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History and Current Events February 2023 |
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Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past
by Kevin Michael Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer (editors)
What's inside: 20 thought-provoking essays that address misinformation about America's past, each penned by a renowned historian.
Contributors include: Akhil Reed Amar, Carol Anderson, Geraldo Cadava, Daniel Immerwahr, Erika Lee, and more.
Topics include: immigration laws, voter fraud, The New Deal and The Great Society, feminism, socialism, and the U.S.-Mexico border.
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American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics
by Kevin M. Hazzard
What it's about: The extraordinary story of an unjustly forgotten group of Black men in Pittsburgh who became the first paramedics in America, saving lives and changing the course of emergency medicine around the world
Reviewers say: “Journalist and former paramedic Kevin Hazzard paints a vivid picture of the nation’s first EMS service….His book succeeds in recalling long-overlooked events. It’s a medical and human drama that will make readers appreciate the courage of the first paramedics, the foresight of a physician not content to restrict emergency medicine to other doctors and the artistry of modern EMS workers. It’s also a narrative bristling with the indignities of racism and medical ignorance. Hazzard’s subjects defied and overcame prejudice but also were often overwhelmed by both….American Sirens isn’t a book you’re likely to forget.”―The Washington Post
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Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
by Thomas E. Ricks
What it's about: #1 New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas E. Ricks offers a new take on the Civil Rights Movement, stressing its unexpected use of military strategy and its lessons for nonviolent resistance around the world.
Reviewers say: “Ricks does a tremendous job of putting the reader inside the hearts and souls of the young men and women who risked so much to change America . . . Riveting.” ―Charles Kaiser, The Guardian
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Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America
by Pekka Hämäläinen
What it is: a sweeping, revisionist North American history that centers Indigenous agency and resistance.
Why you should read it: Finnish scholar Pekka Hämäläinen's well-researched chronicle eschews traditional narratives that portray Native populations solely as colonized people doomed to extinction.
Try this next: For another compelling corrective to Eurocentric histories, read The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by Ojibwe historian David Treuer.
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| The Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous Dynasty by Sarah GristwoodWhat it is: a richly detailed history that reveals how courtly love shaped England's Tudor period (1485-1603).
What's inside: illuminating insights on how the era's five monarchs (including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I) utilized notions of courtly love, inspired by Arthurian legends, to shape their public personas and wield political influence.
About the author: Historian Sarah Gristwood is the author of Game of Queens: The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe. |
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| Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood by Jessica GroseWhat it's about: how antiquated and unrealistic expectations of American motherhood harm parents and children.
Why you might like it: Featuring extensive research paired with author Jessica Grose's own parenting experiences and those of the mothers she interviewed, this thoughtful and empathetic survey offers insights on how today's mothers can empower themselves and their families. |
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| Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk by Buddy LevyWhat it's about: the ill-fated voyage of the Karluk, which began in the summer of 1913 as part of the Canadian Arctic Expedition.
What happened: Shortly after launch, the ship became icebound and sank; captain Bob Bartlett, accompanied by an Inuit hunter, trekked nearly 1,000 miles to seek help for the survivors.
Read it for: a dramatic and richly detailed tale of courage and survival. |
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Focus on: Black History Month
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| The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.What it is: a compelling history of the Black church in America that looks at its central role in Black cultural life, including the ways it has helped (and sometimes hindered) social progress and political resistance.
Media buzz: The Black Church was adapted into a PBS docuseries of the same name.
About the author: scholar, journalist, and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. hosts the PBS family history series Finding Your Roots. |
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| First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America's First Black Public High School by Alison Stewart; foreword by Melissa Harris-PerryWhat it is: a sweeping, 150-year history of Washington, D.C.'s elite Dunbar High School, the first public high school for Black students in the United States.
Read it for: an illuminating chronicle of the rise and fall of a storied institution that fell into disrepute following school desegregation.
Author alert: Award-winning journalist Alison Stewart is the daughter of two Dunbar graduates. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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