Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Secret Battle to Save the World

Evan Thomas. The beatification of President Dwight Eisenhower continues in this keen character study. Often viewed as trustworthy but bland, Eisenhower didn't let on what was really roiling behind the comforting exterior, as Thomas effectively argues in this chronological look at his presidency. Thomas ably demonstrates how operating through indirection became Ike's effective peacekeeping strategy. An astute, thoroughly engaging portrayal.--Kirkus

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Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing, and Dying: The Secret World War II Transcripts of German POWs

Sonke Neitzel. A trove of transcripts of bugged recordings providing specific, startling evidence that German soldiers in World War II were not just following orders. Neitzel and Welzer pore over two stores of documents from the British and American national archives, numbering some 150,000 pages in all, of transcripts from recordings of German prisoners of war secretly made in various holding facilities. The authors layer on commentary that sometimes threatens to bury the soldiers' stories in a gray cloak of academese, but the point remains: These German soldiers were utterly normal, for all the atrocities they committed, men who killed simply "because it's their job." Unique--and essential to any understanding of German mentalites in the Hitler era.--Kirkus

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Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union

Louis P. Masur. There have been many recent fine books on the Emancipation Proclamation and its role in recasting the character of the country. Masur does not engage that literature so much as extend it with a lucid and learned account of the process whereby Lincoln moved toward emancipation, and once so committed, made it the lodestar of the Union. This is now the best work on the proclamation. As its sesquicentennial looms (January 2013), all persons wanting to understand the contingency of freedom should read this book.--Library Journal

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Fortress Israel: The Inside Story of the Military Elite Who Run the Country--And Why They Can't Make Peace

Patrick Tyler. A scathing look at the belligerent mindset of Israel's elite, from David Ben-Gurion to Benjamin Netanyahu. Since its founding in opposition to Arab hostility, Israel remains "in thrall of an original martial impulse," writes former Washington Post and New York Times journalist Tyler. Tyler ably demonstrates how a culture of preemptive warfare and covert subversion is isolating Israel and alienating it from its founding as a progressive and humanistic state.

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Just Plain Dick: Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech and the "Rocking, Socking" Election of 1952

Kevin Mattson.  Nixon's September 1952 "Checkers Speech"--so called because he referred to his family's dog in an effort to prove his credentials as a common man--was watched by 60 million people. Mattson offers a detailed, behind-the-scenes account of the political maneuvering leading up to that speech, in which Nixon decided to come clean about a slush fund scandal while maligning his political opponents for a "cover-up" of similar transgressions. Mattson's excellent book is a timely companion to the current election season.--Library Journal and Kirkus

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War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865

James M. McPherson. Pulitzer and Lincoln Prize winner McPherson displays his massive knowledge of the Civil War, this time specifically concerning the naval battles. The Union Navy far outnumbered the Confederate, but it was still much too small to effectively blockade the coastline from Chesapeake Bay to Texas. In addition, the forces were required to patrol in the rivers, which were so vital to transportation. While the navies may not be on the top of the list for most Civil War enthusiasts, this is a solid contribution to Civil War scholarship.--Kirkus

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Who Stole the American Dream?

Hedrick Smith. Remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America's contemporary economic malaise by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Smith. "Over the past three decades," writes the author, "we have become Two Americas." We have arrived at a new Gilded Age, where "gross inequality of income and wealth" have become endemic. Not flawless, but one of the best recent analyses of the contemporary woes of American economics and politics.--Kirkus

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Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam

Fredrik Logevall. Placing the Vietnam War in a global context, Logevall concludes that it was not an unavoidable quagmire. This deeply researched narrative by arguably the leading authority on Vietnam diplomacy untangles four decades of complicated foreign policy and includes fascinating stories of the U.S., Vietnamese, French, and British leaders who held conferences, forged treaties, and endured the consequences. Highly recommended for all serious readers of the Vietnam War; essential for scholars of the era.--Library Journal

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The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People

John Kelly. A fresh, fair look at the causes of the devastating Irish potato famine. While there already exists solid coverage of this tragic episode in history, Kelly provides a comprehensive exploration of the crisis in terms of the Irish demographic and geographical makeup, economic infrastructure, tenant-farming patterns, landowner manipulation and wrongheaded British relief policy. Roundly researched work with many poignant stories of misery and loss.--Kirkus

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Heretic Queen: Queen Elizabeth I and the Wars of Religion

