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History and Current Events August 2025 |
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| Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets by Dorothy ArmstrongMaterial culture historian Dorothy Armstrong's sweeping and well-researched world history details the practical and symbolic roles carpets have played in shaping human civilization by spotlighting 12 individual carpets woven between 500 BCE and the present. Try this next: Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization by Tim Queeney. |
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| Allies at War: How the Struggles Between the Allied Powers Shaped the War and the World by Tim BouverieRife with dramatic political intrigue and sly humor, British historian Tim Bouverie's fast-paced account offers fresh insights on the "incongruous alliance" of the Allied forces during World War II, profiling lesser known battles and players that nonetheless played a key role in winning the war. For fans of: The Allies: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II by Winston Groom. |
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| Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the... by Scott EllsworthAward-winning historian Scott Ellsworth's compelling and well-researched latest focuses on the final year of the American Civil War, revealing how John Wilkes Booth may have been part of a long-planned Confederate conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Further reading: Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War by Michael Vorenberg. |
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| The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature by Charlie EnglishFormer Guardian journalist Charlie English evocatively chronicles the CIA's successful efforts to weaken Soviet censorship and control by distributing subversive and pro-democracy literature to Eastern Europe in the 1980s. Try this next: The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui. |
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Victory '45: The End of the War in Eight Surrenders
by James Holland and Al Murray
In May 1944 and then again in August and early September, the seemingly endless World War II finally came to a close in six dramatic surrender ceremonies, four in Europe and the last two in Japan. On the 80th anniversary of those historic moments, celebrated historians James Holland and Al Murray chronicle these momentous events in turn, focusing especially on the human dramas behind each surrender and relating stories and perspectives on the end of the war that have not previously been told.
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Forgotten Landscapes : How Native Americans Created Pre-columbian North America and What We Can Learn from It
by Stanley A. Rice
North America was not empty nor were its inhabitants savages when Europeans arrived in 1492. Quite the opposite, North America was thickly populated by indigenous people who lived in clean cities, had a thriving economy, and transformed the landscape into bountiful productivity. Forgotten Landscapes reveals the incredible extent to which Native Americans manipulated and shaped their surrounding environs through agricultural practices and urban engineering, resulting in one of the most prosperous civilizations of their time.
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| Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights... by Sam KeanBestselling science writer Sam Kean (The Icepick Surgeon) offers a lively chronicle of how experimental archeologists utilize evidence found at dig sites to replicate ancient rituals and customs, including hunting with period-appropriate weaponry, playing an Aztec ballgame, brewing ancient Egyptian beer, and even mummifying corpses. Further reading: Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive by Eliot Stein. |
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You've probably heard of Ancestry, but there are other large databases for genealogy research with unique merits. Learn “the good, the bad, and the ugly” about the big four databases and how to use them to target your research. |
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