History and Current Events
September 2026
Recent Releases
Ash and Honor: The Untold 368 Minutes of 9/11 by Jeffrey Robinson
Ash and Honor: The Untold 368 Minutes of 9/11
by Jeffrey Robinson

Published for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, this account reconstructs the 368 minutes of the attacks through firsthand testimony, detailing critical decisions by civilians, military personnel, and government leaders amid unprecedented chaos.
American Made: Stories of Work from the Wpa by Anne Trubek
American Made: Stories of Work from the WPA
by Anne Trubek

During the Great Depression, the federal government hired unemployed writers and they interviewed over 2,000 working-class Americans, revealing vivid immigrant stories and the labor behind America’s industrial growth.
The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything by Kathryn Jezer-Morton
The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything
by Kathryn Jezer-Morton

The Cut columnist Kathryn Jezer-Morton utilizes intimate interviews with everyday social media users to explore how social media complicates identity and impacts how people represent (or mis-represent) themselves to others. 
The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818-1915 by Joseph Kelly
The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818-1915
by Joseph Kelly

Historian Joseph Kelly's well-researched revisionist account explores the origins of American fascism in the Antebellum South, detailing how the 1818 Missouri Compromise helped advance the ideology.
The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Durán
The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy
by Gil Durán
 
The Nerd Reich chronicles the rise of tech authoritarianism from San Francisco politics to the global stage, exposing its dystopian ambitions. It warns that democracy is being eroded not by coups or tanks, but by code, capital, and the illusion of innovation, while arguing that resistance is still possible.
The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time--And How to Fix It by Annie Lowrey
The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time--And How to Fix It
by Annie Lowrey

Annie Lowrey examines how American bureaucracy wastes time, drives inequality, and makes accessing public benefits unnecessarily difficult. She traces the history of these “time taxes,” showing how administrative burdens reinforce poverty and distrust while arguing that government paperwork can be made simpler and fairer.
Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America by Kim Phillips-Fein
Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight...
by Kim Phillips-Fein

Pulitzer Prize finalist Kim Phillips-Fein incisively examines the intertwined histories of social, economic, and political inequality in the United States, from the Revolutionary era to the present..
How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time by Sarah Longwell
How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time
by Sarah Longwell

After the 2024 election, Sarah Longwell drew on hundreds of voter focus groups to explain what Americans want and how a broad coalition can counter authoritarian populism. Blending her journey from Republican operative to anti-MAGA leader with voters’ perspectives, she calls for a modern pro-democracy movement with stronger communication, leadership, and narrative strategy.
A Moment in the Sun: Black Manhattan Before the Civil War by Shane White
A Moment in the Sun: Black Manhattan Before the Civil War
by Shane White

A Moment in the Sun dispels the pernicious narrative that in New York City, slavery was followed by a hundred years of poverty and destitution.
Civilizations Map by Map: From Ancient Empires to Forgotten Cultures by DK
Civilizations Map by Map: From Ancient Empires to Forgotten Cultures
by DK

Witness the rise and fall of ancient empires and forgotten cultures--and their epic stories--with this unique map-led history.
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State
by Jill Lepore
 
Lepore, profoundly disturbed by the technology revolution and by the soulless inundation of artificial intelligence, unfurls a new history for the twenty-first century. Lepore traces our increasing dependence on and strangulation by data. Despite its abundance of dire facts, this book is an inspiring wake-up call, which demonstrates that nothing about the Artificial State was inevitable and it can be dismantled like other systems.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
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