Historical Book Group Previous Book Selections

Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders
William R. Drennan
A mystery story and authoritative portrait of the artist as a young man looks at the myths surrounding architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the brutal 1914 murders of seven adults and children, and the destruction by fire of Taliesin, his landmark residence in Wisconsin.

Tesla: Wizard at War - The Genius, the Particle Beam Weapon, and the Pursuit of Power
Marc J. Seifer
This revealing account of Tesla's projects, passion and ambitions, from his role in the origins of Star Wars technology and his dynamic theory of gravity to the real purpose behind the iconic tower at Wardenclyffe, serves as an important study one of history's most intriguing figures.

The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football
John J. Miller
An intriguing history explores how President Theodore Roosevelt helped to save football from obscurity.

Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America
Les Standiford
Provides an insightful study of the relationship between two of the founding fathers of American industry - Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick - and the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892, and the resulting bloody clash between labor and management that led to the dissolution of their partnership.

Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape From Slavery to Union Hero
Cate Lineberry
Describes the amazing hijacking of a Confederate steamer in 1862 by a 23-year-old slave who avoided the heavily armed troops stationed in Charleston Harbor and delivered the vessel to Union forces, earning his freedom.

The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
Presents the lesser-known story of an assassination attempt against pre-Revolutionary War George Washington by some of his own bodyguards, exploring how the plot catalyzed the creations of the CIA and FBI.

The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke
Andrew Lawler
Documents the events surrounding the unsolved 1587 disappearance of the Roanoke Island colony, tracing major investigations from the past 400 years as well as the author's own findings about how the Lost Colony is tied to today's America.

Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America
Leila Philip
Traces the beaver's profound influence on our nation's history, culture, and environment, from the early days of western expansion, as well as profiling a colorful group of people who have devoted their lives to the wonderfully weird rodent.

Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular bank Robbery in American History
Peter Houlahan
An account of one of the most violent bank heists in U.S. history traces the story of how five armed landscapers, led by a religious fanatic, orchestrated a plot that culminated in several deaths, massive destruction and a community-dividing trial.

The Education of Corporal John Musgrave: Vietnam and its Aftermath
John Musgrave
A Marine's searing and intimate memoir about surviving Vietnam and its aftermath.

Young Men & Fire
Norman MacLean
On August 5, 1949, a crew of 15 of the U.S. Forest Service's elite airborne firefighters, the Smokejumpers, stepped into the sky above a remote forest fire in the Montana wilderness. Less than one hour later, all but three were dead or fatally burned in a "blowup," an explosive 2,000 degree firestorm 300 feet tall. Norman Maclean spent the last 14 years of his life determined to sift through grief and controversy in search of the truth behind the Mann Gulch tragedy, one of the worst disasters in the history of the Forest Service.

The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
In this gripping true story of daring rescues, body doubles, and political intrigue, the authors reveal the Nazi's plans to kill FDR, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill - an assassination plot that would've changed history.

American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis
Adam Hochschild
Examines America during World War I and its troubled aftermath, which included torture, censorship, racial-motivated killings, and threats to democracy.

The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home
Denise Kiernan
Documents the story of the Gilded Age mansion Biltmore, tracing George Vanderbilt's construction of his European-style estate and the efforts of his bride, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser, to become its protector in the face of changing fortunes and times.

Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America
Mark Perry
An unusual biography that explores the relationship between Ulysses S. Grant and Samuel Clemens and assesses the literary influence that each had upon the other focuses on three interrelated episodes--Grant's efforts to complete his memoirs before his death, Clemens's struggle to finish Huckleberry Finn, and both men's attempt to understand and explain their era.

The Burning of the White House: James and Dolley Madison and the War of 1812
Jane Hampton Cook
Drawing on first-hand accounts, this book brings to life the burning of the White House in 1814 by the British enemy, who marched through Washington, D.C., setting fire to government buildings, and revisits the events that led to burning and its immediate aftermath.

When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
Eric Jay Dolin
Traces the history of the relationship between America and China back to its earliest days, when the United States traded with China for furs, opium, and rare sea cucumbers, but left an ecological and human rights disaster that still reverberates today.

Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton
Tilar J. Mazzeo
A comprehensive and riveting biography of the extraordinary life and times of Eliza Hamilton, the wife of founding father Alexander Hamilton, and a powerful, unsung hero in America’s early days.

The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America
Matthew Pearl
Explores the little-known true story of the kidnapping of thirteen-year-old Jemima Boone, Daniel Boone's daughter, by a Cherokee-Shawnee raiding party and the ensuing battle with reverberations that nobody could predict.

The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists
Tracy Walder
When Tracy Walder enrolled at the University of Southern California, she never thought that one day she would offer her pink beanbag chair in the Delta Gamma house to a CIA recruiter, or that she'd fly to the Middle East under an alias identity. The Unexpected Spy is the riveting story of Walder's tenure in the CIA and, later, the FBI.

The Divine Plan: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War
Paul Kengor
The Cold War came to an abrupt end at the close of the 20th century thanks to the shared vision and efforts of two men: Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. While seemingly very different, they shared much, including a philosophy of freedom and the belief that they had been called to bring an end to the Soviet regime. This calling they believed had a divine source, and hence referred to their efforts as the Divine Plan.

Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant
Anne Gardiner Perkins
The first woman editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News celebrates the first class of women admitted to Yale in 1969, sharing compelling insights into the Ivy League exclusion of women who were eventually accepted as an incentive for male students.

His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope
Jon Meacham
Presents a timely portrait of veteran congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis that details the life experiences that informed his faith and shaped his practices of non-violent protest.

Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization
Joe Scarborough
Examines the 33rd President’s diplomatic and military strategies to support democracy, chronicling the passage of the “Truman Doctrine” policy of containment and its ongoing role in international affairs.

Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General
Bill O'Reilly
Explores the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of General George S. Patton after the war and describes the powerful people who may have wanted him out of the wa

Al Capone and the 1933 World's Fair: The End of the Gangster Era in Chicago
William Elliott Hazelgrove
Reveals the story of the six millionaire businessmen, dubbed the Secret Six, who beat Al Capone at his own game, ending the gangster era as Prohibition was repealed. He also details the story of an intriguing woman, Sally Rand, who embodied the ideals of the World's Fair with her own rags-to-riches story and brought sex into the open, as well as the story of Rufus and Charles Dawes, who gave the fair a theme and found financing during the worst economic times the country had ever experienced.

