History and Current Events
December 2025

Recent Releases
The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo
The sea captain's wife : a true story of mutiny, love, and adventure at the bottom of the world
by Tilar J. Mazzeo

Set against the backdrop of the California Gold Rush and taking us to the brink of Antarctica, The Sea Captain's Wife finally gives Mary Ann Patten--the first woman to command a merchant vessel as captain -- her due. Mazzeo draws on new archival research from nineteenth-century women's maritime journals and on her own expedition to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in search of Mary Ann's route. Thrilling, harrowing, and heroic, The Sea Captain's Wife is the story of one woman who, for love, would do what was necessary to survive.
Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century by W. David Marx
Blank space : a cultural history of the twenty-first century
by W. David Marx

Surveying a wealth of topics including influencer culture, generative AI, identity politics, and more, culture writer W. David Marx's incisive analysis examines the cultural stagnation of the 21st century, detailing how an emphasis on profits and popularity weakens artistic expression. 
The traitors circle : the true story of a secret resistance network in Nazi Germany...
by Jonathan Freedland

Journalist and bestselling author Jonathan Freedland chronicles the lesser-known story of German resistance movements during World War II. In 1943 Berlin, a circle of high-society anti-Nazi dissenters—countesses, diplomats, and educators—gathers in secret to resist Hitler’s regime. United by courage and conviction, they risk everything to save lives and plan a future Germany, unaware that betrayal from within could doom them all.
Capitalism: A Global History by Sven Beckert
Capitalism : a global history
by Sven Beckert

No other phenomenon has shaped human history as decisively as capitalism. It structures how we live and work, how we think about ourselves and others, how we organize our politics. Sven Beckert, author of the Bancroft Prize–winning Empire of Cotton, places the story of capitalism within the largest conceivable geographical and historical framework, tracing its history during the past millennium and across the world.
In the Arena: Theodore Roosevelt in War, Peace, and Revolution by David S. Brown
In the arena : Theodore Roosevelt in war, peace, and revolution
by David S. Brown

In this sweeping biography, historian David S. Brown takes us on an electrifying journey through Theodore Roosevelt's life--from his privileged New York upbringing to his transformative presidency that reshaped America's role on the global stage. In the Arena vividly brings Roosevelt to life as a man of striking contradictions: a rugged outdoorsman with a love for books, a war hero who earned a Nobel Peace Prize, and a larger-than-life figure whose energy seemed boundless.
The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age by Alex Wellerstein
The most awful responsibility : Truman and the secret struggle for control of the Atomic Age
by Alex Wellerstein

President Truman's choice to drop the atomic bomb is the most debated decision in the 20th Century. But what if Truman's actual decision wasn't what everyone thinks it was? A history of the process for using and controlling atomic weapons during World War II and at the beginning of the Cold War.
Midnight Flyboys: The American Bomber Crews and Allied Secret Agents Who Aided the French Resistance in World War II by Bruce Henderson
Midnight flyboys: the American bomber crews and Allied secret agents who aided the French Resistance in World War II
by Bruce Henderson

The untold history of a top-secret operation in the run-up to D-Day in which American flyers and Allied spies carried out some of the most daring cloak-and-dagger operations of World War II. Based on exclusive research and interviews, the definitive story of these heroic flyers--and of the brave secret agents and resistance leaders they aided--can now be told. Midnight Flyboys is an astonishing tale of patriotism, courage, and sacrifice.
The History of Money: A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams
The History of Money: A Story of Humanity
by David McWilliams

In this fresh, eye-opening global history, economist David McWilliams charts the relationship between humans and money--from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to cryptocurrency in Silicon Valley. Filled with memorable anecdotes, and with a foreword by Michael Lewis, The History of Money is an essential, extremely readable history of humanity's most consequential invention.
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