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History and Current Events January 2026 |
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The American Revolution and the Fate of the World
by Richard Bell
Historian Richard Bell reveals the full breadth and depth of America's founding event: the American Revolution was not only the colonies' triumphant liberation from the rule of an overbearing England, it was also a cataclysm that pulled in participants from around the globe and threw the entire world order into chaos. Repositioning the Revolution at the center of an international web, Bell's narrative ranges as far afield as India, Africa, Central America, and Australia. As his lens widens, the 'War of Independence' manifests itself as a sprawling struggle that upended the lives of millions of people on every continent and fundamentally transformed the way the world works, disrupting trade, restructuring penal systems, stirring famine, and creating the first global refugee crisis--
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The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America
by David Baron
Science journalist David Baron (American Eclipse) chronicles how early-20th century astronomers, writers, and intellectuals popularized a cultural fascination with Mars (and its potential lifeforms) that ushered in a new era of exploration, tabloid journalism, and conspiracy theories. Try this next: Dead Air: The Night That Orson Welles Terrified America by William Elliott Hazelgrove.
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Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America
by Bridget Read
A gripping (The Washington Post) work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing: a massive money-making scam and radical political conspiracy that has remade American society. Reads like a thriller . . . masterfully illuminates the tricks and sleights of hand that in multilevel marketing are simply the rules of doing business.--The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the world's greatest opportunity: the chance to be your own boss via an enigmatic business model called multilevel marketing, or MLM. They offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and--most precious of all--financial freedom. If, that is, you're willing to shell out for expensive products and recruit everyone you know to buy them, and if they recruit everyone they know, too, thus creating the multiple levels of MLM. Overwhelming evidence suggests that most people lose money in multilevel marketing, and that many MLM companies are pyramid schemes. Yet the industry's origins, tied to right-wing ideologues like Ronald Reagan, have escaped public scrutiny. MLM has slithered in the wake of every economic crisis of the last century, from the Depression to the pandemic, ensnaring laid-off workers, stay-at-home moms, and teachers--anyone who has been left behind by rising inequality. In Little Bosses Everywhere, journalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time, winding from sunny postwar California, where a failed salesman started a vitamin business, through the devoutly religious suburbs of Michigan, where the industry built its political influence, to stadium-size conventions where today's top sellers preach to die-hard recruits. MLM has enriched powerful people, like the DeVos and Van Andel families, Warren Buffett, and President Donald Trump, all while eroding public institutions and the social safety net, then profiting from the chaos. Along the way, Read delves into the stories of those devastated by the majority-female industry: a veteran in Florida searching for healing; a young mom in Texas struggling to feed her children; a waitress scraping by in Brooklyn. A wild trip down an endless rabbit hole of greed and exploitation, Little Bosses Everywhere exposes multilevel marketing as American capitalism's stealthiest PR campaign, a cunning grift that has shaped nearly everything about how we live, and whose ultimate target is democracy itself.
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Without Consent: A Landmark Trial and the Decades-Long Struggle to Make Spousal Rape a Crime
by Sarah Weinman
From Sarah Weinman, author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita, comes an eye-opening story about the first major spousal rape trial in America and urgent questions it raised about women's rights that would reverberate for decades.In 1978, Greta Rideout was the first woman in United States history to accuse her husband of rape, at a time when the idea of marital rape seemed ludicrous to many Americans and was a crime in only four states. After a quick and conservative trial acquitted John Rideout and a defense lawyer lambasted that maybe rape is the risk of being married, Greta was ridiculed and scorned from public life, while John went on to be a repeat offender. Thrust into the national spotlight, Greta and her story would become a national sensation, a symbol of a country's unrelenting and targeted hate toward women and a court system designed to fail them at every turn.A now little-remembered trial deserving of close, wide, and lasting attention, Sarah Weinman turns her signature intelligence and journalistic rigor to the enduring impact of this case. Oregon v. Rideout directly inspired feminist activists, who fought state by state for marital rape laws, a battle that was not won in all fifty until as recently as 1993. Mixing archival research and new reporting involving Greta, those who successfully pressed charges against John in later years, as well as the activists battling the courts in parallel, Without Consent embodies vociferous debates about gender, sexuality, and power, while highlighting the damaging and inherent misogyny of American culture then and still now.
