History and Current Events

Discover new releases in history and current events.

Updated November 27, 2023
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The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder
David Grann
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager...
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
Heather Cox Richardson
New York Times Bestseller "Engaging and highly accessible."--Boston Globe "A vibrant, and essential history of America's unending, enraging and utterly compelling struggle since its founding to live up to its own best ideals... It's both a cause for hope,...
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History
Peter Frankopan
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR: A revolutionary new history that reveals how climate change has dramatically shaped the development--and demise--of civilizations across time *Detailing many years of extensive research, endnotes for this edition run to more than 200...
Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump
Miles Taylor
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The author behind the "eye-popping" (CNN) #1 New York Times bestseller A Warning presents an urgent look at how our deeply divided nation is setting the stage for "The Next Trump." Donald Trump will be...
I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country
Elena Kostyuchenko
* Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and TIME * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * "A haunting book of rare courage." --Clarissa Ward, CNN chief international correspondent and author of On All Fronts ...
Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
Anderson Cooper
The number one New York Times bestselling authors of Vanderbilt return with another riveting history of a legendary American family, the Astors, and how they built and lavished their fortune. The story of the Astors is a...
The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
Jeff Goodell
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! NATIONAL BESTSELLER Most Anticipated Book by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times * A Next Big Idea Book Club...
Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts
Bill O'Reilly
The Instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller! Killing the Witches revisits one of the most frightening and inexplicable episodes in American history: the events of 1692 and 1693 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. What...
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
Timothy Egan
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *  A Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction * An NPR Best Book of the Year * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year *  A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year * A Goodreads Choice Awards...
The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe
Martyn Rady
An essential new history of Central Europe, the contested lands so often at the heart of world history     Central Europe has long been infamous as a region beset by war, a place where empires clashed and world wars began. In The Middle...
The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and the Path to a Shared American Future
Robert P. Jones
A New York Times Bestseller Taking the story of white supremacy in America back to 1493, and examining contemporary communities in Mississippi, Minnesota, and Oklahoma for models of racial repair, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy helps chart a...
Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land
Jacob Mikanowski
In light of Russia's aggressive 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Goodbye, Eastern Europe is a crucial, elucidative read, a sweeping epic chronicling a thousand years of strife, war, and bloodshed, from pre-Christianity to the fall of Communism--illuminating the remarkable cultural significance...
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
Ned Blackhawk
Winner of the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction * National Bestseller * A New Yorker Best Book of 2023 * A New York Times Notable Book of 2023 * A Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction of 2023 * An Esquire...
Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II
Lena S. Andrews
National Bestseller * Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist "An ingenious look at WWII." --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A groundbreaking new history of the role of American servicewomen in WWII, illuminating their forgotten yet essential contributions to the Allies' victory. ...
Opinions
Roxane Gay
From beloved and bestselling author Roxane Gay, "a strikingly fresh cultural critic" (Washington Post) comes an exhilarating collection of her essays on culture, politics, and everything in between. Since the publication of the groundbreaking Bad Feminist and Hunger, Roxane Gay has...
The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History
Serhii Plokhy
Despite repeated warnings from the White House, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. Why did Putin start the war--and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia grows increasingly...
Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany
Katja Hoyer
AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the ashes of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the definitive history of East Germany, "a fascinating, sparkling book, filled with insights" (Peter Frankopan)   In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron...
American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress
Wesley Lowery
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An NPR Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year Longlisted for the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence "American Whitelash is indispensable. Really. It is." - Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist<...
Poverty, By America
Matthew Desmond
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a "provocative and compelling" (NPR) argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR...
Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization
Kenneth W. Harl
A narrative history of how Attila, Genghis Khan and the so-called barbarians of the steppes shaped world civilization. The barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes have played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These nomadic tribes have...
Pax
Tom Holland
From a "remarkably gifted historian" (New York Times), the definitive account of the golden age of Rome -- an ultimate superpower at the pinnacle of its greatness The Pax Romana has long been shorthand for the empire's golden age. Stretching from Caledonia to...
The Eagle and the Lion: Rome, Persia and an Unwinnable Conflict
Adrian Goldsworthy
