August 2020 list by Elizabeth Hanby
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Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy by Ben MacintyreWith unparalleled access to Sonya's diaries and correspondence and never-before-seen information on her clandestine activities, 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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Bad News: Why We Fall for Fake News by Rob BrothertonBrotherton delves into the psychology of news, reviewing how the latest research can help navigate this supposedly post-truth world. Which buzzwords describe psychological reality, and which are empty sound bites? How much of this news is unprecedented, and how much is business as usual? Are we doomed to fall for fake news, or is fake news ... fake news?
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Butch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw by Charles LeerhsenA portrait of the notorious Wild West outlaw separates facts from folklore to discuss Robert Leroy Parker’s impoverished early life, humane approaches to crime, partnership with Harry “The Sundance Kid” Longabaugh and flight from the Pinkerton Agency.
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Harvey gets to the root of a timeless American original: the Confidence Man. Full of adventure, bad behavior, and insight into a crucial period of antebellum history, The King of Confidence brings us a compulsively readable account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.
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The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War by Scott AndersonAnderson chronicles the fascinating exploits of four cold war era spies: Michael Burke, a charming former football star fallen on hard times, Frank Wisner, the scion of a wealthy Southern family, Peter Sichel, a sophisticated German Jew who escaped the Nazis, and Edward Lansdale, a brilliant ad executive.
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Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads
by Al Sharpton
Sharpton revisits the highlights of the Obama administration, the 2016 election and Trump’s subsequent hold on the GOP, and draws on his decades-long experience with other key players in politics and activism, including Shirley Chisholm, Hillary Clinton, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and more.
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The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John BoltonWith almost daily access to the President, John Bolton, former National Security Advisor to Donald Trump, has produced a fascinating and comprehensive rendering of his days in and around the Oval Office.
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