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History and Current Events August 2026 |
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The Country House Dining Room: A History of Georgian Feasting by Amy BoyingtonThe eighteenth-century country house dining room was a symbol of social status, wealth, and cultural refinement, operating as both a functional space and a theatrical venue for displaying power. Amy Boyington charts how the country house dining room encapsulated the social, cultural, and political dynamics of the Georgian era. Through its design, rituals, and contradictions, it served as a microcosm of the broader societal values and hierarchies of the time. Dining was not merely about sustenance, but a reflection of status, identity, and the complexities of social interaction. For fans of: The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain: A Handbook for Visitors to 1789-1830 by Ian Mortimer.
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Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and the World by Julia CookeShe hid on a Red Cross boat to reach Omaha Beach on D-Day. She walked the abandoned streets of Hong Kong to take food to her daughter's father, a prisoner of war. She fought off the advances of overzealous Yugoslavian diplomats, found overlooked details of world history in a dentist's kitchen in Sarajevo. She traveled alone to Mexico. She traveled alone to Congo. She traveled alone to the American South. She married Hemingway. She married a Chinese poet-playboy-publisher, then married a British war hero. She fell in love with H. G. Wells. She gave birth and raised a child on her own. She landed on the front page of the newspaper. She wrote for the great magazines of her time--Vogue, The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar. She wrote a play. She wrote a memoir. She wrote a genre-breaking travel narrative. She wrote bestsellers. She wrote and wrote and wrote. She changed the very way we think about writing and the way journalists craft stories--which sources are viable, which details are important--and the way women move and work in the world. She was Martha Gellhorn. She was Emily Mickey Hahn. She was Rebecca West. Julia Cooke reveals how each woman was starry-eyed for success, for adventure, and helped ensure that other starry and restless women could make unforgettable lives for themselves. For fans of: Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism by Brooke Kroeger.
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I'll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month by Jarvis R. GivensAcclaimed Harvard scholar Jarvis R. Givens takes us on a personal and political journey through the 100-year history of Black History Month--from its radical beginnings in 1926 as Negro History Week to its role today as a celebration and flashpoint in America's cultural battles. Drawing on archival research, personal stories involving family and students, and especially the wisdom of Black educators, he recovers the legacy of Carter G. Woodson and many others who envisioned Black history as a liberatory force--knowledge that shapes who we are, how we resist, and what we dream. At a time when Black history is under attack, this book offers an inspiring vision for how it can still be a source of power, truth, and possibility. Further reading: The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman, and Jake Silverstein.
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Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America by Eugene RobinsonFrom his great-great-grandfather's achievement in becoming a free person of color before emancipation to his great-grandfather's Reconstruction-era success, from his father's odyssey of the Great Migration to his own coming-of-age during the civil rights movement, Pulitzer Prize-winning and former Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson delves into a rich archive of Black narratives, arguing that we still have a long way to go before it is possible to speak of a post-racial America. For fans of: The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir by Martha S. Jones.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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