History and Current Events
July 2025
Recent Releases
The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild
by Bryan Burrough

Forget the Alamo coauthor Bryan Burrough's rollicking and richly detailed history examines American gunfighter culture's origins in post-Civil War Texas. Further reading: Gun Barons: The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them by John Bainbridge, Jr.
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers
by Caroline Fraser

In her disturbing and well-researched true crime account, Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Fraser (Prairie Fires) examines the history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest from the 1940s to the 1980s. For fans of: The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker.
By the Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in Ukraine
by Danielle Leavitt

Utilizing journals and extensive interviews, historian Danielle Leavitt profiles seven everyday Ukrainians in her evocative account of life during wartime. Further reading: Displaced: Civilians in the Russia-Ukraine War by Valery Panyushkin.
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
by Rick Atkinson

This 2nd well-researched volume of Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson's Revolution Trilogy utilizes dozens of maps and full-color illustrations to chronicle key events from the middle years of the American Revolution, covering the years 1777-1780. Further reading: Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781 by John Ferling.
When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World
by Jordan Thomas

In his unputdownable debut, anthropologist and former Los Padres Hotshot wildland firefighter Jordan Thomas recounts his experiences during the 2021 fire season in California, detailing how climate change, colonization, and political malfeasance have exacerbated the rise of megafires in the American West. Try these next: The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History by Manjula Martin; Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West by Kelly Ramsey.
1861: The Lost Peace
by Jay Winik

Bestselling author Jay Winik's well-researched history explores the role President Abraham Lincoln played at the beginning of the American Civil War, including his attempts to avoid the conflict altogether. Try this next: Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War by Michael Vorenberg.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Round Rock Public Library
200 E. Liberty Avenue Round Rock, Texas 78664
512-218-7000
www.roundrocktexas.gov/library