo-American law today. In Captain's Dinner, acclaimed journalist, Pulitzer Prize juror, and New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen masterfully depicts both the harrowing weeks at sea and the sensational trial that followed. Is killing one innocent person justified if it saves the lives of three others? Through this Victorian tragedy, Cohen reveals an enduring conflict between primal instincts and moral principles. This book will make you think long and hard about what you might do to survive (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania).Thoroughly researched and impeccably argued (Martel). Rich with narrative detail and real-life courtroom twists, brilliant and profound, (bestselling author Amy Chua), Captain's Dinner strikes at the heart of a question that haunts us all: When does survival justify murder?
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Elbows Up!: Canadian Voices of Resilience and Resistance
by Various
A blazing collection of responses to the U.S.'s shocking annexation threats and the swell of Canadian national unity that followed, from a remarkable array of Canada's sharpest and most influential minds. 2025. Donald Trump is president. And he is insisting that Canada is for sale. It feels disorienting, even existential, to watch a trade war escalate and to hear an American president vow to make Canada the 51st state. Amid this disorientation, there is an urgent question: how do we meet the moment? This is not the first time we have had an identity crisis resulting in a swell of Canadian pride, but it is the first time many Canadians have experienced the direct threat of American imperialism knocking so loudly on our country's door. The fact that treaties can be broken, that resources can be stolen, and that the consequences of land theft include loss of culture, ritual, and identity is not new to the Indigenous and refugee peoples living in this country. But to many other Canadians, this kind of threat is new. As a result, there appears to be a new sense of a we emerging. People are angry and standing together with renewed shared purpose. This is a pivotal moment in history, and we need to take stock of how we got here, to learn from our past and walk tenaciously together into an uncertain future. Inspired by the 1968 collection The New Romans: Candid Canadian Opinions of the U.S., which was edited by Al Purdy and curated amidst the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, Elbows Up! is the book for our generation's own moment of crisis, featuring the words of leading cultural figures speaking candidly on America, on Canada, and on the malleable contours of a national narrative still taking hold.
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Sorry, Not Sorry: An Unapologetic Look at What Makes Canada Worth Fighting for
by Mark Critch
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER Known for his sharp-witted skits on CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Mark Critch uses his keen observational skills to explore Canadian identity and the new wave of Canadian patriotism. In Sorry, Not Sorry, Critch delves into the heart of what it means to be Canadian at a time when national pride is on the rise. Examining everything from the historical decision of Newfoundland to join Canada, to the modern-day implications of the Freedom Convoy, and the evolving symbolism of the Canadian flag, he reminds us of where we came from, and of the many reasons Canada is worth fighting for--elbows up In chapters like It Can Happen to You, I Want My Flag Back, and Operation Trojan Moose, Critch uses humour and satire while referencing our all-important history to tackle serious questions about national identity and the future of Canada. He offers a unique perspective on the country's relationship with the monarchy, the cultural impact of Canadian celebrities living abroad, and the hypothetical scenarios of provincial separations. Sorry, Not Sorry is more than just a comedic take on Canadian life; it's a deeply personal and insightful look at the free country Critch has spent decades satirizing. Whether he's writing as a lieutenant in a fictional American invasion or penning a love letter to Canada in the voice of Donald Trump, Critch's essays are sure to entertain, provoke thought, and stir a sense of pride in readers.
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The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II
by David Nasaw
From award-winning and bestselling author David Nasaw, a brilliant re-examination of post-World War II America that looks beyond the victory parades and into the veterans'--and nation's--unhealed traumas In its duration, geographical reach, and ferocity, World War II was unprecedented, and the effects on those who fought it and their loved ones at home, immeasurable. The heroism of the men and women who won the war may be well documented, but we know too little about the pain and hardships the veterans endured upon their return home. As historian David Nasaw makes evident in his masterful recontextualization of these years, the veterans who came home to America were not the same people as those who had left for war, and the nation to which they returned was not the one they had left behind. Contrary to the prevailing narratives of triumph, here are the largely unacknowledged realities the veterans--and the nation--faced that radically reshaped our understanding of this era as a bridge to today. The Wounded Generation tells the indelible stories of the veterans and their loved ones as they confronted the aftershocks of World War II. Veterans suffering from recurring nightmares, uncontrollable rages, and social isolation were treated by doctors who had little understanding of PTSD. They were told that they were suffering from nothing more than battle fatigue and that time would cure it. When their symptoms persisted, they were given electro-shock treatments and lobotomies, while the true cause of their distress would remain undiagnosed for decades to come. Women who had begun working outside the home were pressured to revert to their prewar status as housewives dependent on their husbands. Returning veterans and their families were forced to double up with their parents or squeeze into overcrowded, substandard shelters as the country wrestled with a housing crisis. Divorce rates doubled. Alcoholism was rampant. Racial tensions heightened as White southerners resorted to violence to sustain the racial status quo. To ease the veterans' readjustment to civilian life, Congress passed the GI Bill, but Black veterans were disproportionately denied their benefits, and the consequences of this discrimination would endure long after the war was won. In this richly textured examination, Nasaw presents a complicated portrait of those who brought the war home with them, among whom were the period's most influential political and cultural leaders, including John F. Kennedy, Robert Dole, and Henry Kissinger; J. D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut; Harry Belafonte and Jimmy Stewart. Drawing from veterans' memoirs, oral histories, and government documents, Nasaw illuminates a hidden chapter of American history--one of trauma, resilience, and a country in transition.
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The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery
by Siddharth Kara
In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa's Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning care) was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique. By the time its journey ends, the Zorg would become the first undeniable argument against slavery. When a series of unpredictable weather events and navigational errors led to the Zorg sailing off course and running low on supplies, the ship's captain threw more than a hundred slaves overboard in order to save the crew and the most valuable slaves. The ship's owners then claimed their loss on insurance, a first for slaves who had not been killed due to insurrection or died of natural causes. The insurers refused to pay due to the higher than usual mortality rate of the slaves on board, leading to a trial which initially found in their favor, in which the Chief Justice compared the slaves to horses. Thanks to the outrage of one man present in court that day, a retrial was held. For the first time, concepts such as human rights and morality entered the discourse on slavery in a courtroom case that boiled down to a simple yet profound question: Were the Africans on board people or cargo? What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England's highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history sparking the abolitionist movement in both England and the young United States.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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