Triangle: The Fire that Changed America
Dave Von Drehle
Describes the devastating 1911 fire that destroyed the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York's Greenwich Village, the deaths of 146 workers in the fire, the Jewish and Italian immigrants, mostly women, who made up the majority of the victims, and the implications of the catastrophe on twentieth-century politics and labor relations.

The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America's Forgotten Black Pioneers & the Struggle for Equality
Anna-Lisa Cox
Documents the lesser-known story of America's black pioneers, revealing how from the nation's earliest years, thousands of free African Americans built hundreds of settlements in the Northwest Territory.

The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights
Dorothy Wickenden
Chronicles the revolutionary activities of Harriet Tubman, Frances Seward, and Martha Wright, discussing their vital role in the Underground Railroad, abolition, and the early women’s rights movement.

Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership
Edward J. Larson
Presents a dual biography of the two Founding Fathers to illuminate in fresh detail how their underexplored relationship forged the United States.

Pocahontas and the English Boys: Caught between Cultures in Early Virginia
Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Shares the stories of four English-Powhatan youths, including Pocahontas and the lesser-known Thomas Savage, Henry Spelman, and Robert Poole, who, often unwillingly, entered into cross-cultural relationships that proved to be essential to the survival of the Virginia colony.

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You
Dina Nayeri
Draws on first-person testimonies in an urgent portrait of the refugee crisis that reveals how it happened and the harmful ways that Western governments respond to the inhumane conditions refugees endure.

Columbine
David Cullen
Discusses the school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, reflecting on the killers' histories and and the portrayal of the event by the media.

Saving Bravo: The Greatest Rescue Mission in Navy SEAL History
Stephan Talty
The untold story of the most important rescue mission not just of the Vietnam War, but the entire Cold War: one American aviator, who knew our most important secrets, crashed behind enemy lines and was sought by the entire North Vietnamese and Russian military machines. One Navy SEAL and his Vietnamese partner had to sneak past them all to save him.

The Great Secret: The Classified World War II Disaster That Launched the War on Cancer
Jennet Conant
Traces how the 1943 Luftwaffe bombing of the Allied port of Bari and the ensuing military cover-up of a massive biotoxin spill led to discoveries about the toxin’s impact on the body and the development of the first chemotherapy drug.

American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI
Kate Winkler Dawson
Describes the life of America’s first forensic scientist, who invented tools that are still being used today—including blood-spatter analysis, ballistics, lie-detector tests and fingerprints—and solved at least 2,000 cases over 40 years.

Bubble in the Sun: The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How it Brought on the Great Depression
Christopher Knowlton
Presents an in-depth history of the 1920s Florida land boom to explore the direct roles of environmentally destructive subdivision development, misguided entrepreneurial visions, and a catastrophic hurricane in the stock market crash.

The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America's Unknown Soldier and WWI's Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home
Patrick K. ODonnell
Describes the history of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery and tells the stories of those laid to rest there, as well as the veterans serving as Body Bearers.

A Most Wicked Conspiracy: The Last Great Swindle of the Gilded Age
Paul Starobin
Examining the power and rampant corruption during a pivotal time in America, this gripping account, set in the Gilded Age, shows how America’s political and economic life was in the grip of seemingly untouchable party bosses in cahoots with robber barons, senators, and even presidents.

The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War
Jonathan Daniel Wells
Tells the story of the Wall Street network judges, lawyers, police officers, and bankers who helped keep the illegal slave trade alive in antebellum New York City and the black journalist who worked to expose them.

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
David McCullough
Chronicles the lesser-known settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers whose community ideals shaped a fledgling America.

Edith: The Rogue Rockefeller McCormick
Andrea Friederici Ross
Daughter of the oil titan and wife of the the son of the Reaper King, Edith Rockefeller McCormick was a woman wronged, left to fend for herself in the face of bankruptcy and cancer.

You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington
Alexis Coe
A whimsically irreverent portrait of America’s first President includes coverage of Washington’s entitled upbringing by a single mother, his dog “Sweetlips,” his numerous military defeats, and the partisan nightmares that spun from his back-stabbing cabinet.

Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War
Fred Kaplan
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist describes the history of and key players in the development of cyber war strategies, from the ultra-top-secret cyber units in the Pentagon, to “information warfare” squads in the armed services.

The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s
Gil Troy
A year-by-year chronicle of the transformative 1990s as they centered around and influenced the Clinton White House traces the period's dramatic shifts in culture, politics, technology and business while revealing the 42nd President's significant but less-recognized achievements.

The Promise and the Dream: The Untold Story of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy
David Margolick
Explores the untold story of the complex relationship between the two American icons, showing the complicated mix of mutual assistance, impatience, wariness, awkwardness, antagonism, and admiration that existed between them.

Peppermint Twist: The Mob, the Music, and the Most Famous Dance Club of the '60s
John Johnson, Jr. and Joel Selvin
Traces the story of the influential 1960s Manhattan nightspot and mobster hangout, detailing how the club's introduction of rock-and-roll music attracted rebel youths and celebrity patrons in an account that also shares colorful stories from the club's history.

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
Liza Mundy
Documents the contributions of more than ten thousand American women who served as codebreakers during World War II, detailing how their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and enabled their subsequent careers.

The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History
Molly Caldwell Crosby
Traces the impact on American history of yellow fever, from its arrival with the slave ships in the mid-seventeenth century and beyond, examining the ravages of the mosquito-borne disease in cities ranging from New Orleans and Memphis to New York and Philadelphia, and profiles four men who had a profound effect on medical history through their efforts to combat the deadly scourge.

City of Scoundrels: The Twelve Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago
Gary Krist
Documents the harrowing 12-day period in 1919 Chicago during which a blimp crash, a race riot, a crippling transit strike and a sensational child murder case challenged the city's modernization efforts.

Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero
Michael Korda
This acclaimed biography challenges opinions about the Civil War general's presidency, explaining how Grant enabled the country to achieve a sense of post-war calm and applied constructive political strategies in favor of less effective occupation tactics.

Star Spangled Scandal: Sex, Murder, and the Trial that Changed America
Chris DeRose
Describes the true story of a shocking murder that took place in 1850s Washington DC's Lafayette Square in broad daylight after a Congressman received an anonymous note that his wife was cheating on him with a close family friend.

Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West
Ethan Rarick
Presents a portrait of the Donner party, a group of ninety pioneers who became stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter of 1846-47.

Jefferson's Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America
Catherine Kerrison
A portrait of the divergent lives of Thomas Jefferson's three daughters shares insights into how, in spite of privilege and education, his white daughters struggled with the realities of lives they were ill-prepared to manage, while the daughter he fathered with a slave did not achieve freedom until adulthood and endured a mysterious and highly ironic existence.

Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates
Eric Jay Dolin
A chronicle of America's lesser-known "Golden Age" of piracy describes how exploration-era colonists initially supported, and then violently opposed, pirates that targeted the North American coast, citing the contributions of such figures as Blackbeard, John Winthrop and Benjamin Franklin.

Janesville: An American Story
Amy Goldstein
A Washington Post reporter provides an intimate account of the fallout from the closing of a General Motors’ assembly plant in Janesville, Wisconsin—Paul Ryan’s hometown—and a larger story of the hollowing of the American middle class.

The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat
Bob Woodward
Presents an examination of the author's long and complex relationship with the FBI official responsible for providing him with the details of the Watergate break-in, which ultimately resulted in the resignation of President Nixon.

The Last Sheriff in Texas: A True Tale of Violence and the Vote
James P. McCollom
An assessment of the post-World War II transformations in America as they occurred in a small Texas town traces the shootout between popular sheriff Vail Ennis and three outlaws, an event that was met with both support and criticism before a local golden boy's successful rival campaign permanently changed the community.

The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War
H.W. Brands
Traces the story of how President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur confronted each other's oppositional stances for America's future in the aftermath of World War II.

A Dangerous Woman: American Beauty, Noted Philanthropist, Nazi Collaborator - The Life of Florence Gould
Susan Ronald
A portrait of the wealthy socialite and patron of the arts details her marriage to railroad heir Frank Jay Gould and her role in creating a luxury hotel and casino empire before becoming a Nazi collaborator in World War II Paris, where she avoided prosecution for her role in a notorious money laundering operation.

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
David Grann
Presents a true account of the early 20th-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

Five Lieutenants: The Heartbreaking Story of Five Harvard Men Who Led America to Victory in World War I
James Carl Nelson
Documents the stories of five young Harvard students who met different fates while serving in World War I, drawing on uncensored letters and memoirs to illuminate the impact of the conflict on the educated class of soldiers.

The Wright Brothers
David McCullough
Chronicles the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the Wright brothers, sharing insights into the disadvantages that challenged their lives and their mechanical ingenuity.

The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur
Scott S. Greenberger
A biography of America’s 21st president describes how he surprisingly and courageously tackled corruption, civil rights and the land issues of Native Americans after assuming the mantel of leadership after the assassination of James Garfield.

Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle that Shaped America's Destiny
Brian Kilmeade
A high-energy portrait of the seventh American president focuses on his formative military prowess during the War of 1812 and his pivotal contributions to the capturing of New Orleans from the British.

The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits
Les Standiford
An uplifting study of the story behind Dickens's most beloved work, A Christmas Carol, describes how the author, at a low point in his career, self-published the holiday classic, revitalizing Dickens's failing literary career and reviving the celebration of Christmas amid the struggles of the Industrial Revolution.

The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy
Jay Cost
In the history of American politics there are few stories as enigmatic as that of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison's bitterly personal falling out. Together they helped bring the Constitution into being, yet soon after the new republic was born they broke over the meaning of its founding document. Hamilton emphasized economic growth, Madison the importance of republican principles.

Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens
Steve Olson
Combining history and science, describes the 1980 eruption of Washington's Mt. St. Helens, one of the largest in human history, which killed 57 people and deposited ash in 11 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces.

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst
Jeffrey Toobin
An account of the sensational 1974 kidnapping and trial of Patty Hearst describes the efforts of her family to secure her release, Hearst's baffling participation in a bank robbery and the psychological insights that prompted modern understandings about Stockholm syndrome.

Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission
Bret Baier
Explores the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower through the lens of his last three days in office in January 1961, revealing Ike to be a model of strong yet principled leadership that is desperately missing in America today.

The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
Stephen Kinzer
A dual portrait of the powerful Cold War Secretary of State and his equally influential brother, the director of the CIA, places their lives and accomplishments against the history of their time to offer insight into how they shaped modern beliefs and America's international role.

Countdown to Pearl Harbor: The Twelve Days to the Attack
Steve Twomey
Chronicles the 12 days leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, examining the miscommunications, clues, missteps, and racist assumptions that may have been behind America's failure to safeguard against the tragedy.

The Gatekeeper: Missy LeHand, FDR, and the Untold Story of the Partnership that Defined a Presidency
Kathryn Smith
A portrait of the influential FDR advisor widely considered the first American female presidential chief of staff examines the controversies attributed to her character and her relationship with the 32nd President, drawing on original source materials to offer insights to the challenges she met and the history she helped create.

Forging a President: How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt
William Hazelgrove
Evaluates the years spent as a cattle rancher and deputy sheriff in wild Dakota Territory that influenced Theodore Roosevelt's character as President, drawing on personal reminisces, quotes, and encounters to share insights into how the 26th President's achievements were shaped by the nature and culture he experienced firsthand.

Breaking Rockefeller: The Incredible Story of the Ambitious Rivals Who Toppled an Oil Empire
Peter B. Doran
Traces the early-20th-century rivalry between John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil and Royal Dutch Shell, describing the origins of partners Marcus Samuel, Jr. and Henri Deterding and how they used respective talents to break Rockefeller's daunting monopoly.

Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868
Cokie Roberts
A companion to the best-selling Founding Mothers and Ladies of Liberty documents the experiences, influence, and contributions of women during the American Civil War.

The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House
Jesse J. Holland
Presents a history of African American slaves who served in the White House from the time of George Washington up until the Civil War, discussing their daily lives and the sometimes conflicted relationships they had with the President and his family.

Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution
Nathaniel Philbrick
Presents an account of the complicated middle years of the American Revolution that shares lesser-known insights into the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold.

Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
Robert Kurson
Recounts the 1991 discovery of a sunken German U-boat by two recreational scuba divers, tracing how they devoted the following six years to researching the identities of the submarine and its crew, correcting historical texts, and breaking new grounds in the world of diving along the way.

Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David
Lawrence Wright
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 presents a day-by-day account of the 1978 Camp David conference, when President Jimmy Carter convinced Israel and Egypt to sign a peace treaty—the first treaty in the modern Middle East, and one which endures to this day.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Daniel James Brown
Traces the story of an American rowing team from the University of Washington that defeated elite rivals at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics, sharing the experiences of such contributors as their enigmatic coach, a visionary boat builder, and a homeless teen rower.

Amelia Earhart: Beyond the Grave
W.C. Jameson
Based on the latest research and findings, depicts the life and experiences of the celebrated and pioneering female aviator and speculates about what really happened to her during her 1928 solo flight over the Atlantic.

The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story
Lily Koppel
Describes what lives were like for a group of military wives, including Annie Glenn, Rene Carpenter, Betty Grissom and Louise Shepherd, who were thrust into the spotlight when their husbands became Mercury Seven astronauts and made them stars.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Erik Larson
The #1 New York Times best-selling author of In the Garden of Beasts presents a 100th-anniversary chronicle of the sinking of the Lusitania that discusses the factors that led to the tragedy and the contributions of such figures as President Wilson, bookseller Charles Lauriat, and architect Theodate Pope Riddle.

Trials of the Earth: The True Story of a Pioneer Woman
Mary Hamilton
This first-hand account of a woman pioneer trying to make a life for herself in the untamed American South of the late 19th century describes how she cared for her children while surviving floods, tornadoes, fires and wild animals.

Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire
Shane White
A prominent historian brings to life the story of a man who defied every convention of his time by becoming Wall Street's first black millionaire in pre-Civil War New York, marrying a white woman, owning railroad stock on trains he was not legally allowed to ride, and outsmarting his contemporaries.

Sultana: Surviving Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History
Alan Huffman
An account of the tragic sinking of the Civil War steamboat describes how it was carrying an overload of paroled Union soldiers, the boiler explosions that ended the lives of more than 1,700 passengers, and the experiences of its survivors.

Assassination Vacation
Sarah Vowell
A tour of key historic sites in America where incidents of political violence have occurred reveals lesser-known points of interest pertaining to each and shares information about how history has been shaped by popular culture and tourism.

Jefferson's America: The President, the Purchase, and the Explorers who Transformed a Nation
Julie M. Fenster
The New York Times best-selling author of The Case of Abraham Lincoln explains how Thomas Jefferson commanded an unrivaled era of American exploration—and in doing so, forged a great nation.

Massacre on the Merrimack: Hannah Duston's Captivity and Revenge in Colonial America
Jay Atkinson
Presents the story of Hannah Duston, who was captured by Abenaki Indians and escaped, killing ten of the Indians in the process, set against the background of King William's War in seventeenth-century Massachusetts.

The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America from Key West to the Arctic Ocean
Philip Caputo
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Rumor of War traces his 2011 road trip from the southernmost to the northernmost points of the United States to experience firsthand the country's vast diversity and political tensions in the face of a historic economic recession.

The Woman Who Wasn't There: The True Story of an Incredible Deception
Robin Gaby Fisher
Traces the falsified story about denounced September 11 survivor Tania Head, describing her interviews with the co-author and the discovery that she was not in America at the time of the attacks, in an account that offers insider analysis of human morality and need.

The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
George Packer
Paints a picture of the last 30 years of life in America by following several citizens, including the son of tobacco farmers in the rural south, a Washington insider who denies his idealism for riches, and Silicon Valley billionaire.

A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown
Julia Scheeves
Documents the tragic story of the 1978 mass murder-suicide at Jonestown, drawing on such newly released sources as diaries, unsent letters and audiotapes of charismatic leader Jim Jones to identify the beliefs that inspired his followers and the addiction and mental illness that influenced Jones's activities.

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock
David Margolick
Looks at the lives of the two women at the center of a famous historic photograph taken during the Little Rock school desegregation crisis in 1957--one, a black girl being harrassed by a mob; the other, a white teen at the center of the mob--in a book that discusses how each dealt with the fallout from that fateful day.

All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
Stephen Kinzer
Traces the events leading to the 1953 coup in Iran, noting the reasons behind the U.S.'s covert operations under the joint authority of Eisenhower and Churchill, the orchestrations of prime minister Mossadegh and CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt, and the coup's ongoing consequences.

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of it's Survivors
Doug Stanton
The nation's worst naval disaster is vividly chronicled, exposing extreme heroism in the face of persistent shark attacks and hypothermia in the aftermath of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine during the final days of World War II.

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Bill Dedman
A cousin of Huguette Clark and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist trace the life of the reclusive American heiress against a backdrop of the now-infamous W. A. Clark family and include coverage of the internet sensation and elder-abuse investigation that occurred at the end of her life.

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
Jon Meacham
A thought-provoking study of Andrew Jackson chronicles the life and career of a self-made man who went on to become a military hero and seventh president of the United States, critically analyzing Jackson's seminal role during a turbulent era in history, the political crises and personal upheaval that surrounded him, and his legacy for the modern presidency.

Liberty's Torch: The Great Adventure to Build the Statue of Liberty
Elizabeth Mitchell
Describes the story of the young French artist and entrepreneur who set off for America after the Franco-Prussian War and how he envisioned, creatively funded and built the Statue of Liberty.

Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution
Nathaniel Philbrick
The best-selling author of Mayflower presents a book inspired by the Boston battle that ignited the American Revolution, tracing the experiences of Patriot leader Dr. Joseph Warren, a newly recruited George Washington and British General William Howe.

Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Courageous Life Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Adele Levine
In her six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Adele Levine rehabilitated soldiers admitted in worse and worse shape. As body armor and advanced trauma care helped save the lives—if not the limbs—of American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, Walter Reed quickly became the world leader in amputee rehabilitation. But no matter the injury, physical therapy began the moment the soldiers emerged from surgery.

Where the Wind Leads: A Refugee Family's Miraculous Story of Loss, Rescue, and Redemption
Vinh Chung
Through a series of miraculous events, a Chinese family, living in communist Vietnam, joins the ranks of "boat people" and overcomes oppressive struggles to raise its children in the foreign culture of America.

Pat and Dick: The Nixons, an Intimate Portrait of a Marriage
Will Swift
A nuanced study of the partnership between the 37th President and his wife argues that the couple endured political and intimate disappointments throughout their 53-year marriage but ultimately shared genuine affection and compromises, in an account based on recently released wartime letters and close associate interviews.