Susan Ronald. Ronald sets the Elizabethan age within the context of the Catholic-Protestant wars of religion that flared across Europe throughout the latter half of the 16th century. She deftly pulls together a vast amount of historical research into a compelling narrative that is essential reading for anyone interested in the strife-torn world in which this most fascinating queen used both wits and diplomacy to safeguard her kingdom, despite almost insurmountable odds.--Publisher's Weekly

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The Rise of Rome: The Making of the World's Greatest Empire

Anthony Everitt. Unlike its decline and fall, Romeas rise enjoys no literary tradition, but this fine history will satisfy curious readers. After dutifully recounting the founding legends, historian Everitt introduces the Republic. Born, according to tradition, in 509 B.C.E., after the overthrow of a monarchy, the Republic was an oligarchy ruled by elected consuls and a nonelected Senate. Sensibly avoiding parallels with todayas geopolitics, Everitt delivers an often unsettling account of a stubbornly belligerent nation-state that became the Westas first superpower.

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American Empire: The Rise of a Global Power, the Democratic Revolution at Home 1945-2000

Joshua B. Freeman. A terrifically useful wide-lens survey of the United States in the last half of the 20th century. Freeman has full command of his vast material, fashioning a structured history that is both readably general and restrained of scholarly matter as well as nicely specific regarding meaty information. The author demonstrates how postwar economic growth helped spur the great process of democratization that placed America in the first rank among nations in terms of standard of living and basic rights for all citizens. Yet, along with the rise of consumerism, globalism and prosperity, the power shifted from the public to the private realm, specifically corporate. A liberal-minded but still evenhanded primer for all students of U.S. history.

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Yankee Come Home: On the Road from San Juan Hill to Guantanamo

William Craig. With a half-century of U.S. antagonism to Cuba's revolution as the back story, a freelancer visits the island nation to report on both its history and current situation. The author's lively history follows locale, not chronology, and he analyzes sugar politics, empire building and the blood-spattered history of slaves, Indians and Spaniards in the New World. We also learn about Cuban culture, including music, spirits, the real Che Guevara, pickpockets, drinking habits and much more. Craig beats his professional predecessors with his skilled and accessible personal journal and blunt history.--Kirkus

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Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering: Japan in the Modern World

John W. Dower. No historian writes with more authority than this leading U.S. historian of modern Japan. MIT professor Dower's new work brings together a number of his essays written between 1993 and 2007, and they show him at the top of his form. He's at his best, and unabashedly critical, when analyzing national hypocrisy and the misuses of history and memory, American as well as Japanese. A set of serious, cautionary reflections from a superb historian.--Publisher's Weekly

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Code Name Caesar: The Secret Hunt for U-Boat 864 During World War II

Kenneth R. Sewell. On February 9, 1945, the German U-boat 864 sank in the North Sea off the western coast of Norway. The undersea battle of U-864 and the British Navyas HMS Venturer is the only recorded instance of one submarine stalking and sinking another while both were submerged. With suspense surfacing amid the military intrigue, this latest by Preisler and former submariner Sewell reads like a tense thriller, but the authors also keep a steady course on the human aspect of their tale as they reconstruct the events behind this little-known WWII incident and its aftermath.--Publishers Weekly

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Fuel on the Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq

Greg Muttitt. In this well-reported debut, Muttitt never insists that oil was the sole motive for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As both an activist and freelancer, he makes his sympathies plain from the beginning, but he rejects crude conspiracy theories in favor of a more subtle take: that the occupiers genuinely saw themselves as liberators, never acknowledging their own self-interest in securing an energy supply. He's contemptuous of today's scramble for profits among the likes of ExxonMobil, BP and Shell. No, the war wasn't only about oil, but as one State Department adviser asked, "What did Iraq have that we would like to have? It wasn't the sand." There will be readers who disagree with Muttitt's thesis. They will now be obliged to marshal similarly convincing evidence.--Publisher's Weekly

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Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy

Paul Thomas Murphy. Enlightening study of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and her reign. Though the book is focused on the attempted assassinations of Victoria, Murphy also shows how those misguided men strengthened both the queen and the empire. It's great fun to see the trail of the author's research as he includes the politics, crises and sensational crimes that went along with each incident. The pages slip by in this well-written new take on Victoria and her times. Murphy's detailed rendering sheds entirely new light on the queen's strengths and her many weaknesses.--Kirkus

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Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day

