Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, Power, and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad

Brian A. Catlos (Get this book)
A dramatic review of Mediterranean history in the Middle Ages. Catlos intentionally veers away from earlier treatments of the age of the Crusades by focusing on the entire Mediterranean region as a diverse and interconnected region. The author moves from west to east as he examines this complex world through the stories of various individuals. A vivid history of "the collaboration and integration of the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian peoples of the Mediterranean that laid the foundation for the modern world.--Kirkus

Hiroshima Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings and Their Aftermath

Paul Ham (Get this book)
A provocative look at the closing days of the Japanese Empire and the long shadow cast ever after by the atomic bomb.The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not have to happen: Thus, in a nutshell, is Sunday Times Australia correspondent Ham's position, as distinct from that of many authors and historians who have insisted that the United States would have suffered more than 1 million casualties in any invasion of the Japanese mainland. A valuable contribution to the literature of World War II that asks its readers to rethink much of what they've been taught about America's just cause.--Kirkus

The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan

Rick Perlstein (Get this book)
After the swamping of the Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964, it seemed unlikely that 16 years later another stridently conservative candidate, Ronald Reagan, would be elected in a landslide. After all, Nixon had run and governed as a centrist who accepted most New Deal and Great Society programs. Perlstein is an award-winning author who has written extensively on politics in the 1960s and 1970s. Here, he recounts the events between the slow decay of the Nixon administration in 1973 as Watergate unfolded, up to Reagan's surprisingly close, if failed, effort to unseat the Republican incumbent, Gerald Ford, in 1976. That failure, of course, proved, in retrospect, that Reagan could succeed as a national candidate. This is a masterful interpretation of years critical to the formation of our current political culture.--Booklist

Brazil: The Fortunes of War: World War II and the Making of Modern Brazil

Neill Lochery (Get this book)
Well-focused look at the authoritarian rule of charismatic Brazilian president Getulio Vargas (1882-1954). Unlike fellow British scholar Michael Reid in his recent broad overview, Lochery keeps the spotlight on the buildup to World War II, when Brazil, then a resources-rich provincial backwater, was eyed as a valuable asset by both the Axis and the Allies. Assuming power in 1930 and then ruling as a dictator from 1937 to 1945, Vargas was determined to make Brazil a stronger, more modern power politically, economically and militarily. "Brazil may still have been waiting for its future to arrive," writes the author, "but by the time Vargas was entombed, his capital was at least living in the present."Colorful personalities and tricky maneuvers make for a lively drama.--Kirkus

Bringing Down Gaddafi: On the Ground with the Libyan Rebels

Andrei Netto, Marsden, Michael (Get this book)
The Paris correspondent for a leading Brazilian newspaper recounts his experience covering the Libyan revolution. During the eight-month conflict that deposed Muammar Gaddafi, 32 journalists were imprisoned, 15 kidnapped, 30 expelled and 11 killed. Measured against these sobering statistics, Netto counts his own eight-day imprisonment as trifling. Notwithstanding the current political chaos in Libya, Netto concludes with some hopeful words about the country's future.A courageous and well-informed piece of journalism.--Kirkus

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

Evan Osnos (Get this book)
New Yorker staff writer and former China correspondent Osnos offers nimble, clever observations of a country squeezed between aspiration and authoritarianism. From 2005 to 2013, the author lived with his wife in China. In his debut book, he meanders among stories he pursued concerning Chinese of all strata striving to make a living in, and make sense of, a country in the throes of staggering transformation. Osnos groups his human-interest profiles under the themes of fortune, truth and faith, and he explores how new economic opportunities have challenged traditional ways and opened up Chinese society to unheard-of liberties and "pathways to self-creation"--emotionally, intellectually and otherwise. Pleasant, peripatetic musings revealing a great deal about the Chinese character. --Kirkus

The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union

Serhii Plokhy (Get this book)
Plokhy investigates the collapse of the Soviet Union, revealing the often brutal political chess game within the Kremlin that ended in President George H. W. Bush's address of the end of the Cold War on Christmas, 1991. Drawing from unreleased presidential material, confidential foreign memos, and declassified documents, Plokhy largely discounts Reagan's get-tough policy as a cause. He credits Mikhail Gorbachev's embrace of Glasnost and electoral democracy in 1987 with loosening the grip of the party apparatus and rigidly controlled media, opening government matters to widespread public criticism despite fears of the Soviet military. This account is one of a rare breed: a well-balanced, unbiased book written on the fall of Soviet Union that emphasizes expert research and analysis.--Publisher's Weekly

Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings

Craig L. Symonds (Get this book)
A fine D-Day study both technical and humanitarian. Symonds portrays the American generals as childishly overeager for a European invasion, while the Britons remained prudent and restrained; indeed, American inexperience emerged in the first trying months of the Tunisian campaign. As the plans for a cross-Channel combined operation were assembled, Symonds reviews the staggering requirements in shipping alone--e.g., the building of key landing craft, cargo ships and Higgins boats to transport the materiel and men. He also examines the troop preparation of 1 million Americans spread across bucolic southern England in his suspenseful buildup to D-Day--a graspable, moving spectacle of men and machinery. A work that manages to be both succinct and comprehensive in scope.--Kirkus

The 40s: The Story of a Decade

Finder, Henry (Editor), Harvey, Giles (With), Remnick, David  (Introduction by) (Get this book)
Make room on the bookshelf. The New Yorker's look at 1940s history, culture, literature and civilization is a book to be read, reread and savored. Divided into seven sections--The War, American Scenes, Postwar, Character Studies, The Critics, Poetry and Fiction--this book shows how founder Harold Ross (1892-1951) could single out the most important aspects of history and culture--and not just of New York, but of the country. Readers are certain to enjoy the beautiful writing, clever thinking and insightful thoughts across a vast range of topics. An absolute treat. Hopefully, the New Yorker will continue to publish such anthologies on other decades.--Kirkus