New and Recently Released!

500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars - by Kurt Eichenwald

Publisher: Touchstone
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/11/2012

ISBN-13: 9781451669381
ISBN-10: 1451669380

A high-profile investigative journalist draws upon reams of recently declassified documents and over 600 hours of interviews with the key military and political players involved to blow the lid off of the U.S. government's questionable responses to the 9/11 terror attacks in the 18 months immediately following. 500 Days reveals how world leaders' mutual policies of misinformation escalated the global terror threat and continue to negatively impact U.S. international affairs today. From the questionable detention of terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay to secrets behind the anthrax attacks, no quarter is given in this "breathtaking" (Booklist), if volatile, exposé.

First Chapter

Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible: The Fascinating History of Everything in Your Closet - by Tim Gunn with Ada Calhoun

Publisher: Gallery Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/11/2012

ISBN-13: 9781451643855
ISBN-10: 1451643853

Project Runway cohost and author Tim Gunn is not only an impeccably well-heeled modern fashion maven, but also a charming authority on the history of everything from blue jeans to high heels. Madonna didn't invent underwear as outerwear, for example; Gunn describes how returning WWII GI's set that trend, which gave us the now-ubiquitous T-shirt. Budding fashionistas, fans of the show, and cultural history buffs will all find Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible a snazzy, popular history option.

Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History - by Antonio J. Mendez and Matt Baglio

Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/13/2012

ISBN-13: 9780670026227
ISBN-10: 0670026220

Iranian militants seized Tehran's American embassy in 1979, launching an internationally publicized hostage drama that continued for over a year. But few people know that six diplomats actually escaped with the help of CIA operative -- now Argo coauthor -- Antonio Mendez. In a daring and risky operation, he provided the staffers with complex disguises while posing as a Hollywood producer scouting locations for a non-existent science fiction flick, "Argo." Mendez passed them off as his film crew until eventually they fled the country undetected. This real-life spy thriller was recently adapted to a big-screen production of the same title, starring and directed by Ben Affleck.

Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves - by Henry Wiencek

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/16/2012

ISBN-13: 9780374299569
ISBN-10: 0374299560

Author Henry Wiencek presents compelling evidence that the man who penned America's Declaration of Independence was a "pioneer in the monetizing of his slaves." Jefferson's relationships with his personal slaves (in particular, his mistress Sally Hemings and their children) reflected his acceptance of human capital as a premier investment opportunity. Wiencek's controversial reassessment of Jefferson will ruffle feathers, but is solidly grounded in thoughtful analysis of previously unexamined primary sources, including Jefferson's financial records. If you liked Jon Kukla's similarly provocative Mr. Jefferson's Women, don't miss Master of the Mountain.

Focus on: U.S. Presidential Elections

Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War - by Douglas R. Egerton

Publisher: Bloomsbury Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/28/2010

ISBN-13: 9781596916197
ISBN-10: 1596916192

A noted scholar of African-American history examines the backroom deals, parliamentary brawling, and vitriolic political dialog (one Republican convention speaker called Southerners "the whole vassalage of hell") that preceded America's landmark 1860 presidential election. Year of Meteors offers a "lucid, meticulous account" (Publishers Weekly) of slavery's role in placing dark horse political hopeful Abraham Lincoln ahead of the Democratic party's favored candidate, Stephen Douglas, to win the presidency with a record-low 39.5% of the popular vote. Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals is another engaging portrait of the charismatic figures and historic events described here.

Table of Contents

A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign - by Edward J. Larson

Publisher: Free Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/10/2008

ISBN-13: 9780743293174
ISBN-10: 0743293177

Filtered through a couple hundred years -- and in light of modern presidential candidates' unrelenting hostile posturing in the media -- the behavior of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson during the 1800 presidential campaign probably resides in that warm, fuzzy, "founding fathers" space of Americans' collective memory. This high-octane retelling of their fiercely fought presidential election campaign will shake that loose in no time: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward J. Larson brilliantly evokes Adams' pugnacious temperament, Jefferson's willingness to let others do his dirty work, and offers a riveting reminder that pistols at dawn wasn't a metaphor when these guys ran for the highest office in the land.

First Chapter Table of Contents

1960 -- LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies - by David Pietrusza

Publisher: Union Square
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/05/2010

ISBN-13: 9781402777462
ISBN-10: 1402777469

In a "winning and provocative chronicle" (Library Journal) of the1960 presidential campaign, author David Pietrusza expertly describes the key candidates' foibles and charms, as well as the events that shaped their eventual paths to the Oval Office. Kennedy is portrayed as a charmer, though unwilling to let political responsibility hamper his recreational skirt-chasing; Nixon's politics were virtually indistinguishable from Kennedy's, though his saturnine temperament obscured that fact; and Johnson proved himself to be a "man of the people" -- or a sort of back-room bully, depending on the situation. With a lively cast of secondary players -- from Rockefellers to mobsters -- this is presidential history at its best.

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