The Hundred Years War: A People's History

David Green (Get this book)
In this new, refreshing look at the Hundred Years' War, Green examines the resulting reconstruction of European culture."The crucible of war forged and reforged the English and French nations into something new," writes the author in this illuminating history. This war, or series thereof, lasted from 1337 to 1453, with interruptions for short terms of peace, famine, civil strife in France and the Black Death. During that time, there would be changes everywhere, but the war began as a feudal and dynastic struggle, as Edward III of England laid claim to the French crown. It ended with a new sense of national identity in both countries as they sought to maintain or reclaim territory, particularly the former Angevin possessions that covered most of modern-day France. Green holistically explores aspects of the war's effects with exceptionally thorough research on subjects as diverse as the Catholic Church, women, peasants and even language.--Kirkus

Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution

Peter Ackroyd (Get this book)
Biographer, historian and novelist Ackroyd continues his History of England series with the third of six proposed volumes. What makes the author so special is that he relates history as it once was told by the bards. Ackroyd tells us not just the history, but the story behind it and the story as it might have been viewed at the time. This was a violent period of religious struggle, with countless groups vying to eliminate each other and all of them hating the Catholics. Appropriately detailed, beautifully written story of the Stuarts' rise and fall-will leave readers clamoring for the further adventures awaiting England in the 18th century.--Kirkus

The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941

Roger Moorhouse (Get this book)
Placing the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact squarely at the center of Soviet-German belligerence before the outbreak of World War II. English historian Moorhouse finds that the Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact of August 1939-with its "secret protocol" to carve up Poland and the Baltic states-is not well-understood in the West and is still rationalized by "communist apologists" today. Moorhouse offers a thorough delineation of the characters involved, as well as the extraordinary contortions each side exercised in order to justify the malevolent agreement. A well-researched work offering new understanding of the pact's pertinence to this day.--Kirkus

Founders as Fathers: The Private Lives and Politics of the American Revolutionaries

Lorri Glover (Get this book)
A superb new perspective on America's Founding Fathers. Glover explores the family lives of five remarkable Virginia planter-patriarchs who helped shaped the rebellion against England, commanded the Continental Army and led the early continental governments. At a time when fatherhood entailed responsibility for the well-being of their communities, their relatives and the social order, these dutiful gentry fathers ran their plantations, mastered their slaves and served in political office. Writing with authority, she traces the often overlooked private lives of elite men who preferred the joys of plantation life ("our own Vine and our own fig tree") but deemed their revolutionary cause "a parental obligation." Well-written and immensely rewarding, this important book will appeal to both scholars and general readers.--Kirkus

An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America

Nick Bunker (Get this book)
Bunker delivers an eye-opening study of the British view of the American Revolution and why they were crazy to fight it. England never had a solid plan for administering the American colonies, situated on a continent they couldn't understand and could never hope to rule. Their existence was purely economic, a market for English goods and an exclusive supplier of tobacco, rice, timber, fur, rum, sugar and other important exports. Those who governed for England sent few, if any, reports, and those were incomplete and/or about the coming trouble. A scholarly yet page-turning, superbly written history.--Kirkus

Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months That Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War

Todd Brewster (Get this book)
Brewster provides a highly readable, vigorously researched account of the fraught six-month period in which the Emancipation Proclamation came into being, which inarguably changed the course of the Civil War. Brewster opens with W.E.B. Du Bois' apercu, somewhat inaccurate but also somewhat on the mark, that Lincoln was an illegitimate, poorly educated Southerner whose championing of abolition was politically calculated. Whether accurate or not, Lincoln's decision brought added resolve to the battle to restore the Union, adding equality to "the American ideal of liberty." A sturdy, instructive, well-written book.--Kirkus

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War

Karen Abbott (Get this book)
In this gripping book, Abbott tells the moving and fascinating story of four women who played unconventional roles during the Civil War: Belle Boyd, a boisterous flirt and Confederate spy; Rose Greenhow, a seductive widow also spying for the South; Emma Edmondson, who disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Union army; and Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy spinster in the Confederate capital with Unionist loyalties. Meticulously researched and fluidly written, this book draws the reader in and doesn't let go until the four heroines draw their final breaths. In the end, Abbott tells a remarkable story of passion, strength, and resilience.--Publisher's Weekly

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