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History and Current Events February 2026 |
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I Am a Royal Rulebreaker: Women Who Shaped History
by Fern Riddell
Forget wilting wallflowers and doting daughters--these royal women rocked the world with their skills and smarts, saying a firm NO to social conventions. Think the past was only full of dull, uptight royals? Then strap right in for stories of willful women who defied expectations, changed the course of history, and sometimes were just downright awesome! From fearless fighters who rallied spectacular armies to no-nonsense negotiators who fought for independence, each woman in this book turned norms on their head and smashed gender stereotypes. Get ready for pages and pages of monarchial mayhem as you meet the rebels, revolutionaries, and all-around righteous gals who weren't afraid to break the rules and make their mark.
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Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder
by Michael McFaul
From New York Times bestselling author and former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul comes a bold, clear-eyed look at how the autocracies of China and Russia are challenging the current global order, and how America's future depends on successfully confronting this threat. The rise of China, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the reelection of President Donald Trump have reinforced a gloomy yet growing consensus: the old global order has ended, and a new Cold War has begun. And yet, many of the perils we face today are distinctly different from those we encountered from the Soviet Union. The alliance between the autocracies of China and Russia, China's economic might, the rise of the far right in the United States and Europe, and the disturbing isolationist foreign policy shifts of the Trump administration--taken together represent new challenges for the democratic world. They are threats with no precedent in the past century.In this sweeping account of great power competition between the United States, China, and Russia over the past three centuries, Michael McFaul--former ambassador to Russia and international affairs analyst for NBC News--argues persuasively that today's challenges require fresh thinking, not constrained by distant memories of the Cold War or the nationalist dreams of MAGA. One of the preeminent thinkers on American foreign policy for decades, McFaul combines in-depth historical analysis with a forward-looking perspective, crafting a new grand strategy for America in this age of global disorder. Acknowledging how Xi's China, Putin's Russia, and Trump's America are upending the current international system, Autocrats vs. Democrats makes the case against America's retreat from the world, detailing why: Russia's disruptive ambitions should not be underestimated.China's capabilities should not be overestimated.Trump's shift toward isolationism and autocracy will weaken America's place in the world. At once a clarion call for American diplomacy and a forceful rebuttal of the Trump administration's policies, Autocrats vs. Democrats provides a nuanced assessment of the China and Russia threats, as well as a bold vision for renewing America's leadership on the world stage.
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| Polar War: Submarines, Spies, and the Struggle for Power in a Melting Arctic by Kenneth R. RosenJournalist Kenneth R. Rosen's compelling debut blends science writing, travelogue, and geopolitical analysis to detail how the Arctic could become the site of a new cold war, with Russia, China, and America all vying for control of the complex region. Try this next: So You Want to Own Greenland? Lessons from the Vikings to Trump by Elizabeth Buchanan. |
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Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule
by Hélène Landemore
Politicians have failed us. But democracy doesn't have to. Bought by special interests, detached from real life, obsessed with reelection. Politicians make big promises, deliver little to nothing, and keep the game rigged in their favor. But what can we do? In Politics Without Politicians, acclaimed political theorist Hélène Landemore asks and answers a radical question: What if we didn't need politicians at all? What if everyday people--under the right conditions--could govern much better? With disarming clarity and a deep sense of urgency, Landemore argues that electoral politics is broken but democracy isn't. We've just been doing it wrong. Drawing on ancient Athenian practices and contemporary citizens' assemblies, Landemore champions an alternative approach that is alive, working, and growing around the world: civic lotteries that select everyday people to govern--not as career politicians but as temporary stewards of the common good. When regular citizens come together in this way, they make smarter, fairer, more forward-thinking decisions, often bringing out the best in one another. Witnessing this process firsthand, Landemore has learned that democracy should be like a good party where even the shyest guests feel welcome to speak, listen, and be heard. With sharp analysis and real-world examples, drawing from her experience with deliberative processes in France and elsewhere, Landemore shows us how to move beyond democracy as a spectator sport, embracing it as a shared practice--not just in the voting booth but in shaping the laws and policies that govern our lives. This is not a book about what's wrong--it's a manifesto for what's possible. If you've ever felt powerless, Politics Without Politicians will show you how We the People take back democracy.
