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History and Current Events September 2017
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| Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis... by Bruce HendersonOffering a riveting closeup of a specialized group of U.S. Army personnel in World War II, Sons and Soldiers brings to life the stories of German Jews who escaped the Nazi regime in the 1930s and subsequently made significant contributions to the Allied victory. Called the "Camp Ritchie Boys" from the camp where they were trained as interrogators, they were deployed in Europe with major combat units from D-Day on. Featuring six of the men, historian Bruce Henderson chronicles the Ritchie Boys' service. World War II buffs and readers interested in Jewish history shouldn't miss this inspiring account. |
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Scars of independence : America's violent birth
by Holger Hoock
A magisterial reevaluation of America's founding reveals the lesser-known violent complexities that shaped the Revolution, describing acts of torture, rape, imprisonment and slavery on both sides and how the period's war crimes posed both moral dilemmas and opportunities for loyalist propaganda.
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The trial of Adolf Hitler : the Beer Hall Putsch and the rise of Nazi Germany
by David King
Documents the lesser-known story of the scandalous courtroom drama that paved the way for the rise of the Nazi Party, recounting the 1923 trial of Hitler and nine associates who successfully threw off charges of high treason and used the trial to gain international attention and launch an improbable path to power.
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| Putin: His Downfall and Russia's Coming Crash by Richard LourieIn Putin, Russian affairs expert Richard Lourie offers a sobering analysis of Vladimir Putin's rise to power and the reasons why Lourie predicts disaster for Putin's regime. Cataloguing Putin's failure to assure the diversification of Russia's economy, his craving for personal power, and his desire to recreate the Russian empire, Lourie proposes a variety of possible outcomes while arguing that Putin's leadership is making the Russian economy unsustainable. This is a thought-provoking and eye-opening discussion for Russia-watchers. For additional insight into Putin and Russia, try Steven Lee Myers' The New Tsar. |
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Award-Winning History Books
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| Empire of Cotton: A Global History by Sven BeckertWinner of Columbia University's 2015 Bancroft prize and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Empire of Cotton portrays in riveting detail how cotton production and manufacture transformed global economics. This extensively researched, vividly described history depicts the contrast between pre-industrial and industrial labor and reveals the relationships over millennia between warfare, slavery, and cotton. Harvard University historian Sven Beckert's "highly detailed, provocative" (Booklist) work offers a must-read portrayal of the development of capitalism. |
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Shock troops : Canadians fighting the Great War, 1917-1918 by Tim CookShock Troops follows the Canadian fighting forces during the titanic battles of Vimy Ridge, Hill 70, Passchendaele, and the Hundred Days campaign. Through the eyes of the soldiers who fought and died in the trenches on the Western Front, and based on newly uncovered Canadian, British, and German archival sources, Cook builds on Volume I of his national bestseller, At the Sharp End . The Canadian fighting forces never lost a battle during the final 2 years of the war, and although they paid a terrible price in the killing fields of the Great War, they were indeed, as British Prime Minister David Lloyd George exclaimed, the shock troops of the Empire.
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Blood in the water : the Attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy
by Heather Ann Thompson
An all-encompassing account of the infamous 1971 Attica prison uprising, the state's violent response and the victims' decades-long quest for justice draws on previously unreleased information while detailing how the event has influenced civil rights practices in the criminal justice system.
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| KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps by Nikolaus WachsmannWhile many accounts of Nazi concentration camps have focused on particular prisons or their devastating human consequences, historian Nicolaus Wachsmann is the first to analyze the entire system of labor camps and extermination centers. This gripping, revelatory study, which won multiple awards for history writing, draws on massive collections of documents, some of which have only become available over the past 25 years. KL doesn't just detail Nazi Germany's methodology of slave labor and genocide: it reveals how it was integral to the Third Reich's economic and political system. For additional insight into the politics behind the concentration camps, try Timothy Snyder's Black Earth. |
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| The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea WulfDid you know that the U.S. state of Nevada was almost named "Humboldt," after the Enlightenment-era German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt? During his lifetime, Humboldt was the "most famous man in the world after Napoleon," but is hardly remembered today. This multiple award-winning book restores Humboldt to his rightful place in history, describing his life as well as his many contributions to science. For example, Humboldt came up with the concept of climate zones, discovered the magnetic equator, and redefined our concept of nature itself -- as a web of life connecting every organism on Earth. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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Lambton County Library 787 Broadway St. Wyoming, Ontario N0N1T0 519-845-3324www.lclibrary.ca |
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