books

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• 7/3/2020
  

  How Britain and Churchill Repelled the Nazi War Machine (1940-1941)

  by Jeff Roquen

  In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson has not only produced an engaging and timely portrait of the perilous period of when Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany but has also illuminated how tragedy and loss can be turned into a triumph and justice through steadfast determination and solidarity of purpose.  

• 
• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  7/1/2020
  

  Celebrating 50 Years of Essence as a Black Women’s Archive

  by Jacinta R. Saffold

  "For the last 50 years, Essence Magazine has consistently found innovative approaches to archiving Black women’s lives by immortalizing our intellect, literature, and culture on glossy pages," writes Jacinta R. Saffold.

• 
• SOURCE: Arts Fuse
  6/29/2020
  

  Book Reconsideration: “A Confederacy of Dunces” — Still an American Comic Masterpiece?

  A reassessment on the 40th anniversary of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, a novel that many consider one of the funniest ever written by an American.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  6/27/2020
  

  Before Stonewall, There Was a Bookstore

  by Jim Downs

  Networks of activists transformed Stonewall from an isolated event into a turning point in the struggle for gay power.

• 
• SOURCE: The Metropole
  6/25/2020
  

  Building The Chicago Police State: A Review Of Occupied Territory

  by Davarian L. Baldwin

  "With scrupulous archival detail and sharp analytic focus, Occupied Territory shows how Chicago’s “powerful carceral machinery,” which present-day Black communities condemns for its under-protection and over-policing, was built in the early twentieth century." 

• 
• 6/18/2020
  

  Historians on John Bolton's Book

  by HNN Staff

  Historians discuss the revelations in and reactions to former Trump advisor John Bolton's book. 

• 
• SOURCE: Book Riot
  6/16/2020
  

  12 Informative Queer Women's History Reads

  A selection of historical works examine the lives of queer women, the relationship of queer and racial identities, and the establishment of heterosexuality as a social norm. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/12/2020
  

  For Publishers, Books on Race and Racism Have Been a Surprising Success

  In the last few weeks, books from authors the likes of Ibram X. Kendi, Annette Gordon-Reed, and David W. Blight have seen surges in sales. But in the current moment, how much do sales say about social and political influence?

• 
• SOURCE: The Independent
  6/14/2020
  

  Are We Really Built for Prejudice and Violence? The New Book Challenging the Preconceptions of Human Behaviour

  Rutger Bregman's new book makes a sweeping argument that the "veneer" theory--that civilization barely suppreses humanity's instinct for violence and selfishness--is wrong. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/22/2020
  

  Looking at War Across 2,500 Years (Review Essay)

  Recent books highlight the vast gap between perceptions and reality in warfare and foreground the gap between people who call for war and who fight it. 

• 
• SOURCE: Associated Press
  5/16/2020
  

  Award for NC Historian’s Book about Mississippi City

  A Los Angeles cultural and publishing nonprofit is giving its 10th annual book award to a University of North Carolina historian’s account of civil rights in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/14/2020
  

  Familiar Story of the Boston Massacre Becomes Familial

  A review of Serena Zabin's upcoming book "The Boston Massacre."

• 
• SOURCE: Chicago Teachers Union
  5/19/2020
  

  Zoom Webinar: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Discusses "Race for Profit," May 19, 4:30 PM CDT

  The award-winning historian and public speaker will discuss the relationship between housing policy and racial inequality in the United States

• 
• SOURCE: Fox Carolina
  5/12/2020
  

  Carolyn Reidy, President and CEO of Simon & Schuster, Dies at 71

  Carolyn Reidy helped bring the writings of historians including David Blight and David McCullough to a wide readership.  

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  5/12/2020
  

  Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt (Review)

  An attack by the pirate Henry Every on a ship owned by the Grand Mughal of India jeopardized the toehold the British East India Company had gained in India. The British government's response helped launch imperial rule. 

• 
• SOURCE: USA Today
  5/11/2020
  

  Inside Historic Black Bookstores' Fight for Survival against the COVID-19 Pandemic

  For decades, these bookstores have occupied a singular place in the cultural life of black America, says W. Paul Coates, founder and director of Black Classic Press and BCP Digital Printing and father of bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates.

• 
• SOURCE: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
  5/11/2020
  

  Gilder Lehrman Book Breaks: Live Discussions with Eminent Historians on Sunday Afternoons

  Gilder Lehrman Book Breaks is a new program that features the most exciting history scholars in America discussing their books with host William Roka live, followed by a Q&A with home audiences.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  4/22/2020
  

  An Earth Day Reminder of How the Republicans Have Forsaken the Environment

  by Elizabeth Kolbert

  Professors James Morton Turner and Andrew Isenberg's recent book identifies the Reagan Revolution as the moment the Republican Party rejected environmental regulation and made further protective legislation politically unthinkable for a generation.

• 
• SOURCE: The Metropole
  4/23/2020
  

  Neglected Gems: Richard Wade And Lisa Tolbert

  by Richard Harris

  For Americanists, the slave experience and its legacy has always been a major concern, but even here the specific impact of the urban environment, and urban size, has not always been well-appreciated.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Decoded
  4/18/2020
  

  Feldstein's Deplorable Review

  by John O'Connor

  John O'Connor offers a rebuttal to Mark Feldstein's criticism of his new book Postgate.