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History and Current Events January 2021
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The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War
by David Nasaw
What it's about: the one million Holocaust survivors, political prisoners, and forced laborers who had no home to return to following World War II.
Why you might like it: This thought-provoking study explores the lingering repercussions of displacement that continue to resonate in contemporary global politics.
Reviewers say: "A searching, vigorously written history of an unsettled time too little known to American readers" (Kirkus Reviews).
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The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War -- A Tragedy in Three Acts
by Scott Anderson
What it's about: chronicles the exploits of the CIA's four original spies: Michael Burke, Frank Wisner, Peter Sichel, and Edward Lansdale. The four ran covert operations across the globe, trying to outwit the ruthless KGB in Berlin, parachuting commandos into Eastern Europe, plotting coups, and directing wars against Communist insurgents in Asia.
Reviewers say: "Enthralling...captivating reading, especially in the hands of a storyteller as skilled as Anderson...the climate of fear and intolerance that it describes in Washington also feels uncomfortably timely. "--Kevin Peraino, The New York Times Book Review
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Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy
by Ben Macintyre
Named one of the best books of the year by: Foreign Affairs • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal
What it's about: This true-life spy story is a masterpiece about the woman code-named “Sonya.” Over the course of her career, she was hunted by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis, MI5, MI6, and the FBI—and she evaded them all. Her story reflects the great ideological clash of the twentieth century—between Communism, Fascism, and Western democracy—and casts new light on the spy battles and shifting allegiances of our own times.
Why you might like it: With unparalleled access to Sonya’s diaries and correspondence and never-before-seen information on her clandestine activities, Ben Macintyre has conjured a page-turning history of a legendary secret agent, a woman who influenced the course of the Cold War and helped plunge the world into a decades-long standoff between nuclear superpowers.
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Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1945-1962
by Martin J. Sherwin
What it's about: In this groundbreaking look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, Martin Sherwin not only gives us a riveting sometimes hour-by-hour explanation of the crisis itself, but also explores the origins, scope, and consequences of the evolving place of nuclear weapons in the post WWII world.
Reviewers say: "Intricately detailed, vividly written, and nearly Tolstoyan in scope, Sherwin’s account reveals just how close the Cold War came to boiling over. History buffs will be enthralled.” --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love...
by Catherine Grace Katz
What it's about: Accompanying their fathers to the 1945 Yalta Conference, the daughters of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman offered vital behind-the-scenes contributions in support of an Allied victory.
Read it for: an evocative, intimate, and richly detailed account that reveals the important (and previously untold) roles these young women played during a pivotal moment in the final days of World War II.
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We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence
by Becky Cooper
How it began: In 2009, Harvard University junior Becky Cooper learned about the gruesome unsolved murder of graduate student Jane Britton 40 years earlier and became gripped by the case.
What happened next: Cooper spent the next ten years investigating Britton's murder, finding new twists every step of the way.
What sets it apart: a nuanced and suspenseful exploration of the role institutional sexism played in burying the case.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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