| Humanly possible: Seven hundred years of humanist freethinking, inquiry, and hope by Sarah BakewellWhat it is: a sweeping and thought-provoking history that chronicles the evolution of humanism and spotlights its notable thinkers.
Author alert: National Book Critics Circle Award winner Sarah Bakewell is the author of How to Live and At the Existential Café.
Reviewers say: "Even those who already consider themselves humanists will be enlightened" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| The long reckoning: A story of war, peace, and redemption in Vietnam by George BlackWhat it's about: how a dedicated group of American, Canadian, and Vietnamese scientists, activists, and veterans fought to make the United States government acknowledge its responsibility for the ongoing devastation wrought by the Vietnam War.
Why you might like it: Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords, this moving account explores themes of trauma, reconciliation, and healing. |
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Northerners: A history, from the Ice Age to the present day
by Brian Groom
This authoritative new history of place and people lays out the dramatic events that created the north waves of migration, invasions and battles, and transformative changes wrought on European culture and the global economy. In a sweeping narrative that takes us from the earliest times to the present day, the book shows that the people of the north have shaped Britain and the world in unexpected ways.
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Hitler's aristocrats: The secret power players in Britain and America who supported the Nazis, 1923-1941
by Susan Ronald
Enlisting Europe's aristocracy, international industrialists, and the political elite in Britain and America, Hitler spun a treacherous tale everyone wanted to believe: he was a man of peace. Central to his deception was an international high society Black Widow, Princess Stephanie Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, whom Hitler called "his dear princess." She, and others, conspired for Hitler at the highest levels of the British aristocracy and spread their web to America's wealthy powerbrokers.
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| There will be fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and two minutes that changed history by Rory CarrollOctober 12, 1984: British prime minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped an attempt on her life when the Irish Republican Amy (IRA) bombed the Brighton hotel where she was attending a Conservative Party conference.
What's inside: interviews with politicians, law enforcement officials, bomb disposal experts, former IRA members, and more.
Who it's for: Fans of histories that read like thrillers will enjoy this nail-biting, you-are-there account of a pivotal moment during The Troubles. |
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| Poverty, by America by Matthew DesmondWhat it is: Pulitzer Prize-winning Evicted author and sociologist Matthew Desmond's incisive look at why America has more poverty than any other country in the developed world.
Topics include: affluent Americans' complicity in perpetuating poverty; the racial wealth gap; solutions for how to ameliorate poverty.
Try this next: Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream by Alissa Quart. |
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| A fever in the heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's plot to take over America, and the woman who stopped them by Timothy EganWhat it's about: In 1920s Indiana, Ku Klux Klan leader and presidential hopeful D.C. Stephenson exerted a terrifying control over the state and local governments -- until he kidnapped, raped, and murdered his one-time employee, a young woman named Madge Oberholtzer.
What happened next: Oberholtzer's courageous deathbed testimony led to Stephenson's murder conviction and effectively ended Klan influence in Indiana politics. |
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| Walk the walk: How three police chiefs defied the odds and changed cop culture by Neil GrossWhat it's about: how three police departments in Stockton, CA, Longmont, CO, and LaGrange, GA implemented institutional reforms by replacing aggressive policies with ones that prioritise community building, racial justice, and de-escalation.
Author alert: Colby College sociologist Neil Gross is a former Berkeley, CA police officer.
Read it for: a hopeful look at how to address ongoing issues of police brutality. |
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Blitz families: The children who stayed behind
by Penny Starns
The mass evacuation of children and new and expectant mothers during the Second World War is well documented. But over fifty per cent of children were not evacuated during the War, and it is these young people who offer an unrivalled view of what life was like during the bombing raids in Britain's cities. In Blitz Families Penny Starns takes a new look at the children whose parents refused to bow to official pressure and kept their beloved children with them throughout the War. As she documents family after family which made this difficult decision, she uncovers tales of the deprivation, criminality and disease of life in the city and, conversely, the surprising relative emotional and physical wellbeing of those who lived through the Blitz compared to their evacuee counterparts.
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| Ghosts of the orphanage: A story of mysterious deaths, a conspiracy of silence, and a search for justice by Christine KenneallyWhat it is: a sobering exposé spotlighting how children in orphanages throughout North America, Europe, and Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries were subjected to horrific abuse and murder.
What's inside: firsthand accounts, court transcripts, and other documents that illuminate long-buried secrets.
Reviewers say: "A powerful work of sociological investigation and literary journalism" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Seventy times seven: A true story of murder and mercy by Alex MarWhat it's about: In 1985 Gary, IN, four Black teenage girls stabbed 78-year-old white woman Ruth Pelke to death in her home. Fifteen-year-old Paula Cooper was the only one sentenced to death for the crime, becoming the youngest woman ever sentenced to death row.
What happened next: The case attracted global attention, with appeals made by Pelke's grandson and Pope John Paul II to not execute Cooper.
Read it for: a powerful story of advocacy, justice, and reconciliation. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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