|
|
|
|
History and Current Events April 2026 |
|
|
|
| American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union... ed. Jon MeachamWhat it is: Edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham and spanning from 1619 to the present, this thought-provoking anthology explores the promises and failures of American democracy, featuring primary sources like speeches, letters, poems, and more, as well as authorial commentary for reflection and context. Praise: "A panoramic collection of historical writing, illuminating America’s evolving democracy and the dissent that drives it. By presenting the raw materials of U.S. history with context and moral clarity, Meacham helps readers understand the past and orient themselves in the ongoing fight for a ‘more perfect Union.’ Evocative and impeccably curated...” (Kirkus) |
|
|
|
Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America by Eugene RobinsonWhat's inside: Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson tells our nation's torturous racial history through his own family's story. From his great-great-grandfather's emancipation from slavery to his great-grandfather's Reconstruction-era success, from his father's odyssey of the Great Migration to his own coming-of-age during the Civil Rights Movement, Robinson delves into a rich archive of Black narratives, arguing that we still have a long way to go before it is possible to speak of a post-racial America. Setting his extensive research within the larger historical context, Robinson provides both an indictment of structural racism and an illustration of how it has been fought and at times overcome. |
|
|
|
The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster by Shelley PuhakWhat's inside: Writer and poet Shelley Puhak (The Dark Queens) offers a nuanced and demythologizing look at the life and exploits of 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman Elizabeth Báthory, whose conviction of (and imprisonment for) torturing and murdering 80 girls and women was the result of a smear campaign.
Praise: "...a stunning feminist reconsideration of one of history's most reviled villainesses." (Publishers Weekly)
Try this next: When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold by Alia Trabucco Zerán.
|
|
|
|
Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World by John BlairWhat's inside: This novel, riveting history chronicles the ever-present, ever-human hysteria of vampire panics across cultures and through millennia. From ancient Mesopotamia to present-day Haiti, archaeologist John Blair explores the mythology and psychology behind the vampire scapegoat, where the undead monster nearly always serves as a metaphysical expression of society's inexplicable terrors and anxieties, for better or worse. Praise: "Authoritative and compelling...This fascinating history shows that you can't keep a good corpse down." (History Today) |
|
|
|
Defiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria by Loubna MrieWhat it is: In this stunning memoir of rebellion and courage, in which Loubna Mrie chronicles her upbringing in Syria under Hafez al-Assad's regime, her political awakening and reclaiming of her Alawite heritage during the Arab Spring of 2011, and the subsequent years she spent risking her life as a photojournalist for outlets like Reuters. Defiance is a candid account of one woman's fight for freedom--against a father, a dictator, and the weight of inherited belief-- and a testament to what true resistance looks like. Praise: “With curiosity, clarity and an irrepressible spirit, Defiance tells a story not only of a country and a family, but also of how a woman’s courage ignites action.” (BookPage) |
|
|
|
What's inside: Ashley D. Farmer, an award-winning historian of Black radical politics, offers a vivacious, eye-opening, and definitive biography of Audley Moore--mother of modern Black Nationalism and trailblazer in the fight for reparations. Praise: "Laudable... meticulous... a portrait of a woman with uncanny savvy and flexibility... Queen Mother establishes [Moore] as a titan in her own right, a central influence in nearly a century of global Black-liberation struggles." (The Atlantic) |
|
|
|
The Jew Who Would Be King: A True Story of Shipwreck, Survival, and Scandal... by Adam RovnerWhat it's about: This cautionary tale on the mechanics of colonialism recounts one of the nineteenth-century's most intrepid and controversial explorers, Nathaniel Isaacs, a Jewish Brit who helped the legendary King Shaka establish the Zulu nation, but who later became a ruthless warlord and enslaver in Sierra Leone. Praise: “In Rovner's deeply researched biography, the adventurer's swashbuckling memoirs are... a crowbar of sorts, used to pry open a window onto an era of possibility, prejudice and burgeoning colonial avarice." (NPR) |
