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October 2015

History Books Roundup: Reliving the Past

October 2015

October's roundup of History titles includes PACIFIC, an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world from Simon Winchester, who explores our relationship with this imposing force of nature; DRINKING IN AMERICA, in which Susan Cheever chronicles our national love affair with liquor, taking a long, thoughtful look at the way alcohol has changed our nation's history; LADY BIRD AND LYNDON by Betty Boyd Caroli, a fresh look at Lady Bird Johnson that upends her image as a plain Jane who was married for her money and mistreated by Lyndon; and Michael Broers' NAPOLEON: SOLDIER OF DESTINY,  the first volume of a majestic two-part biography of the great French emperor and conqueror that makes full use of his newly released personal correspondence compiled by the Napoléon Foundation in Paris.

After Hitler: The Last Ten Days of World War II in Europe by Michael Jones - History

On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin. But victory over the Nazi regime was not celebrated in western Europe until May 8th, and in Russia a day later. Why did a peace agreement take so much time? How did this brutal, protracted conflict coalesce into its unlikely endgame? AFTER HITLER shines a light on 10 fascinating days after that infamous suicide that changed the course of the 20th century.

And Still I Rise: Black America Since MLK - An Illustrated Chronology by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Kevin M. Burke - History

Beginning with the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, AND I STILL RISE explores the last half-century of the African American experience. More than 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the birth of Black Power, the United States has both a black president and black CEOs running Fortune 500 companies --- and a large black underclass beset by persistent poverty, inadequate education and an epidemic of incarceration. Harvard professor and scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. raises disturbing and vital questions about this dichotomy.

Berlin: Portrait of a City Through the Centuries by Rory MacLean - History


BERLIN is a history book that reflects the nature of the city itself. In its architecture, through its literature, in its movies and songs, Berliners have conjured their hard capital into a place of fantastic human fantasy. No other city has so often surrendered itself to its own seductive myths. No other city has been so shaped and defined by individual imaginations. BERLIN captures, portrays and propagates the story of those myths and their makers.

Bloody Ridge and Beyond: A World War II Marine's Memoir of Edson's Raiders in the Pacific by Marlin Groft and Larry Alexander - History


For two hellish nights in September 1942, about 840 United States Marines fought one of the most pivotal battles of World War II in the Pacific, clinging desperately to their position on what would soon be known as Bloody Ridge. BLOODY RIDGE AND BEYOND is the story of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, which showed courage and valor in the face of overwhelming numbers, as told by Marlin Groft, a man who was a member of this incredible fighting force.

Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury by Paul Strohm - Biography


In 1386, Geoffrey Chaucer endured his worst year but began his best poem. The father of English literature did not enjoy in his lifetime the literary celebrity that he has today --- far from it. The middle-aged Chaucer was living in London, working as a midlevel bureaucrat and sometime poet, until a personal and professional crisis set him down the road leading to THE CANTERBURY TALES. Brought to life by Paul Strohm, this is the story of the birth of one of the most celebrated literary creations of the English language.

China 1945: Mao's Revolution and America's Fateful Choice by Richard Bernstein - History


As 1945 opened, America was on surprisingly congenial terms with China’s Communist rebels --- their soldiers treated their American counterparts as heroes, rescuing airmen shot down over enemy territory. Chinese leaders talked of a future in which American money and technology would help lift China out of poverty. Mao Zedong himself held friendly meetings with U.S. emissaries, vowing to them his intention of establishing an American-style democracy in China. By year’s end, however, cordiality had been replaced by chilly hostility and distrust.

The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History by Boris Johnson - History/Politics


On the 50th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s death, Boris Johnson celebrates the singular brilliance of one of the most important leaders of the 20th century. Taking on the myths and misconceptions along with the outsized reality, he portrays --- with characteristic wit and passion --- a man of contagious bravery, breathtaking eloquence, matchless strategizing and deep humanity.

Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T. J. Stiles - Biography


T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of Gen. George Armstrong Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of Custer’s legacy has been ignored. He demolishes Custer’s historical caricature, revealing a volatile, contradictory, intense person --- capable yet insecure, intelligent yet bigoted, passionate yet self-destructive, a romantic individualist at odds with the institution of the military (he was court-martialed twice in six years).

Drinking in America: Our Secret History by Susan Cheever - History

From the drunkenness of the Pilgrims to Prohibition hijinks, drinking has always been a cherished American custom: a way to celebrate, grieve, and take the edge off. At many pivotal points in our history, alcohol has acted as a catalyst. In DRINKING IN AMERICA, Susan Cheever chronicles our national love affair with liquor, taking a long, thoughtful look at the way alcohol has changed our nation's history.

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson - History/Technology


What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail? In THE INNOVATORS, Walter Isaacson begins with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter, who pioneered computer programming in the 1840s. He explores the fascinating personalities that created our current digital revolution, such as Alan Turing, John von Neumann, Doug Engelbart, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Larry Page.

Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured by Kathryn Harrison - Biography


In JOAN OF ARC: A LIFE TRANSFIGURED, Kathryn Harrison gives us a Joan for our time --- a shining exemplar of unshakable faith, extraordinary courage and self-confidence during a brutally rigged ecclesiastical inquisition and in the face of her death by burning. Deftly weaving historical fact, myth, folklore, artistic representations, and centuries of scholarly and critical interpretation into a compelling narrative, she restores Joan of Arc to her rightful position as one of the greatest heroines in all of human history.

Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel by Dan Ephron - History/Politics

The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin remains the single most consequential event in Israel’s recent history, and one that fundamentally altered the trajectory for both Israel and the Palestinians. KILLING A KING relates the parallel stories of Rabin and his stalker, Yigal Amir, over the two years leading up to the assassination, as one of them planned political deals he hoped would lead to peace, and the other plotted murder.

Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage That Made a President by Betty Boyd Caroli - Biography/Politics

The conventional story goes that Lyndon Johnson married Lady Bird for her money, demeaned her by flaunting his many affairs, and that her legacy was protecting the nation’s wildflowers. But she was actually a full political partner throughout his ascent. And while others were shocked that she put up with his womanizing, she always knew she had the upper hand. In LADY BIRD AND LYNDON, Betty Boyd Caroli paints a vivid portrait of a marriage with complex, but familiar and identifiable overtones.

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell - History


Chronicling General Lafayette’s years in Washington’s army, Sarah Vowell reflects on the ideals of the American Revolution versus the reality of the Revolutionary War. Riding shotgun with Lafayette, Vowell swerves from the high-minded debates of Independence Hall to the frozen wasteland of Valley Forge, from bloody battlefields to the Palace of Versailles, bumping into John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Cornwallis, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Antoinette, and various kings, Quakers and redcoats along the way.

The Last of the President's Men by Bob Woodward - History/Politics

Bob Woodward exposes one of the final pieces of the Richard Nixon puzzle in THE LAST OF THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. He reveals the untold story of Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed the secret White House taping system that changed history and led to Nixon’s resignation. In 46 hours of interviews with Butterfield, supported by thousands of documents, many of them original and not in the presidential archives and libraries, Woodward has uncovered new dimensions of Nixon’s secrets, obsessions and deceptions.

The Lost Gospel: Decoding the Ancient Text that Reveals Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson - History


Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century. And now, THE LOST GOSPEL provides the first-ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus’ social, family and political lives.

Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts - Biography


Andrew Roberts’ NAPOLEON is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon’s 33,000 letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife, Josephine. Roberts traveled to 53 of Napoleon’s 60 battle sites, discovered crucial new documents in archives, and even made the long trip by boat to St. Helena.

Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny by Michael Broers - Biography

Michael Broers' biography draws on the thoughts of Napoleon himself as his incomparable life unfolded. It reveals a man of intense emotion, but also of iron self-discipline; of acute intelligence and immeasurable energy. Tracing his life from its dangerous Corsican roots, through his rejection of his early identity, and the military encounters of his early career, it tells the story of the sheer determination, ruthlessness and careful calculation that won him the precarious mastery of Europe by 1807.

The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men by Eric Lichtblau - History


THE NAZIS NEXT DOOR is a revelatory secret history of how America became home to thousands of Nazi war criminals after World War II, many of whom were brought here by the OSS and CIA --- by the New York Times reporter who broke the story and who has interviewed dozens of agents for the first time.

Never Surrender: Winston Churchill and Britain's Decision to Fight Nazi Germany in the Fateful Summer of 1940 by - History


London in April 1940 was a place of great fear and conflict. The Germans were marching. They had taken Poland, France, Holland, Belgium and Czechoslovakia, and were now menacing Britain. Churchill, leading the faction to fight, and Lord Halifax, cautioning that prudence was the way to survive, attempted to usurp one another by any means possible. Drawing on the War Cabinet papers, other government documents, private diaries, newspaper accounts and memoirs, historian John Kelly tells the story of the summer of 1940 --- the months of the “Supreme Question” of whether or not the British were to surrender.

The Nixon Tapes: 1971-1972 by Douglas Brinkley and Luke A. Nichter - History/Politics


President Nixon's voice-activated taping system captured every word spoken in the Oval Office, Cabinet Room and other key locations in the White House, and at Camp David --- 3,700 hours of recordings between 1971 and 1973. Yet less than five percent of those conversations have ever been transcribed and published. Now, thanks to professor Luke Nichter's massive effort to digitize and transcribe the tapes, the world can finally read an unprecedented account of one of the most important and controversial presidencies in U.S. history.

Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers by Simon Winchester - History

As the Mediterranean shaped the classical world, and the Atlantic connected Europe to the New World, the Pacific Ocean defines our tomorrow. With China on the rise, so, too, are the American cities of the West coast. Today, the Pacific is ascendant. Its geological history has long transformed us --- tremendous earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis --- but its human history, from a Western perspective, is quite young, beginning with Magellan’s 16th-century circumnavigation. It is a natural wonder whose most fascinating history is currently being made.

Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire by Shane White - History


Eminent historian Shane White reveals the larger-than-life story of a man who defied every convention of his time. He wheeled and dealed in the lily white business world, married a white woman, bought a mansion in rural New Jersey, owned railroad stock on trains he was not legally allowed to ride, and generally set his white contemporaries’ teeth on edge when he wasn't just plain outsmarting them. An important contribution to American history, Jeremiah G. Hamilton's life offers a way into considering subjects that are usually seen as being quintessentially white.

PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy by William Doyle - History


At 2:00 a.m. on August 2, 1943, U.S. Patrol Torpedo boat PT-109, captained by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, was struck by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri near the Solomon Islands. Despite injuring his back, Lt. Kennedy led his battered and exhausted men on a harrowing three-and-a-half-mile swim to a tiny uninhabited island. Desperate for food and water, Kennedy set off on a solo reconnaissance mission, scouting two larger islands two-and-a-half miles away. For six days they lived off coconuts and kept out of sight of passing Japanese patrols until they were rescued.

Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S. C. Gwynne - History


In REBEL YELL, S. C. Gwynne delves deep into Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s private life, including the loss of his young beloved first wife and his regimented personal habits. It traces Jackson’s brilliant 24-month career in the Civil War, the period that encompasses his rise from obscurity to fame and legend; his stunning effect on the course of the war itself; and his tragic death, which caused both North and South to grieve the loss of a remarkable American hero.

The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941: The War in the West, Volume 1 by James Holland - History

In THE RISE OF GERMANY, the first of a major new three-part history of World War II in the West, James Holland weaves together the experiences of dozens of individuals --- from civilians and infantrymen, to line officers, military strategists, diplomats and heads of state --- as well as war strategy, tactics, and the economic, political and social aspects of the war to create a captivating book that redefines and enhances our understanding of one of the most significant conflicts in history.

