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History and Current Events February 2018
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| 1917: Lenin, Wilson, and the Birth of the New World Disorder by Arthur HermanWhat it is: a dual biography of two different yet equally important world leaders -- Vladimir Lenin and Woodrow Wilson -- and how their actions at the outset of World War I had long-lasting geopolitical effects.
Why you might like it: Historian Arthur Herman’s unusual pairing provides a fresh look at a pivotal moment in world history.
Further reading: Check out March 1917 by Will England for another study of this critical period, or try Herman’s Gandhi and Churchill for another dual biography of world leaders. |
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Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
by Albert Marrin
Of all diseases, the 1918 flu was by far the worst that has ever afflicted humankind; not even the Black Death of the Middle Ages comes close in terms of the number of lives it took. No war, no natural disaster, no famine has claimed so many. In the space of eighteen months in 1918-1919, about 500 million people--one-third of the global population at the time--came down with influenza. The exact total of lives lost will never be known, but the best estimate is between 50 and 100 million.
In this powerful book, filled with black and white photographs, nonfiction master Albert Marrin examines the history, science, and impact of this great scourge--and the possibility for another worldwide pandemic today.
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| The Danger Within Us: America's Untested, Unregulated Medical Device Industry... by Jeanne LenzerWhat it is: Journalist and former ER doctor Jeanne Lenzer goes behind the scenes of the medical device industry, a secretive world marked by cover-ups, regulatory failures, corruption, and corporate greed.
Why it’s significant: This is the first book to probe the underbelly of the industry that provides us with pacemakers, artificial hips, and other implants; additionally, medical interventions are a leading cause of death in the United States.
Further reading: If you like riveting, eye-opening investigative journalism into medical ethics, check out A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr and America’s Bitter Pill by Steven Brill. |
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Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy
by Noam Chomsky
In a collection of wide-ranging interviews conducted by the award-winning director of Alternative Radio, the author of Who Rules the World? makes radical recommendations for addressing issues that threaten the world of the near future, including climate change, nuclear war, state surveillance, economic inequality and religion in American politics.
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Our Time Has Come: How India Is Making Its Place in the World
by Alyssa Ayres
Long plagued by poverty, India's recent economic growth has vaulted it into the ranks of the world's emerging powers-but what kind of power it wants to be remains a mystery. Cautious Superpower explains why India behaves the way it does, and the role it is likely to play globally as its prominence grows.
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A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riots of 1919
by Claire Hartfield
A compelling introduction to the Chicago race riot of 1919 documents key events that led to days of urban violence that continue to reverberate a century later, offering insight into contributing factors in race relations, politics, business and culture.
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The DC-10 Deception: Tragedy, Treachery, and the Pursuit of Truth
by Samme Chittum
On June 12, 1972, a powerful explosion rocked American Airlines Flight 96 a mere five minutes after its takeoff from Detroit. The explosion ripped a gaping hole in the bottom of the aircraft and jammed the hydraulic controls. Miraculously, despite the damage and ensuing chaos, the pilots were able to land the plane safely. Less than two years later, on March 3, 1974, a sudden, forceful blowout tore through Turk Hava Yollari (THY) Flight 981 from Paris to London. THY Flight 981 was not as lucky as Flight 96; it crashed in a forest in France, and none of the 346 people onboard survived. What caused the mysterious explosions? How were they linked? Could they have been prevented? The Flight 981 Disaster addresses these questions and many more, offering a fascinating insiders' look at two dramatic aviation disasters.
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Ten Great Ideas About Chance
by Persi Diaconis
Taking readers back to the 16th and 17th centuries, where gamblers and mathematicians transformed the idea of chance from a mystery into the discipline of probability, the authors tell the story of 10 great ideas about chance and the thinkers who developed them, tracing the philosophical implications of these ideas as well as their mathematical impact.
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Saigon Calling: London 1963-75
by Marcelino Truong
Sequel to the acclaimed Such a Lovely Little War: growing up Vietnamese in swinging London as the Vietnam war intensifies. With its audacious imagery and heart-rending text, Saigon Calling is a bold graphic memoir that strikes a remarkable balance between the intimate chronicle of a family undone by mental illness, and the large-scale tragedy of a country undone by war.
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Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew
by Michael D. Leinbach
For the first time, here is the definitive inside story of the Columbia disaster and recovery and the inspiring message it ultimately holds. In the aftermath of tragedy, people and communities came together to help bring home the remains of the crew and nearly 40 percent of shuttle, an effort that was instrumental in piecing together what happened so the shuttle program could return to flight and complete the International Space Station. Bringing Columbia Home shares the deeply personal stories that emerged as NASA employees looked for lost colleagues and searchers overcame immense physical, logistical, and emotional challenges and worked together to accomplish the impossible.
