Publisher: St. Martin's
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/13/2012
ISBN-13: 9781608190096
ISBN-10: 1608190099

Catholic foes at home and abroad plotted tirelessly to murder or overthrow England's Queen Elizabeth I; in turn, her chief "spymaster," Sir Francis Walsingham established a dazzlingly complex network of agents who safeguarded her long reign with ruthless cunning and efficiency. The Watchers illuminates 16th-century spygames in an action-packed narrative laced with masterful understanding of Elizabethan society's greatest hopes and fears. Fans of the period will love this "irresistible" (Booklist) read; political history buffs interested in the roots of modern espionage -- or the fine line between national security and repression -- will too.

Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/27/2012
ISBN-13: 9780385515696
ISBN-10: 0385515693

At the end of World War II, Eastern Europe was left to Soviet Russian military occupation. Communist leaders developed a resistance-crushing repertoire of propaganda, intimidation, imprisonment, and ethnic cleansing. Under Joseph Stalin, each country's agencies of independence -- churches, newspapers, elections, local political associations -- were brutally dismantled. Narrative detail and sharp analysis (supported by the author's usual superb research) make this insightful history of communism in Poland, East Germany, and Hungary a perfect read for fans of epic Russian histories like Orlando Figes' Natasha's Dance and Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad.

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Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/27/2012
ISBN-13: 9780670025121
ISBN-10: 0670025127

An acclaimed political analyst-turned-historian challenges the signing Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) as "the birth of the America." Instead, the real excitement went down in 1775: colonial legislators rousted royal governors from power, congress assumed executive powers, and local Patriot Committees showed Tory merchants (and their British-made goods) the door. Colonial militia scored key wins at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill throughout 1775. By December, only Boston remained under British control; ink on paper in 1776 simply formalized the reality of American autonomy. For a "richly satisfying" (Publishers Weekly) and "impressively authoritative" (Kirkus Reviews) reassessment of the American Revolution, put 1775 on your reading calendar.

Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/08/2012
ISBN-13: 9780670025046
ISBN-10: 0670025046

In 1839, 53 captives aboard the Spanish slave ship Amistad mutinied against their captors. Their recapture by U.S. Navy officials sparked an international firestorm of pro- and anti-slavery debate. Here, author Marcus Rediker draws upon new research to tell the rebels' individual stories, including how they proactively contribute to their own defense until a high-profile Supreme Court case restored their freedom. This refreshing, "totally enthralling" (Booklist) narrative treats their subsequent activities in America and Africa, too. Howard Jones' Mutiny on the Amistad provides an excellent historical overview of these dramatic events.

Publisher: Little, Brown
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/13/2012
ISBN-13: 9780316185394
ISBN-10: 0316185396

Eager to push counterinsurgency efforts in northern Afghanistan (yet woefully ignorant of reality on the ground), U.S. officials ordered construction of Combat Outpost Keating near Pakistan's border in 2006. Built cheaply and poorly located in hostile mountain terrain far from U.S. air support, Keating was left chronically undermanned and ill-provisioned. Commanders' repeated pleas for more troops and greater mission clarity were ignored. In a single cataclysmic day of battle, a mere 53 troops held Keating against 400 insurgents. The same authorities who doomed the outpost's success then dubbed its mission a failure and ordered its destruction. The Outpost vividly brings to life Keating's soldiers -- their hopes, challenges, and families back home -- while delivering a searing indictment of high-level U.S. command failures for which too many paid the ultimate price.

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/09/2008
ISBN-13: 9780374166854
ISBN-10: 0374166854

"It is much more important to change your leaders than your light bulbs," claims Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas Friedman in his follow-up to The Earth is Flat. While individual efforts to be green (such as recycling) are important, they're simply not enough to avert climate change. The current state of the planet demands radical policy changes that will make clean energy and environmental protection a priority. Friedman outlines a comprehensive strategy for how America can invest in its future and that of the world with greener political policies. Consider Brian Fagan's The Great Warming, which examines the intimate links between environmental change and political affairs throughout history, as a follow-up read.

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Publisher: W.W. Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/01/2008
ISBN-13: 9780393064629
ISBN-10: 039306462X

Drawing upon extensive demographic and economic data, author Theodore Hamerow delivers a balanced account of the complex economic, cultural, religious, and political factors that pushed European Jews into positions of extreme vulnerability without recourse. Powerful xenophobic lobbies in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. implicitly supported the Nazi genocide by fighting Jewish immigration. Persistent skepticism (especially in the U.S.) regarding allegations of mass murder further obscured the seriousness of the Jews' plight. Publishers Weekly praises Why We Watched as "an essential cautionary tale" about the dangers of bigotry and complacency. Douglas Frantz's Death on the Black Sea, about the mysterious 1942 sinking of a ship full of Jewish refugees, offers a smaller-scale exploration of similar issues.

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Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/04/2011
ISBN-13: 9780670022953
ISBN-10: 0670022950

A Harvard psychologist who generally sides with biology in "nature vs. nurture" debates about the human condition argues that we may be living in humanity's golden days of nonviolence. Shocked? Not if you take the long view of human history, which author Steven Pinker does. Skillfully employing a mountain of interdisciplinary research, he examines six historical elements of human advancement (from hunting to agriculture to commerce and governance, to the modern era's comparative greater prosperity and physical ease) to assess our progress -- as a species -- toward greater empathy, self-control, morality, and reason than survival strictly dictates. Jonathan Schell's The Unconquerable World is another optimistic book that examines humanity's increasing departure from violent conflict resolution.

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Publisher: Bloomsbury Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/22/2009
ISBN-13: 9781608190362
ISBN-10: 1608190366

Weaving together an impressive array of international research and data from all 50 U.S. states, two British social scientists have identified income equality as the single most essential factor in a society's collective health and happiness. Inequality of income makes us increasingly mad, bad, and dangerous to know: countries with increased income disparity (like the U.S., where predatory capitalism has widened the gap between rich and poor dramatically over the last 30 years) show corresponding increases in homicide, obesity, drug use, mental illness, anxiety, and even school-yard bullying. What to do? The authors propose empathetic cultural and political models. The Spirit Level's "fascinating findings" (Publishers Weekly) will resonate with fans of Joseph Stiglitz's The Price of Inequality.

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