The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World by Lincoln Paine - History


THE SEA AND CIVILIZATION is a monumental retelling of world history through the lens of maritime enterprise, revealing how people first came into contact with one another by ocean and river, lake and stream, and how goods, languages, religions and entire cultures spread across and along the world’s waterways, bringing together civilizations and defining what makes us most human.

Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 by Stephen Kotkin - Biography


In STALIN, Stephen Kotkin offers a biography that, at long last, is equal to this shrewd, sociopathic, charismatic dictator in all his dimensions. The character of Stalin emerges as both astute and blinkered, cynical and true believing, people oriented and vicious, canny enough to see through people but prone to nonsensical beliefs. STALIN also gives an intimate view of the Bolshevik regime’s inner geography of power, bringing to the fore fresh materials from Soviet military intelligence and the secret police.

The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory by Julie Checkoway - Sports/History

In 1937, a schoolteacher on the island of Maui challenged a group of poverty-stricken sugar plantation kids to swim upstream against the current of their circumstance. The goal? To become Olympians. In spite of everything --- including the virulent anti-Japanese sentiment of the late 1930s --- by their third year, they'd be declared the greatest swimmers in the world, but they'd also face their greatest obstacle: the dawning of a world war and the cancellation of the Games. Still, in 1948, they'd have one last chance for Olympic glory.

War of Two: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel that Stunned the Nation by John Sedgwick - History


In WAR OF TWO, John Sedgwick explores the long-standing conflict between Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr. A study in contrasts from birth, they had been compatriots, colleagues and even friends. But above all they were rivals. Matching each other’s ambition and skill as lawyers in New York, they later battled for power along political fault lines that would not only decide the future of the United States, but define it.

The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America's Most Progressive Era by Douglas R. Egerton - History


Previous histories of Reconstruction have focused on Washington politics. But here, Douglas Egerton brings a much bigger, even more dramatic story into view, exploring state and local politics and tracing the struggles of some 1,500 African-American officeholders, in both the North and South, who fought entrenched white resistance. Tragically, their movement was met by ruthless violence --- not just riotous mobs, but also targeted assassination. With stark evidence, Egerton shows that Reconstruction, often cast as a “failure” or a doomed experiment, was rolled back by murderous force.

The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones - History


The crown of England changed hands five times over the course of the 15th century, as two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty fought to the death for the right to rule. In this follow-up to THE PLANTAGENETS, historian Dan Jones describes how the longest-reigning British royal family tore itself apart until it was finally replaced by the Tudors.

When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning - Literature/History

When America entered World War II, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more. The War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million small, lightweight paperbacks, for troops to carry in their pockets and their rucksacks, in every theater of war. Comprising 1,200 different titles of every imaginable type, these paperbacks were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today.

When Lions Roar: The Churchills and the Kennedys by Thomas Maier - History


By the mid-1930s, from London to America, the Churchills and the Kennedys shared an ever-widening circle of friends, lovers and political associates --- soon shattered by World War II, spying, sexual infidelity, and the tragic deaths of JFK's sister Kathleen and his older brother Joe Jr. By the 1960s and JFK's presidency, these two powerful families had overcome their bitter differences and helped to define the “greatness” in each other.

The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem by Stacy Schiff - History

It began in 1692 when a minister's daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death. The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment when women played the central role in American history. In curious ways, the trials would shape the future republic.

The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro - History

Preeminent Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro shows how the tumultuous events in England in 1606 affected Shakespeare and shaped the three great tragedies he wrote that year --- KING LEAR, MACBETH and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. THE YEAR OF LEAR sheds light on these tragedies by placing them in the context of their times, while also allowing us greater insight into how Shakespeare was personally touched by such events as a terrible outbreak of plague and growing religious divisions.