History and Current Events
November 2025

Recent Releases
Monopoly X : how top-secret World War II operations used the game of Monopoly to help Allied POWs escape, conceal spies, and send secret codes by Philip Orbanes
Monopoly X : how top-secret World War II operations used the game of Monopoly to help Allied POWs escape, conceal spies, and send secret codes
by Philip Orbanes

"The incredible true story of how Monopoly games were used to smuggle escape aids to Allied servicemen in German P.O.W. camps...and more"-- Provided by publisher
We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution
by Jill Lepore

Harvard University historian Jill Lepore's sweeping and accessible history surveys the creation and evolution of the United States Constitution, spotlighting key amendments that continue to shape the country. It's "urgent" (Kirkus Reviews) and "essential" (Library Journal) reading. Try this next: The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America's Story by Kermit Roosevelt III.
When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas
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.
The Hiroshima men : the quest to build the atomic bomb, and the fateful decision to use it by Iain MacGregor
The Hiroshima men : the quest to build the atomic bomb, and the fateful decision to use it
by Iain MacGregor

Recounts the development, deployment, and aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, tracing its origins through World War II geopolitics and scientific breakthroughs while highlighting perspectives from American military leaders, Japanese civilians, and postwar chroniclers of the bomb's devastating impact. Illustrations.
The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America by Kostya Kennedy
The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America
by Kostya Kennedy

Released in time for the 250th anniversary of the event and featuring fresh insights, journalist Kostya Kennedy's accessible history chronicles Paul Revere's fateful midnight ride to warn American minutemen of the British army's impending arrival. Further reading: The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 by Rick Atkinson.
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
by Ned Blackhawk

Winner of the National Book Award, Western Shoshone Yale historian Ned Blackhawk's incisive and richly detailed study explores how Indigenous Americans were instrumental to the evolution of United States history. Try this next: Indigenous Continent: The Epic Conquest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen.
On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe
by Caroline Dodds Pennock

Caroline Dodds Pennock's thought-provoking revisionist history explores how Indigenous Americans who willingly traveled or were forcibly transported to Europe during the Age of Discovery impacted the politics and culture of their colonizers. Try this next: African Europeans: An Untold History by Olivette Otele.
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
by Kathleen DuVal

Historian Kathleen DuVal's sweeping and scholarly Pulitzer Prize winner offers a corrective to Eurocentric narratives about Indigenous Americans by spotlighting one thousand years of Native autonomy, governance, and resistance. For fans of: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk.
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land
by Rebecca Nagle

In this "valuable corrective to our national ignorance" (Kirkus Reviews), Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle surveys the history of Indigenous removal and resistance in the United States, culminating in the landmark 2020 Supreme Court decision that upheld tribal sovereignty for the Muscogee Nation in eastern Oklahoma. Further reading: Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, the Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab by Steve Inskeep.
The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight...
by Megan Kate Nelson

Historian Megan Kate Nelson's well-researched Pulitzer Prize finalist explores how the lesser-known battles in the New Mexico Territory during the American Civil War spurred the displacement of the Apache and Diné and includes profiles of nine people involved in the conflict, including Apache chief Mangas Coloradas. Further reading: When the Wolf Came: The Civil War and the Indian Territory by Mary Jane Warde. 
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