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History and Current Events November 2025 |
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Lincoln's ghost : Houdini's war on spiritualism and the dark conspiracy against the American presidency
by Brad Ricca
During a séance in 1924, Houdini―the greatest entertainer in the world―was cursed by a vengeful spirit, who said his days were numbered. Houdini laughed. He believed talking to the dead was impossible. By 1926, Houdini was dead.
This is the untold story of the last performance of Houdini, who, inspired by his hero Abraham Lincoln, devotes himself full-time to a personal crusade against Spiritualism, the practice of speaking to the dead. In a spellbinding journey across Jazz Age America, haunted by the aftermath of the Great War and a deadly pandemic, Houdini encounters modern-day haunted houses, warlocks, and monsters, and uncovers a shocking conspiracy that stretches all the way to the American presidency―and to the House of Houdini itself.
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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. Captain Richard Hetherington O’Kane commanded the attack submarine that sunk more tonnage, rescued more downed aviators, and successfully completed more surface attacks than any other American submarine. These undersea predators were the first to lead the offensive rebound against the Japanese, but at great cost: Submariners would have six times the mortality rate as the sailors who manned surface ships.
The Tang achieved its greatest success on October 24, 1944, when it took on an entire Japanese convoy and destroyed it. But its 24th and last torpedo boomeranged, returning to strike the Tang. Mortally wounded, the boat sunk, coming to rest on the bottom, 180 feet down. After hours of struggle, nine of the 87 crewmen, including O’Kane, made it to the surface.
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Chasing evil : shocking crimes, supernatural forces, and an FBI agent's search for hope and justice
by John Edward
In the summer of 1998, FBI agent Bob Hilland reluctantly picked up the phone to call the famous psychic John Edward. Bob didn’t expect much from the call, but he was working on an unsolvable cold case and had nowhere else to turn. What Bob never imagined was that the call would lead to a shattering of all his preconceived notions, a huge break in the cold case, and an unlikely crime-solving partnership that spanned twenty-five years.
As Bob and John took on more cases together, they slowly learned how to rely on each other and trust their skills, ultimately finding not only justice for the crimes they solved, but resolution and healing in their own lives.
Centering on the investigation of the gruesome John Smith murders that rocked the nation, Chasing Evil is a heart-stopping story of murder, justice, and finding help in unexpected places.
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| 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History -- and How It Shattered a Nation by Andrew Ross SorkinIn 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation. But behind the flashing ticker tapes and panicked traders, another drama unfolded—one of visionaries and fraudsters, titans and dreamers, euphoria and ruin.
With unparalleled access to historical records and newly uncovered documents, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Ross Sorkin takes readers inside the chaos of the crash, behind the scenes of a raging battle between Wall Street and Washington and the larger-than-life characters whose ambition and naivete in an endless boom led to disaster. |
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Focus on: Native American Heritage Month
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| The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned BlackhawkWinner 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. The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, as a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America. |
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From the reservation to Washington : the rise of Charles Curtis
by Debra Goodrich
The first person of color to serve as vice president, Charles Curtis was once a household name but has become a footnote in American history. As a mixed-race person who became a public figure in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, his story is more relevant today than ever. He was constantly forced to choose whether to be Indian or white. Society would not let him be both. When his temper flared it was his “savage nature” coming through; when he presided over the United States Senate with an unprecedented knowledge of the rules and procedures, it was evidence of his “civilized” ancestry. Private and pragmatic, he became a respected statesman championing citizenship for Native Americans and rights for women.
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| By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca NagleIn 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.
Nagle recounts the generations-long fight by chronicling both the contemporary legal battle and historic acts of Indigenous resistance, By the Fire We Carry stands as a landmark work of American history. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed and the Native-led battle for justice that has shaped our country. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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