Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation

By Ray Raphael

Examines the lives of seven lesser known figures from the Revolutionary period, including one of Washington's soldiers, a wealthy merchant, a blacksmith, and the politically active Mercy Otis Warren.

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Citizen-in-Chief: The Second Lives of the American Presidents

By Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss

A collection of behind-the-scenes stories about the lives of presidents after their White House years includes such accounts as John Quincy Adams's work as an abolitionist, William Howard Taft's service as chief justice of the Supreme Court, and Dwight Eisenhower's covert support of the war effort in North Vietnam.

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American Heroes: Profiles of Men and Women Who Shaped Early America

By Edmund S. Morgan


The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Benjamin Franklin celebrates lesser-known aspects of the lives of America's founding fathers, national heroes, and more obscure figures whose steadfastness to their causes influenced the country's development.

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Seeds of Terror: How Heroin is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda

By Gretchen Peters

Examines the drug trade in Afghanistan, discussing how farmers there continue to grow poppy illegally, and how the Taliban and al Qaeda control heroin labs and distribution networks, and use drug profits to finance terrorist activities.

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The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008

By Thomas E. Ricks


Draws on extensive interviews with top officers in Iraq to document the war as it has unfolded in recent years, placing a focus on the unorthodox strategies of General David Petraeus, from his work with foreign advisors to the ways in which his officers disagreed with key decisions.

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As You Were: To War and Back With the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard

By Christian Davenport


A Washington Post reporter chronicles the military duties of five National Guard soldiers throughout their tours of duty in Iraq, documenting their sudden call-ups, combat experiences, and efforts to reacclimate to civilian life upon their returns.

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Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler

By Anne Nelson


In this inspiring account, noted journalist and playwright Nelson documents the wartime journey of Greta Kuckhoff, a young German, and her valiant colleagues who formed a potent resistance to the Hitler regime in its glory days. When Kuckhoff returned home from America in 1929 after university study, she joined with a band of young Communists, leftist Jews and other German antifascists to thwart the rise of Hitler at the risk of torture and death. Nelson explains in telling detail about the Nazis' tight grip on power after the 1933 Reichstag fire, eliminating all political foes, including Jews and other "non-Aryan" types, yet the Kuckhoffs, Mildred and Avrid Harnack, and other members of the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle) fought fascist censorship, slid their people into Nazi ministries, helped Jews to flee and provided the Allies with vital information to aid the war effort. Nelson's riveting book speaks proudly of Greta, Mildred and all of the nearly three million Germans who resisted Hitler's iron will, and gives the reader a somber view of hell from the inside.

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The Venus Fixers: the Remarkable Story of the Allied Soldiers Who Saved Italy's Art During World War II

By Ilaria Dagnini Brey

Documents the contributions of a motley team of art historians, curators, and passionate amateurs who were appointed by Allied forces to save master works of European art from destruction during World War II, describing the volatile conditions under which they safeguarded thousands of years worth of masterpieces at the risk of their own lives.

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The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg

By Helen Rappaport

A moment-by-moment account of the last thirteen days of the Russian Imperial family's lives draws on previously untapped resources to cover such topics as their imprisonment, the political maneuverings of those out to save or destroy them, and their brutal assassinations.

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