History and Current Events
April 2026

Recent Releases
The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender's Search for...
by Emily Galvin Almanza

Co-founder and executive director of Partners for Justice and former public defender Emily Galvin Almanza presents a thought-provoking and incisive examination of the failures of the American criminal justice system and offers solutions for reform. For fans of: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.
American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union: An Anthology
by Jon Meacham

The author of The Soul of America unites centuries of essential American voices to understand our national debates and divisions from 1619 to the present, with his signature commentary on the consequential speeches, letters, and essays that led us to this moment. 
We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America
by Norah O'Donnell with Kate Andersen Brower

Emmy Award-wining journalist Norah O'Donnell's sweeping and inspiring book surveys women's contributions throughout American history via 35 biographical profiles. Further reading: The American Women's Almanac: 500 Years of Making History by Deborah G. Felder.
Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age by Ibram X. Kendi
Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age
by Ibram X. Kendi

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist and the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning charts how great replacement theory has become a dominant political idea of our time and ushered in an antidemocratic age. Kendi argues brilliantly that we must work across race and class lines to eradicate social ills and eliminate fascism.
Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution by Jonathan Turley
Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution
by Jonathan Turley

On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, law professor, legal analyst, and bestselling author of The Indispensable Right Jonathan Turley explores how the unique origins of American democracy set it apart from other revolutions, whether it can survive and thrive in the 21st century, and how the unfinished story of the revolution will play out in a rapidly changing world. This is a book about revolutions. 
Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund by Molly Crabapple
Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund
by Molly Crabapple

The dramatic story of the Jewish Bund--a revolutionary movement from a vanished world--and its radical vision of solidarity in an age of division. Molly Crabapple beckons readers through a portal to an irresistible, lost world, one bound together by passion, solidarity, and a burning hunger for justice.
Manufacturing Delusion: How the Left Uses Brainwashing, Indoctrination, and Propaganda Against You by Buck Sexton
Manufacturing Delusion: How the Left Uses Brainwashing, Indoctrination, and Propaganda Against You
by Buck Sexton

A former CIA analyst draws on his experience combatting jihadi terror movements and the history of totalitarian regimes to show how citizens lose touch with reality. Some of history's greatest empires have devolved into genocidal lunacy--often with shocking compliance from their own people. What methods can create this madness? 
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Book of the Year: An evening with author Susan Straight
Tuesday, April 28, 5-7pm
Cuesta College, SLO
 
National Book Award finalist and California author Susan Straight discusses her latest novel, Sacrament - a captivating new novel about a group of nurses fighting through the first year of a pandemic and the beloved California community they will risk their lives to protect. 
 
Tickets on sale now at Tickets.Cuesta.Edu
 
Book of the Year is an annual literary event and community reads program in partnership with Cuesta College, Paso Robles City Library, and the SLO County Library Foundation.