Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/21/2013
ISBN-13: 9781250033888
ISBN-10: 1250033888

This convivial history of inn-keeping in England focuses on the 600-year-old George Inn, in the heart of what was London's theater district during Shakespeare's lifetime. Although there's no proof that the Bard sipped there, the author's considerable charm and obvious expertise quickly draw readers into the life of the inn as a center of commerce and culture. "A book to be read and reread, straight through or piecemeal, chuckling and -- ideally -- sipping a pint," cheers Booklist.

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Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/07/2013
ISBN-13: 9780307700162
ISBN-10: 030770016X

Senior Washington Post reporter Robert G. Kaiser documents the dramatic journey of a financial reform bill spearheaded by Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Christopher Dodd in the wake of America's 2008 economic crisis. Kaiser received unprecedented access to the major players as they navigated a tortuous 18-month legislative process to pass critical Wall Street and consumer protection reforms. Act of Congress is an impressive, unbiased look at the wheeling, dealing, number crunching, and hand shaking that takes place behind the scenes of the U.S. Congress.

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Publisher: Oxford University Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/08/2013
ISBN-13: 9780199964291
ISBN-10: 0199964297

The Real North Korea is "one of the best and most accessible recent accounts" (Publishers Weekly) of North Korea's challenging past and its uncertain political future. Russian historian and author Andrei Lankov describes the country's history of eccentric authoritarian regimes, from its birth as a Soviet "client state" in 1945 under the command of Kim Il-Sung through the dysfunctional totalitarian rule of his descendants. Personal anecdotes of the author's life in North Korea lighten the narrative and lend credibility to his argument that North Korea is destined for collapse. For an even more detailed look at the topic, check out Victor Cha's The Impossible State.

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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/21/2013
ISBN-13: 9780547554433
ISBN-10: 0547554435

The Last of the Doughboys brings World War I to life in the words of those who lived it. Journalist Richard Ruben painstakingly tracked down and interviewed dozens of surviving WWI veterans (aged between 101 and 113 years old at the time of their interviews) over the course of a decade. He skillfully weaves their halting, haunting individual stories into a vividly humanized account of the world's first industrial-scale war, and America's last days as a rural economy. Military history fans will relish this "wonderfully engaging study executed with a lot of heart" (Kirkus Reviews).

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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/20/2010
ISBN-13: 9780547248028
ISBN-10: 0547248024

In this gripping chronicle of the 15-year hunt for Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, author Neal Bascomb utilizes interviews and other research to illuminate how Eichmann was able to elude capture and escape from Europe. In addition, he also details the efforts of the German, U.S., and especially Israeli governments and their spy agencies to turn up clues and bring Eichmann back to Israel for trial. It's a thrilling and suspenseful story in its own right, but you'll also learn about the early days of Israel's legendary Mossad agency. If you're interested in the Holocaust, war crimes, or Israeli history, you'll want to pick up Hunting Eichmann.

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Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/08/2009
ISBN-13: 9780743294591
ISBN-10: 0743294599

Before author Roald Dahl became famous for children's classics like James and the Giant Peach, he joined an elite crowd of British spies in Washington D.C. during World War II. Winston Churchill's spymaster William Stephenson recruited the dashing Dahl (and other cultured socialites like Noel Coward and future James Bond author Ian Fleming) to mingle with influential Americans from first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to Senator Harry Truman. Their mission: spread rumors about Britain's political foes and charm the Americans into an alliance. Beautiful people play high stakes games as the world teeters on the brink of war in a spy history that's as juicy as...well, a giant peach.

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Publisher: Broadway Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/05/2011
ISBN-13: 9780307453280
ISBN-10: 0307453286

In 1943, a British officer's body washed ashore in Spain. His briefcase contained sealed letters about upcoming Allied attacks in Greece and Sardinia, which pro-Axis Spanish officials quickly shared with German authorities -- just as British military intelligence operators had hoped. In reality, the body was a plant, the letters faked. The hoax distracted the Nazis from the real Allied attack point, and paved the way for the Allies' final victory in World War II. Operation Mincemeat spins "a terrific yarn, full of details gleaned from painstaking detective work" (Kirkus Reviews) that WWII buffs will love; adventure fiction fans will find plenty of thrills in this real-life spy story, too.

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Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/20/2010
ISBN-13: 9781595551382
ISBN-10: 1595551387

Hitler proclaimed the highly anti-Semitic National Reich Church his nation's sole religious authority in 1937. Protestant pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer risked his life for years afterward by leading secret church services for those who rejected the Nazis' hate-filled, distorted theology. This illuminating account traces Bonhoeffer's early life through his role as a daring conspirator in multiple failed plots to assassinate Hitler -- activities for which he was executed just three weeks before the war's end. For another well-researched, engaging World War II biography about a Christian cleric who rejected his peers' ant-Semitism, defied the Nazi agenda, and helped save thousands of Jews, try Susan Zuccotti's Père Marie-Benoit and Jewish Rescue as well.

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