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History and Current Events August 2017
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Churchill and Orwell : The Fight for Freedom
by Thomas E Ricks
A dual portrait of Winston Churchill and George Orwell focuses on the pivotal years from the mid-1930s through the 1940s, describing how both suffered nearly fatal injuries before their vision and campaigns inspired action to preserve democracy throughout the world.
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| The Trial of Adolf Hitler: The Beer Hall Putsch and the Rise of Nazi Germany by David KingIn The Trial of Adolf Hitler, historian David King recounts the trial for treason that followed the November 8, 1923 "Beer Hall Putsch," in which Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders attempted to seize power in Bavaria. Making passionate speeches during the court proceedings, Hitler used national publicity about the trial to attract popular support for the Nazi party. To follow up on this absorbing narrative, check out Peter Ross Range's 1924, detailing the subsequent imprisonment during which Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. |
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| Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLeanIn this well-researched biographical study, acclaimed historian Nancy MacLean offers a sobering analysis of the radical Libertarians' rise to political power in the U.S. Focusing on the late James Buchanan, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, she explores his plan to inject his views into the operations of every branch of government. Funded in part by multibillionaire Charles Koch, Buchanan's ideas have been carried out by like-minded political operatives. In a starred review, Booklist calls Democracy in Chains the "best explanation to date" of the origins of America's current political rift. |
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Forging a President : How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
by William Elliott Hazelgrove
Evaluates the years spent as a cattle rancher and deputy sheriff in wild Dakota Territory that influenced Theodore Roosevelt's character as President, drawing on personal reminisces, quotes and encounters to share insights into how the 26th President's achievements were shaped by the nature and culture he experienced firsthand. 20,000 first printing.
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Kennedy and King : The President, the Pastor, and the Battle over Civil Rights
by Steven Levingston
A revelatory account of the contentious relationship between the 35th President and Martin Luther King, Jr. throughout the tumultuous early years of the Civil Rights movement shares insights into their profound influence on one another and the important decisions that were inspired by their rivalry. 50,000 first printing.
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| Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight by Margaret Lazarus Dean“What does it mean that we have been going to space for 50 years and have decided to stop?” In Leaving Orbit, Margaret Lazarus Dean, an English professor and lifelong fan of space flight, details the final three missions of NASA's space shuttle in 2011. Emphasizing the human elements of the program, she recounts her trips to Cape Kennedy to witness these launches, drawing on the poetic as well as the technical to characterize NASA's culture and politics. Dean's compelling elegy to American space exploration is a must-read for those fascinated by the final frontier. |
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The Road to Camelot : inside JFK's Five-Year Campaign
by Thomas Oliphant
A behind-the-scenes account of the 35th President's journey to the White House includes coverage of his failed vice presidential nomination in 1956, the ways his Catholic faith challenged his campaigns and the successful efforts of his team of young advisors to reinvent the traditional party.
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In Search of the Lost Chord : 1967 and the Hippie Idea
by Danny Goldberg
Taking readers back in time to 1967, the year he graduated from high school—and drawing on interviews with Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, Ram Dass and many others—the author brings to life the seminal moments in the psychedelic, spiritual, rock-and-roll and political-protest cultures of this time.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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