Last Men Out: The True Story of America's Heroic Final Hours in Vietnam
Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
A moment-by-moment account of the operation by U.S. marines to rescue thousands of American troops and allies in the final 24 hours of the Vietnam War focuses on the stories of 11 young Marines who were the last to leave, in a dramatic story based on first-hand testimonies and recently declassified information.

Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA and Battle Over a Forbidden Book
Peter Finn
Draws on unique access to classified CIA files to document the role of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago in promoting American Cold War agendas in the 1950s, revealing how the CIA helped publish the Soviet-banned book in Russian to an enthusiastic black-market audience.

No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War
David Kaiser
An acclaimed historian reveals how Roosevelt and his cabinet engineered America's entry into--and ultimate victory in--World War II.

One Summer: America, 1927
Bill Bryson
The award-winning author of A Short History of Nearly Everything recounts the story of a pivotal cultural year in the United States when mainstream pursuits and historical events were marked by contributions by such figures as Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth and Al Capone.

Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and the White House Dinner that Shocked a Nation
Deborah Davis
Traces the story of the 1901 White House dinner shared by the slave-turned-African-American-political-leader and the 26th President, documenting the ensuing scandal and the ways in which the event reflected period politics and race relations.

The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend
Glenn Frankel
Traces the making of the influential 1950s film inspired by the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, sharing lesser-known aspects of Parker's 1836 abduction by the Comanche and her heartbreaking return to white culture, in an account that also explores how the movie reflects period ambiguities.

Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America
Ernest Freeburg
A history of the culture of invention as epitomized by Thomas Edison demonstrates how America's lead in the electric light revolution of the late-19th century transformed the country, explaining how electric light served as a catalyst for a profound shift from rural to urban-dominated culture and prompted the migration of millions of workers to urban centers while shifting priorities to science, technology and patent law.

Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence
Carol Berkin
A thought-provoking study of the vital part played by women during the Revolutionary War details their diverse roles raising funds, disseminating propaganda, managing businesses and homes, and serving as nurses, spies, warriors, and saboteurs, profiling such figures as Phillis Wheatley, Dicey Langston, Margaret Corbin, and Abigail Adams.

Becoming America: The Revolution Before 1776
Jon Butler
Multinational, profit-driven, materialistic, politically self-conscious, power-hungry, religiously plural: America three hundred years ago - and today. Here are Britain's mainland American colonies after 1680, in the process of becoming the first modern society - a society the earliest colonists never imagined, a "new order of the ages" that anticipated the American revolution, Jon Butler's panoramic view of the colonies in this epoch transforms our customary picture of pre-Revolutionary America.

First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley
Keith Koeneman
Chronicles the life of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, making deft use of unprecedented access to key players in the Daley administration, as well as Chicago's business and cultural leaders.

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
Annie Jacobsen
Presents a history of the most famous secret military installation in the world, assembled from interviews with the people who served there and formerly classified information.

Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
Hampton Sides
From the best-selling author of Ghost Soldiers comes a taut, intense narrative about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the largest manhunt in American history.

Rin, Tin, Tin: The Life and the Legend
Susan Orlean
A New Yorker staff writer and author of The Orchid Thief chronicles the rise of the iconic German shepherd character while sharing the stories of the real WWI dog and the canine performer in the 1950s television show, in an account that also explores Rin Tin Tin's relevance in the military and popular culture.

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of WWII
Michael Zuckoff
In 1945, a sightseeing trip over "Shangri-La" turned deadly when the plane crashed, leaving only three survivors who, battling for their survival, were caught between man-eating headhunters and the enemy Japanese, in this real-life adventure drawn from personal interviews, declassified Army documents and personal photos and mementos.

Mount Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered
Jesse Larner
Documents the conception and history of Mount Rushmore, which has become an icon of democracy, freedom, and hope, by bringing to light the many intricate stories behind this monument, including how the land on which Rushmore stands was commandeered from the Lakota Sioux in 1877 and how the sculpture's creator, a leader in the Ku Klux Klan, witnessed the fulfillment of white racial destiny across the American West.

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918
Adam Hochschild
An epic chronicle of the first World War places an emphasis on the moral dilemmas raised by the war's critics, citing the achievements and associations of famous detractors while exploring how the war's lessons have particular relevance in today's world.

I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford
Richard Snow
A lively account of Henry Ford's invention of the Model-T places his innovations against a backdrop of a steam-powered world and offers insight into his innate mechanical talents and pioneering work in internal combustion, describing his indelible impact on American culture and the perplexing subsequent changes in his personality.

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and Murder of a President
Candice Millard
A dramatic narrative account of the 20th President's political career offers insight into his distinguished background as an impoverished wunderkind scholar and Civil War hero, his battles against the corrupt establishment and Alexander Graham Bell's failed attempt to save him from an assassin's bullet.

First Family: Abigail and John Adams
Joseph J. Ellis
The Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author of Founding Brothers presents a narrative profile of the second president and his wife that traces their more than 50-year partnership in such areas as civic and foreign affairs.

The Wordy Shipmates: The Exploration of the Puritans and Their Journey to America
Sarah Vowell
A cultural profile of Puritan life covers a wide range of topics, from their covenant communities and deep-rooted ideologies to their beliefs about church and state and their perspectives on other faiths, in an account that also evaluates their legacy in today's world.

1491: New Revelations of the America's Before Columbus
Charles C. Mann
A groundbreaking analysis of America prior to the European arrival in 1492 describes how the latest research of archaeologists and anthropologists has transformed long-held myths about the Americas, revealing that not only was the population of the hemisphere greater than previously known but that the cultures were far older and more advanced.

Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City
Jed Horne
Hurricane Katrina shredded one of the great cities of the South, and as levees failed and the federal relief effort proved lethally incompetent, a natural disaster became a man-made catastrophe. As an editor of New Orleans’ daily newspaper, the Pulitzer Prize—winning Times-Picayune, Jed Horne has had a front-row seat to the unfolding drama of the city’s collapse into chaos and its continuing struggle to survive.

No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL
Mark Owen
Examines the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden, details the selection and training process for one of the most elite units in the military, and describes previously unreported missions that illustrate the life and work of a SEAL and the evolution of the team after the events of September 11.

The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War
James Mann
In The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan, New York Times bestselling author James Mann directs his keen analysis to Ronald Reagan’s role in ending the Cold War. Drawing on new interviews and previously unavailable documents, Mann offers a fresh and compelling narrative—a new history assessing what Reagan did, and did not do, to help bring America’s four-decade conflict with the Soviet Union to a close.

Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today
Tom Brokaw
The voices and stories of both famous people and ordinary citizens come together as Brokaw takes us on a memorable journey through a remarkable time, exploring how individual lives and the national mindset were affected by a controversial era and showing how the aftershocks of the Sixties continue to resound in our lives today. In the reflections of a generation, Brokaw also discovers lessons that might guide us in the years ahead.

The Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness and a Trove of Letters Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression
Ted Gup
An inspiring account of America at its worst-and Americans at their best-woven from the stories of Depression- era families who were helped by gifts from the author's generous and secretive grandfather.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Erik Larson
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.

A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance—and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler’s true character and ruthless ambition.

King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War
Catrine Clay
Known among their families as Georgie, Willy, and Nicky, they were, respectively, the royal cousins George V of England, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and Nicholas II of Russia—the first two grandsons of Queen Victoria, the latter her grandson by marriage. In 1914, on the eve of world war, they controlled the destiny of Europe and the fates of millions of their subjects. The outcome and their personal endings are well known—Nicky shot with his family by the Bolsheviks, Willy in exile in Holland, Georgie still atop his throne. Largely untold, however, is the family saga that played such a pivotal role in bringing the world to the precipice.

A Kingdom Strange: A Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke
James Horn
In 1587, John White and 117 men, women, and children landed off the coast of North Carolina on Roanoke Island, hoping to carve a colony from fearsome wilderness. A mere month later, facing quickly diminishing supplies and a fierce native population, White sailed back to England in desperation. He persuaded the wealthy Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition’s sponsor, to rescue the imperiled colonists, but by the time White returned with aid the colonists of Roanoke were nowhere to be found. He never saw his friends or family again.In this gripping account based on new archival material, colonial historian James Horn tells for the first time the complete story of what happened to the Roanoke colonists and their descendants. A compellingly original examination of one of the great unsolved mysteries of American history.

Fusiliers: The Saga of a British Redcoat Regiment in the American Revolution
Mark Urban
From Lexington Green in 1775 to Yorktown in 1781, one regiment marched thousands of miles and fought a dozen battles to uphold British rule in America: the Royal Welch Fusiliers. With a wealth of previously unused primary accounts, Mark Urban reveals the inner life of the regiment - and, through it, of the British army as a whole - as it fought one of the pivotal campaigns of world history.

Presidential Inaugurations: An Informal History from Washington's to George W. Bush's Gala
Paul F. Boller Jr.
Highlighting inaugural moments from 1789 to 2001, Presidential Inaugurations illuminates the new life of the president from the moment he is elected to the moment he takes office.

Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life
Beverly Lowry
In Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life, Beverly Lowry goes beyond the familiar tales to create a portrait of Tubman in lively imagined vignettes that, as Lowry writes, “catch her on the fly” and portray her life as she herself might have presented it. Lowry offers readers an intimate look at Tubman’s early life firsthand: her birth as Araminta Ross in 1822 in Dorchester, Maryland; the harsh treatment she experienced growing up—including being struck with a two-pound iron when she was twelve years old; and her triumphant escape from slavery as a young woman and rebirth as Harriet Tubman. We travel with Tubman along the treacherous route of the Underground Railroad and hear of her friendships with Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and other abolitionists. We accompany her to the battlefields of the Civil War, where she worked as a nurse and a cook and earned the name General Tubman, join her on slave-freeing raids in the heart of the Confederacy, and share her horror and sorrow as she witnesses the massacre of Colonel Shaw and the black soldiers of the 54th Regiment at Fort Wagner.

The President is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman who Dared Expose the Truth
Matthew Algeo
On July 1, 1893, President Grover Cleveland vanished. He boarded a friend’s yacht, sailed into the calm blue waters of Long Island Sound, and--poof!--disappeared. He would not be heard from again for five days. What happened during those five days, and in the days and weeks that followed, was so incredible that, even when the truth was finally revealed, many Americans simply would not believe it. The President Is a Sick Man details an extraordinary but almost unknown chapter in American history: Grover Cleveland’s secret cancer surgery and the brazen political cover-up by a politician whose most memorable quote was "Tell the truth.”

Rocket Boys
Homer Hickam
The New York Times bestselling memoir that inspired the film October Sky, Rocket Boys is a uniquely American memoir—a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the dawn of the 1960s, of a mother's love and a father's fears, of a group of young men who dreamed of launching rockets into outer space . . . and who made those dreams come true.

Strange Days Indeed: The 1970s: The Golden Days of Paranoia
Francis Wheen
The 1970s were a theme park of mass paranoia. Strange Days Indeed tells the story of the decade when a distinctive “paranoid style” emerged and seemed to infect all areas of both private and public life, from high politics to pop culture. The sense of paranoia that had long fuelled the conspiracy theories of fringe political groups then somehow became the norm for millions of ordinary people. And to make it even trickier, a certain amount of that paranoia was justified. Watergate showed that the governments really were doing illegal things and then trying to cover them up.

Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies
Ginger Strand
Ginger Strand reveals the hidden history of America's most iconic natural wonder, Niagara Falls, illuminating what it says about our history, our relationship with the environment, and ourselves.

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
Mildred Armstrong Kalish
Little Heathens offers a loving but realistic portrait of a “hearty-handshake Methodist” family that gave its members a remarkable legacy of kinship, kindness, and remembered pleasures. Recounted in a luminous narrative filled with tenderness and humor, Kalish’s memoir of her childhood shows how the right stuff can make even the bleakest of times seem like “quite a romp.”

Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt's America
Eric Rauchway
When President William McKinley was murdered at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, Americans were bereaved and frightened. Rumor ran rampant: A wild-eyed foreign anarchist with an unpronounceable name had killed the commander-in-chief. Eric Rauchway's brilliant Murdering McKinley restages Leon Czolgosz's hastily conducted trial and then traverses America with Dr. Vernon Briggs, a Boston alienist who sets out to discover why Czolgosz rose up to kill his president.

To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett
Mark Lee Gardner
To Hell on a Fast Horse re-creates the thrilling manhunt for the Wild West's most iconic outlaw. It is also the first dual biography of the Kid and Garrett, each a larger-than-life figure who would not have become legendary without the other. Drawing on voluminous primary sources and a wealth of published scholarship, Mark Lee Gardner digs beneath the myth to take a fresh look at these two men, their relationship, and their epic ride to immortality.

Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theater Disaster 1903
Anthony P. Hatch
At a Christmas week matinee December 30, 1903, more than 600 people, mostly women and children, perished in less than 30 minutes in a five-week-old theater that was advertised as being "Absolutely Fireproof" and one of the most luxurious playhouses ever built in America — the epitome of Twentieth Century luxury, comfort and safety.

Unfamiliar Fishes
Sarah Vowell
Many think of 1776 as the defining year of American history, when we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self- government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international superpower practically overnight.

Baptism by Fire
Mark K. Updegrove
In this fascinating narrative, presidential historian Mark Updegrove looks at eight U.S. presidents who inherited unprecedented crises immediately upon assuming the reigns of power.

The Legend of John Wilkes Booth: Myth, Memory, and a Mummy
C. Wyatt Evans
A deformed thumb, a neck scar from a stage accident, and a broken left leg, the result of a dramatic leap. These were the telltale markings that for decades identified a sideshow attraction as the supposed body of John Wilkes Booth. They persuaded onlookers that Lincoln's assassin was not killed in 1865 but survived the assault on Garrett's barn to live on as a fugitive for thirty years afterwards. As Wyatt Evans shows, some popular stories, no matter how weird and improbable, simply refuse to die.

The Liberty Bell
Gary B. Nash
Each year, more than two million visitors line up near Philadelphia-s Independence Hall and wait to gaze upon a flawed mass of metal forged more than two and a half centuries ago. Since its original casting in England in 1751, the Liberty Bell has survived a precarious journey on the road to becoming a symbol of the American identity, and in this masterful work, Gary B. Nash reveals how and why this voiceless bell continues to speak such volumes about our nation.

A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown and Inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest
Hobson Woodward
In 1609, aspiring writer William Strachey set sail aboard the Sea Venture, bound for the New World. Caught in a hurricane, the ship separated from its fleet and wrecked on uninhabited Bermuda, a bountiful island paradise its passengers would inhabit for nearly a year before reaching their intended destination, the famine-stricken colony of Jamestown. Strachey's meticulous account of the wreck, the castaways' time on Bermuda, and their arrival in a devastated Jamestown was read by his contemporaries and remains among the most vivid writings of the early colonial period. Following the life of this ordinary man, Hobson Woodward tells one of the neglected but defining stories of America's founding.

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned." That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.

Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin's classic life of Lyndon Johnson, who presided over the Great Society, the Vietnam War, and the tumultuous 1960s, is a monument in political biography. From the moment the author, then a young woman from Harvard, first encountered President Johnson at a White House dance in the spring of 1967, she became fascinated by the man - his character, his enormous energy and drive, and how he wielded them into his endless pursuit of power. As a member of his White House staff, she soon became his personal confidante, and in the years before his death he revealed himself to her as he did to no other. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream takes us through the vast landscape of Johnson's political and personal life: from his childhood, dominated by an indulgent mother and a hell-raising politico father, through his early political victories and the ideals that inspired them; from the Washington system that trained him, through his election as Vice President and the transitional year, 1964, when JFK's assassination brought him to the highest office in the land; from remarkable talents that brought him triumph, to the inner demons that tormented him and the flaws that engendered his ultimate tragedy.

Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People
William L. Iggiagruk Hensley
As a young man growing up on the shores of Kotzebue Sound, twenty-nine miles north of the Arctic Circle, William L. Iggiagruk Hensley learned to live the way his ancestors had for thousands of years. Like a sponge, he absorbed the old stories and sayings, the threads of wisdom passed down through the generations. Though Hensley eventually left Alaska behind to pursue his education in the Lower 48, he carried with him the hardiness, the good humor, and the tenacity that had helped his people flourish on the wild tundra.

In 1971, after years of Hensley's tireless lobbying, the United States conveyed forty-four million acres and earmarked nearly $1 billion for use by Alaska's native peoples. The law insured that all the American Indians of Alaska would be compensated for the incursion of the U.S. government upon their way of life. Unlike their relatives to the south, the Alaskan peoples would be able to take charge of their economic and political destiny in the twentieth century and beyond.

The landmark decision did not come overnight. Neither was it the work of any one man. But it was Hensley who gave voice to the cause and made it real. Fifty Miles from Tomorrow is not only the memoir of one man; it is a testament to the resilience of the Alaskan -- and American -- spirit.

Tallgrass
Sandra Dallas
An essential American novel from Sandra Dallas. During World War II, a family finds life turned upside down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all eyes (and suspicions) turn to the newcomers, the interlopers, the strangers.
This is Tallgrass as Rennie Stroud has never seen it before. She has just turned thirteen and, until this time, life has pretty much been what her father told her it should be: predictable and fair. But now the winds of change are coming and, with them, a shift in her perspective. And Rennie will discover secrets that can destroy even the most sacred things.Part thriller, part historical novel, Tallgrass is a riveting exploration of the darkest--and best--parts of the human heart.

Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America
Linda Lawrence Hunt
In 1896, a Norwegian immigrant named Helga Estby dares to cross 3500 miles of the American continent to win a $10,000 wager. On foot. A mother of eight living children, she attempts to save her family's homestead in Eastern Washington after the 1893 depression had ravaged the American economy. Fearing homelessness and family poverty, Helga responds to a wager from a mysterious sponsor, casts off the cultural corsets of Victorian femininity and gambles her family's future by striking out with her eldest daughter, Clara, to try to be the first women to travel unescorted across the country. Linda Hunt recreates Helga Estby's story in Bold Spirit: her culture and time, her abiding love of America, her resilient faith, and her challenge to Victorian constraints as she lived on the transitional edge of a new century of possibilities and of changing beliefs about women.

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America
Timothy Egan
On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in the blink of an eye. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men  —  college boys, day workers, immigrants from mining camps  —  to fight the fire. But no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them.

Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force. Equally dramatic is the larger story he tells of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by and preserved for every citizen. The robber barons fought Roosevelt and Pinchot’s rangers, but the Big Burn saved the forests even as it destroyed them: the heroism shown by the rangers turned public opinion permanently in their favor and became the creation myth that drove the Forest Service, with consequences still felt in the way our national lands are protected  —  or not —  today.

