Publisher: W.W. Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/19/2012
ISBN-13: 9780393069006
ISBN-10: 0393069001

Often portrayed in the media as amiable political allies during the 1980s, in private Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were often aggressively divided on touchy international issues, from nuclear armament to the respective U.S. and British incursions into Grenada and the Falkland Islands. Drawn from recently declassified U.S. records and a wealth of oral history sources, Reagan and Thatcher depicts their respectful -- if tension-filled -- working relationship in a narrative that melds impressive historical authority with psychological suspense. Fans of the Oscar-winning Thatcher bio-flick The Iron Lady won't want to miss this!

Publisher: W.W. Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/19/2012
ISBN-13: 9780393082401
ISBN-10: 0393082407

Titanic Tragedy distinguishes itself from among other recently-published Titanic histories by elegantly tying together rarely-examined facets of the disaster. The ship's loss is not an endpoint, but instead an axis around which other fascinating stories orbit: the invention of Guglielmo Marconi's wireless communication (without which many more lives would have been lost); the commercial fate of the Belfast shipyard that built the doomed vessel; and many individual survivors' stories, each life a personal microcosm forever altered by one fateful day at sea. "Few centennial tributes...carry the deep passion and knowledge of John Maxtone-Graham's Titanic Tragedy," raves The Seattle Times.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/13/2012
ISBN-13: 9781439191002
ISBN-10: 143919100X

Hitlerland draws upon eyewitness accounts from Americans in Germany during Hitler's rise to power: the chorus includes notables (writer Thomas Wolfe, Olympian Jesse Owens, and newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst) as well as those who arrived looking to make their mark (like Martha Dodd, the over-sexed daughter of an American ambassador, or would-be journalist Howard K. Smith). Juicy, suspenseful prose evokes interwar Germany's strange beauty and growing horrors in a richly textured, eminently readable narrative; fans of Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts will find this one a must-read, too.

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Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/13/2012
ISBN-13: 9780385519724
ISBN-10: 0385519729

Before galloping to glory with the Rough Riders (or into the Oval Office as the 26th U.S. president), a wet-behind-the-ears Theodore Roosevelt was appointed New York City's police commissioner in 1895. The Big Apple was rotten to the core with brothels, gambling dens, booze-soaked after-hours saloons, Tammany Hall's entrenched Democratic thuggery, and a corrupt police force. But when Commissioner Roosevelt started his clean-up crack-down with the cocktail-loving city's drinking laws, his popularity dropped faster than a floozy's garter-belt. The rollicking account of his deflation by irascible New Yorkers will please popular history readers as well as presidential history buffs.

First Chapter  

Publisher: New American Library
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/02/2010
ISBN-13: 9780451230232
ISBN-10: 045123023X

In The Pacific, bestselling author and military historian Hugh Ambrose forges an unforgettable story from the experiences of five U.S. combat soldiers who saw action during several major Pacific battles against the Japanese in World War II, with some trapped in smaller (if no less vicious) trench-fights for months after victory was proclaimed in Europe. The Pacific melds poignant human interest with impeccable history and graphic descriptions of the unique and terrible ravages of war endured by U.S. servicemen in WWII's Pacific theater. If you liked Band of Brothers (penned by the author's father, Stephen E. Ambrose), this riveting read about the Pacific front may also appeal.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/27/2010
ISBN-13: 9780307268396
ISBN-10: 030726839X

Winston Churchill will ever be justly remembered for never-say-die bravado during World War II's early days; with Winston's War, acclaimed author Max Hastings brings equally deserved attention to the iconic leader's increasing use of circumspect diplomacy to shield his people from further harm as the war continued. Churchill strategically ceded center stage to U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt as needed, for example, to cement a political "friendship" that limited the power of Russia's much-mistrusted leader Joseph Stalin. This "exemplary" (The New York Times) study delivers new insights into Churchill's character, as well as how the war was finally brought to a close.

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Publisher: New American Library
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/05/2011
ISBN-13: 9780451232120
ISBN-10: 0451232127

Brothers, Rivals, Victors vividly portrays the enduring shared friendships of America's World War II military "dream team": Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, General George S. Patton, and General Omar Bradley. This remarkably humanized triple-portrait of men striving with friendship and war alike draws upon a wealth of insider accounts, as well as the private papers of each man (in which, as you may imagine, they are utterly frank about one another). Military history die-hards looking for combat details won't find them here -- but if you liked the reflective intimacy of Karl Marlantes' What It Is Like to Go to War, this is the WWII read for you!

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Publisher: Harper
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/08/2011
ISBN-13: 9780061650703
ISBN-10: 0061650706

Combining original sources, archival research and in-depth personal interviews, this riveting narrative follows the 230 women of the French Resistance who, imprisoned by the Gestapo outside of Paris, turned to each other, finding solace and strength in friendship. A Train in Winter uncovers a dark chapter of history that offers an inspiring portrait of ordinary people, of bravery and survival and of the remarkable, enduring power of female friendship.

First Chapter  Table of Contents