"The seeds of revenge had been planted in the fertile breasts of honour-conscious Afghans, and they eventually bore terrible fruit."
~ from William Dalrymple's The Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42 |
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New and Recently Released!
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| The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret by Catherine BaileyIn The Secret Rooms, historian Catherine Bailey reveals a thrilling piece of history that is more exciting -- and stranger -- than fiction. Developing a book on World War I, Bailey was doing research in the Duke of Rutland's family archives at Belvoir Castle, Rutland's primary home. She found odd gaps in the records and realized there might be a cover-up. Tracking down correspondence and getting some of it decoded, interviewing elderly former servants, and examining public records, Bailey discovered a scandalous series of actions that the ninth Duke of Rutland, John Manners, had tried to obscure. The Secret Rooms relates a fascinating and shocking piece of early 20th century history that nearly remained undiscovered. |
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| Waking From the Dream: The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King Jr. by David L. ChappellIn April, 1968, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. King's leadership had been perhaps the most important element in the progress of the civil rights movement during the 1960s, and his death left many supporters unsure of how to continue his work. In Waking from the Dream, historian David Chappell examines King's legacy and the civil rights progress that has been achieved since 1968. Describing not only the successes but some failures, Chappell demonstrates how the movement has continued in this "vital" (Kirkus Reviews) report on the past 45 years. |
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| Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States by Felipe Fernández-ArmestoWhile the majority of history textbooks in the U.S. emphasize English colonization and the English-speaking heritage of North America, large portions of what is now the U.S. were first settled by the Spanish. In Our America, historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto paints a more complete portrait of early colonists, including Dutch and French as well as British and Spanish settlers. Spanish cultural influences, the possible identity of the real Zorro, and details of major and minor Anglo-Spanish conflicts emerge in this "delightfully written" (Publishers Weekly), though potentially controversial, work that argues for inclusion of the U.S. in Latin America. |
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| The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World by Greg GrandinThe institution of slavery dominated many aspects of the U.S. economy well into the 19th century (including in "free" states), and even abolitionists often believed that Africans were intellectually inferior to Europeans. Amasa Delano, captain of a sealing ship, was one such abolitionist. When his crew boarded another ship in the South Pacific to offer aid, Delano horrendously overreacted after he discovered that West Africans were in control. In his carefully researched and accessible, if disturbing, book, The Empire of Necessity, historian Greg Grandin explains Delano's actions and their context. He also details the nature of the slave trade and relates how the violent shipboard events inspired Herman Melville's short novel Benito Cereno. |
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| Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA by John Anthony RizzoJohn Rizzo, a career lawyer for the CIA, observed the inside workings of "The Agency" for 30 years. His job was to spot possible violations of U.S. law before they occurred and head them off, which meant that he was at the center of many of the CIA's operations before they became widely known. In his memoir, Company Man, Rizzo relates fascinating details of people and events behind the headlines. Without compromising national security, Rizzo discusses KGB defectors, Iran-Contra, "black sites," the destruction of video recordings of the torture of an al-Qaeda agent, and much more. Anyone interested in the connections between espionage and politics will find Rizzo's insights riveting and informative. |
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| The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemercier; translated by Alexis SiegelIn a riveting compilation of photographs by Didier Lefèvre and illustrations by Emmanuel Guibert, The Photographer recounts Lefèvre's dangerous 1986 round trip between Normandy and Afghanistan as a documentary photographer for Doctors Without Borders. The photographs provide most of the storytelling, while the drawings and text balloons fill in context, supply information where relevant photographs are unavailable, and transport readers to the middle of Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. The French-language edition of this account of life in a war zone won a Bédélys Prize in Canada and was a European bestseller. |
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| A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story by Qais Akbar OmarAfghan author Qais Akbar Omar's hometown, Kabul, has been destroyed by revolution and wars several times over. In his childhood, the mujahedin destroyed idyllic, fertile Kabul, and the Omar family fled; the pressures of war forced them to move again and again. After they returned to Kabul, the Taliban made life nearly intolerable, but Omar managed to open a carpet shop and provide a living for friends and family. Fear, brutality, and deprivation have ruled his life, though A Fort of Nine Towers also depicts the beauty and wisdom of Afghan traditions. Readers who appreciated Gayle Tzemach Lemmon's The Dressmaker of Khair Khana will find Omar's memoir equally absorbing. |
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| The Places in Between by Rory StewartIn 2002, shortly after the Taliban had been removed from power in Afghanistan, Scottish journalist and scholar Rory Stewart began walking across the country from Herat to Kabul. The land remained devastated by war, the people were unsettled, and life for many Afghans was miserable. The Places in Between draws on Stewart's views of the landscape and the people he met, relating what he learned in interviews with villagers, foreign aid workers, out-of-power Taliban leaders, students, and myriad others. Afghan warmth and generosity -- as well as chaotic, dangerous conditions -- emerge vividly from the pages of this memoir, offering Westerners a degree of clarity about the country and its people. |
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