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History and Current Events August 2016
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"Constitutional amendments adopted in the war’s aftermath laid the legal basis for and pointed the way towards transforming the United States into a multi-racial republic." ~ from Bruce Levine's The Fall of the House of Dixie
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| White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol AndersonIn a Washington Post opinion column following the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, historian Carol Anderson observed that the violence wasn't about black rage, but rather, "the latest outbreak of white rage." In this summary of white reactions from Reconstruction to the 21st century, Anderson shows how resistance to the end of slavery has permeated American policies and legislation. Each gain in civil rights has met new measures that undermine those rights, such as the closings of many public school systems after the decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Booklist calls White Rage "required reading" for those interested in contemporary American society. |
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| Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet... by Stephen BudianskyDuring World War II, Allied codebreakers provided key intelligence that helped assure the defeat of Germany and Japan. After the war, the newly created U.S. National Security Agency assumed the task of codebreaking, and their focus shifted from military strategy to espionage. In Code Warriors, journalist and cryptology expert Stephen Budiansky chronicles the NSA's work up to the Berlin Wall's dismantling. While he provides accessible and intriguing accounts of cryptological advances, he also reveals the risks that arise from the NSA's lack of transparency and its bloated budget. Viewing the agency's history in a post-Edward Snowden atmosphere, Budiansky provides an engaging and thought-provoking commentary. |
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| The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine by Ben EhrenreichBen Ehrenreich, an American journalist and novelist, lived with Palestinian families in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for several stretches of time between 2011 and 2014. He witnessed how new security fences cut their houses off from the families' fields, how checkpoints and detours hindered their travel, and how Israeli settlers unapologetically harassed them. In The Way to the Spring, Ehrenreich offers a riveting, well-documented closeup of the restrictions and challenges Palestinian villagers face, highlighting their frustration and suffering while vividly portraying the humanity of their daily lives. The Los Angeles Times praises his account for "digging beneath the unsightly outer manifestations of the occupation." |
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| How the Post Office Created America: A History by Winifred GallagherIf the United States Post Office didn't actually "create" America, it certainly played a vital role in developing its democratic foundations. Author Winifred Gallagher traces the Post Office's early contributions to American society and engagingly describes the challenges posed by westward expansion. She details the political and private-sector forces that have influenced -- and sometimes retarded -- its growth. She also explains and critiques the more recent creation of the U.S. Postal Service (a government-owned corporation), while indicating how it can remain vital in an age of paperless communications. |
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| Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball, and the Secret Society That... by Tom StantonSports fans, history buffs, and true crime aficionados will all find something to appreciate in journalist Tom Stanton's Terror in the City of Champions. Detailing events in Depression-era Detroit, this absorbing book reveals the activities of a vicious crime syndicate, the white supremacist Black Legion, in tandem with the meteoric rise of the city's professional sports. Creating fascinating and contrasting portraits of athletes and criminals, Stanton colorfully depicts events that unfolded from 1933 to 1936. His meticulous research provides abundant details about his subjects, enlivened by his effective development of the context. "First-rate reporting," says Kirkus Reviews in a starred review. |
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Focus on: Slavery and Its Demise
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| America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise That... by Fergus M. BordewichTasked in 1850 with carving a million square miles of newly won territory into free or slave states, Congress erupted into a white-hot debate marked by dazzling rhetoric and vitriolic partisanship. In America's Great Debate, author Fergus Bordewich quotes Congressmen including Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Jefferson Davis, bringing to life a historical narrative that's suspenseful enough to keep even in-the-know American history buffs on the edge of their seats about the outcome. For another well-done history of events leading to the landmark Compromise of 1850, try Robert Remini's At the Edge of the Precipice. |
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| Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts its Legacy as the Largest... by Thomas Norman DeWolfThe DeWolf family of Rhode Island were some of the most successful slave traders in North American history. In 2001, DeWolf descendant Katrina Browne organized a family pilgrimage tracing the route New England traders followed. Oregon writer Thomas DeWolf first learned of his connection with slavery when distant cousin Browne called to invite him on this trip. In Inheriting the Trade, DeWolf draws on his journal to relate his sobering and eye-opening discoveries, which brought home to him both his white privilege and its bleak origins. This candid memoir offers a thought-provoking consideration of slavery's continuing impact on all Americans. |
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| The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That... by Bruce LevineTold in the words of the people who lived it, The Fall of the House of Dixie illuminates the radical transformation of the American South during and after the Civil War. Award-winning author Bruce Levine employs a wealth of primary sources, including diaries, letters, newspaper articles, and government documents to relate the perspectives of slaves, shopkeepers, soldiers, and other ordinary people in a vivid history of Reconstruction. Levine delivers "a deep, rich, and complex analysis" (Publishers Weekly) with signature verve. In another intimate look at the period, Douglas Blackmon's Slavery by Another Name relates the struggles of specific individuals and families. |
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| Snow-Storm in August: The Struggle for American Freedom and Washington's Race... by Jefferson MorleyIn August 1835, Washington, DC was deeply divided by racial animosity. Free blacks outnumbered enslaved African Americans, abolition was a hot topic, and many whites were appalled by the prospect of a multiracial democracy. In the midst of this charged atmosphere, an 18-year-old slave allegedly threatened his owner with an ax. Social and political tension boiled over, and the resulting race riot was dubbed the "Snow-Storm" because the white mobs targeted free black restaurateur Beverly Snow. Snow-Storm in August vividly portrays key individuals and recreates events in the Nation's Capital when the abolition-vs-slavery debate was Topic One. |
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| Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 by James OakesAccording to historian James Oakes, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment were only the end results of a drawn-out abolition movement. In Freedom National, Oakes persuasively argues that the Civil War's purpose was to preserve slavery -- not primarily to protect states' rights over federal powers. On the anti-slavery side, he demonstrates how Republican political leaders employed logical political arguments against slavery, supported Union military efforts to induce slaves to run away, and guaranteed citizenship to escaped slaves, freeing 600,000 of 4,000,000 slaves by the war's end. In a starred review, Library Journal declares that this is "the book to read on how slavery died." |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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