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History and Current Events
June 2025
Recent Releases
The Drive Across Canada : The Remarkable Story of the Trans-canada Highway
by Mark Richardson
The Trans-Canada Highway is one of the longest highways in the world–7,700 kilometres from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Victoria, British Columbia, with almost the same distance again on secondary routes. It’s ironically Canadian, but its story is a long and winding journey. In The Drive Across Canada, automotive journalist Mark Richardson tells the stories of the pioneers who first drove across the country in the early days of cars and motorcycles, even before any roads existed, and of the political fight to create a physical link that would connect Canadians to every province of their vast country.

Richardson drove the length of the Trans-Canada Highway in 2023, repeating the drive he first completed in 2012. In his most recent journey, he encounters a hurricane in Newfoundland, a firestorm in British Columbia, and unspeakable tragedies on the Prairies. He meets people whose lives have been changed by the highway, sometimes in ways they could never have imagined, and along the way the highway changes his life too.
 
The invisible spy : Churchill's Rockefeller Center spy ring and America's first secret agent of World War II
by Thomas Maier

Recounts the story of Ernest Cuneo, an NFL player turned White House aide and secret intelligence operative, who worked with British spies in Rockefeller Center to combat Nazi conspiracies in the U.S., weaving his personal transformation with the covert operations that inspired James Bond. Illustrations.
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.
The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the...
by Jonathan Horn

Journalist Jonathan Horn's incisive account offers fresh insights on the lesser-known aspects of World War II's Philippines Campaign, during which General Douglas MacArthur's questionable leadership decisions left his second-in-command, General Jonathan Wainwright, stranded and imprisoned. For fans of: Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides.
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.
Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea
by Marcus Rediker

Historian Marcus Rediker's (The Slave Ship) thoughtful latest explores how enslaved people in the Antebellum South utilized America's waterways to seek their freedom and profiles some of the men and women whose escapes were successful. For fans of: Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad by Ann Hagedorn. 
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.
Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future
by Alan Weisman

Environmental journalist Alan Weisman's moving and upbeat account profiles inspiring individuals around the world (including scientists, engineers, politicians, and activists) who are fighting to combat climate change. Further reading: Climate Resilience: How We Keep Each Other Safe, Care for Our Communities, and Fight Back Against Climate Change by Kylie Flanagan.
Contact your librarian for more great books!