Stephan Talty. The exciting, improbable adventures of a young Spanish spy who managed to become Britain's most effective tool in deceiving Hitler. The mammoth concerted effort to trick the Germans into believing that the D-Day invasion was not really landing at Normandy but at Calais--despite Hitler's better instincts--required months of careful planning and streams of deceptive information fed to the Germans by agents like Juan Pujol, aka Garbo. A lively, rollicking good read.--Kirkus

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Final Victory: FDR's Extraordinary World War II Presidential Campaign

Stanley Weintraub. Historian Weintraub looks at an ailing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's last campaign. In this well-researched, engaging history, Weintraub effectively brings the players to life, portraying the public and private faces of the witty, indomitable FDR and his opponent, the stiff, humorless New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey. Weintraub shows how Roosevelt, despite his illness, was still a force to be reckoned with. He continued to give dazzling speeches and enjoyed loyal support from many constituencies, including soldiers still at war, who voted absentee for FDR in large numbers. A well-drawn political history of FDR's last days.--Kirkus

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Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II

Keith Lowe. A breathtaking, numbing account of the physical and moral desolation that plagued Europe in the late 1940s. Drawing on recently opened Eastern European archives, Lowe presents a searing and comprehensive view of postwar Europe that calls into question the very nature of World War II. Lowe writes with measured objectivity, honoring the victims of atrocity and understanding the causes of, but refusing to excuse, the violence directed by freed victims against their former oppressors. Authoritative but never dry, stripping away soothing myths of national unity and victimhood, this is a painful but necessary historical task superbly done.--Kirkus

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The Bride and the Dowry: Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians in the Aftermath of the June 1967 War

Avi. Raz. A scouring academic investigation of the fallout from the Six-Day War. Raz delivers a compelling study of Israeli intransigence and deception after the huge territory gains it made in June 1967 by seizing the West Bank and Arab Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Raz shows an Israeli government riven by indecision and plurality of opinion, Palestinians in shock and despair, King Hussein hanging on to the survival of his reign and grasping at some kind of honorable settlement, and the Palestinian guerrilla resistance gathering force in the wings. A scrupulously researched work likely to open deep old wounds.--Kirkus

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Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy

Murphy, Paul Thomas. Though the book is focused on the attempted assassinations of Victoria, Murphy also shows how those misguided men strengthened both the queen and the empire. It's great fun to see the trail of the author's research as he includes the politics, crises and sensational crimes that went along with each incident. The pages slip by in this well-written new take on Victoria and her times. Murphy's detailed rendering sheds entirely new light on the queen's strengths and her many weaknesses.--Kirkus

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Final Victory: FDR's Extraordinary World War II Presidential Campaign

Stanley Weintraub. With news accounts and political cartoons, Weintraub paints a vivid portrait of the public mood and of FDR literally willing himself to victory with a relatively unknown running mate, Harry Truman. Roosevelt juggled both the sputtering national economy and the wartime effort with equal parts savvy and grit, only to succumb to longstanding medical ailments soon after his inauguration. Historically satisfying, bringing the events to life with telling anecdotes (like Trumanas terrifying, prescient anightmare that Roosevelt had died and he, Harry S. Truman, was now presidenta), Weintraub's book portrays a political icon determined to make his mark on America and the world in the twilight of his life.--Publisher'sWeekly

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The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death

Jill Lepore. A sharp, illuminating history of ideas showing how America has wrestled with birth, childhood, work, marriage, old age and death. Brilliantly written and engaging throughout, the latest from New Yorker staff writer Lepore is about how American society reacts to change. A superb examination of the never-ending effort to enhance life, as well as the commensurate refusal to ever let it go.--Kirkus

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Swarns, Rachel L. *Starred Review* New York Times reporter Swarns traces the threads, some not previously known to Michelle Obama herself, to ties to black, white, Native American, and multiracial family members. Drawing on two years of research, including interviews with two elderly womenone black, the other white, Swarns presents the complicated story of race in the U.S. through the prism of one family's history. A completely fascinating look at the complex ancestry of one amily, African Americans, and all Americans.--(Booklist)

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George Washington's Military Genius

Dave R. Palmer. Palmer, historian and former superintendent of West Point, makes a convincing case that America is free, united, and governed by civilians because of Washingtonas strategic foresight and tactical brilliance. Reviewing his generalship, Palmer maintains that Washington was aggressive and imaginative, willing to take risks but always aware of his ultimate goal. This is a relentlessly admiring portrait, but Palmer has a critical historianas eye for 18th-century war and politics, avoids uncritical worship of our founding fathers, and enjoys the advantage of a subject who was genuinely admirable.--Publisher's Weekly

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The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future