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How Democracies Die
by Steve Levitsky
Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved.
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Chasing King's Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassin
by James L. Swanson
James Earl Ray and Martin Luther King, Jr. had two very different life journeys -- but their paths fatally collide when Ray assassinates the world-renown civil rights leader. This book provides an inside look into both of their lives, the history of thetime, and a blow-by-blow examination of the assassination and its aftermath.
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The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
by Niall Ferguson
A reevaluation of history's turning points as collisions between old power hierarchies and new social networks explains how networks have always existed and have been responsible for key innovations and revolutionary ideas, from clustering and degrees of separation to contagions and phase transitions. By an award-winning author.
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The Battle of Peach Tree Creek: Hood's First Effort to Save Atlanta
by Earl J Hess
Offering new and definitive interpretations of the battle's place within the Atlanta campaign, Earl J. Hess describes how several Confederate regiments and brigades made a pretense of advancing but then stopped partway to the objective and took cover for the rest of the afternoon on July 20. Hess shows that morale played an unusually important role in determining the outcome at Peach Tree Creek--a soured mood among the Confederates and overwhelming confidence among the Federals spelled disaster for one side and victory for the other.
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| Fortress America: How We Embraced Fear and Abandoned Democracy by Elaine Tyler MayWhat it's about: Author Elaine Tyler May argues that the current American political climate can be traced back to fearful citizens who have embraced personal security (gun ownership, gated communities, and socially isolated lifestyles) – despite the fact that crime rates continue to trend downward.
Why you should read it: This thought-provoking and sobering book not only attempts to explain our polarized world but also warns of the potentially lasting effects of these divisions on American society. |
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| Improv Nation: How We Made a Great American Art by Sam WassonWhat it is: a sweeping, behind-the-scenes history of American improv comedy, which was born during the McCarthy era and counts Tina Fey and Steve Carell among its current stars.
Why you might like it: As you might expect, this is a funny and fast-moving read that will delight and entertain as it informs.
Reviewers say: “A remarkable story, magnificently told” (Booklist). |
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| The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace by David B. WoolnerWhat it is: a detailed examination of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s last three months in office, including his fierce determination to establish the United Nations and his journey to the Soviet Union for the Yalta Conference.
What sets it apart: FDR’s first 100 days have been examined extensively by other presidential historians; in a new and refreshing contrast, The Last 100 Days argues that, despite his failing health, the end of Roosevelt’s presidency was just as important as the beginning. |
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Focus on: Black History Month
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| The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation by David Brion DavisWhat it is: This final volume in historian David Brion Davis’ penetrating three-part chronicle of slavery and emancipation in the Western world covers topics ranging from the Haitian Revolution to U.S. efforts at colonizing freed people.
Why you should read it: Published to critical acclaim, this magisterial history won the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction and was shortlisted for the Cundill Prize for Historical Literature. |
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| Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea by Mitchell DuneierWhat it is: a sweeping history of ghettos, from 16th-century Venice to Nazi Europe to black inner-city America in the 21st century.
Read it for: Princeton sociologist Mitchell Duneier’s argument that a history of the physical spaces that have segregated groups since at least the Middle Ages should inform our understanding of current-day race relations and poverty in the United States.
Book buzz: This “timely and important” book was a New York Times Notable Book in 2016. |
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| Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad by Eric FonerWhat it is: a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian's enthralling chronicle of the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escape from bondage in the South and also protected free blacks in the North.
What sets it apart: Author Eric Foner provides gripping accounts of death-defying journeys to freedom, including that of Winnie Patsy, who survived by hiding in a dark, unventilated crawl space with her daughter for five months in Virginia. |
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| The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military by Rawn JamesWhat it is: a chronicle of African Americans’ distinguished military service and the long struggle to desegregate the U.S. Armed Forces.
Why you might like it: Author Rawn James’ coverage is expansive -- covering nearly five centuries -- and also inspiring, touching on everything from black participation in the Revolutionary War to the long years of protests and legal maneuvering that finally culminated in President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 in 1948. |
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| March. Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate PowellWhat it is: U.S. Congressman and activist John Lewis’ stirring memoir of his experiences in the civil rights era from 1963-65, co-written with Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell.
What sets it apart: A living icon who participated in key moments in the movement, John Lewis’ firsthand account -- beginning with the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church -- is unflinchingly honest and deeply moving.
Further reading: For more about the civil rights movement and its leaders, check out Taylor Branch’s At Canaan’s Edge. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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