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Sisters in Death: The Black Dahlia, the Prairie Heiress, and Their Hunter
by Eli Frankel
Instant USA Today Bestseller Who killed the Black Dahlia? In this eye-opening shocker, an award-winning producer, true-crime researcher, and Hollywood insider finally solves the greatest - and most gruesome - murder mystery of the twentieth century just before its 80th anniversary. In January 1947, the bisected body of Elizabeth Short, completely drained of blood, was discovered in an undeveloped lot in Los Angeles. Its gruesome mutilations led to a firestorm of publicity, city-wide panic, and an unprecedented number of investigative paths led by the LAPD--all dead ends. The Black Dahlia murder remained an unsolved mystery for over seventy years. Six years earlier and sixteen hundred miles away, another woman's life had ended in a similarly horrific manner. Leila Welsh was an ambitious, educated, popular, and socially connected beauty. Though raised modestly on a prairie farm, she was heiress to her Kansas City family's status and wealth. On a winter morning in 1941, Leila's butchered body was found in her bedroom bearing the marks of unspeakable trauma. One victim faded into obscurity. The other became notorious. Both had in common a killer whose sadistic mind was a labyrinth of dark secrets. Eli Frankel reveals for the first time a key fact about the Black Dahlia crime scene, never before shared with the public, that leads inexorably to the stunning identification of a criminal who was at the same time amateurish and fiendish, skilled and lucky, sophisticated and brutish. Drawing on newly discovered documents, law enforcement files, interviews with the last surviving participants, the victims' own letters, trial transcripts, military records, and more, this epic true-crime saga puts together the missing pieces of a legendary puzzle. In Sisters in Death, the Black Dahlia cold case is finally closed.
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Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools
by Mary Annette Pember
Ojibwe journalist Mary Annette Pember's well-researched debut examines the origins and evolution of Native American boarding schools in the United States, revealing how the impacts of her own mother's experiences at a Catholic-run school contributed to her family's generational trauma. Further reading: The Knowing by Tanya Talaga.
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Delivering the Wow: Culture as Catalyst for Lasting Success
by Richard Fain
A Fast Company Press book How a culture of WOW transformed the travel industry WOW! was the word on everyone's lips as the first guests stepped aboard Icon of the Seas, the largest, most spectacular cruise ship ever created.Icon was one of many WOWs generated by a standout culture during the tenure of Richard Fain, regularly named one of Barron's World's Best CEOs. Under Fain's leadership, Royal Caribbean Group built the world's most innovative ships--large and small--and one of the strongest service cultures in the travel industry.In Delivering the WOW, Fain shows how a culture united people around a mission, delighted guests, and unlocked extraordinary performance. Drawing on vivid stories from 33 years at the helm, Fain explains how a remarkable culture was forged and strengthened through: -Alignment: ensuring every employee understands the same clear mission, beyond hierarchy or titles-Intentionality: never losing sight of the ultimate goal and ensuring that every action, big or small, supports that objective-Continuous improvement: never being satisfied; always believing that there are ways to improve-Crisis response: deeply rooted culture as a stabilizing force during black swan events, including the global pandemicInvaluable principles like these are woven into unforgettable stories which help explain how the company's profitability, guest capacity, and employee base all grew more than thirtyfold. Fain also candidly recounts mistakes he made along the way. He takes readers inside tough decisions during high-stakes crises--including the COVID shutdown--that helped rally 100,000 employees to beat the odds and unify the company like never before.Beyond its valuable lessons, the book offers cruise enthusiasts a behind-the-scenes look at the dedicated teamwork that shapes every unforgettable voyage. Delivering the WOW tells the dramatic story of a tenacious culture that surmounted challenges, thrilled customers, and introduced game-changing innovations.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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