|
|
|
What's inside: In this provocative and illuminating account, British archeological scholar Mike Pitts rebukes the commonly held notion that the precolonial Rapa Nui (Easter Island) civilization declined due to manmade environmental destruction Drawing on recent archaeological discoveries and documents from Katherine Routledge (an early twentieth century anthropologist whose work with the island's indigenous people has been heretofore overlooked due to her gender), Pitts offers a vital and timely work of historical adventure and reclamation. |
|
|
|
What it's about: From 1908 to 1933, the American Museum of Natural History launched more scientific field expeditions than at any other time in its existence. Sponsoring lavish trips to Africa and Central Asia, the museum filled its halls with artifacts and an aura of adventure, supported by some of New York's most prominent men, including Theodore Roosevelt and J. P. Morgan. All the while, museum president Henry Fairfield Osborn used his adventurers’ expeditions to propagate his personal ideology of racial hierarchy. Lunde's deeply researched history examines the haunting legacy of the racism, eugenics, and colonialism foundational to the the golden age of scientific exploration and museum growth. Praise: "Gripping… A revelatory look at the deep influence of eugenics on the sciences." (Publishers Weekly) |
|
|
|
What it's about: Body snatching -- the practice of stealing bodies and selling them to doctors and scientists -- was on the rise in post-Revolutionary America, feeding the demand from a growing population of medical students. After the discovery of a specific snatching incident April 1788, thousands of people rioted at a New York City anatomy lab, resulting in a deadly conflict with the state militia. Writer and retired nurse Andy McPheee retells the story in captivating detail, and explores the perennial ethical questions it resurrects. Praise: "Science and religious sentiment clash at the dawn of the Republic... With an enchanting vividness, McPhee tells the story of New York in its colonial days, when familiar institutions were then new and the people whom city streets and landmarks are named for were still walking the earth. The author places his account in the medical, cultural, and racial context of the time... A brief, fast-paced history, loaded with surprising detail." (Kirkus) |
|
| What's inside: Josh Ireland (Churchill & Son) offers a fast-paced and compelling history of Soviet espionage efforts during World War II, focusing on the 1940 assassination of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Praise: "... an exciting and propulsive nonfiction account that reads like an Alan Furst novel…a tremendously readable book with a haunting message: Vengeance never sleeps." (The Wall Street Journal) |
|
| Praise: "In a paradigm-shifting work of vast research and scholarship, veteran political reporter Cheevers summarily chronicles the failed U.S. mission in Vietnam from perspectives that are both broad and narrow, recounting with precision and nuance the complete specter of confusion, chaos, and destruction.” (Booklist) |
|
| About the author: Stanford University professor Emily Galvin Almanza is a former public defender and co-founder of Partners for Justice, a nonprofit dedicated to battling criminal injustice by organizing public defenders in collaboration at scale. Praise: "... searing, compassionate, and utterly necessary... Almanza pulls back the curtain on America’s criminal legal system with the clarity of a lawyer and the heart of someone who’s seen the system’s devastating consequences up close." (Michelle Alexander) |
|
| Praise: "... a profound, engaging, and comprehensive study... this is an essential book for these contentious times..." (Booklist) |
|
|
|
Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes*by Chantha NguonWhat's inside: Featuring over 20 Khmer family recipes, Cambodian refugee Chantha Nguon recounts her life after the dictator Pol Pot tore her country apart in the 1970s, showing how she relied on her beloved mother's “slow noodles” approach to healing and to cooking—one that prioritizes time and care over expediency. Praise: "An engrossing and evocative debut memoir... Nguon interweaves the hardships she endured with her favorite recipes and the memories attached to them, offering readers evocative glimpses of the bursts of light that sustained her through long stretches of harrowing darkness. This haunting yet hopeful account will appeal to foodies and history buffs alike." (Publishers Weekly) |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books! |
|
|
|
|
|