Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/19/2013
ISBN-13: 9781608191055
ISBN-10: 1608191052

In 1836, a Comanche war band massacred the white settlement where Cynthia Ann Parker lived as a child. Raised afterward by loving adoptive Comanche parents, Parker soon forgot her former life: she married a respected chieftain, bore him three children (her son, Quanah Parker, became the last free Comanche chief), and lived happily for 24 years until her tragic "rescue" by Texas Rangers. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist describes the real-life events that inspired Alan LeMay's classic Western novel, The Searchers, and its iconic 1956 film adaptation (starring John Wayne, and directed by John Ford). If you love Western history -- in fiction, film, or fact -- this is a must-read!

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/26/2013
ISBN-13: 9780345527264
ISBN-10: 0345527267

Inspired by Jules Verne's fantastic novel Around the World in 80 Days, two rival 19th-century female journalists defied gender stereotypes in a headlong race to complete the fastest trip around the world. Smartly blending social history and armchair travel, author Matthew Goodman vividly captures the two women's very different personalities against the backdrop of a burgeoning Victorian travel industry that vowed to deliver more of the world, faster, and in more comfort than ever before. For the story of yet another adventuresome, influential, and well-traveled Victorian woman, try Georgina Howell's Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations as a follow-up.

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Publisher: New American Library
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/05/2013
ISBN-13: 9780451239198
ISBN-10: 0451239199

The Last Outlaws chronicles how two good-boys-gone-bad became celebrity outlaws Butch Cassidy (born Robert Leroy Parker) and the Sundance Kid (born Harry Longabaugh). Raised in similarly stable, religious, hard-working families, the boys drifted westward independently. A shared love of the frontier's finer hobbies (gambling, booze, and whoring) soon prompted the resourceful duo to abandon cattle rustling in favor of daring, lucrative bank robberies. While many details of their restless lives and violent deaths may never be fully known, premier Western historian Thom Hatch delivers an "immersive and entertaining study" (Publishers Weekly) accompanied by photos, maps, and a comprehensive list of sources.

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Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/05/2013
ISBN-13: 9781451617528
ISBN-10: 1451617526

The town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, boomed on U.S military-owned acreage between 1942-1944. Its electricity usage matched that of New York City, and its population reached 75,000 -- yet it didn't appear on a single map during World War II. Many new residents were women, recruited at top-dollar wages for positions from chemists to couriers. Sworn to strict secrecy protocols, they were told only that their work would ensure a swift, final World War II victory. The nuclear blast at Hiroshima at last revealed their hidden roles, for better or worse. Drawn from interviews with women who lived and worked in Oak Ridge in their youth, The Girls of Atomic City brilliantly illuminates a too-long-overlooked chapter of both World War II and women's history.

Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/26/2013
ISBN-13: 9781400069804
ISBN-10: 1400069807

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Michael Moss reveals how corporate food execs engineer our seemingly insatiable addictions to salt, sugar, and fat -- quite literally feeding America's current health crises, from obesity to diabetes. Moss breaks down the chemistry of junk foods' appeal, as well as the social trends and advertising strategies that lure us to buy despite the known risks. In particular, he targets the trend toward "healthier options": foods touted as low in one of the unholy trinity (for example, "low-sodium") but dangerously high in the other two (sugar, fat). Kirkus Reviews raves: "A shocking, galvanizing manifesto," and "one of the most important books of the year."

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/25/2005
ISBN-13: 9780684824901
ISBN-10: 0684824906

Esteemed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin provides an "illuminating and well-written" (Kirkus Reviews) study of the personal strengths and political acumen that aided dark-horse candidate Abraham Lincoln in his successful 1860 presidential bid. With equal care, Goodwin details the personalities and character traits of Lincoln's former opponents -- William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates -- whom he subsequently rallied together into his cabinet. Despite frequent clashes among the men, their collective commitment to Lincoln's administration during the fraught Civil War years helped to secure the Union's eventual victory. Team of Rivals inspired director Steven Spielberg's award-winning 2012 film, Lincoln.

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Publisher: National Geographic Society
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/20/2012
ISBN-13: 9781426208744
ISBN-10: 142620874X

Award-winning novelist and historian Winston Groom presents a "provocatively rendered and persuasively argued study" (Library Journal) of the Civil War's first major battle on the Western front. Gleaned from primary sources, firsthand accounts of officers, enlisted men, nurses, and civilians (including writers Lew Wallace and Ambrose Bierce) bring to life the horrific blood price paid by both sides. Groom expertly describes and analyzes Union and Confederate operations throughout; however, it is his superlative rendering of human drama that favorably distinguishes Shiloh, 1862 from among similar works. Seasoned Civil War history aficionados will find this essential reading; newcomers in search of a gripping, authoritative introduction to this key battle need look no further.

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Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/25/2011
ISBN-13: 9780805091533
ISBN-10: 080509153X

Midnight Rising chronicles the 1859 raid led by radical abolitionist John Brown on a federal armory at Harpers Ferry. Brown possessed a fierce, implacable charisma that inspired great loyalty among his followers: he proclaimed himself an instrument of God's wrath, sent to punish men for the sin of slavery. Unlike most abolitionists (who favored peaceful means), Brown advocated armed insurrection as the only way to free the nation from slavery. To further that mission, his band planned to arm local slaves with weapons stolen from the armory and encourage their violent uprising. Author Tony Horwitz thoughtfully explores a complex, controversial firebrand whose actions hastened the onset of the Civil War.

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Publisher: Oxford University Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/25/1988
ISBN-13: 9780195038637
ISBN-10: 0195038630

Premier Civil War historian and author James M. McPherson is noted for lively, erudite works -- like Battle Cry of Freedom -- which set the bar for excellence among fans of the period. McPherson traces the economic, social, political, and technological shifts that precipitated the Civil War, and provides richly detailed descriptions of key figures, battles, and events throughout its course. Battle Cry of Freedom earned a Pulitzer Prize, and critics from the LA Times to The Washington Post hail it the finest single-volume Civil War history to date. Budding Civil War aficionados will find this classic a must-read, while long-time fans of the author will relish revisiting it.

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Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/12/2008
ISBN-13: 9780307277572
ISBN-10: 0307277577

The pro-slavery South and abolitionist North angled for California territory as soon as it was acquired: Northern industrialists saw California as a new market for manufactured goods, plus a valuable port for shipping them overseas; wealthy Southerners viewed slave labor as the perfect way to unearth California's valuable reserves at maximal profit. The regional dogfight escalated when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848. California's admission as a free state in 1850 infuriated Southerners, while the concessions that brokered that compromise rankled Northern abolitionists. Stake your claim here for a twisted history of gold and greed on the road to the Civil War!

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