History and Current Events
November 2025

Recent Releases
The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald
by John U. Bacon

Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking, bestselling author John U. Bacon's (The Great Halifax Explosion) suspenseful latest explores the maritime disaster's cause and aftermath and includes interviews with the victims' families. For fans of: The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger.
We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution
by Jill Lepore

Harvard University historian Jill Lepore's sweeping and accessible history surveys the creation and evolution of the United States Constitution, spotlighting key amendments that continue to shape the country. It's "urgent" (Kirkus Reviews) and "essential" (Library Journal) reading. Try this next: America's Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State by Randall Herbert Balmer.
History Matters
by David McCullough; foreword by Jon Meacham, edited by Dorie McCullough Lawson and Michael Hill

In this posthumous collection of 20 essays and speeches (some previously unpublished), Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough offers freewheeling and impassioned reflections on the importance of learning about history to better understand the present. Try this next: An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival
by Anne Sebba

Bestselling author Anne Sebba's (Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy) moving account chronicles the lesser-known story of the all-women orchestra at Auschwitz-Birkenau, whose 40 members included both Jewish and non-Jewish musicians and whose conductor, Alma Rosé (Gustav Mahler's niece), demanded excellence to ensure her fellow prisoners' survival. For fans of: The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive by Lucy Adlington.
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History -- and How It Shattered a Nation
by Andrew Ross Sorkin

Journalist and Too Big to Fail author Andrew Ross Sorkin's richly detailed latest offers an evocative account of the Wall Street crash of 1929, which spurred the worldwide Great Depression. Further reading: Capitalism: A Global History by Sven Beckert. 
Focus on: Native American Heritage Month
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
by Ned Blackhawk

Winner of the National Book Award, Western Shoshone Yale historian Ned Blackhawk's incisive and richly detailed study explores how Indigenous Americans were instrumental to the evolution of United States history. Try this next: Indigenous Continent: The Epic Conquest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen.
On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe
by Caroline Dodds Pennock

Caroline Dodds Pennock's thought-provoking revisionist history explores how Indigenous Americans who willingly traveled or were forcibly transported to Europe during the Age of Discovery impacted the politics and culture of their colonizers. Try this next: Rediscovering Turtle Island: A First Peoples' Account of the Sacred Geography of America by Taylor Keen.
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
by Kathleen DuVal

Historian Kathleen DuVal's sweeping and scholarly Pulitzer Prize winner offers a corrective to Eurocentric narratives about Indigenous Americans by spotlighting one thousand years of Native autonomy, governance, and resistance. For fans of: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk.
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land
by Rebecca Nagle

In this "valuable corrective to our national ignorance" (Kirkus Reviews), Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle surveys the history of Indigenous removal and resistance in the United States, culminating in the landmark 2020 Supreme Court decision that upheld tribal sovereignty for the Muscogee Nation in eastern Oklahoma. Further reading: Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, the Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab by Steve Inskeep.
The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight...
by Megan Kate Nelson

Historian Megan Kate Nelson's well-researched Pulitzer Prize finalist explores how the lesser-known battles in the New Mexico Territory during the American Civil War spurred the displacement of the Apache and Diné and includes profiles of nine people involved in the conflict, including Apache chief Mangas Coloradas. Further reading: A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for American South by Peter Cozzens. 
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Forsyth County Public Library
770-781-9840 | ForsythPL.org