History and Current Events
April 2026

Recent Releases
American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union...
by Jon Meacham (editor)

Edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham and spanning 1619 to the present, this thought-provoking anthology explores the promises and failures of American democracy, featuring primary sources including speeches, letters, poems, and more. Try this next: Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past, edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer.
We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America
by Norah O'Donnell with Kate Andersen Brower

Emmy Award-wining journalist Norah O'Donnell's sweeping and inspiring book surveys women's contributions throughout American history via 35 biographical profiles. Further reading: The American Women's Almanac: 500 Years of Making History by Deborah G. Felder.
 
Also available in audiobook on CloudLibrary
The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster
by Shelley Puhak

Writer and poet Shelley Puhak's (The Dark Queens) nuanced and demythologizing latest examines the life and exploits of 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman Elizabeth Báthory, whose conviction of (and imprisonment for) torturing and murdering 80 girls and women was the result of a smear campaign. It's "a stunning feminist reconsideration of one of history's most reviled villainesses" (Publishers Weekly). Try this next: When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold by Alia Trabucco Zerán.
 
Also available in eBook on CloudLibrary
Contact your librarian for more great books!