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History and Current Events July 2019
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| Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense: The Courtroom Battle to Save His Legacy by Dan Abrams and David FisherThe plaintiff: GOP leader and New York state politician William Barnes, who sued a fellow Republican for libel in 1915.
The defendant: Barnes' friend turned rival, former president Theodore Roosevelt, whose accusation of corruption spurred the case.
The verdict: dramatic and suspenseful, this "fine and timely legal drama" (Booklist) examines resonant issues of political influence and overreach. |
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| The Ghost Ships of Archangel: The Arctic Voyage That Defied the Nazis by William GerouxWhat it is: the gripping, little-known story of PQ-17, the Allied convoy tasked with delivering supplies to the Russian port Archangel.
What happened: On July 4, 1942, four of PQ-17's ships separated from the convoy, braving treacherous ice fields to dodge the German bombers and U-boats rapidly closing in on them.
For fans of: military histories and white-knuckle cat-and-mouse games. |
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| Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony Horwitz1852: Reporter Frederick Law Olmsted tours the American South to cover the region's growing divisions on the eve of the Civil War.
2014: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz (who died in May 2019) retraces Olmsted's steps, juxtaposing his own commentary with his predecessor's to highlight the ways the South has changed -- and the ways it hasn't.
Don't miss: Horwitz's adventures in period-authentic transportation, including steamboat, coal barge, horseback, and mule. |
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| Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched America into the... by Robert Stone and Alan AndresWhat it's about: Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, this fast-paced history chronicles America's efforts to win the space race.
TV buzz: Chasing the Moon is the sweeping companion to the PBS American Experience series of the same name premiering on July 8th.
Try this next: Shoot for the Moon by James Donovan; Apollo's Legacy by Roger D. Launius. |
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Cults and Secret Societies
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| The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff GuinnWhat it's about: the horrific descent of charismatic small-town pastor turned cult leader Jim Jones, who in 1978 led 918 of his Peoples Temple followers into taking their own lives before he took his own.
Want a taste? "Bodies everywhere, seemingly too many to count, innumerable heaps of the dead."
Book buzz: The Road to Jonestown was a 2018 Edgar Award Finalist for Best Fact Crime. |
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| The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret... by Stephan TaltyWhat it's about: the Italian crime organization Black Hand's reign of terror in early 20th-century New York City and the efforts of NYPD officer Joseph Petrosino, the "Italian Sherlock Holmes," to stop them.
Movie buzz: Leonardo DiCaprio will star as Petrosino in a future film.
Try this next: William Oldfield and Victoria Bruce's similarly fast-paced history Inspector Oldfield and the Black Hand Society, which chronicles a Midwestern postal worker's attempts to take down Black Hand. |
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| Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice in the Days of Helter Skelter by Lis WiehlWhat it is: a propulsive account of the infamous 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders orchestrated by Charles Manson and carried out by members of his "family."
Chapters include: "Alternative Scenarios," which discusses some of the more bizarre theories about the killings -- was the mafia involved?
What sets it apart: Former federal prosecutor Lis Wiehl utilizes her ample legal expertise to incorporate new research, exclusive interviews, and parole hearings into this "must read" (Library Journal). |
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The hidden world of secret societies
by Time-Life Books
What's in it: Provides a look inside some of the world's most secretive and obscure organizations with descriptions of their social, cultural, criminal or religious purposes--from the Knights Templar to the freemasons.
From the dust jacket: An illustrated history of the most mysterious organizations.
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Black sun : Aryan cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the politics of identity
by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
What it's about: More than half a century after the defeat of Nazism and fascism, the far right is again challenging the liberal order of Western democracies. Radical movements are feeding on anxiety about economic globalization, affirmative action, and third-world immigration, flashpoint issues to many traditional groups in multicultural societies. A curious mixture of Aristocratic paganism, anti-Semitic demonology, Eastern philosophies and the occult is influencing populist antigovernment sentiment and helping to exploit the widespread fear that invisible elites are shaping world events.
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The Templar papers : ancient mysteries, secret societies, and the Holy Grail
by Oddvar Olsen
What's in it: Much has been written about the group of 14th-century warrior monks known as the Knights Templar. Some authors, such as Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code, portray them as folk heroes wrongly accused. Others disagree, saying the Templar story is ultimately one of greed, deception, and idolatry. Just who were the Knights Templar? And what is their legacy? In The Templar Papers, author and historian Oddvar Olsen has assembled a veritable Who's Who of experts to unravel the mystery. Instead of rehashing previous scholarship, this book delves into new aspects of Templar lore, such as the origins of the order and its supposed survival after 1314.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Central Mississippi Regional Library System
100 Tamberline Street
Brandon, Mississippi 39042
601-825-0100
http://www.cmrls.lib.ms.us
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