History and Current Events
March 2025
Recent Releases
The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
by Chris Hayes

MSNBC host and New York Times bestselling author Chris Hayes' thought-provoking latest examines the sociopolitical impacts of attention capitalism, which commodifies our attention spans to "command fortunes, win elections, and topple regimes." For fans of: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell.
Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue
by Buddy Levy

In this evocative and richly detailed history, two-time National Outdoor Book Award-winning author Buddy Levy surveys a trio of early 20th-century aerial Artic expeditions. For fans of: In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette by Hampton Sides.
Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World
by Dorian Lynskey

Journalist Dorian Lynskey's sweeping and darkly humorous history explores the evolution of apocalyptic thought from antiquity to the present and "offers a new lens through which to view our current moment" (Booklist). Further reading: A Field Guide to the Apocalypse: A Mostly Serious Guide to Surviving Our Wild Times by Athena Aktipis. 
Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest...
by Bennett Parten

Historian Bennett Parten's illuminating debut offers fresh insights on General William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea during the American Civil War, particularly noting the ways the military campaign impacted more than 20,000 formerly enslaved people who joined it. Try this next: Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black.
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People
by Imani Perry

National Book Award winner Imani Perry (South to America) explores the connections between the color blue and Black history in her lyrical and well-researched latest. Try this next: Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History by Kristina R. Gaddy.
Focus on: Women's History Month
Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II
by Lena Andrews

CIA military analyst Lena Andrews' illuminating history celebrates the crucial yet overlooked contributions of 400,000 American women who served in World War II, featuring interviews with surviving servicewomen. Try this next: The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II by Judith Mackrell.
Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History
by Philippa Gregory

Bestselling novelist Philippa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl) turns to history with this sweeping and well-researched chronicle of everyday British women's lives from 1066 to 1994. For fans of: Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It by Janina Ramirez. 
Brave Hearted: The Women of the American West
by Katie Hickman

Historian Katie Hickman draws on letters, diaries, and memoirs to explore the roles of influential women in the 19th-century American West. Further reading: New Women in the Old West: From Settlers to Suffragists by Winifred Gallagher.
Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World
by Eliza Reid

In this frank and engaging blend of travelogue, memoir, and history, Eliza Reid, the former First Lady of Iceland, shares what makes the Land of Fire and Ice "the planet's finest country for women." Try this next: Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain by Margaret Wilson.
Woman, Life, Freedom
by Marjane Satrapi, editor

Inspired by the 2022 fatal beating of Iranian student Mahsa Amini for wearing her headscarf improperly, this impassioned anthology of stories, cartoons, and essays, created in solidarity with the Iranian feminist movement, was edited by award-winning Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi. Further reading: Woman Life Freedom: Voices and Art from the Women's Protests in Iran, edited by Malu Halasa.
Contact your librarian for more great books!

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