Publisher: Penguin Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/08/2011
ISBN-13: 9781594203145
ISBN-10: 1594203148

Despite Hitler's near-assassination in 1944, relentless Allied bombing of German cities, and simultaneous occupation by four hostile armies, Germany's Nazi machine kept ticking until long after Allied victory was a foregone conclusion. Why? Historian Ian Kershaw credits years of relentless Socialist propaganda, the SS/Gestapo's near-perfect fusion of police and military force, and -- of course -- the charismatic figure of Hitler himself. He argues that the German people's buy-in to a national identity of absolute efficiency and resilience was, however, just as crucial. No WWII buff (or fan of the author) will want to miss this impeccably researched, masterfully written study.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/13/2011
ISBN-13: 9780684872988
ISBN-10: 0684872986

Grand Pursuit is a grand tour of game-changing ideas, events, and thinkers in economic history. Author Sylvia Nasar contends that economics isn't really about money: it's about people seeking their purpose. Nasar profiles movers and shakers in modern economic thought to support this idea; she evokes surprising examples (like writer Charles Dickens, whose depictions of London's 19th-century poor forever changed economic debate) and oft-overlooked individuals (present-day Indian economist Amartya Sen) alongside expected luminaries (John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman). Grand Pursuit distinguishes itself as not only informative but also "artfully rendered and a delight to read." (Businessweek)

Publisher: Crown Publishers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/09/2011
ISBN-13: 9780307886521
ISBN-10: 0307886522

Pinched brilliantly scrutinizes the long-term consequences of America's recent, devastating recession -- and quick fixes are out of the question, given the country's ever-widening financial gap between rich and poor, record joblessness, and sinking housing market. Among the secondary effects? Racial tension and reactionary rural conservatism will rise as middle- and lower-economic communities face continued hardships. On a slightly more positive note, women and minorities will gain greater social status as bread winners and authority figures, creating new political opportunities. The New York Times proclaims Pinched "timely and important." Fans of Richard Florida's The Great Reset (also on "the post-crash economy") can take this one to the bank, too.

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Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/22/2011
ISBN-13: 9780393064803
ISBN-10: 0393064808

Following in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson -- who radically proposed that a Constitutional Convention convene every 20 years to re-do the Constitution to keep it current -- author Christopher Phillips launched his very own grass-roots campaign among every-day Americans based on the idea of starting over with a whole new Constitution(!) Traveling from high-school assemblies to Tea Party events (and even the eccentric arts festival Burning Man), Phillips asked people of all ages and diverse backgrounds how relevant the Constitution was to them, and what new Articles they would propose if they could rewrite it right now. What he learned -- often funny, frequently poignant -- testifies to Americans' real desire for non-partisan, respectful, and thought-provoking shared political discourse.

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Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/01/2003
ISBN-13: 9780767900560
ISBN-10: 0767900561

In this meticulous examination of the former USSR's infamous prison camp system, author Amy Applebaum covers the camps' administration, the atrocities that prisoners suffered, and the political forces (inside and outside of Soviet Russia) that allowed the camps to persist so long. While Josef Stalin famously oversaw and regulated these little hells on earth (through which an estimated 18-30 million prisoners passed between 1929-1953), Applebaum also sharply questions European and American complicity in the "rationalized evil" of the Gulag camps. Gulag stands as a truly exceptional history on a difficult subject, drawing upon rare Soviet archival sources which were -- in some cases -- only open to the public briefly between 2002 and 2009.

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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/17/2007
ISBN-13: 9780618592067
ISBN-10: 0618592067

By July of 1905, Tsar Nicholas II had embroiled Russia in brutal conflict with Japan. As Russia's poorest classes increasingly took the brunt of that war, 600+ Russian sailors on the Russian battleship Potemkin unexpectedly rebelled against their callous commanding officers. The sailors -- primarily of peasant stock -- were often treated as no more than chattel. But when officers began serving them maggot-ridden meat, they finally snapped. Weapons machinist A.M. Matyushenko and co-conspirator G.N. Vakulenchuk led the revolt, demanding an end to the Tsar's autocratic stranglehold on Russia's people. Although the mutiny stalled after only 11 days, it inspired later revolutionary sentiment that eventually toppled the tsars. Red Mutiny is "history at its best" (Kirkus Reviews).

First Chapter  

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/01/2003
ISBN-13: 9780312421953
ISBN-10: 0312421958

In this extraordinary book, author Orlando Figes illustrates the lives and achievements of Russian artists, writers, musicians, and others whose contributions have shaped modern Russia's complex, nuanced cultural identity. Figes explores the influence of Orthodox liturgy, the contributions of peasant culture, and Russia's many incidents of socio-economic unrest as sources of that identity in the mid-20th century. Studded with jewel-like anecdotes about figures like writer Leo Tolstoy and composer Igor Stravinsky, Natasha's Dance is both personable and erudite; Publishers Weekly praises it as a "elegant" and calls it "a unique introduction to Russian history."

First Chapter  

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/28/2006
ISBN-13: 9780312360412
ISBN-10: 031236041X

Historian Phillip Longworth explores modern Russia (and its future potential) via the four great empires that have ruled the region in its past: Kievan, Muscovite, Romanov, and Soviet. Russia has long been home to sites of concentrated habitation (one 6,000 year-old site had as many as 10,000 inhabitants), but the 1st true empire arose under Kiev Rus trade captains in the 9th century. The 13th-century Muscovite empire that followed gave Moscow a continuing pride of place in Russian identity, even as the modern Romanov and Soviet empires followed. Appealing prose and a well-presented central thesis -- that Russia's star is likely to ascend again -- make this a great pick for budding Russophiles.

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Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/03/2009
ISBN-13: 9780312379766
ISBN-10: 0312379765

Author Helen Rappaport's sharply focused narrative describes the final, unlucky 13 days of Russia's last imperial family in 1918. The truth of their brutal capture, imprisonment, and final execution remained closely guarded for decades by the Soviet authorities who later assumed power. Without descending into maudlin sentiment, Rappaport reveals failed attempts at the royal family's rescue, while sensitively evoking the dreadful innocence of the five children in their last days. Kirkus Reviews applauds it as a "solid" socio-political history with all the "vigor of a true-crime thriller."

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