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History and Current Events September 2026 |
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Recent Releases - History |
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Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age
by James M. Tabor
In 1854, the American entrepreneur Cyrus Field set out to lay a 2,000-mile telegraph cable across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Nothing like it had ever been attempted. Field knew nothing about telegraphy, electricity, ships, or oceans, and science itself still lacked a universal theory of electricity. But he believed that wiring the world for near-instantaneous communication would bring about peace on Earth. In 1866, after enduring over a decade of global scorn, catastrophic failures, staggering losses, and brushes with death, he would finally lay his great cable, ushering in the global information age
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The First All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, FDR and America at the Crossroads
by Randall Sullivan
1933. America was still reeling from the crash. Breadlines stretched around city blocks, and shantytowns sprawled in the shadows of skyscrapers. American optimism was fading--and baseball was in trouble, too. It was a newspaperman's idea: The Game of the Century. Put the world's best players on one field and let the public decide who belonged there. At a moment when some feared the national pastime would not survive the decade, Chicago would host the ballgame as the highlight of the 1933 World's Fair. Kirkus Reviews calls it, "a lively portrait of the city and nation, with an emphasis of crime, politics, and, of course, baseball."
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Miracle: The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber at Auschwitz
by Michael Calvin
A miracle unfolded on October 10, 1944, at Auschwitz. Amidst the gas chambers and crematoria, a ragtag group of Jewish boys, aged thirteen to seventeen, were marched naked into Crematorium 5, their names already crossed out in Nazi ledgers as "gestorben," or "dead." They would soon be put to death in the infamous gas chambers. But just moments before Zyklon B pellets were released, fate intervened: three German officers arrived on motorbikes and ordered their evacuation, selecting them to unload a consignment of potatoes from Greece. This is the story of their incredible journey from the brink of death to lives of profound purpose and resilience.
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Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder
by Matthew Pearl
On December 10, 1887, a shark fishing boat disappeared. The Walkers were on board--the ship's captain Frederick, his wife Elizabeth, their three teenage sons, and their dog--along with the ship's crew. The family had spotted a promising fishing location when a terrible storm arose, splitting their vessel in two and leaving those onboard adrift on the perilous sea. When the castaways awoke the next morning, they discovered they had been washed ashore on a deserted island inhabited by a large but ragged and emaciated man who introduced himself as Hans. Hans appeared to have been there for a while and could quickly educate the Walkers and their crew on the island's resources. But as the days turn into weeks, they realize the greatest danger might not be the island itself. Faced with sharks, starvation, and dwindling hope, the Walkers must rely on their wits and one another to endure the ultimate test of family bonds.
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Recent Releases - Current Events
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AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter
by Josh Tyrangiel
AI is often framed as a force of radical transformation, either catapulting us into a utopian future or dragging us toward existential ruin. But this book tells a different story. It's not about high-profile tech CEOs who want to use AI to break shit, but about a bunch of smart pragmatists using AI to make the world better. This book explores AI's quiet revolution in government services, medicine, education, and human connection--places where it's being used to amplify human judgment rather than replace it.
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On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear
by Julia Angwin
Today nearly three out of four people on earth live under authoritarianism, the highest rate since the late 1970s.But even under repressive conditions, each of us holds the power to help defeat autocrats. Meet a student from Hong Kong who risked everything for democracy. A mom in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas who broke with the political movement that raised her. Cairo twentysomethings who staged a gutsy stunt to help bring down a dictator. A mild-mannered immigrant fighting to save a landmark U.S. civil rights law. People throughout the United States and across five continents who faced serious risks for dissenting in their workplace, their community, or their country. This is a roadmap to political courage and a powerful case for how taking personal risks can help save the free world.
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Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register
by Ann Larson
Unemployed and looking for work during the pandemic, journalist and activist Ann Larson found a job as a cashier at a supermarket in Utah. Though she had written about low-wage work for years, nothing could have prepared her for what she experienced. "From describing the physical toll on their bodies to the bonds of getting through the day, Larson draws readers into the stories of grocery workers and how food distribution and profit could change for the betterment of society." (Booklist)
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Borderlands: My Fight for an Inclusive America
by Ken Salazar
Informed by his life journey, former US ambassador to Mexico, US senator, and US secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar shares his unrivaled vantage on the US-Mexico relationship, the border and migration crisis, and his belief that the diversity of our many communities and cultures is America's superpower. "From the ranch to the Senate and the president's cabinet, Ken lived the American dream and had a career defined by hard work and selfless public service. Borderlands offers every American insight into what our country can be at its best, and how we must overcome divisive politics to solve the hardest challenges we face together." (Senator Mark Kelly)
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Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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630-653-7599, 0S291 Winfield Rd.
Winfield, IL 60190
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