History and Current Events
June 2025
Recent Releases
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
by Rick Atkinson

This 2nd well-researched volume of Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson's Revolution Trilogy utilizes dozens of maps and full-color illustrations to chronicle key events from the middle years of the American Revolution, covering the years 1777-1780. Further reading: Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781 by John Ferling.
The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World
by William Dalrymple

Bestselling author and historian William Dalrymple's scholarly latest reveals the overlooked role India played in shaping ancient civilization's culture, politics, religion, economy, and more. For fans of: The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan.
America, América: A New History of the New World
by Greg Grandin

Pulitzer and Bancroft Prize-winning historian Greg Gandin's sweeping history of North and South America examines five centuries of the continents' relationship to each other. "It's a monumental new view of the New World," raves Publishers Weekly. Try this next: El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America by Carrie Gibson.
Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
by Michael Luo

New Yorker executive editor Michael Luo's intimate and richly detailed history chronicles Chinese immigration and exclusion in America from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. Further reading: Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Gordon H. Chang; America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States by Erika Lee.
Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools
by Mary Annette Pember

Ojibwe journalist Mary Annette Pember's well-researched debut examines the origins and evolution of Native American boarding schools in the United States, revealing how the impacts of her own mother's experiences at a Catholic-run school contributed to her family's generational trauma. Further reading: The Knowing by Tanya Talaga.
The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and Their Century-Long Mission to Infiltrate...
by Shaun Walker

Shaun Walker, an international correspondent for The Guardian, offers a fast-paced and richly detailed survey of Russia's century-old spy program, which requires agents (called "Illegals") to be sent abroad on deep-cover missions in the United States, Europe, South America, and Africa. For fans of: TV's The Americans; Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West by Calder Walton.
Charlottesville : An American Story
by Deborah Baker

"In August 2017, over a thousand neo-Nazis, fascists, Klan members, and neo-Confederates descended on a small southern city to protest the pending removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Within an hour of their arrival, the city's historic downtown was a scene of bedlam as armored far right cadres battled activists in the streets. Before the weekend was over, a neo-Nazi had driven a car into a throng of counterprotesters, killing a young woman and injuring dozens. Pulitzer Prize finalist Deborah Baker has written a riveting and panoptic account of what unfolded that weekend, focusing less on the rally's far right leaders than on the story of the city itself. In Charlottesville, Baker shows how a city more associated with Thomas Jefferson than civil unrest became a flashpoint in a continuing struggle over our nation's founding myths."
Kuleana : A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i
by Sara Kehaulani Goo

An award-winning journalist's breathtaking story of unexpected homecomings, familial hardship, and fierce devotion to ancestry creates a refreshingly new narrative about Hawaii, its native people, and their struggle to hold on to their land and culture today.
John Hancock : First to Sign, First to Invest in America's Independence
by Willard Sterne Randall

A revealing portrait of the Revolutionary leader, exploring his rise from modest beginnings to wealthy merchant, his pivotal yet overlooked role in the American Revolution, his political rivalries and his influence on key events that shaped the United States.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Rochester Hills Public Library
500 Olde Towne Rd
Rochester, Michigan 48307
248-656-2900

www.rhpl.org/