What Would the Founder's Do?: Our Questions, Their Answers
Richard Brookhiser
Richard Brookhiser uses his vast knowledge of the Founders and of modern politics to apply their view to today's issues. What Would the Founders Do? sheds new light on the disagreements and debates that have shaped our country from the beginning. Now, more than ever, we need these creators of America - inspiring, argumentative, amusing, know-it-alls - to help us work through the issues that threaten to divide us.

The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations
Ira Berlin
Four great migrations defined the history of black people in America: the violent removal of Africans to the east coast of North America known as the Middle Passage; the relocation of one million slaves to the interior of the antebellum South; the movement of more than six million blacks to the industrial cities of the north and west a century later; and since the late 1960s, the arrival of black immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and Europe. These epic migra­tions have made and remade African American life.

Ira Berlin's magisterial new account of these passages evokes both the terrible price and the moving triumphs of a people forcibly and then willingly migrating to America. In effect, Berlin rewrites the master narrative of African America, challenging the traditional presentation of a linear path of progress. He finds instead a dynamic of change in which eras of deep rootedness alternate with eras of massive move­ment, tradition giving way to innovation. The culture of black America is constantly evolving, affected by (and affecting) places as far away from one another as Biloxi, Chicago, Kingston, and Lagos. Certain to gar­ner widespread media attention, The Making of African America is a bold new account of a long and crucial chapter of American history.

Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War
Nina Silber
Daughters of the Union casts a spotlight on some of the most overlooked and least understood participants in the American Civil War: the women of the North. Unlike their Confederate counterparts, who were often caught in the midst of the conflict, most Northern women remained far from the dangers of battle. Nonetheless, they enlisted in the Union cause on their home ground, and the experience transformed their lives.

End of Barbary Terror: America's 1815 War against the Pirates of North Africa
Frederick C. Leiner
Drawing upon numerous ship logs, journals, love letters, and government documents, Frederick C. Leiner paints a vivid picture of the world of naval officers and diplomats in the early nineteenth century, as he recreates a remarkable and little known episode from the early American republic. Leiner first describes Madison's initial efforts at diplomacy, sending Mordecai Noah to negotiate, reasoning that the Jewish Noah would fare better with the Islamic leader. But when the ruler refused to ransom the Americans - Madison declared war and sent a fleet to North Africa. Decatur's squadron dealt quick blows to the Barbary navy, dramatically fighting and capturing two ships. Decatur then sailed to Algiers. He refused to go ashore to negotiate - indeed, he refused to negotiate on any essential point. The ruler of Algiers signed the treaty in twenty-four hours. The United States would never pay tribute to the Barbary world again, and the captive Americans were set free - although in a sad, ironic twist, they never arrived home, their ship being lost at sea in heavy weather.

Virtue, Valor, and Vanity: The Founding Fathers and the Pursuit of Fame
Eric Burns
Their ambitions, intrigues, and jealousies shaped the birth of our nation, but they overcame their foibles and imperfections to throw off the chains of tyranny and form a more perfect union. We think of them now as faces on money or statues on pedestals, and, as Burns shows here in luminous prose, that's exactly what they wanted to be. They all possessed astonishing brilliance, expansive egos, and more than just a little vanity. In this fresh perspective, Burns brings the Founding Fathers down off their pedestals to reveal the flesh-and-blood men - vain and modest, sensitive and stubborn, brilliant and ambitious - who overcame their faults and squabbles to establish a new nation that would shine as a paragon of governance. For the armchair historian, here is an exciting new look at our country's origins.

Brutal Journey: Cabeza de Vaca and the Epic First Crossing of North America
Paul Schneider
A gripping survival epic, Brutal Journey tells the story of an army of would-be conquerors, bound for glory, who landed in Florida in 1528. But only four of the four hundred would survive: eight years and some five thousand miles later, three Spaniards and a black Moroccan wandered out of the wilderness to the north of the Rio Grande and into Cortess gold-drenched Mexico. The survivors brought nothing back other than their story, but what a tale it was. They had become killers and cannibals, torturers and torture victims, slavers and enslaved. They became faith healers, arms dealers, canoe thieves, spider eaters. They became, in other words, whatever it took to stay alive.

Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children
Dorie McCullough Lawson
A treasury of personal letters from famous Americans to their children features theme-arranged lessons on such topics as love, character, and aging by such individuals as Frederick Douglass, Albert Einstein, Groucho Marx, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years
Haynes Johnson
A social history of the 1990s draws on interviews with some of the decade's most prominent players to re-create some of the best and worst episodes of the era and explores the stories and personalities behind key events of the time.

American Heaven: A Novel
Maxine Chernoff
A novel by the author of Signs of Devotion follows the lives of four very different characters--a young Polish woman, an aging jazz musician, an ailing mobster, and his female helper--who share both a Chicago tenement and a longing for human connection.

Space: A Memoir
Jesse Lee Kercheval
Describing in thoughtful detail what it was like to grow up a girl in 1960s America, the author of The Dogeater uses her childhood proximity to, and her father's involvement with, Cape Canaveral and the space program in Florida as the anchor for her family's struggles and triumphs.

As Seen on T.V.: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950's
Karal Ann Marling
Opening with a photograph of a 1950s Disneyland home designed in the shape of a TV (by those fun-loving futurists at MIT), this book's text and photos consistently maintain a balance between insightful social commentary and critique and sensitive recapturing of the essence of visual broadcast's dawn.

Truman
Roy Jenkins
The founder of the Social Democratic Party of the U.K. profiles Harry S. Truman, with particular emphasis upon his political astuteness and solid accomplishments in international affairs, which succeeded despite the instability of the postwar world.

Ava's Man
Rick Bragg
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author of All Over But the Shoutin' continues his personal history of the Deep South with an evocation of his mother's childhood in the Appalachian foothills during the Great Depression and the inspiring story of the man who raised her.

Disaster! The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906
Dan Kurzman
The George Polk Memorial Award-winning historian investigates the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, bringing to life this horrible natural disaster--registering 8.3 on the Richter scale--and the subsequent fire that raged through the rubble killing ten thousand people.

Up from Slavery
Booker T. Washington
19th-century African American businessman, activist & educator Booker Taliaferro Washington's Up from Slavery is one of the greatest autobiographies ever written. Its mantras of black economic empowerment, land ownership & selfhelp inspired generations of leaders, including Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X & Louis Farrakhan. In rags-to-riches fashion, he recounts ascendance from early life as a mulatto slave in Virginia to 34 years as president of the agriculturally based Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.