The epic rivalry between the ancient world's two great superpowers  The Roman empire was like no other. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale....
Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II
Evan Thomas
A riveting, immersive account of the agonizing decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan--a crucial turning point in World War II and geopolitical history--with you-are-there immediacy by the New York Times bestselling author of Ike's Bluff and Sea of Thunder. ...
Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
Simon Winchester
"A delightful compendium of the kind of facts you immediately want to share with anyone you encounter . . . . Simon Winchester has firmly earned his place in history . . . as a promulgator of knowledge of every variety, perhaps the last of the famous explorers who crisscrossed the now-vanished...
Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World, 1848-1849
Christopher Clark
New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * From the bestselling author of The Sleepwalkers comes an epic history of the 1848 revolutions that swept Europe, and the charismatic figures who propelled them forward   "Refreshingly original . . . Familiar...
Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis
Michael E. Mann
In this sweeping work of science and history, the renowned climate scientist and author of The New Climate War shows us the conditions on Earth that allowed humans not only to exist but thrive, and how they are imperiled if we veer off course.   For the...
Black AF History : the un-whitewashed story of America
Michael Harriot
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans. America...
Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close
Hannah Carlson
"Who knew the humble pocket could hold so much history? In this enthralling and always surprising account, Hannah Carlson turns the pocket inside out and out tumble pocket watches, coins, pistols, and a riveting centuries-long social and political history." ―Jill Lepore, author...
The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603-1689
Jonathan Healey
A fresh, exciting, "readable and informative" history (The New York Times) of seventeenth-century England, a time of revolution when society was on fire and simultaneously forging the modern world. * "Recapture[s] a lost moment when a radically democratic commonwealth seemed...
Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America
Will Sommer
"Punchy and well-reported....Sommer is the perfect person to tell this story." --New York Times "A story so bizarre, only Will Sommer could report it." --Molly Jong-Fast The definitive book on QAnon from the reporter knows them best; Will Sommer explains what it is, how it has...
There Is Only One America
Jason Chaffetz
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Why does it feel like no matter what happens in American politics, the Democrats still get their way When he left Congress in 2017, Jason Chaffetz still thought elections could save us. For generations, conservatives have hoped that...
Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East
Uri Kaufman
One of Financial Times' Best History Books of 2023 "Pacy and enthralling." --Financial Times "Tells the story brilliantly." --Senator Joseph I. Lieberman "Stimulating and insightful...will no doubt find a permanent place on the Arab-Israeli...
Stuff Mom Never Told You: The Feminist Past, Present, and Future
Anney Reese
The concept of feminism has evolved and changed so much over the last few decades that it can be confusing for people to keep up. Luckily, Anney Reese and Samantha McVey break it all down every week on their popular iHeart podcast, Stuff Mom Never Told You. In this book...
We Need to Talk About Antisemitism
Rabbi Diana Fersko
A millennial rabbi explores why we're reluctant to discuss antisemitism--and empowers us to fight against it  Antisemitism is on the rise in America, in cities and rural areas, in red states and blue states, and in guises both subtle and terrifyingly overt. Rabbi Diana Fersko...
The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts
Loren Grush
In the bestselling tradition of Hidden Figures and Code Girls, the remarkable true story of America's first women astronauts--six extraordinary women, each making history going to orbit aboard NASA's Space Shuttle. When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the...
A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South
Peter Cozzens
The story of the pivotal struggle between the Creek Indians and an insatiable, young United States for control over the Deep South--from the acclaimed historian and prize-winning author of The Earth is Weeping The Creek War is one of the most tragic episodes in American...
How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History's Deadliest Catastrophes
Cody Cassidy
A detailed guide to surviving history's most challenging threats, from outrunning dinosaurs to making it off the Titanic alive History is the most dangerous place on earth. From dinosaurs the size of locomotives to meteors big enough to sterilize the planet, from famines...
Social Justice Fallacies
Thomas Sowell
In this instant New York Times bestseller, renowned economist Thomas Sowell demolishes the myths that underpin the social justice movement The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to many different people, for many...
Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right Wing Extremism
Jeffrey Toobin
The definitive account of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the enduring legacy of Timothy McVeigh, leading to the January 6 insurrection--from acclaimed journalist Jeffrey Toobin. Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement. Speaking to his lawyers days after the...
To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945
John C. McManus
From the liberation of the Philippines to the Japanese surrender, the final volume of John C. McManus's trilogy on the US Army in the Pacific War "Brilliant and riveting... a truly great book."-Gen. David Petraeus . "Triumphant and compelling."-Richard Frank . "McManus is...
The First Lady of World War II
Shannon McKenna Schmidt
The first book to tell the full story of Eleanor Roosevelt's unprecedented and courageous trip to the Pacific Theater during World War II. On August 27, 1943, news broke in the United States that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was on the other side of the world. A closely guarded secret, she...
Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class
Blair LM Kelley Ph. D.
There have been countless books, articles, and televised reports in recent years about the almost mythic "white working class," a tide of commentary that has obscured the labor, and even the very existence, of entire groups of working people, including everyday Black workers. In this brilliant...

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