History and Current Events December 2025 |
|
|
|
| We Survived the Night by Julian Brave NoiseCatBlending elements of memoir and reportage with oral storytelling traditions, Tsq̓éscen̓ First Nation filmmaker and activist Julian Brave NoiseCat spotlights contemporary Indigenous life in North America, highlighting the triumphs and travails of misrepresented communities. Try this next: Sugarcane, NoiseCat's documentary for which he became the first Indigenous American filmmaker nominated for an Academy Award; Rez Rules: My Indictment of Canada's and America's Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples by Chief Clarence Louie. |
|
| The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding by Joseph J. EllisPulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis follows up The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783 with an incisive exploration of how America's Founding Fathers were complicit in slavery and Indigenous dispossession despite their calls for universal freedom. Further reading: Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by Woody Holton. |
|
|
|
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
by Christine Kuehn
A propulsive, never-before-told story of one family's shocking involvement as Nazi and Japanese spies during WWII and the pivotal role they played in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It began with a letter from a screenwriter, asking about a story. Your family. World War II. Nazi spies. Christine Kuehn was shocked and confused. When she asked her seventy-year-old father, Eberhard, what this could possibly be about, he stalled, deflected, demurred, and then wept. He knew this day would come. The Kuehns, a prominent Berlin family, saw the rise of the Nazis as a way out of the hard times that had befallen them. When the daughter of the family, Eberhard's sister, Ruth, met Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels at a party, the two hit it off, and they had an affair. But Ruth had a secret--she was half Jewish--and Goebbels found out. Rather than having Ruth killed, Goebbels instead sent the entire Kuehn family to Hawaii, to work as spies half a world away. There, Ruth and her parents established an intricate spy operation from their home, just a few miles down the road from Pearl Harbor, shielding Eberhard from the truth. They passed secrets to the Japanese, leading to the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. After Eberhard's father was arrested and tried for his involvement in planning the assault, Eberhard learned the harsh truth about his family and faced a decision that would change the path of the Kuehn family forever. Jumping back and forth between Christine discovering her family's secret and the untold past of the spies in Germany, Japan, and Hawaii, Family of Spies is fast-paced history at its finest and will rewrite the narrative of December 7, 1941.
|
|
|
|
Hostage
by Eli Sharabi
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be'eri, shattering the peaceful life Eli Sharabi had built with his British wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel. Dragged barefoot out his front door while his family watched in horror, Sharabi was plunged deep into the suffocating darkness of Gaza's tunnels. As war raged above him, he endured a grueling 491 days in captivity, all the while holding onto the hope that he would one day be reunited with his loved ones. Eli Sharabi's story is one of hunger and heartache, of physical pain, longing, loneliness and a helplessness that threatens to destroy the soul. But it is also a story of strength, of resilience, and of the human spirit's refusal to surrender. It is about the camaraderie forged in captivity, the quiet power of faith, and one man's unrelenting decision to choose life, time and time again. In the first memoir by a released Israeli hostage, and the fastest-selling book in Israel's history, Sharabi offers a searing firsthand account of survival under unimaginable conditions--starvation, isolation, physical beatings, and psychological abuse at the hands of his captors.
|
|
|
|
Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island: The World War II Battle That Saved Marine Corps Aviation
by John R. Bruning
On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine dive-bombers and nineteen Marine fighters landed at Guadalcanal. Their mission: defeat the Japanese navy and prevent it from sending more men and supplies to 'Starvation Island, as Guadalcanal was nicknamed. The Japanese were turning the remote, jungle-covered mountain in the south Solomon Islands into an air base from which they could attack the supply lines between the U.S. and Australia. The night after the Marines landed and captured the partially completed airfield, the Imperial Navy launched a surprise night attack on the Allied fleet offshore, resulting in the worst defeat the U.S. Navy suffered in the 20th century, which prompted the abandonment of the Marines on Guadalcanal. ... [This book] follows Major John L. Smith, a magnetic leader who became America's top fighter ace for the time; Captain Marian Carl, the Marine Corps' first ace, and one of the few survivors of his squadron at the Battle of Midway; ... and Major Richard Mangrum, the lawyer-turned-dive-bomber commander whose inexperienced men wrought havoc on the Japanese Navy.
|
|
|
|
How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will
by John Kennedy
One of the most distinctive and funny politicians, Senator John Kennedy (the one from Louisiana)--hailed by Politico as America's most quotable Senator--offers his perceptive (and hilarious) takes on the ridiculousness of political life in this scathingly witty takedown of Washington and its elite denizens. How to Test Negative for Stupid offers the Senator's tongue-in-cheek guidebook through Washington, punctuated by his thoughts on various issues and humorous stories about life from Louisiana politics and inside the Senate.
|
|
|
|
The Sailing of the Intrepid: The Incredible Wartime Voyage of the Navy's Iconic Aircraft Carrier
by Montel Williams
1944. The USS Intrepid set sail on its first combat voyage, only to be struck by a Japanese torpedo plane, jamming its rudder at a forty-five-degree angle. It could only sail in circles amid treacherous waters. The task force abandoned ship as it tried to make the 3,300-mile voyage to Pearl Harbor. For a day, the captain was able to slalom, alternating use of the ship's engines, but the seas became too perilous. Until one resilient crewman came up with the ingenious idea of rigging a 3,000-square-foot high sail on the second deck to steer the ship home safe. Incredibly, the makeshift sail proved to be their ticket to the shorelines.--Provided by publisher.
|
|
|
|
Under a Metal Sky: A Journey Through Minerals, Greed, and Wonder
by Philip Marsden
Discover the wonders and perils of the earth's precious metals--what they have offered us as humans, and how they've forever changed our relationship with the world around us The ground beneath our feet is full of riches: the ocher that allowed prehistoric humans to paint on cave walls; the tin that drove the early Industrial Revolution; radium, the source of Marie Curie's wonder; and lithium, the essential mineral of modern life found in our mobile phones and laptops. Each of these minerals has a story to tell, and each has its place in the broader story of human history. Under a Metal Sky takes us on a journey across the peat-rich Dutch lowlands, through Prague and Bohemia, and on to the gold-rich mountains of Georgia. Along the way, Philip Marsden uncovers the strange and colorful histories of alchemy, scientific revolution, industrialization, and technological innovation, peopled by figures like the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II, Goethe, Marie Curie, and William Blake. But alongside wonder and inspiration, there has also been plunder and heedless exploitation, the consequences of which have set us on a path toward our own extinction. Beautifully written and wildly mind-expanding, Under a Metal Sky seamlessly blends travel writing, cultural history, and geology. Who knew the history of rocks could be such a page-turner?
|
|
|
|
A Short History of the Gaza Strip
by Anne Irfan
From a leading scholar of Palestine-Israel, a brief, essential history of the besieged strip of land, revealing the long-term roots of Israel's destruction of Gaza.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|