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History and Current Events May 2026 |
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Battle of the Arctic: The Maritime Epic of World War II
by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
From the bestselling author of Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man and Enigma: The Battle for the Code, the story of unsung American heroism in World War II's maritime epic in the Arctic. No campaign during World War II contained more spinetingling drama, outstanding courage, and heartbreaking tragedy than the Arctic convoys. Yet they--and the multifaceted battle of the Arctic that had to be fought to get them through to Russia--remain one of the war's most under-celebrated feats. As this book's title implies, Battle of the Arctic tells a unique story. For much of the conflict was complicated by terrific storms, snow, ice, fog, whales and Arctic mirages, so that what is chronicled at times sounds like a cross between the nightmarish torment experienced by both Shackleton in his ship Endurance and Scott of the Antarctic, and an Arctic version of Robinson Crusoe. The action unfolded as Allied naval and merchant seamen, airmen, submariners, soldiers and intelligence officers delivered on their countries' promise to take arms to Russia notwithstanding the German attempts to hunt them in their aircraft, U-boats and surface fleet spearheaded by Tirpitz and Scharnhorst. When ships were attacked and went down in seas so cold that a man could die after just five minutes of immersion, it triggered events reminiscent of the do-or-die moments during the sinking of the Titanic. Men perished one by one in lifeboats and as castaways on deserted Arctic islands where they were stalked by polar bears. Frostbitten and wounded survivors ended up in Russian hospitals so primitive that amputations were carried out without anaesthetics. Other survivors, while stranded for months in the communist state they were aiding, experienced the murky worlds of the NKVD and the gulag as well as famine and prostitution. Using new material unearthed in American, British, Russian and German archives, as well as Polish, Norwegian, French and Dutch sources, and a remarkable collection of vivid witness accounts brought together at the passing of the last survivors, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore can at last shine a revealing light on this extraordinary tale that oscillates between the sailors' eye view on the front line, and the controversies that infuriated world leaders.
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| London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden KeefeIn his richly detailed latest, award-winning journalist Patrick Radden Keefe (Say Nothing) chronicles the shocking death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler in 2019 London, revealing how Brettler's secret life posing as the son of a Russian oligarch led to his involvement in the city's seedy underworld. For fans of: Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade by Walter Kirn. |
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| Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age by Ibram X. KendiNational Book Award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi's (Stamped from the Beginning) thought-provoking latest details the origins and evolution of the great replacement theory -- the far-right conspiracy that claims white European people are deliberately being replaced by non-white immigrants -- and examines how leading politicians around the globe openly propagate these views. Further reading: The Great White Hoax: Two Centuries of Selling Racism in America by Philip Kadish. |
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| The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz InonIn their hopeful travelogue that "powerfully demonstrates that fellowship can bridge seemingly intractable divides" (Kirkus), friends and peace activists Aziz Abu Sarah, who is Palestinian, and Maoz Inon, who is Israeli, spend eight days traveling the region, sharing both local and personal histories throughout their journey. For fans of: The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan. |
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The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya
by David Stuart
From the world-leading expert on the Maya, a monumental history of a flourishing civilization across three millennia The Four Heavens brings to life the cultural and visual splendor of the ancient Maya, drawing on the oldest indigenous texts of the Americas and the latest archaeological discoveries to present an entirely new history of this spectacular civilization. Renowned historian and archaeologist David Stuart, who has made groundbreaking contributions to the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics, shows how there was no single rise and fall of the Maya but a series of births and collapses over a breathtaking span of nearly three millennia. Maya history was seemingly lost forever when the first Europeans encountered the great ruins of ancient cities in what is today Mexico and Central America. Today, with the recent decipherment of their ancient writings, the story of the Maya can now be told from their perspective. Stuart traces the rapid emergence of permanent settlements in the rainforest, which gave rise to monumental architecture and a flourishing urbanism and ushered in the Classic period of Maya civilization beginning in the mid-second century CE. He reveals a world of majestic royal courts tightly bound together by marriages, shifting alliances, and warfare, much of it driven by the ambitions of two major dynasties, the Kanuls and Mutuls. Stuart describes how the long-standing rivalry between these two great houses shaped the fates of the surrounding kingdoms and may have set the stage for the Great Rupture of the ninth century, when the royal courts buckled under the weight of internal strife, social unrest, and environmental crisis, transforming Maya civilization yet again. With stunning illustrations, including many of Stuart's own drawings and images, The Four Heavens is a work of momentous historical sweep, one that paints an unforgettable portrait of the Maya and the richly complex social, political, and cosmological worlds in which they lived. Available in Spanish from our partners at Grupo Planeta
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Money Beyond Borders: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto
by Barry Eichengreen
A 2,500-year history of international currencies that reveals new insights about the future of the U.S. dollar--as well as crypto and central bank digital currencies Doubts about the international dominance of the dollar are only growing amid worries about tariffs, political dysfunction, and fraying international alliances. Will the dollar continue to reign supreme? In Money Beyond Borders, the leading authority on international currencies, Barry Eichengreen, puts the dollar's prospects in deep historical perspective by chronicling the entire history of cross-border currencies, from the invention of coins in the seventh century BCE to the cryptocurrencies of today and the central bank digital currencies of tomorrow. Money Beyond Borders recounts how Greek and Roman coins became the first true international currencies. It tells how the Florentine gold florin became the greenback of the Renaissance, and how it was succeeded by Spanish silver and a Dutch fiat currency. The book explains why the British pound dominated the international economy in the nineteenth century, why the dollar rose to the top during World War II, and why the dollar has survived predictions of the imminent loss of its preeminence since the 1970s. The long history of international currencies shows that the same factors that encourage their widespread use eventually lead to their abandonment. Money Beyond Borders makes a powerful case that the dollar is now on the downside of this cycle, and it considers who the winners and losers will be when there is flight away from the greenback. Revealing important patterns in the life cycles of international currencies over the past 2,500 years, the book offers valuable lessons and insights about how currencies rise--and why they fall.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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