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History and Current Events November 2019
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| The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution by Eric FonerWhat it's about: how the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th constitutional amendments (also known as the Reconstruction amendments) impacted an America still reeling from the aftermath of the Civil War.
Don't miss: an incisive and resonant look into how the Reconstruction amendments are interpreted and debated in contemporary political discourse, particularly in relation to voter rights.
Book buzz: Library Journal calls Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner's latest "a must-read for anyone interested in U.S. history." |
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| The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. GraffWhat it is: a heartwrenching collection of first-person accounts from survivors, first responders, and witnesses of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Is it for you? Intimate and apolitical, this vivid, hour-by-hour chronicle of one of America's most tragic days is unflinching in its depictions of loss.
Further reading: Mitchell Zuckoff's richly detailed history Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11. |
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| Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh MoaveniFeaturing: thirteen women and girls, with backgrounds as varied as their motivations, who left their homes in Europe and North Africa to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
Read it for: a compassionate yet critical examination of the many whys of religious extremism and radicalization.
About the author: Iranian American journalist Azadeh Moaveni expands upon her Pulitzer Prize-nominated New York Times reportage for this immersive history. |
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| Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant by Anne Gardiner PerkinsWhat it's about: In 1969, 268 years after its founding, Yale University admitted women undergraduates for the first time (of the 575 accepted into the elite Ivy, 90% were white).
What happened next: Isolated from (yet harassed by) their male peers and professors, the women of Yale advocated for institutional reforms like gender-blind admissions, racial equality, and inclusive healthcare.
Who it's for: Yalies; fans of inspiring women's histories like Hidden Figures and Rise of the Rocket Girls. |
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| Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War's Most Audacious Espionage Operation by Steve VogelWhat it's about: "Operation Gold," the ambitious yet ultimately doomed endeavor between the CIA and MI5 to construct a tunnel into East Berlin to tap into Soviet communication lines.
What happened: Thanks to the efforts of double agent George Blake, Soviet authorities had been aware of the tunnel's existence since its inception in 1951, but to protect Blake, waited until 1956 to "discover" it.
Read it for: a pulse-pounding and dramatic storyline reminiscent of a John le Carré novel. |
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Thomas Jefferson's education
by Alan Taylor
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Internal Enemy presents an absorbing study of the third American President’s construction of an elite university, his intentions for its role in emancipation and the realities that prevented its success. Illustrations.
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The Battle of Negro Fort : The Rise and Fall of a Fugitive Slave Community
by Matthew J. Clavin
The dramatic story of the United States' destruction of a free and independent community of fugitive slaves in Spanish Florida. In the aftermath of the War of 1812, Major General Andrew Jackson ordered a joint United States army-navy expedition into Spanish Florida to destroy a free and independent community of fugitive slaves. The result was the Battle of Negro Fort, a brutal conflict among hundreds of American troops, Indian warriors, and black rebels that culminated in the death or re-enslavement of nearly all of the fort's inhabitants. By eliminating this refuge for fugitive slaves, the United States government closed an escape valve that African Americans had utilized for generations. At the same time, it intensified the subjugation of southern Native Americans, including the Creeks, Choctaws, and Seminoles. Still, the battle was significant for another reason as well. During its existence, Negro Fort was a powerful symbol of black freedom that subverted the racist foundations of an expanding American slave society. Its destruction reinforced the nation's growing commitment to slavery, while illuminating the extent to which ambivalence over the institution had disappeared since the nation's founding. Indeed, four decades after declaring that all men were created equal, the United States destroyed a fugitive slave community in a foreign territory for the first and only time in its history, which accelerated America's transformation into a white republic. The Battle of Negro Fort places the violent expansion of slavery where it belongs, at the center of the history of the early American republic.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes : a life in war, law, and ideas
by Stephen Budiansky
A portrait of the influential U.S. Supreme Court Justice includes coverage of his achievements as a legal scholar, his Civil War service and his often-dissenting but prophetic views on free speech, criminal justice and economic reform.
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The shadow king : the life and death of Henry VI
by Lauren Johnson
This gripping new account, written by an acclaimed historian, tells the remarkable and sometimes shocking story of Henry VI, capturing both the poignancy of his life and the tumultuous and bloody nature of the times in which he lived.
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The anarchy : the relentless rise of the East India Company
by William Dalrymple
The bestselling author of Return of a King tells one of history’s most remarkable stories about how the East India Company took over large swaths of Asia and the devastating results of the corporation running a country and the abuse of corporate power. Illustrations.
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| Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt AndersenWhat it is: a provocative, no-holds-barred exploration of how superstition, self-delusion, charlatanism, and conspiracy theories have always been richly embedded in the fabric of American life and culture.
Topics include: the Salem witch trials; Dr. Oz; P.T. Barnum; 1960s counterculture; Satanic Panic; Donald Trump.
Want a taste? "We have passed through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole. America has mutated into Fantasyland." |
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| The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture by Euny HongWhat it's about: Hallyu (or The Korean Wave), the global dissemination of South Korean popular culture that has exploded since the 1990s and has been aided by technological progress, economic changes, and government investments.
Author alert: Journalist Euny Hong's life experiences richly inform this breezy account -- she grew up in Seoul's Gangnam District, famously immortalized in PSY's satirical song "Gangnam Style." |
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| Whatever Happened to the Metric System?: How America Kept Its Feet by John Bemelmans MarcianoWhat it's about: Rich in political intrigue, this lively history chronicles four centuries' worth of attempts to convert America to the metric system.
Read it for: author John Bemelmans Marciano's clever sense of humor, including the use of fractions to denote chapter headings.
Did you know? The U.S. is one of only three countries in the world that doesn't use the metric system (Myanmar and Liberia are the other two). |
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| Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah VowellWhat it's about: Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette's 1824 return to American soil, where he was received with great fanfare by more than 80,000 onlookers.
Don't miss: Author Sarah Vowell's unconventional research methods included attending a Lafayette-themed puppet show.
Reviewers say: This snarky romp is "especially recommended to those who are convinced that history is dry" (Library Journal). |
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| Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer WrightWhat's inside: a lighthearted yet gruesome survey of 13 diseases, including the bubonic plague, syphilis, cholera, and leprosy.
Want a taste? "There's debate today over whether the plague that led to Rome's fall was typhus or measles or smallpox. I am on Team Smallpox!"
Chapters include: "Try Being Nice Instead of Burning People as Witches;" "Spread the Word That Vaccines Are the Best;" "Never Glamorize Ill Health." |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Patchogue-Medford Library 54-60 East Main Street Patchogue, New York 11772 (631) 654-4700www.pmlib.org/ |
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