History and Current Events
August 2025
Recent Releases
The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage That Made an American Icon
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro

In 1928, a young social worker and hobby pilot named Amelia Earhart arrived in the office of George Putnam, heir to Putnam & Sons, who was on the hunt for the right woman for a secret flying mission across the Atlantic. The Aviator and the Showman unveils the untold story of Amelia's decade-long marriage to George Putnam, offering an intimate exploration of their relationship and the pivotal role it played in her enduring legacy.
The Secret History of the Five Eyes : The Untold Story of the International Spy Network
by Richard Kerbaj

The Five Eyes—a spy network between the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—has been steeped in secrecy since its official formation in 1956. Richard Kerbaj draws on interviews with intelligence officials, world leaders, and recently declassified archives to reveal the authoritative but unauthorized stories of the alliance. 
Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America
by Scott Ellsworth

Award-winning historian Scott Ellsworth's compelling and well-researched latest focuses on the final year of the American Civil War, revealing how John Wilkes Booth may have been part of a long-planned Confederate conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Further reading: Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War by Michael Vorenberg.
A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution
by Andrew Lawler

As the American Revolution broke out in New England, Virginia, the largest, wealthiest, and most populous province in British North America was led by Lord Dunmore, who counted George Washington as his close friend. But the Scottish earl lacked troops, so when patriots imperiled the capital of Williamsburg, he threatened to free and arm enslaved Africans—two of every five Virginians—to fight for the Crown.
Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream
by Megan Greenwell

In her incisive debut, journalist Megan Greenwell draws upon her own experience as a former writer for Deadspin to investigate the damaging impact private equity firms have on American workers and communities. Further reading: These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs — and Wrecks — America by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner.  
Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings
by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

National Book Award-nominated poet and novelist Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois) makes her genre-defying nonfiction debut with this unflinching and insightful essay collection exploring various crossroads Black women have faced throughout history. For fans of: In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose by Alice Walker; Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry.
Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells and Tastes of Lost Civilizations
by Sam Kean

Bestselling science writer Sam Kean (The Icepick Surgeon) offers a lively chronicle of how experimental archeologists utilize evidence found at dig sites to replicate ancient rituals and customs, including hunting with period-appropriate weaponry, playing an Aztec ballgame, brewing ancient Egyptian beer, and even mummifying corpses. Further reading: Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive by Eliot Stein.
Their Accomplices Wore Robes: How the Supreme Court Chained Black America to the Bottom of a Racial Caste System
by Brando Simeo Starkey

Legal scholar Brando Simeo Starkey's (In Defense of Uncle Tom) richly detailed history explores the role the United States Supreme Court has played in the systemic oppression of Black people. Try this next: The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution by Keith Richotte, Jr.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-703-2665
forsythlibrary.org