| Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote by Ellen Carol DuBoisWhat it is: a lively and accessible history of the women's suffrage movement, published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and packed with profiles of lesser-known activists.
What sets it apart: historian Ellen Carol DuBois' frank exploration of how proponents of the suffrage movement often excluded women of color from participating.
Further reading: For a suspenseful account of how the 19th Amendment passed, check out The Woman's Hour by Elaine Weiss, soon to be adapted for TV by Stephen Spielberg. |
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| Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction by David EnrichFollow the money: In this sobering and well-researched chronicle, New York Times finance editor David Enrich investigates Germany-based Deutsche Bank's long and troubled history, from its funding of Auschwitz to its close relationship with Donald Trump, who owed the company a staggering $350 million at the time of his election.
Who it's for: fans of compelling business exposés like Andrew Ross Sorkin's Too Big to Fail or Christopher Leonard's Kochland. |
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| Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of History's Greatest Buildings by James CrawfordWhat it is: an engaging, millennia-spanning survey of 20 ruined structures that offers a revealing glimpse at the civilizations that built and destroyed them.
Sites "visited:" the Library of Alexandria; the Tower of Babel; Old St. Paul's Cathedral; the Berlin Wall; the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects, the World Trade Center.
Don't miss: author James Crawford's ode to the "deleted city" -- web hosting site GeoCities, which shuttered in 2009. |
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| The Last Palace: Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House by Norman EisenWelcome to...Prague's Petschek Villa, built by Jewish banker Otto Petschek in the 1920s and home to U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic Norman Eisen nearly a century later.
What it's about: how the palatial estate survived Nazi and Soviet occupation thanks to the residents who fought to save it from destruction.
Residents included: Rudolf Toussaint, the Nazi-hating German general who defied orders to burn Petschek Villa; Shirley Temple Black, who witnessed 1989's Velvet Revolution while serving as an ambassador. |
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| Washington's Monument: And the Fascinating History of the Obelisk by John Steele GordonWhat it is: an engaging history of Washington, D.C.'s Washington Monument, which took nearly 40 years to build and is, at 555 feet, the world's tallest stone structure (and the "tallest structure, by law," in the United States capital).
Did you know? In 1855, members of the nativist and anti-Catholic Know-Nothing party successfully halted the project for three years because Pope Pius IX had donated a commemorative stone to the construction efforts.
Don't miss: an entertaining micro-history of ancient Egypt's famous obelisks on which the Washington Monument is modeled. |
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| The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont by Shawn LevyWhat it's about: the iconic Los Angeles hotel Chateau Marmont, which for nearly a century has attracted celebrities to its secluded bungalows for all manner of decadence and debauchery.
Want a taste? "Chateau Marmont is the ultimate Hollywood hotel because it is, like Hollywood itself, bigger than life even when it is obviously fake."
Try this next: For another dishy history of a storied hotel, try Julie Satow's The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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