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History and Current Events August 2025 |
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Taking Midway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle That Turned the Tide of...
by Martin Dugard
Bestseller Martin Dugard's (coauthor of Bill O'Reilly's Killing series) cinematic follow-up to Taking London chronicles the events leading to the June 1942 naval Battle of Midway, which proved a turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II. For fans of: The Silver Waterfall: How America Won the War in the Pacific at Midway by Brendan Simms and Steven McGregor.
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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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Murder the truth : fear, the First Amendment, and a secret campaign to protect the powerful
by David Enrich
"It seemed like a throwaway line in a forgettable opinion: In 2019, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas raised the prospect of challenging the legendary Warren Court decision New York Times v. Sullivan. Though hardly a household name, Sullivan is one of the most consequential free speech decisions, ever. Fundamental to the creation of the modern media as we know it, it has enabled journalists and writers all over the country-from top national publications to revered local newspapers to independent bloggers-to pursue the truth aggressively and hold the wealthy, powerful, and corrupt to account. Thomas's words were a warning-the public awakening of an idea that had been fomenting on the conservative fringe for years. With that opinion, Thomas took mainstream the ongoing, secret efforts of right-wing politicians, activist lawyers, and moneyed elites who had been seeking to overturn Sullivan in order to muzzle the media and their critics. From the Florida statehouse to small town New Hampshire to Donald Trump himself, this movement consists of powerful individuals who believe they should be above scrutiny-and are using threats, subterfuge, and legal warfare to get their way. In this masterwork of investigative reporting, David Enrich, New York Times Business Investigations Editor, traces the roots and reach of this new threat to our modern democracy. Laying bare the stakes of losing our most sacrosanct rights, Murder the Truth is a story about power-the way it's used by those who have it, and the lengths they will go to avoid it being questioned"-- Provided by publisher
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| Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream by Megan GreenwellIn her incisive debut, journalist Megan Greenwell draws upon her own experience as a former writer for Deadspin to investigate the damaging impact private equity firms have on American workers and communities. Further reading: These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs — and Wrecks — America by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner. |
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The ghost lab : how bigfoot hunters, mediums, and alien enthusiasts are wrecking science
by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
"In 2010, in a small New Hampshire town, next door to a copy center and framing shop, a ghost lab opened. The Kitt Research Initiative's mission was to use the scientific method to document the existence of spirits. Founder Andy Kitt was known as a straight-shooter; and was unafraid - perhaps eager - to offend other paranormal investigators by exposing the fraudulence of their less advanced techniques. But when KRI started to lose money, Kitt began to seek funding from the paranormal community, attracting flocks of psychics, alien abductees, witches, mediums, ghost hunters, UFOlogists, cryptozoologists and warlocks from all over New England, and the world. And there were plenty of them around. The Ghost Lab tells the astonishing story of the wild ecosystem of paranormal profiteers and consumers, through the astonishing story of what happened in this one small town. But it also maps the trends of declining scientific literacy, trust in institutions, and the diffusion of a culture that has created space for armies of pseudoscientists to step into the minds of an increasingly credulous public. With his distinct voice, eye for a story and ability to show how one community's experience reflects that of a society, Matt Hongoltz-Hetling crafts a powerful narrative about just how fragmented our understanding of what is real and what is not has become"-- Provided by publisher
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Little bosses everywhere : how the pyramid scheme shaped America
by Bridget Read
"A groundbreaking work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing, from the shadowy cabals at the top to the strivers at the bottom, whose deferred dreams churn a massive money-making scam that has remade American society. Multilevel marketing companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the ultimate business opportunity: the chance to be your own boss. In exchange for peddling their wares, they offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and-most precious of all-financial freedom. If, that is, you're willing to shell out for expensive products, recruit everyone you know to buy them, and make them recruit everyone they know to do the same-thus creating the "multiple levels" of multilevel marketing, or MLM. Despite overwhelming evidence that multilevel marketing causes most of its participants to lose their money, and that many MLM companies are pyramid schemes, the industry's dubious origins, inextricably tiedto well-known ideological figures like Ronald Reagan, have escaped public scrutiny. Behind the scenes of American life, MLM has slithered in the wake of every economic crisis of the last century, from the Depression to the pandemic, ensnaring laid-off workers, stay-at-home moms, teachers, nurses-anyone who has been left behind by inequality. In Little Bosses Everywhere, journalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time, winding from sunny post-war California, where a failed salesman started a vitamin business, through the suburbs of Michigan and North Carolina, where MLM bought its political protection, to the stadium-sized conventions where top sellers today preach to die-hard recruits. MLM has been endorsed by multiple American presidents, has its own Congressional caucus, and enriched powerful people, like the DeVos and Van Andel families, Warren Buffet, and Donald Trump. Along the way, Read delves into the heartbreaking stories of those enmeshed in the majority-female industry: a veteran in Florida searching for healing; a young mom in Texas struggling to feed her children; a waitress scraping by in Brooklyn. A wild trip down an endless rabbit hole of greed and exploitation, Little Bosses Everywhere exposes multilevel marketing as American capitalism's stealthiest PR campaign: a cunning right-wing political project that has shaped nearly everything about how we live"
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Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea
by Marcus Rediker
Historian Marcus Rediker's (The Slave Ship) thoughtful latest explores how enslaved people in the Antebellum South utilized America's waterways to seek their freedom and profiles some of the men and women whose escapes were successful. For fans of: Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad by Ann Hagedorn.
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When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World
by Jordan Thomas
In his unputdownable debut, anthropologist and former Los Padres Hotshot wildland firefighter Jordan Thomas recounts his experiences during the 2021 fire season in California, detailing how climate change, colonization, and political malfeasance have exacerbated the rise of megafires in the American West. Try these next: The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History by Manjula Martin; Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West by Kelly Ramsey.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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