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: The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America's Story by Kermit Roosevelt III.
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In this posthumous collection of 20 essays and speeches (some previously unpublished), Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough offers freewheeling and impassioned reflections on the importance of learning about history to better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.
On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of Us Women Astronauts by Valerie Neal
On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of Us Women Astronauts
by Valerie Neal

Sally Ride became a household name as the first American woman in space, but scores of equally impressive women have also left their mark in space. On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of US Women Astronauts spans 45 years and 61 astronauts to share the epic journeys of women who made space for themselves in a male-dominated field.
George Washington and the Creation of the American Republic by William M. Fowler
George Washington and the Creation of the American Republic
by William M. Fowler

The twentieth-century publication of Washington's writings, and more recently the digital editions of his papers, have provided George Washington's biographers with increased access to the details of his life. Despite the availability of these materials, however, biographers continue to pay close attention to the years of the Revolution and his presidency, while quickly passing through the period between the Revolution and his call to the presidency.
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: African Europeans: An Untold History by Olivette Otele.
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: When the Wolf Came: The Civil War and the Indian Territory by Mary Jane Warde. 
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