History and Current Events
March 2026

Recent Releases
Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America
by Howard Bryant

Sports 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.
Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling
by Danny Funt

Washington 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.
Football
by Chuck Klosterman

Journalist 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. 
Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood
by William J. Mann

Biographer 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.
Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish...
by Julian Sancton

Historian 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. 
Focus on: Women's History Month
The Six: The Extraordinary Story of the Grit and Daring of America's First Women Astronauts
by Loren Grush

Bloomberg 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. 
Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women
by Sandra Guzmán (editor)

This thought-provoking collection of works from 140 Latine women writers, scholars, and activists from around the world includes contributions from U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Further reading: Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology edited by Alex Hernandez, Matthew David Goodwin, and Sarah Rafael García.
Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line
by Elizabeth Lovatt

Elizabeth Lovatt's moving debut spotlights the Lesbian Line, a London-based, volunteer-run helpline founded in 1977 to offer support for queer and questioning women and girls that remained in operation until the early 2000s. Drawing upon handwritten phone logs from volunteers, this well-researched chronicle "makes a modern declaration of love to queer folks throughout time" (Kirkus Reviews). Try this next: Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America by Krista Burton.
Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation
by Tiya Miles

Award-winning historian Tiya Miles (All That She Carried) thoughtfully explores how 19th-century Black and Indigenous women were shaped by their relationship to the natural world, which freed them from the oppressive confines of domestic spaces. Try this next: Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy.
The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis
by Maria Smilios

Hidden Figures fans will enjoy this evocative debut history from essayist Maria Smilios that chronicles the work of the early 20th-century Black women nurses at Staten Island's Sea View Hospital, who worked tirelessly to eradicate tuberculosis despite systemic racism, poor working conditions, and understaffing. Further reading: Twice as Hard: The Stories of Black Women Who Fought to Become Physicians, from the Civil War to the 21st Century by Jasmine Brown.
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