Cairo: Histories of a City

Nezar Al Sayyad.

AlSayyad, professor of architecture, planning, and urban history at the University of California, Berkeley, has provided a timely and often surprising series of vignettes serving to trace the physical and cultural evolution of the city from the pharaonic period to the present. Each of the dozen vignettes covers a specific historical period, and AlSayyad includes many fascinating details about historical figures and their impact on the city as it grewfrom a tiny settlement to a great metropolis.--Booklist (Check Catalog)

The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs

Jim Rasenberger.

This focused account of the invasion and America's involvement draws new insights from material recently released by the CIA. Bound to be of interest, given the anniversary and current events in Cuba.--Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Rawhide down : the near assassination of Ronald Reagan

Del Quentin Wilber.

Wilber's gripping minute-by-minute account of the day that president Reagan (codename Rawhide) was shot reveals the major players in the drama, including the president's doctors, his would-be assassin, Secret Service agents, White House staffers, Vice President George H.W. Bush, and Nancy Reagan. The first time author, a reporter for The Washington Post, writes with particular empathy for the stunned, shaken doctors and nurses who made a massive effort to overcome the challenges of locating the bullet, repairing the lung, and fighting debilitating blood loss as the 70-year-old president's life hung in the balance--Publisher's Weekly (Check Catalog)

Then Everything Changed: Stunning Alternate Histories of American Politics: JFK, Rfk, Carter, Ford, Reagan

Jeff Greenfield. Greenfield offers three what-if political tales with a familiar cast of Presidents and politicos operating in alternate but plausible historical circumstances. This is a particularly good contribution to the alternate history genre because it relies on nonfiction works, memoirs, and the author's experience as a political pundit. Greenfield's spirited writing reaches its high point when he describes how the Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in a limited nuclear war in 1962 during Lyndon Johnson's presidency (Johnson became President in January 1961, one month after president-elect Kennedy was killed in a bomb explosion). The second story explores Robert F. Kennedy's election and turbulent presidency, following the failed assassination attempt by Sirhan Sirhan after the 1968 California primary. The final scenario weaves a complex web of Gerald Ford defeating Jimmy Carter in 1976, followed by Ford's failed presidency, and the 1980 election of Gary Hart, who defeated Ronald Reagan in a close race.--Library Journal (Check Catalog)