History and Current Events

Discover new releases in history and current events.

Updated June 19, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Emperor of Rome : ruling the Ancient Roman world
Beard, Mary
Paper Book
In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome, from its slightly shabby Iron Age origins to its reign as the undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean. Now, drawing on more than thirty years of teaching and writing about Roman history, Beard turns to...
Democracy awakening : notes on the state of America
Richardson, Heather Cox
Paper Book
In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. The essays soon turned into a newsletter and, spread by word of mouth, its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated...
Tired of winning : Donald Trump and the end of the Grand Old Party
Karl, Jonathan
Paper Book
In the wake of January 6 and aided by his absence from Twitter, Donald Trump seemed to have faded from daily news coverage. After an unsuccessful reelection campaign, the losses continue to rack up: record fines for obstruction of justice, fights over real estate, and federal records rule violations...
November 1942 : an intimate history of the turning point of World War II
Englund, Peter
Paper Book
The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * An intimate history of the most important month of World War II, completely based on the diaries, letters and memoirs of the people who lived through it At the beginning of November 1942, it looked as if the Axis powers...
Killing the witches : the horror of Salem, Massachusetts
O'Reilly, Bill
Paper Book
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...
The revolutionary temper : Paris, 1748-1789
Darnton, Robert
Paper Book
When a Parisian crowd stormed the Bastille in July 1789, it triggered an event of global consequence: the overthrow of the monarchy and the birth of a new society. Most historians account for the French Revolution by viewing it in retrospect as the outcome of underlying conditions such as a...
Klan war : Ulysses S. Grant and the battle to save Reconstruction
Bordewich, Fergus M.
Paper Book
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil--when Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the KKK The Ku Klux Klan, which celebrated historian Fergus...
Empires of the steppes : a history of the nomadic tribes who shaped civilization
Harl, Kenneth W.
Paper Book
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...
Enough
Hutchinson, Cassidy
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Cassidy Hutchinson's desk was mere steps from the most controversial president in recent American history. Now, she provides a riveting account of her extraordinary experiences as an idealistic young woman thrust into the middle of a national...
Teddy and Booker T. : how two American icons blazed a path for racial equality
Kilmeade, Brian
Paper Book
When President Theodore Roosevelt welcomed the country's most visible Black man, Booker T. Washington, into his circle of counselors in 1901, the two confronted a shocking and violent wave of racist outrage. In the previous decade, Jim Crow laws had legalized discrimination in the South, eroding...
American visions : the United States, 1800-1860
Ayers, Edward L.
Paper Book
With so many of our histories falling into dour critique or blatant celebration, here is a welcome departure: a book that offers hope as well as honesty about the American past. The early decades of the nineteenth century saw the expansion of slavery, Native dispossession, and wars with Canada...
Astor : the rise and fall of an American fortune
Cooper, Anderson
Paper Book
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...
Unwoke : how to defeat cultural Marxism in America
Cruz, Ted
Paper Book
Our institutions have gone "woke." Everybody knows that. But nobody has come up with a way to stop it. Until now. In this hard-hitting new book, Senator Ted Cruz delivers a realistic battle plan for defeating the woke assault on America. The Democratic Party is now...
The last ships from Hamburg : business, rivalry, and the race to save Russia's Jews on the eve of World War I
Ujifusa, Steven
Paper Book
"A captivating group portrait of three 'titans' of industry who facilitated the steamship routes by which around 2 million Jewish refugees, fleeing pogroms and discrimination, immigrated from Europe to America between 1890 and 1921. . . . Ujifusa ties this intricate business history into a...
Differ we must : how Lincoln succeeded in a divided America
Inskeep, Steve
Paper Book
In 1855, with the United States at odds over slavery, the lawyer Abraham Lincoln wrote a note to his best friend, the son of a Kentucky slaveowner. Lincoln rebuked his friend for failing to oppose slavery. But he added: 'If for this you and I must differ, differ we must,' and said they would be...
Sedition hunters : how January 6th broke the justice system
Reilly, Ryan J.
Paper Book
The January 6th attack is an unprecedented crime in American history. Sprawling and openly political, it can't be handled by the traditional rules and norms of law enforcement--threatening the very idea of justice and its role in society. The attack on the Capitol...
Germany 1923 : hyperinflation, Hitler's Putsch, and democracy in crisis
Ullrich, Volker
Paper Book
The great Austrian writer Stefan Zweig confided in his autobiography: "I have a pretty thorough knowledge of history, but never, to my recollection, has it produced such madness in such gigantic proportions." He was referring to Germany in 1923, a "year of lunacy," defined by hyperinflation,...
Collison of power : Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post
Baron, Martin
Paper Book
"A closely observed, gripping chronicle of politics and journalism during a decade of turmoil." --The New York Times Book Review Politics. Money. Media. Tech. ...It's all here in Collision of Power. "All the President's Men for a new...
