History and Current Events

Discover new releases in history and current events.

Updated December 7, 2025
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Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
Green, John.
Paper Book
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller! * #1 Washington Post bestseller! * #1 Indie Bestseller! * USA Today Bestseller! John Green, acclaimed author and passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the...
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
El Akkad, Omar
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * PALESTINE BOOK AWARD WINNER * From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental...
The Fate of the Day : The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
Atkinson, Rick
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . In the second volume of the landmark American Revolution trilogy by the bestselling author of The British Are Coming, George Washington's army fights on the knife edge between victory and defeat. Rick Atkinson is featured in the new Ken...
Abundance
Klein, Ezra/ Thompson, Derek
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 * NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2025 * KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * NPR BOOKS WE LOVE 2025 "A must-read for progressives who want a blueprint for reforming...
Oathbreakers : the war of brothers that shattered an empire and made Medieval Europe
Gabriele, Matthew
Paper Book
The authors of The Bright Ages return with a real-life Game of Thrones--the story of the Carolingian Civil War, a bloody, protracted battle pitting brother against brother, father against son, that would end an empire, upend a continent, and redefine the future of Europe By...
Proto : How One Ancient Language Went Global
Spinney, Laura.
"The story of how one language left the steppes of Ukraine and became the earth's dominant language family has become clearer and more exciting than ever before. Hooray for a book where the author's curiosity, diligence, and literary craft gets it all down in what will stand as the go-to...
Inventing the Renaissance : the myth of a golden age
Palmer, Ada
Paper Book
An irreverent new take on the Renaissance, which reveals it as anything but Europe's golden age. From the darkness of a plagued and war-torn Middle Ages, the Renaissance (we're told) heralds the dawning of a new world--a halcyon age of art, prosperity, and rebirth....
Who Is Government? : The Untold Story of Public Service
Lewis, Michael
"Perhaps never before has there been a book better timed or more urgent." --Washington Post One of President Obama's 2025 Summer Reads As seen on CBS Mornings, CNN Anderson Cooper, ABC News Live, MSNBC Morning Joe, and many more ...
America, AmĂŠrica : a new history of the New World
Grandin, Greg 1962-
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller * A finalist for the 2025 Kirkus Prize, 2025 Cundill History Prize, and 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker "An extraordinarily ambitious book . . . America,...
Bad law : ten popular laws that are ruining America
Mystal, Elie
Paper Book
In this New York Times bestseller, Elie Mystal offers a brilliant takedown of ten shocking pieces of legislation that continue to perpetuate hate, racial bias, injustice, and inequality today--an urgent yet hopeful read for our current political climate "Mystal is a grassroots...
Summer of fire and blood : the German peasants' war
Roper, Lyndal
Paper Book
Winner of the Cundill Prize From a prize-winning historian, the definitive account of the sixteenth-century uprising that revolutionized Europe "A balanced, comprehensive survey of the uprising, gripping in its narrative and perceptive in its...
The Mesopotamian Riddle : An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World's Oldest Writing
Hammer, Joshua
Paper Book
An "adventure tale for puzzle lovers and Indiana Jones fans alike" (The Washington Post) following three free-spirited Victorians on their twenty-year quest to decipher cuneiform, the oldest writing in the world--from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bad-Ass...
Somewhere Toward Freedom : Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation
Parten, Bennett
Paper Book
Considered one of "the most innovative studies of American emancipation in the Civil War" (David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass), Somewhere Toward Freedom is a groundbreaking account of Sherman's March to the Sea--the critical Civil War campaign that...
The fifteen : murder, retribution, and the forgotten story of Nazi POWs in America
Geroux, William
Paper Book
The revelatory true story of the long-forgotten POW camps for German soldiers erected in hundreds of small U.S. towns during World War II, and the secret Nazi killings that ensnared fifteen brave American POWs in a high-stakes showdown. "In the pantheon of American history, it...
Why Nothing Works : Who Killed Progress and How to Bring It Back
Dunkelman, Marc J.
Paper Book
A provocative exploration about the architecture of power, the forces that stifle us from getting things done, and how we can restore confidence in democratically elected government--"the best book to date on the biggest political issue that nobody is talking about" (Matthew Yglesias) ...
Taking Manhattan : The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America
Shorto, Russell.
Paper Book
A New Yorker Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Best Book of 2025 One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025 The author of The Island at the Center of the World offers up a thrilling narrative of how New York--that brash, bold,...
