This branding block can be configured from your organization's Admin Settings page |
|
|
History and Current Events January 2026 |
|
|
|
| Capitalism: A Global History by Sven BeckertAward-winning Harvard historian Sven Beckert (Empire of Cotton) explores the development of capitalism around the globe in his sweeping and scholarly latest that's "a joy to read" and "a monumental achievement" (Publishers Weekly). Further reading: Capitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI by John Cassidy. |
|
|
|
Off the Scales: The Inside Story of Ozempic and the Race to Cure Obesity
by Aimee Donnellan
The inside story of the creation of Ozempic and its revolutionary impact on public health.A cure for obesity has long been the holy grail for the pharmaceutical industry, one that seemed unattainable until recent breakthroughs in type 2 diabetes research led to the development of Ozempic, a weight loss medication that activates a hormone in the stomach called GLP-1, making people feel fuller for longer. The treatment is so effective that it is already disrupting many industries--from healthcare to fast food to fashion--and it has quickly made its creator, Denmark's Novo Nordisk, the most valuable company in Europe. But the impact of GLP-1s goes far beyond billion-dollar profits; a true long-term cure for obesity could save 40 percent of American adults from dangerous, preventable illnesses. And as more potential benefits emerge, one question looms in the minds of investors, healthcare workers, and politicians: Are these drugs too good to be true? In Off the Scales, Reuters journalist Aimee Donnellan illuminates the history of a medical breakthrough that is poised to change the world, while raising difficult social questions about inequality and morality. Through original reporting and rigorous research, she forecasts the future of GLP-1s and examines what their explosive popularity tells us about our ideals of beauty and the lengths to which people will go in order to become thin. Along the way, Donnellan profiles the scientist whose contributions to the discovery of GLP-1 were overlooked, documents her fight for recognition while her colleagues were thrust into the limelight, and offers new insights into the ways that the food and beauty industries made billions while promoting unhealthy and unrealistic body image standards and accelerating the obesity crisis. She also provides firsthand accounts of several early Ozempic users and the transformative effect the drug has had on their weight loss journeys. Off the Scales is an informative and entertaining study of the unexpected consequences of finally getting what we've wanted for so long.
|
|
|
|
Just Pills: The Extraordinary Story of a Revolution in Abortion Care
by Rebecca Kelliher
Spanning more than a century and several continents, with a tenacious cast of feminist activists, scientists, politicians, doctors, and abortion seekers, Just Pills tells the fascinating history of mifepristone and misoprostol, better known as abortion pills-- Provided by publisher.
|
|
|
|
The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb
by Garrett M. Graff
On the eightieth anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the Pulitzer Prize finalist whose work is oral history at its finest (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) delivers an epic narrative of the atomic bomb's creation and deployment, woven from the voices of hundreds of scientists, generals, soldiers, and civilians.The building of the atomic bomb is the most audacious undertaking in human history: a rush by a small group of scientists and engineers in complete secrecy to unlock the most fundamental power of the universe. Even today, eighty years later, the Manhattan Project evokes boldness, daring, and the grandest of dreams: bringing an end to World War II in the Pacific, a conflict that already had stretched from Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal to Leyte Gulf to Iwo Jima and Okinawa.As Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen fight those battles, men and women strive to discover the atom's secrets at laboratories and plants in places like Chicago, Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos. On August 6, 1945, the world discovers what the end of the war--and the new global age--will look like. Science and politics will never be the same again.The road to the first atomic bomb ends in Hiroshima, Japan, but it begins in Hitler's Europe, where brilliant physicists following the path that Einstein blazed are forced to flee fascism and antisemitism--bringing to America their determination to harness atomic power before it falls into the Führer's arsenal. The Devil Reached Toward the Sky traces the breakthroughs and the breakneck pace of atomic development in the years leading up to 1945, then takes us inside the B-29 bombers carrying Little Boy and Fat Man and finally to ground zero at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.From Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff, this book is the panoramic narrative of how ordinary people grapple with extraordinary wartime risks, sacrifices, and choices that will transform the course of history.Theorists and engineers dare to experiment with forces of terrifying power for the purpose of creating an atomic bomb, knowing each passing day costs soldiers' lives--but fearing too the consequences of their creation. Hundreds of thousands of workers toil around the clock to produce uranium and plutonium in an endeavor so classified that most people involved learn the reality of their effort only when it is announced on the radio by President Truman. The 509th Composite Group trains for a mission whose details are kept a mystery until shortly before takeoff, when the Enola Gay and Bockscar are loaded with bombs the crew has never seen. And the civilians of two Japanese cities that have been spared American attacks--preserved for the sake of judging the power of the bomb on an intact city--escape their pulverized homes into a greater hellscape.Drawing from dozens of oral history archives and hundreds of books, reports, letters, diaries, and transcripts from across the United States, Japan, and Europe, Graff masterfully blends the memories and perspectives from the known and unknown. These include key figures like J. Robert Oppenheimer, General Leslie Groves, and President Truman; the crews of the B-29 bombers; and the haunting stories of the Hibakusha--the bomb-affected people.Both a testament to human ingenuity and resilience and a compelling drama told by the participants who lived it, The Devil Reached Toward the Sky is a singular, profound, and searing book about the inception of our most powerful weapon and its haunting legacy.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|