Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/03/2012
ISBN-13: 9780805093353
ISBN-10: 0805093354

Headlines publicized Haiti as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere after 2010's deadly quake: now acclaimed historian Laurent Dubois challenges us to see that country as more than a fading tag-line. From the 1804 revolution that freed Haiti from French colonial enslavement to the U.S. Marines' ill-planned occupation for two decades during the early 20th century, Dubois deftly narrates the tiny island's struggle toward democracy. Moreover, he highlights what Haiti's own intellectuals say about their country's progress, an oft-overlooked yet essential dimension that earns Haiti: The Aftershocks of History high praise as a "well-written, authoritative history" (The New York Times) of events.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/20/2011
ISBN-13: 9780312581756
ISBN-10: 0312581750

Looking for a royal read? The Royal Stuarts dishes up a "nuanced and action-packed" (Publishers Weekly) slice of British history from 14th-century Scotland to Napoleonic France. Author Allan Massie knows his history, and how to keep readers hooked: compelling individual portraits of key figures (drawn from historic fact plus relevant literary and cultural sources) and universal themes of dramatic interest (loyalty, lechery, power, and piety) bring the rise and fall of England's Scottish ruling family vividly to life. Fans of Alison Weir's Tudor-centric histories may also enjoy visiting the Stuart clan for a change of pace.

Publisher: Harper
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/17/2012
ISBN-13: 9780060898977
ISBN-10: 0060898976

Wanted Women explores strange parallels and dramatic changes in the lives of two Muslim women: Hirsi Ali fled to the West to become a vocal critic of radical Islam's cruelties to women (her memoir Infidel chronicles her experiences, including genital mutilation). In contrast, Pakistan-born Aafia Siddiqui earned a neuroscience degree in America, was accepted to Harvard, and later married Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks. Siddiqui has since been named as Al-Qaeda's only known female operative. Despite Wanted Women's narrow scope, The New York Times praises it as a "sobering and provocative" work that brings needed attention to women's perspectives on radical Islam and the War on Terror.

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/13/2011
ISBN-13: 9780802120014
ISBN-10: 0802120016

Rather than focusing on Kalakaa, Hawaii's last reigning king, journalist and author Julia Flynn Siler brings added dimension to the figure of Lili'uokalani, the sister who briefly succeeded him. New access to Queen Lili'uokalani's private diaries reveals a woman of great competence, left with little defense against imperial forces -- from Great Britain, then Germany, and finally the U.S. -- that would ultimately rob her of her throne, and the Hawaiian people of their independence. Don't let the Lost Kingdom's fresh prose style or pithy subtitle fool you: it's an informed history that doesn't sugar-coat the injustices of "America's First Imperial Adventure." If you liked Sarah Vowell's Unfamiliar Fishes, don't miss Lost Kingdom!

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Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/15/2008
ISBN-13: 9781565124394
ISBN-10: 1565124391

An award-winning author and civil rights contributor Charles E. Cobb, Jr. takes readers on a history-rich road-trip to places where landmark events of the civil rights movement occurred. First-hand accounts of historical moments -- like Marian Anderson's memorable 1939 performance of "America" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, or lunch-counter sit-ins in North Carolina -- are illustrated with period photos and press clippings. Chapters highlight events state-by-state, from Washington, D.C., through Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. On The Road to Freedom is a handy travel guide and concise, accessible civil rights history that any American history buff should love.

Table of Contents  

Publisher: Oxford University Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/14/2010
ISBN-13: 9780195386554
ISBN-10: 0195386558

The true story of Tuskegee's legendary first African-American military pilots blazes to life in Freedom Fighters: denied the right to participate alongside white peers at the outset of World War II, African American servicemen -- with help from emerging civil rights organizations like the NAACP -- won admission to an experimental training program at Alabama's Tuskegee Army Air Field. Nicknamed "Red Tails," Tuskegee's 332nd squadron flew 15,000+ combat sorties, proved indispensable to the Allied victory -- and changed the course of civil rights history. Drawn from 800+ interviews with Tuskegee Airmen, Freedom Fighters will thrill WWII and/or aviation history buffs, those interested in civil rights, and fans of the 2012 movie Red Tails.

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Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/05/2010
ISBN-13: 9780385526548
ISBN-10: 0385526547

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Eugene Robinson explores African-American culture's post-civil rights era splintering into groups sharply divided by differing economic, cultural, and philosophical experiences. "Transcendents" are rare black 1-percenters, whose wealth and/or status equal or exceed that of whites; "Mainstreamers" are a Cosby-esque middle class, given a "full ownership stake in American society." "Emergents" are mixed-race/multi-national blacks who challenge traditional ideas of American black history and identity. The final group (about 30%) are America's black urban poor -- whom Robinson provocatively calls "Abandoned." The Los Angeles Times praises Disintegration as a "blunt-force and poetic" call to address these divides.

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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/10/2008
ISBN-13: 9780618634002
ISBN-10: 0618634002

Author Andrew Ward's complex, unforgettable Civil War history narrates events as lived and experienced by those with the most at risk: enslaved men, women, and children from across the country and every walk of life. Ward tells their stories as much as possible in their own words, carefully interleaving excerpts from slaves' personal letters, diaries, memoirs, and more. Slaves share their participation in the war, their impressions of leading figures, and countless personal moments of fear, hope, horror, joy, and despair. Fans of Thomas C. Holt's people-focused historical narrative Children of Fire will also appreciate The Slaves' War.

First Chapter  Table of Contents