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History and Current Events December 2018
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| In My Father's House: A New View of How Crime Runs in the Family by Fox ButterfieldWhat it's about: Using a case study of the white Bogle family of Oregon (more than 60 of whom have been arrested since 1920), this eye-opening saga of criminal genealogy reveals a sobering reality -- five percent of all families account for almost half the crime in America.
Why it matters: Timely and thought-provoking, In My Father's House interrogates long-held stereotypes linking race to crime, offering an empathetic approach to recognizing crime theories based on family dynamics. |
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A history of France
by John Julius Norwich
Chronicles the history of France, from Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the mid-first century BC to the end of World War II.
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| The Age of Walls: How Barriers Between Nations Are Changing Our World by Tim MarshallWhat it is: a sweeping survey of how physical barriers between countries shape political discourse and international relations.
Reviewers say: "This enlightening, shrewd assessment of the walls that separate us proves that there is actually far more that unites us" (Booklist).
Further reading: Walls: A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick by David Frye. |
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Thomas Cromwell : a revolutionary life
by Diarmaid MacCulloch
Examines the life of Henry VII's right-hand man, who did everything he could to secure the future of a son he loved dearly, but who ultimately could not control the unpredictable monarch. By the New York Times best-selling author of Christianity. Illustrations
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| LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P.W. Singer and Emerson T. BrookingWhat it's about: how extremists and authoritarian regimes manipulate social media platforms to serve as "battlespaces" for political disputes, leading to trolling, disinformation, and memetic warfare.
Did you know? ISIS' recruiting tactics include mimicking the authentic feel of Taylor Swift's Instagram posts.
About the authors: Defense experts P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking are a contributing editor for Popular Science and a former research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, respectively. |
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| Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse by Eric Jay DolinWhat it is: an engaging history of lighthouses, the "national treasures" that have served as the sites of numerous political, economic, military, and technological developments since the first American lighthouse was built in 1716 in Boston.
Featuring: stories of heroic lighthouse keepers, including Ida Lewis (1842-1911), who saved 18 people during her 54-year tenure as keeper of Lime Rock in Newport, Rhode Island. |
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| The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World by Greg GrandinWhat it's about: In 1804, Amasa Delano, a sea captain with abolitionist sympathies, found the slave ship Tryal in distress off the coast of Chile. Discovering that the 70 enslaved West Africans aboard had revolted (killing many of the crew and taking the ship's captain hostage), Delano reacted with swift violence against the mutineers.
Is it for you? Dramatic and thought-provoking, this gripping history examines the disturbing hypocrisy of the newly "free" Colonial America. |
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| Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade and Don YaegerWhat it's about: the beginning of the Barbary Wars, instigated in 1801 when the newly elected President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay ransom to the Barbary States for captured American merchant ships.
Why you might like it: Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaegar's lively, suspenseful prose offers a page-turning adventure.
Try this next: For another accessible history of the First Barbary War, check out The Pirate Coast by Richard Zacks. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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