The palace : from the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 years of British history at Hampton Court
Russell, Gareth
Paper Book
A "riotously readable...tender and affectionate" (Daily Mail, London) exploration of five hundred years of British history--from King Henry VIII to Queen Elizabeth II--as seen through the doorways of the exquisite Hampton Court Palace. Architecturally breathtaking...
The savage storm : the battle for Italy 1943
Holland, James
Paper Book
Acclaimed WWII historian James Hollandboth narrates and reframes the controversial first months of the ItalianCampaign and sets a new standard in the chronicling of war Following victory in Sicily, whilethe central command planned the spring 1944...
Longstreet : the Confederate general who defied the South
Varon, Elizabeth R.
CD
The heat will kill you first : life and death on a scorched planet
Goodell, Jeff
Paper Book
New York Times best-selling journalist Jeff Goodell presents a "masterful, bracing" (David Wallace-Wells) examination of the impact that temperature rise will have on our lives and on our planet, offering a vital new perspective on where we are headed, how we can prepare, and what...
Renegade : defending democracy and liberty in our divided country
Kinzinger, Adam
Paper Book
On January 6, 2021, America watched in horror as a violent mob led by right-wing extremist groups stormed the U.S. Capitol in support of then-President Donald Trump. It was one of the darkest days in recent history, yet to former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger it was also the culmination of a...
Black AF history : the un-whitewashed story of America
Harriot, Michael
Paper Book
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...
How not to be a politician : a memoir
Stewart, Rory
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of 2023 by Financial Times and Kirkus Reviews The #1 Sunday Times bestseller, published in the UK as Politics on the Edge. "One of the best books on politics our era will see . . . A book of astonishing literary quality." --<...
President Garfield : from radical to unifier
Goodyear, C. W.
Paper Book
An "ambitious, thorough, supremely researched" (The Washington Post) biography of the extraordinary, tragic life of America's twentieth president--James Garfield. In "the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty years" (The Wall Street Journal),...
The deadline : essays
Lepore, Jill
Paper Book
Few, if any, historians have brought such insight, wisdom, and empathy to public discourse as Jill Lepore. Arriving at The New Yorker in 2005, Lepore, with her panoptical range and razor-sharp style, brought a transporting freshness and a literary vivacity to everything from profiles of long-dead...
Valiant women : the extraordinary American servicewomen who helped win World War II
Andrews, Lena S.
Paper Book
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. ...
Judgment at Tokyo : World War II on trial and the making of modern Asia
Bass, Gary J.
Paper Book
ACCLAIMED AS ONE OF THE YEAR'S 10 BEST BOOKS BY THE WASHINGTON POST * 12 ESSENTIAL NONFICTION BOOKS BY THE NEW YORKER * 100 NOTABLE BOOKS BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * BEST BOOKS BY THE ECONOMIST, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AND AIR MAIL * 10 ESSENTIAL BOOKS BY THE TELEGRAPH<...
The six : the untold story of America's first women astronauts
Grush, Loren
Paper Book
"Vivid." --The Guardian * "Engrossing." --Booklist * "Suspenseful, meticulously observed, enlightening." --Margot Lee Shetterly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Figures In this account of America's first women astronauts "Grush...
UFO : the inside story of the US government's search for alien life here—and out there
Graff, Garrett M.
Paper Book
"One of the rare books on the topic that manages to be both entertaining and factually grounded." --The Wall Street Journal From the bestselling author of Raven Rock, The Only Plane in the Sky, and Watergate (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history)...
Fire weather : a true story from a hotter world
Vaillant, John
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION * A stunning account of a colossal wildfire and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind from the...
Opinions : a decade of arguments, criticism, and minding other people's business
Gay, Roxane
Paper Book
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...
Cashing out : the flight of Nazi treasure, 1945-1948
Lochery, Neill
Paper Book
When Nazis looked to flee Europe with stolen art, gems, and gold in tow, certain "neutral" countries were all too willing to assist them. By the end of January 1945, it was clear to Germany that the war was lost. The Third Reich was in freefall, and its leaders,...
In the pines : a lynching, a lie, a reckoning
Hale, Grace Elizabeth
Paper Book
Winner of the Mississippi Historical Society Book of the Year Award In this "courageous and compelling ... essential and critically important" book (Bryan Stevenson), an award-winning scholar of white supremacy tackles her toughest research assignment yet: the unsolved...
Social justice fallacies
Sowell, Thomas
Paper Book
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...
Sailing the graveyard sea : the deathly voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy's only mutiny, and the trial that gripped the nation
Snow, Richard
Paper Book
A "compelling" (The Wall Street Journal) account of the only mutiny in the history of the United States Navy--a little-known but once notorious event that cost three young men their lives--part murder mystery, part courtroom drama, and as propulsive and dramatic as the bestselling...
France on trial : the case of Marshal Pťain
Jackson, Julian
Paper Book
A Telegraph, Spectator, Prospect, and Times Best Book of the Year "Enthralling."―Geoffrey Wheatcroft, New York Review of Books "This is a story not just about Pétain but about war and resistance, the moral...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.