Publishers Weekly recently announced their Spring 2015 TBR pile (including debuts) and 10 Macmillan titles made the cut! FICTION THE WHITES by Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt On Sale: February 17 “Price (LUSH LIFE) is one whale of a storyteller by any name, as evinced by the debut of his new brand—okay, Brandt—a gripping, […]
Tag: history
History of Empire
Happy Monday, friends! We’ve got three new titles to share with you today, all of which shed light on three very different and fascinating empires: BERLIN: Portrait of a City Through the Centuries by Rory MacLean Told through the biographies of 23 Berliners who conceived and created the new capital of Europe over five centuries, […]
The Blitz, Bloody Mary and the Master of Sci Fi!
If you love getting lost in history, here are three new novels out this month for your enjoyment: SLEEP IN PEACE TONIGHT by James McManus Harry Hopkins, FDR’s most trusted advisor, is sent to negotiate with Churchill, but found himself becoming personally involved with a woman soldier in war-torn London. “The appeal of a WWII […]
Stars for BERLIN
Imagine Berlin, a city of fragments and ghosts, a metropolis that inspired countless artists and witnessed uncountable murders. Imagine the most arrogant capital of Europe devastated by Allied bombs, then divided by a Wall. Imagine it reunited and reborn as one of the creative centers of the world. Rory MacLean takes readers through all that […]
Free Speech Rules!
Fifty years ago today (October 1), students at the University of California at Berkeley surrounded a campus police car on the school’s main plaza and held it captive for 33 hours. This non-violent protest in the fall of 1964 launched the Free Speech Movement, the first major campus protest by white students of the sixties. […]
Stars for POLITICAL ORDER AND POLITICAL DECAY
For those of you who like your history and politics on the meaty side, the wait is nearly over for Francis Fukuyama’s POLITICAL ORDER AND POLITICAL DECAY: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. In this second volume (after THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL ORDER), Fukuyama examines how societies and their political institutions have […]
Stars for MANDELA: My Prisoner, My Friend
This Friday, we’re reading Christo Brand’s riveting biography: MANDELA: My Prisoner, My Friend. Afrikaner Brand was a prison guard in the maximum security facility on remote Robben Island, given charge of the country’s most infamous inmate: Nelson Mandela. Over 12 years, Brand became Mandela’s confidant and accomplice, celebrating his prisoner’s triumphs and suffering through his […]
Belated #BookBday (7/23/14 Edition)
We’re a day late to wish these two titles a Happy #BookBday, but it’s only to keep the celebration going! MAEVE BINCHY: The Biography by Piers Dudgeon Drawing on extensive research and humorous personal anecdotes, this first biography of the prolific, much-loved Irish writer chronicles the stories, anecdotes, humor, and sheer indomitable character of Binchy. […]
Graphic Novels for the Classroom & School Libraries!
This first book in the Great American Documents series (GREAT AMERICAN DOCUMENTS, Volume 1: 1620-1830 by Ruth Ashby and illustrated by Ernie Colón) tells the history of America through twenty of the major speeches, laws, proclamations, court decisions, and essays that shaped it between 1620 and 1830.
It's already received two starred reviews!
“[Ashby and Colón] breathe accessible and cogent life into the written documents that formed U.S. policy, beginning with the Mayflower Compact (1620) and ending with the Indian Removal Act (1830)... Colón uses well-designed, full-color panel layouts to eloquently blend charts and other informative graphics with straightforward images of events, clothing, and customs as well as clear, concise metaphors, all with an eye toward promoting a solid understanding of the basic facts and their impact... School libraries would do well to include this engaging volume in their history collections.” — Booklist, starred review
“Using notable treatises, pamphlets, laws, proclamations, and other documents, [The Great American Documents]—which begins with the Mayflower Compact and ends with the Monroe Doctrine and the Indian Removal Act—weaves together nearly two dozen vignettes with clarity and synthesis. Most remarkably, it covers the culture and context of each time period with a balanced truthfulness... For those who aren’t just curious about history but who really want to understand it, this is an exemplary volume.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The cartoon approach helps refresh history and make it come alive. A good primer for students and a refresher course for their parents.” — Kirkus Reviews
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Back in Time
In today’s featured titles we’ll meet the enigmatic Romanov sisters, dig deeper into the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots, and watch blow-by-blow as the Spanish Armada fails to destroy England.
THE ROMANOV SISTERS: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport
Historian Helen Rappaport brings the four Russian Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Romanov, to life in their own words, drawing extensively on previously unseen or unpublished letters, diaries and archival sources, to illuminate the opulence of their doomed world and their courage as they faced a terrible end. “Readers will be swept up in the author’s leisurely yet informative narrative as she sheds new light on the lives of the four daughters.” — Publishers Weekly
THE SPANISH ARMADA by Robert Hutchinson
In this dramatic account of the Spanish Armada’s attempt to destroy Elizabeth’s England, Hutchinson uses everything from contemporary eyewitness accounts to papers held by the national archives in Spain and the United Kingdom to recreate the 1588 sea battle with Spain that assured the survival of Protestant England. “Readers know how the battle turned out, but they will relish Hutchinson’s intensely detailed account... Those with fond memories of Garrett Mattingly’s classic THE ARMADA will discover an equally enthralling successor.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
TUDORS VERSUS STEWARTS: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary, Queen of Scots by Linda Porter
British historian Porter regales readers about the rivalry between cousins Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth and their respective dynasties which eventually united Scotland and England. “A wonderfully thorough history of the Scots that thankfully avoids dwelling on stories that have been explored countless times before—especially fitting now as Scotland decides whether to withdraw from the union with England.” — Kirkus Reviews
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