Handley Regional Library System: History and Current Events: March 2026

Focus on: Women's History Month

The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women AstronautsThe Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts
by Loren Grush

Bloomberg 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.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection.

The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising
by Elizabeth R. Hyman

A Holocaust historian, archivist, and history blogger adds a new dimension to the story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II, shining a long overdue spotlight on five young, Polish Jewish women--champions who helped lead the resistance, sabotage the Nazis, and aid Jews in hiding across occupied Poland and Eastern Europe.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection.

Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation
by Tiya Miles

Award-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.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection and as a eAudiobook.

Recent Releases

Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America
by Howard Bryant

Sports 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.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection.

Running Deep: Bravery, Survival, and the True Story of the Deadliest Submarine in World War II
by Tom Clavin

There was one submarine that outfought all other boats in the Silent Service in World War II: the USS Tang. This is the true story of death and survival in the high seas--and of the submarine and her brave captain who would become legends.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction and Large Print collections.

Until the Last Gun Is Silent: A Story of Patriotism, the Vietnam War, and the Fight to Save America's Soul
by Matthew F. Delmont

The untold story of the Black patriots--from soldiers in combat to peace protesters--who ended the Vietnam War and defended the soul of American democracy, from a pre-eminent civil rights historian and the award-winning author of Half American.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection.

Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood
by William J. Mann

Biographer 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.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection.

Polar War: Submarines, Spies, and the Struggle for Power in a Melting Arctic
by Kenneth R. Rosen

Journalist 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.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection.

Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire
by Julian Sancton

Historian 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.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection.

Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster
by Jacob Soboroff

MSNBC 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.

This is available in our Adult Nonfiction collection.

Contact your librarian for more great books!