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History and Current Events March 2026 |
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| Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America by Howard BryantSports 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. |
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The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family's Fight to Save a River and a Way of Life
by Amy Bowers Cordalis
A moving multigenerational memoir of Indigenous resistance, environmental justice, and a Yurok family's fight to protect their legacy and the Klamath River. For the members of a Northern California tribe, salmon are the lifeblood of the people--a vital source of food, income, and cultural identity. When a catastrophic fish kill devastates the river, Amy Bowers Cordalis is propelled into action, reigniting her family's 170-year battle against the U.S. government. In a moving and engrossing blend of memoir and history, Cordalis propels readers through generations of her family's struggle, where she learns that the fight for survival is not only about fishing--it's about protecting a way of life and the right of a species and river to exist. Her great-uncle's landmark Supreme Court case reaffirming her Nation's rights to land, water, fish, and sovereignty, her great-grandmother's defiant resistance during the Salmon Wars, and her family's ongoing battles against government overreach shape the deep commitment to justice that drives Cordalis forward. When the source of the fish kill is revealed, Cordalis steps up as General Counsel for the Yurok Tribe to hold powerful corporate interests accountable, and to spearhead the largest river restoration project in history.
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The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home
by Wil Haygood
Award-winning author and journalist Wil Haygood explores how the Vietnam War became a mirror for the struggle of Black Americans--fighting for freedom abroad while demanding equality at home--and a powerful lens through which to understand the racial and political divides that continue to shape American life. Drawing on the lives of soldiers and officers, doctors and nurses, journalists and activists, artists and politicians, Haygood illuminates a generation caught between two battles: one on the front lines in Vietnam and another for justice and dignity in America. Among those at the heart of the story are Air Force pilot Fred Cherry, the first Black officer captured by the North Vietnamese and a hero to millions back home; Dr. Elbert Nelson, a doctor who came to Vietnam after watching TV footage of the Watts riots in Los Angeles and soon found himself amid rising Black soldier protests overseas; and Philippa Schuyler, a biracial concert pianist who traveled to Vietnam to rescue mixed-race orphans, many fathered by Black soldiers, and died trying to bring them to safety. Surrounding their experiences are the cultural and political forces of the era, including Martin Luther King Jr., Marvin Gaye, Berry Gordy, and Lyndon Johnson, whose voices and actions shaped a decade of turbulence and transformation.
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The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution
by Gregory E. O'Malley
The dramatic story of a Black man's relentless search for freedom in Revolutionary-era America. When most Americans think of slavery, they do not picture the colonial or revolutionary eras. Yet, in fact, one of six inhabitants of the thirteen original colonies was enslaved. In 1762, at the age of 19, David George escaped from a plantation in Virginia. Running southwest by night, fording rivers and crossing borders, he embarked on a decades-long journey in and out of captivity that spanned multiple colonies and thousands of miles. George lived among White, Black, Creek, and Natchez settlements, fled to the British Army for the promise of liberty, founded what might have been the first Black Baptist church, helped to hack a settlement for refugees out of the Nova Scotia wilderness, and died as a leader of an experimental anti-slavery community in Sierra Leone. Piecing together archival records and David George's own brief account of his life--the earliest written testimony by a fugitive enslaved person in North America--Gregory O'Malley presents a thrilling narrative and a unique perspective on our nation's origins, principles, and contradictions.
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| Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish... by Julian SanctonHistorian 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. |
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Focus on: Women's History Month
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| The Six: The Extraordinary Story of the Grit and Daring of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren GrushBloomberg 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. |
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| 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. |
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The Girl Explorers: The Untold Story of the Globetrotting Women Who Trekked, Flew, and Fought Their Way Around the World
by Jayne Zanglein
'Don't take women when you go exploring!' In 1932, Roy Chapman Andrews, the president of the Explorers Club, told hundreds of female students at Barnard College that women and exploration could never mix. He obviously didn't know a thing about either. [This book] is the ... story of the women who broke apart the stuffy men's club and founded the Society of Woman Geographers (SWG), and how some key members--including Blair Niles, Amelia Earhart, Gloria Hollister, and Anna Heyward Taylor--paved the way for women scientists by scaling mountains, exploring the seas, flying across the Atlantic, and recording the world through film, sculpture, and art--
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The Women With Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service...
by Katherine Sharp Landdeck
Doing their part: After the attack on Pearl Harbor, more than 1,000 American women joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program, where they learned to fly planes big and small.
Author alert: Texas Woman's University history professor Katherine Sharp Landdeck imbues her engaging and richly detailed narrative with insights gleaned from her own experiences as a licensed pilot.
For fans of: Liza Mundy's Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II.
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| The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria SmiliosHidden 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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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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