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History and Current Events March 2026 |
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| Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America by Howard BryantSports journalist Howard Bryant's affecting history details how trailblazing Black actor Paul Robeson and Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson's differing political ideologies often put them at odds with each other, culminating in Robinson's 1949 appearance at the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), where he testified against Robeson. For fans of: The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. by Peniel E. Joseph. |
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| Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling by Danny FuntWashington Post contributor Danny Funt's illuminating debut chronicles the evolution of legalized sports betting in the United States, detailing the rise of companies like FanDuel and DraftKings and how they prey upon consumers and athletes alike. Further reading: The Bookie: How I Bet It All on Sports Gambling and Watched an Industry Explode by Art Manteris and Matt Birkbeck. |
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| Football by Chuck KlostermanJournalist Chuck Klosterman (The Nineties) ruminates on his lifelong love of football in this funny and wide-ranging cultural history that's "a transcendent appraisal of America's favorite sport" (Publishers Weekly). For fans of: Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated by Shea Serrano. |
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| Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood by William J. MannBiographer William J. Mann's (Bogie & Bacall) well-researched true crime account offers fresh insights on the 1947 murder of actress Elizabeth Short, who posthumously came to be known by the moniker "Black Dahlia." Further reading: Sisters in Death: The Black Dahlia, the Prairie Heiress, and Their Hunter by Eli Frankel. |
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| Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish... by Julian SanctonHistorian Julian Sancton's sweeping maritime saga chronicles how the 2015 discovery of the San José, a Spanish galleon that sank off the coast of Colombia in 1708, was mired by accusations that Roger Dooley, the archaeologist who found the wreckage, was a con artist and grave robber. Featuring interviews with Dooley, this compelling adventure tale will appeal to fans of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. |
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Focus on: Women's History Month
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A House of My Own: Stories from My Life
by Sandra Cisneros
From the beloved author of The House on Mango Street: a richly illustrated compilation of true stories and nonfiction pieces that, taken together, form a jigsaw autobiography: an intimate album of a literary legend's life and career.--
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| The Six: The Extraordinary Story of the Grit and Daring of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren GrushBloomberg News reporter Loren Grush's inspiring history spotlights the first six American women astronauts: Anna Fisher, Shannon Lucid, Judy Resnik, Sally Ride, Rhea Seddon, and Kathy Sullivan. Grush's accessible reportage blends biographical sketches with engrossing accounts of the women's triumphs and trials. Try this next: The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel by Meredith Bagby. |
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A Bad Woman Feeling Good: Blues and the Women Who Sing Them
by Buzzy Jackson
An exciting lineage of women singers--originating with Ma Rainey and her protégée Bessie Smith--shaped the blues, launching it as a powerful, expressive vehicle of emotional liberation. Along with their successors Billie Holiday, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Janis Joplin, they injected a dose of reality into the often trivial world of popular song, bringing their message of higher expectations and broader horizons to their audiences. These women passed their image, their rhythms, and their toughness on to the next generation of blues women, which has its contemporary incarnation in singers like Bonnie Raitt and Lucinda Williams (with whom the author has done an in-depth interview). Buzzy Jackson combines biography, an appreciation of music, and a sweeping view of American history to illuminate the pivotal role of blues women in a powerful musical tradition. Musician Thomas Dorsey said, The blues is a good woman feeling bad. But these women show by their style that he had it backward: The blues is a bad woman feeling good.
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A Game of Their Own: Voices of Contemporary Women in Baseball
by Jennifer Ring
In 2010 twenty American women were selected to represent Team USA in the fourth Women's Baseball World Cup in Caracas, Venezuela; most Americans, however, had no idea such a team even existed. A Game of Their Own chronicles the largely invisible history of women in baseball and offers an account of the 2010 Women's World Cup tournament. Jennifer Ring includes oral histories of eleven members of the U.S. Women's National Team, from the moment each player picked up a bat and ball as a young girl to her selection for Team USA. Each story is unique, but they share common themes that will resonate with young female players and fans alike: facing skepticism and taunts from players and parents when taking the batter's box or the pitcher's mound, self-doubt, the unceasing pressure to switch to softball, and eventual acceptance by their baseball teammates as they prove themselves as ballplayers. These racially, culturally, and economically diverse players from across the country have ignored the message that their love of the national pastime is wrong. Their stories come alive as they recount their battles and most memorable moments playing baseball--the joys of exceeding expectations and the pleasure of honing baseball skills and talent despite the lack of support. With exclusive interviews with players, coaches, and administrators, A Game of Their Own celebrates the U.S. Women's National Team and the excellence of its remarkable players. In response to the jeer No girls allowed! these are powerful stories of optimism, feistiness, and staying true to oneself.
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A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx
by Elaine Showalter
An unprecedented literary landmark: the first comprehensive history of American women writers from 1650 to the present. In a narrative of immense scope and fascination, here are more than 250 female writers, including the famous--Harriet Beecher Stowe, Dorothy Parker, Flannery O'Connor, and Toni Morrison, among others--and the little known, from the early American bestselling novelist Catherine Sedgwick to the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Susan Glaspell. Showalter integrates women's contributions into our nation's literary heritage with brilliance and flair, making the case for the unfairly overlooked and putting the overrated firmly in their place.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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