History and Current Events
July 2025
Recent Releases
The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild
by Bryan Burrough

Forget the Alamo coauthor Bryan Burrough's rollicking and richly detailed history examines American gunfighter culture's origins in post-Civil War Texas. Further reading: Gun Barons: The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them by John Bainbridge, Jr.
Taking Midway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle That Turned the Tide of...
by Martin Dugard

Bestseller Martin Dugard's (coauthor of Bill O'Reilly's Killing series) cinematic follow-up to Taking London chronicles the events leading to the June 1942 naval Battle of Midway, which proved a turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II. For fans of: The Silver Waterfall: How America Won the War in the Pacific at Midway by Brendan Simms and Steven McGregor.
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers
by Caroline Fraser

In her disturbing and well-researched true crime account, Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Fraser (Prairie Fires) examines the history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest from the 1940s to the 1980s. For fans of: The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker.
By the Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in Ukraine
by Danielle Leavitt

Utilizing journals and extensive interviews, historian Danielle Leavitt profiles seven everyday Ukrainians in her evocative account of life during wartime. Further reading: Displaced: Civilians in the Russia-Ukraine War by Valery Panyushkin.
Project Mind Control: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKULTRA
by John Lisle

Historian John Lisle's disturbing and well-researched latest examines the evolution of the CIA's MKULTRA mind control program in the mid-20th century, featuring hundreds of pages of never-before-seen testimonies from program participants and victims. Further reading: Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer.
The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the...
by Lynne Olson

Historian Lynne Olson's (Empress of the Nile) disturbing yet inspiring latest focuses on four women French Resistance fighters who were captured and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, detailing how they worked together to survive World War II, help their fellow prisoners, and, post-war, seek justice for the atrocities they experienced. Further reading: The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany by Gwen Strauss. 
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.
1861: The Lost Peace
by Jay Winik

Bestselling author Jay Winik's well-researched history explores the role President Abraham Lincoln played at the beginning of the American Civil War, including his attempts to avoid the conflict altogether. Try this next: Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War by Michael Vorenberg.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Rolling Meadows Library
3110 Martin Lane, Rolling Meadows, Illinois 60008
(847) 259-6050
rmlib.org