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History and Current Events July 2026 |
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Sparta: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower
by Andrew Bayliss
Who were the Spartans, really--and how did they rise from a humble village in the Peloponnese to become the dominant military power of ancient Greece? With incisive analysis, Bayliss illuminates how the Spartans' ruthless might, unparalleled military ambition, and singular exclusivity fueled their seemingly unstoppable rise--and how those same factors became their undoing. "An eye-opening history of Sparta, stripping the gloss from its heroism to reveal a complex grain of power and pain." (Kirkus Reviews)
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American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed
by Isaac Fitzgerald
As a child, Isaac Fitzgerald was captivated by Johnny Appleseed, drawn to the legend by family ties, his father's larger-than-life stories, and a shared restlessness to leave home and discover what lay beyond. In American Rambler, he sets out on a year-long journey to follow Appleseed's path, walking (okay, sometimes driving, and at one point, even floating downstream) from Massachusetts to Indiana. American Rambler is at once an ode to the American heartland, a meditation on escaping the breakneck pace of modern life, and a clear-eyed look at the myths--often violent, sometimes hopeful, frequently romanticized--at the very core of American identity and history.
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| America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.Incisively examines the racial contradictions of America's founding in his reflective history that demythologizes 250 years of the country's milestone anniversaries. "He begins in 1776 with the story of captured fugitive Moses Gordon, who "chose to drown himself rather than submit again to slavery," and, from there, visits several other anniversaries, including the centennial celebration in 1876, which was conducted "as violence choked the life out of Reconstruction," and the 150th celebration in 1926, which arrived during the resurgence of the KKK. The upshot isn't just a searing revisionist history but a stirring view of America as a place "worth fighting for."" (Publishers Weekly) |
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The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America
by Geoff Williams
In 1936, after one of the coldest winters on record, North America experienced a heat wave that remains unmatched today. This was a summer in which there was almost no escape from the 100-plus temperatures, and woe to those who tried. Men, women, and children rushed into rivers to cool off, only to drown. Desperate people slept on roofs to catch a breeze, only to roll over and plummet to their deaths. The heat wave sparked massive social changes and technological advances, as well as improvements in health care, and it ignited an ongoing impassioned national dialogue about climate change that continues, to varying degrees, to this day.
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Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World
by Patrick Wyman
There's a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanity's deep history, focusing on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Age--the period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word. In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didn't always replace foraging, villages didn't automatically spark agriculture, and cities didn't necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised.
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A Queer History of the United States: Revised and Expanded
by Michael Bronski
Drawing upon primary documents, literature, and popular culture, Bronski weaves a comprehensive tapestry of LGBTQ+ history, providing startling examples of unknown or ignored aspects of our collective past. From the ineffectiveness of sodomy laws in the colonies, to how rock music and youth culture unintentionally engendered the devastating backlash against gay rights in the late 1970s, Bronski covers an eclectic breadth of facts and stories. TNot simply about gay history it is about all American history, Bronski's dynamic and revealing narrative radically reframes how we understand our past and, more important, our present.
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1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World
by Liaquat Ahamed
Over the course of the 1850s and 1860s, during the first era of globalization, the world experienced an unprecedented economic boom. Fueling this expansion was an explosion in the global bond market, at the hub of which stood one family--the Rothschilds, arguably the wealthiest banking family in history. While the giant sums of capital provided through the bond market built the railroads, the money raised also unleashed a frenzy of speculation, massive overinvestment, and wasteful borrowing by governments. With excessive euphoria leading to disappointed expectations, in the early 1870s the bubble burst.
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Jewish History for Dummies
by Arthur Kurzweil
Walk your way through Jewish history, life, and culture--from Abraham to today. You'll take a look at the roots of Jewish history, beginning in 2000 B.C.E. with Abraham and his descendants. Chapter by chapter, you'll trace the evolution of the Jewish people through the biblical record and other sources, learning how King David united Israel, how the Jews were exiled under Babylonian rule, and how Jewish people have adapted to life in the diaspora, from ancient times all the way up to today. This is a must for anyone looking to better understand the religious and cultural history of Judaism.
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Recent Releases: Current Events
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I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything
by Joanna Stern
What happens when intelligent machines aren't just in our pockets but are also driving our cars, making our decisions, folding our laundry, and educating our kids? To find out, award-winning journalist Joanna Stern surrendered her life to artificial intelligence for one year. The results are both hilarious and unsettling. Filled with illustrations and photographs, this book offers less hype, more clarity, and as little jargon as humanly (or robotically) possible. And after a year of living as a human lab rat, Joanna delivers one of the clearest--and funniest--pictures yet of what's really happening and what it means for you.
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View from the East Wing: A Memoir
by Jill Biden
Jill Biden became First Lady at a complicated moment in US history, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the shadow of the January 6 insurrection. She made history as the first-ever First Lady to hold an outside job while her husband was in office, continuing to work as a professor at a nearby community college. Yet all the while, she saw herself as an ordinary woman living an extraordinary life. This is the story of a woman dedicated to her roles as a wife, mother, grandmother, teacher--and First Lady of the United States.
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Focus on: The American Revolution
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| The American Revolution and the Fate of the World by Richard BellIn his lively and accessible latest, historian Richard Bell reveals how the American Revolution was "a world war in all but name," detailing how the conflict impacted countries throughout the globe. " Seen from the perspective of this global interest, the causes, course, and consequences of the war are given a fresh perspective and told in a spirited style." (Library Journal) |
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| The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783 by Joseph J. EllisPulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis' thought-provoking chronicle of the American Revolution explores the complexities and contradictions of the colonists' fight for independence, which they referred to as "The Cause." This richly detailed rethinking of a pivotal era includes profiles of forgotten figures including Mohawk chief Joseph Brant and Billy Lee, George Washington's enslaved valet. |
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| Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by Woody HoltonAward-winning historian Woody Holton's revisionist account reveals how Black and Indigenous Americans, enslaved people, and women helped shape the outcome of the American Revolution, despite their conflicts with the colonists. "A thoroughgoing work of scholarship that debunks many myths about the American Revolution by incorporating the full story involving Native Americans, African Americans, and women as participants." (Kirkus Reviews) |
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The American Revolution: An Intimate History
by Geoffrey C. Ward
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. In this sumptuous volume, historian Geoffrey C. Ward ably steers us through the international forces at play, telling the story not from the top down but from the bottom up--and through the eyes of not only our Founding Fathers but also those of ordinary soldiers, as well as underrepresented populations such as women, African Americans, Native Americans, and American Loyalists, asking who exactly was entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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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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