History and Current Events

Discover new releases in history and current events.

Updated January 11, 2026
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Everything is tuberculosis : the history and persistence of our deadliest infection
Green, John
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestseller * #1 Washington Post bestseller * #1 Indie Bestseller * USA Today Bestseller John Green, award-winning author and passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world's...
Abundance
Klein, Ezra
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...
Proto : how one ancient language went global
Spinney, Laura
Paper Book
"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
A New Yorker Best Book of 2025 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...
America, Amřica : a new history of the New World
Grandin, Greg
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller * A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, 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,The New Republic,...
Who is government? : the untold story of public service
Lewis, Michael
Paper Book
"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 ...
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 Nazi mind : twelve warnings from history
Rees, Laurence
Paper Book
From an award-winning historian, a fresh analysis of the rise of Nazi extremism, how such thinking gained popularity, and why it is vital to fight burgeoning extremist movements today "Extremely timely....Rees divides his book into 'Twelve Warnings,' or red flags to...
Why nothing works : who killed progress--and how to bring it back
Dunkelman, Marc J.
Paper Book
A provocative exploration of the forces that keep us from getting things done, and how we can restore confidence in government "Dunkelman summarizes the history perfectly." --David Brooks, The New York Times Named a Best Book of...
Lincoln's peace : the struggle to end the American Civil War
Vorenberg, Michael
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...
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, Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, and Kirkus Reviews From an award-winning historian and New York Times reporter comes the timely story about McCarthyism that both "lays out the...
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 * ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE 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...
Strangers in the land : exclusion, belonging, and the epic story of the Chinese in America
Luo, Michael
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR NONFICTION * 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.
Last seen : the enduring search by formerly enslaved people to find their lost families
Giesberg, Judith Ann
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.
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,...
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...
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...
The woman who knew everyone : the power of Perle Mesta, Washington's most famous hostess
Gordon, Meryl
Paper Book
A TOWN & COUNTRY MUST READ BOOK OF 2025 AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH - BIOGRAPHIES & MEMOIR A deeply researched biography of the socialite, political hostess, activist and United States envoy to Luxembourg, Perle Mesta, from New York Times...
Original sins : the (mis)education of Black and Native children and the construction of American racism
Ewing, Eve L.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "A fascinating and eye-opening look at how American schools have helped build and reinforce an infrastructure of racial inequality . . . a must-read for every American parent and educator."--Esquire "Though the argument of this book is bleak,...
Medicine River : a story of survival and the legacy of Indian boarding schools
Pember, Mary Annette
Paper Book
A sweeping and deeply personal account of Native American boarding schools in the United States, and the legacy of abuse wrought by them in an attempt to destroy Native culture and life A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, TIME, Smithsonian, The History Channel "With a...
The stained glass window : a family history as the American story, 1790-1958
Lewis, David Levering
Paper Book
"At once narrative history, family chronicle and personal memoir... [a] luminous work of investigation and introspection." -Wall Street Journal National Humanities Medal recipient and two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize David Levering Lewis's own family history that...
Seven social movements that changed America
Gordon, Linda
Paper Book
A brilliantly conceived and provocative work from an award-winning historian that examines how seven twentieth-century social movements transformed America. How do social movements arise, wield power, and bring about meaningful change? Renowned scholar Linda Gordon investigates...
Calling in : how to start making change with those you'd rather cancel
Ross, Loretta J.
Paper Book
From a pioneering Black feminist and MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, this urgent and exhilarating memoir-manifesto-handbook provides bold, practical new ways to transform conflicts into connections, even with those we're tempted to walk away from. In 1979, Loretta Ross was a single...
Black in blues : how a color tells the story of my people
Perry, Imani
Paper Book
A "vast, multifaceted and enchanting" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) meditation on the color blue and its fascinating role in Black history and culture, from National Book Award winner Imani Perry, "the most important interpreter of Black life in our time" (Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.) Throughout...

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