The last tsar : the abdication of Nicholas II and the fall of the Romanovs
Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi 1941-
Paper Book
"Elegantly written and magisterially researched" (Robert Service, author of A History of Modern Russia), the definitive story behind the self-destruction of the autocratic Romanov dynasty, by the world's foremost expert When Tsar Nicholas II fell from power...
The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History
Rees, Laurence
Paper Book
From an award-winning historian, a "compelling and frankly terrifying" (Telegraph) analysis of the rise of Nazi extremism, how such thinking gained popularity, and why it is vital to fight burgeoning extremist movements today How could the SS have committed...
Murder the truth : fear, the First Amendment, and a secret campaign to protect the powerful
Enrich, David 1979-
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller "Authoritarian governments abroad have long used legal threats and lawsuits against journalists to cover up their disinformation, corruption, and violence. Now, as master investigative journalist David Enrich reveals, those tactics have arrived in America." --...
The Ride : Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America
Kennedy, Kostya.
Paper Book
USA Today Bestseller Timed for the 250th anniversary of America's revolution and founding: Paul Revere's heroic ride, newly told with fresh research into little-known aspects of the story Americans have heard since childhood but hardly understood On...
Owned : how big tech on the right bought the loudest voices on the left
Higgins, Eoin
Paper Book
 A "devastating" (Nation) examination of how a cabal of tech-billionaires is colluding with once-idealistic journalists to create an entirely new media landscape Owned is the story of the underreported and growing collusion between new wealth and...
Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS
Rogak, Lisa
Paper Book
The incredible untold story of four women who spun the web of deception that helped win World War II. Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane...
Lincoln's peace : the struggle to end the American Civil War
Vorenberg, Michael 1964-
Paper Book
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2025 * One historian's journey to find the end of the Civil War--and, along the way, to expand our understanding of the nature of war itself and how societies struggle to draw the line between war and peace LOS ANGELES TIMES "TOP TEN BOOKS TO...
The Waiting Game : The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens: a History
Clark, Nicola
Paper Book
A New York TImes Book Review Editor's Pick A colorful and authoritative narrative history of the often-overlooked--yet hugely influential--figures of the Tudor court: the ladies-in-waiting. Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her...
Ring of Fire : A New History of the World at War 1914
Churchill, Alexandra/ Eberholst, Nicolai
Paper Book
The dramatic story of 1914--the start of World War I--presenting an expansive, dynamic history of the start of this truly global conflict. Most countries did not know what they were getting into during the precarious days of 1914. Global citizens believed they were going to get a...
The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself about Russia and Betrayed Ukraine
Vindman, Alexander
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller  A chilling analysis of how Western indecision and apathy made possible the return of brutal Russian expansionism with catastrophic consequences - "A must-read for anyone who wants to understand what went...
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America
Goldstone, Brian
Paper Book
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE ATLANTIC'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Through the "revelatory and gut-wrenching" (Associated Press) stories of five Atlanta families, this landmark work of journalism exposes a new and troubling trend--the dramatic rise of the working homeless in...
The World After Gaza: A History
Mishra, Pankaj
"Courageous and bracing, learned and ethical, rigorous and mind-expanding." --Naomi Klein "This profoundly important and urgent book finds Mishra, one of our most intellectually astute and courageous writers, at the peak of his powers." --Hisham Matar "A triumphant...
Red Scare : blacklists, McCarthyism and the making of modern America
Risen, Clay
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, The Chicago Tribune, and Kirkus Reviews From an award-winning historian and New York Times reporter comes the timely story about McCarthyism that both "lays out the many mechanisms of repression that made...
Strangers in the Land : Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
Luo, Michael
Paper Book
From New Yorker writer Michael Luo comes a masterful narrative history of the Chinese in America that traces the sorrowful theme of exclusion and documents their more than century-long struggle to belong. ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, THE...
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families
Giesberg, Judith
Paper Book
"[A] meticulously excavated tribute to the formerly enslaved mothers, fathers, siblings, and kin who published 'last seen' advertisements in search of loved ones stolen from them in bondage...a vital work of recovery." --Ilyon Woo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Master, Slave,...
Miracles and wonder : the historical mystery of Jesus
Pagels, Elaine H. 1943-
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From a renowned National Book Award-winning scholar, an extraordinary new account of the life of Jesus that explores the mystery of how a poor young man inspired a religion that reshaped the world. "This is a brilliant and necessary book. Sober...
Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
Tapper, Jake
THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, The Financial Times, Kirkus Reviews, and The Associated Press "Superbly reported . . . Reads like a Shakespearean drama on steroids." -- Los Angeles Times...
The battle of Manila : poisoned victory in the Pacific war
Sarantakes, Nicholas Evan 1966-
Paper Book
A thrilling and in-depth look at the battle for Manila, the third-bloodiest battle of World War II and the culmination point of the war in the Pacific theater.In 1945 the United States and Japan fought the largest and most devastating land battle of their war in the Pacific, a month-long struggle...
The Rebel Empresses : Elisabeth of Austria and Eugňie of France, Power and Glamour in the Struggle for Europe
Goldstone, Nancy
Paper Book
From the acclaimed author of In the Shadow of the Empress comes the thrilling, "richly detailed, entertaining" chronicle of two of the most influential and glamorous women in nineteenth-century Europe--Elisabeth, empress of Austria, and Eugénie, empress of France--and their efforts to rule...
Paris undercover : a wartime story of courage, friendship, and betrayal
Goodman, Matthew
Paper Book
Two women in Nazi-occupied Paris created a daring escape line that rescued dozens of Allied servicemen. With one still in a German prison camp, the other wrote a book about it-a memoir built on fabrications. Now the bestselling author of Eighty Days shares their incredible, never-before...
The Crossing : El Paso, the Southwest, and America's Forgotten Origin Story
Parker, Richard
Paper Book
A radical work of history that re-centers the American story around El Paso, Texas, gateway between north and south, center of indigenous power and resistance, locus of European colonization of North America, centuries-long hub of immigration, and underappreciated modern blueprint...
A Perfect Frenzy : A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution
Lawler, Andrew
Paper Book
From the nationally bestselling author of The Secret Token, the largely untold story of rebellion in Virginia that will forever change our understanding of the American Revolution As the American Revolution broke out in New England in the spring of 1775, dramatic events...
Spell freedom : the underground schools that built the civil rights movement
Weiss, Elaine F. 1952-
Paper Book
The acclaimed author of the "stirring, definitive, and engrossing" (NPR) The Woman's Hour returns with the story of four activists whose audacious plan to restore voting rights to Black Americans laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement. In the summer of...
The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne
Dawson, Kate Winkler.
Paper Book
INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER! One of Amazon's Best History Books of January Acclaimed journalist, podcaster, and true-crime historian Kate Winkler Dawson tells the true story of the scandalous murder investigation that became the inspiration for both...
The Secret History of the Five Eyes : The Untold Story of the International Spy Network
Kerbaj, Richard
Paper Book
This is the definitive account of the Western world's most powerful--but least known--intelligence alliance, which remains central to the defense of the free world in a dangerously uncertain time. The Five Eyes--a spy network between the intelligence agencies of the...
Being Jewish after the destruction of Gaza : a reckoning
Beinart, Peter
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A bold, urgent appeal from the acclaimed columnist and political commentator, addressing one of the most important issues of our time "At this painful moment, Peter Beinart's voice is more vital than ever....
Presidents at war : how World War II shaped a generation of presidents, from Eisenhower and JFK through Reagan and Bush
Gillon, Steven M.
Paper Book
Steven M. Gillon, historian and New York Times bestselling author, is back with the story of how WWII shaped the characters and politics of seven American presidents. World War II loomed over the latter half of the twentieth century, transforming every level of...
Another World Is Possible : Lessons for America from Around the Globe
Zapata, Natasha Hakimi
Paper Book
A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book Real-world solutions to America's thorniest social problems--from housing to retirement to drug addiction--based on original reporting from around the world A new generation of Americans has declared that another...
The Rebel Romanov : Julie of Saxe-coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had
Rappaport, Helen
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanov Sisters comes the story of a courageous young Imperial Grand Duchess who scandalized Europe in search of freedom. In 1795, Catherine the Great of Russia was in search of a bride for her grandson...
In open contempt : confronting White supremacy in art and public space
Weathersby, Irvin Jr
Paper Book
"An awe-striking masterpiece of love." --Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author "The sentences alone in In Open Contempt make it one of the most memorable books of the decade. But it's the unexpected lingering and genius crafting of consequential...
Righteous strife : how warring religious nationalists forged Lincoln's union
Carwardine, Richard
Paper Book
The first major account of the American Civil War to give full weight to the central role played by religion, reframing the conflict through Abraham Lincoln's contentious appeals to faith-based nationalism How did slavery figure in God's plan? Was it the providential role of...

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