When the USSR launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, a fierce battle for space supremacy began between the Soviet Union and the U.S. Journalist Matthew Brzezinski details the history of the early days of the space race and the implications of Sputnik's launch in this account, in which "the writing is fast-paced and crisp, the stakes high and the tension palpable" (Publishers Weekly). Fans of space history may also enjoy Michael D'Antonio's recent A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey, which covers similar territory but focuses more on rocketry than politics.

Though Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam died earlier this year, we are fortunate to have one last history lesson from him; this one focuses on the Korean War. As Halberstam evaluates the political decisions and miscalculations of parties on both sides of the conflict, he shares the stories of President Truman; General Douglas MacArthur and his successor, Matthew Ridgway; and the leaders of both North and South Korea. As Booklist puts it, Halberstam's last "commanding and evocative...work stands as the coda to his enduringly famous The Best and the Brightest."

If you thought the 2000 U.S. election between George Bush and Al Gore was controversial, think again. The 1800 presidential competition between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams was fierce enough to be called "America's Second Revolution," and resulted in a tie between Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr. It took 36 ballots in the House of Representatives before the presidency was finally awarded to Jefferson; a few years later the loophole in the Constitution that allowed this state of affairs was closed. Fans of early American history and of political science will be intrigued by this captivating campaign history.

This companion book to the PBS documentary by the same name is an abundantly illustrated chronicle of the American experience of World War II, as told by ordinary men and women from four towns across the country. While reading this will not give you an idea of how the war was won, you will have vivid depictions--in both word and image--of life on the battlefield as well as on the homefront. Racial tensions, fear, scrap-metal drives, war-time dances, and so much more all have a place in this work, which Kirkus Reviews calls "excellent."

In 1920, a Massachusetts robbery left two dead; seven years later, after a controversial trial and many appeals, two Italian immigrants were executed for the crime. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, both avowed anarchists as well as immigrants, faced much prejudice from police and prosecutors, and may have been convicted of crimes they never committed. (Author Bruce Watson, however, is careful to focus on the trial and its ramifications and never shares his opinion.) Certainly evidence was inconclusive and testimonies often contradictory, and controversy over the way Sacco and Vanzetti were treated continues to this day.

The end of the 18th century was a period of tumultuous change, marked by Russia's imperial power and battle with the Ottomans, the revolution in France, and America's near-collapse. None of these events happened in isolation, and author Jay Winik focuses on the connections between these nations and their leaders, including Catherine the Great, Louis XVI, Robespierre, and Thomas Jefferson. Booklist calls The Great Upheaval "an outstandingly wide-ranging account of this vital era in world history."

When the prevailing view is that the world is flat, sailing off the end of it is a realistic fear; in proving that the world is actually round, Ferdinand Magellan's 16th-century voyage around the globe faced much worse. Mutinies, violent storms, and hostile natives contributed to the decimation of Magellan's crew, the loss of three ships, and Magellan's own death in the Philippines. Using pilot logs and eyewitness accounts, journalist Laurence Bergreen has recreated this harrowing, ill-fated voyage into the unknown.

Belgium's King Leopold II believed that he could make his country great by acquiring colonies overseas, but when his countrymen showed no interest, he established a colony in the Congo region as his own private venture. Tyranny, exploitation, starvation, and torture soon followed as Leopold's agents plundered rubber and instituted slavery, with an estimated death toll of about 10 million--or half the area's population--between 1880 and 1920. Journalist Adam Hochschild shines a light on an appalling and almost forgotten period in this "searing history of evil and the heroes who exposed it" (Kirkus Reviews).

If you trust in the justice system to put the guilty in jail and keep the innocent out, this account of a chilling miscarriage of justice will freeze the blood in your veins. In a California county where innumerable citizens were convicted of offenses they didn't commit by politicians and police determined to beat crime at any cost, former principal Patrick Dunn was convicted in 1993 of murdering his wife--without any physical evidence to support that hypothesis. This exploration of Dunn's trial and the county's history of punishing innocent people (many convictions were overturned years later) is "a truly terrifying story" (Booklist).

This chronicle of the rise and fall of anti-Communist crusader Senator Joseph McCarthy offers a "chilling description of his legacy" (Publishers Weekly) and reveals how beliefs that originated in the 1950s are relevant today. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Haynes Johnson questions how McCarthy was able to intimidate the American public and his colleagues in Congress, and goes on to ask whether a new "age of anxiety" is dawning. Replace communism with terrorism, Haynes says, and you have some serious food for thought.

In the 14th century, a pestilential disease came creeping out of Central Asia towards Europe, killing millions as it went. All told, about a third of Europe's population succumbed to the Black Death (or the Great Mortality, as survivors called it at the time). As author John Kelly describes the experiences of plague-stricken communities and the individuals who lived--and died--during the height of the Black Death, he also explores the consequences it had on Europe's economic and social systems. In all, he provides an up-close-and-personal look at an alarming, horrifying period in history.

Chicago's World Fair of 1893 boasted the best of American ingenuity--the first Ferris Wheel, the introduction of the zipper--as well as the worst, for a charismatic serial killer preyed on innocents in a specially constructed complex nearby. The Devil in the White City shares the stories of the two men who shaped the history of the event--architect Daniel Burnham, who coordinated the construction of the White City, and serial killer Herman Mudgett, who exploited it--and draws an illuminating picture of America at the turn of the century. "Breathtaking...compelling and aptly claustrophobic," says Publishers Weekly.