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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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| Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling by Danny FuntWashington 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. |
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| Football by Chuck KlostermanJournalist 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. |
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| Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood by William J. MannBiographer 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. |
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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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All the Way to the River: Oprah's Book Club: Love, Loss, and Liberation
by Elizabeth Gilbert
In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: The two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe. What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare? What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them? And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening? All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love--or to any other passion, substance, or craving - and who yearns, at long last, for liberation.
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| Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Tiya MilesAward-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. |
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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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