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| Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster by Jacob SoboroffMSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff's urgent and affecting chronicle of the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires blends personal reflections (Soboroff's childhood home was destroyed) with accounts from meteorologists, firefighters, politicians, and area residents. For fans of: Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson. |
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Focus on: Black History Month
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Black Public Joy: No Permit or Permission Required
by Jay Pitter
From one of North America's most influential public space experts comes a powerful treatise celebrating Black people's audacious, complex, and universally embraced public joy expressions. For well over a decade, Jay Pitter has been thinking about public space and the ways it can be designed to not only contribute to social equity but also inspire joy for everyone. Her award-winning work helping cities navigate complex issues such as reimagining Confederate monument sites, the creation of cultural districts and the adoption of gender-responsive street design compels her to ask: How can I ignite public joy? Pitter acknowledges egregious place-based violations faced by her community--historical and contemporary--while unapologetically bending the book's narrative arc toward public joy. Declaring that Black public joy is so powerful that even the auction block could not extinguish it, Pitter guides the reader through an under-explored placemaking journey. In addition to unearthing historical rituals, the book builds on the current groundswell of Black-led initiatives highlighting hiking, dining, cycling, and frolicking punctuated by hashtags such as #BlackJoy and #BlackOutdoors. Pitter draws upon her practice expertise and research, delving more deeply to situate these moments and online conversations within the phenomenon that is Black public joy. Along the way, she introduces us to beloved colleagues creating public joy in their communities, and also reveals vulnerable personal stories as ground for the book's narrative. Black Public Joy's themes--our collective desire for safely taking up space, feeling belonging, and freeing ourselves from fears of judgement--are universal. Pitter's work calls on all of us to become better stewards of each other's public joy, as well as to claim our own.
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Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore
by Char Adams
Longtime NBC News reporter Char Adams writes a deeply compelling and rigorously reported history of Black political movements told through the lens of Black-owned bookstores, which have been centers for organizing from abolition to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter. In Black-Owned, Char Adams celebrates the living history of Black bookstores. Packed with stories of activism, espionage, violence, community, and perseverance, Black-Owned starts with the first Black-owned bookstore, which an abolitionist opened in New York in 1834, and after the bookshop's violent demise, Black book-lovers carried on its cause. In the twentieth century, civil rights and Black Power activists started a Black bookstore boom nationwide. Malcolm X gave speeches in front of the National Memorial African Book Store in Harlem--a place dubbed Speakers' Corner--and later, Black bookstores became targets of FBI agents, police, and racist vigilantes. Still, stores continued to fuel Black political movements. Amid these struggles, bookshops were also places of celebration: Eartha Kitt and Langston Hughes held autograph parties at their local Black-owned bookstores. Maya Angelou became the face of National Black Bookstore Week. And today a new generation of Black activists is joining the radical bookstore tradition, with rapper Noname opening her Radical Hood Library in Los Angeles and several stores making national headlines when they were overwhelmed with demand in the Black Lives Matter era. As Adams makes clear, in an time of increasing repression, Black bookstores are needed now more than ever. Full of vibrant characters and written with cinematic flair, Black-Owned is an enlightening story of community, resistance, and joy.
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The Black Press: A Shadowed Canadian Tradition
by Claudine Bonner
The Black Press brings together original, multidisciplinary research that explores the history and impact of Black newspapers in Canada. This collection of essays introduces readers to the rich archive of Black Canadian journalism, spanning the period from the abolitionist to the modern civil rights era, and reveals the extensive network of African and African-descended activist-journalists. The book positions Black Canadian journalists, editors, publishers, and readers as influential intellectual activists whose efforts shaped the press to drive socio-cultural change both in Canada and abroad. Through historical analysis and archival research, each essay highlights how Black journalists countered mainstream portrayals of their community, challenging dominant narratives of Blackness in the Canadian imaginary. The essays demonstrate how the Black Press served as a crucial space for reflecting on Black Canadian identity, belonging, social justice, and human rights within the colonial contexts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Combining historical, archival, and cultural analysis, the book uncovers the profound and often overlooked influence of the Black Press on Canada's cultural and political landscape.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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