Cha, Victor. An eye-opening view of the closed, repressive dictatorship of North Korea. Cha aims to get at some of the pressing questions since Kim Jong-il's death and the succession of the utterly unknown younger son, Kim Jong-un--e.g., what happened to this once-vigorous dictatorship, and why does the populace do nothing about it? The author looks closely at the Kim family, the terrible economic decisions that plunged the country into poverty, the shocking gulag system, its paranoid nuclear proliferation program and the tenuous relations with South Korea. A useful, pertinent work for understanding the human story behind the headlines.--Kirkus

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Into Dust and Fire: Five Young Americans Who Went First to Fight the Nazi Army

Rachel Cox. A multifaceted, moving story of five American Ivy League students who committed themselves to fight alongside the British in the spring of 1941. Journalist Cox, the relative of one of the recruits, pieces together this extraordinary story of five patriotic young students at Dartmouth and Harvard who bucked the official U.S. decision to remain out of the war while the Nazis were conquering Europe and offered themselves as volunteers for the King's Royal Rifle Corps. A unique take on the war, from the point of view of the young, idealistic and foolhardy. --Kirkus

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Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II

Arthur Herman. It's not often that a historian comes up with a fresh approach to an absolutely critical element of the Allied victory in World War II, but Pulitzer finalist Herman (Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age, 2009, etc.) has done just that. The author argues powerfully against the conventional wisdom that America's rearmament took place under the guidance of a competent federal government that brought business and labor together for the country's defense. A magnificent, controversial re-examination of the role of American business in winning WWII.--Kirkus

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The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Robert Caro. *Starred Review* Wedged between LBJ's triumphant Senate career and his presidency, this fourth volume in Caro's acclaimed Years of Lyndon Johnson series addresses the failed presidential campaign of 1960, the three frustrating years as vice president, and the transition between the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Though seemingly focused on less compelling material than Master of the Senate (2002), the book is riveting reading from beginning to end, perhaps because Caro's real subject is political power, both its waxing and waning. Unquestionably, one of the truly big books of the year.--Booklist.

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The making of a patriot : Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit

Sheila L. Skemp. The second in Oxford's new Critical Historical Encounters series, covering formative events in American History--this time with a focus on a Benjamin Franklin many readers may not have encountered before. A worthy addition to the literature on both Franklin and the Revolutionary War.--Kirkus.

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Shiloh, 1862

Winston Groom (Get a copy).

Groom presents Shiloh, fought on April 6-7 in western Tennessee, as a turning point in the war. After setting the stage, Groom takes the reader to Pittsburg Landing, the nearest town to the battle, a few days beforehand. Groom follows individual soldiers and small units as well as the larger shape of the battle. The emphasis on the human element gives the book a power that sets it apart from most military histories. Essential reading for Civil War buffs and a great overview of a key battle for neophytes.--Kirkus

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Blackhorse Riders: A Desperate Last Stand, an Extraordinary Rescue Mission, and the Vietnam Battle America Forgot

Philip Keith. A fine, precisely detailed record of an obscure but nasty battle in Vietnam in which heroism was forgotten even more quickly than the war itself. Keeping the traditional patriotic overlay to a minimum and with only a modest amount of invented dialogue, Keith provides engrossing, almost minute-by-minute account of the preliminaries and the battle itself. Military buffs will take it in stride, but Americans accustomed to 30 years of campaigns in which a single soldier's death is news and more than one makes the front page will squirm to read that in the typical war, men die en masse.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

Tutankhamen: The Search for an Egyptian King

Joyce Tyldesley. A catch-all study by a British Egyptologist of the most famous boy king of the 18th Dynasty.  Fluent in her subject, Tyldesley gives her own spin to the story in order to get beyond the sensational nonsense. She looks at Howard Carter's remarkable pinpointing of the tomb named KV 62 in the Valley of the Kings, and the facts and deceptions about the artifacts and ensuing autopsies.Tyldesley does an admirable detective job of reconstructing the boy king's narrative. Proves that there is no end to the fascination, and speculation, around this subject.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power

Andrew Nagorski. A contextually rich look at the buildup of Nazi power, revealing the feebleness of Americans' assessment of the future danger. In these seemingly casual impressions recorded in newspapers, letters, magazines, diaries and diplomatic reports, many Americans rooted in interwar Germany failed to see the menace in the increasingly inflammatory Nazi rhetoric, as Nagorski depicts in this well-marshaled study. An engrossing study of the times made more fascinating and incredible in retrospect.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

Emancipating Lincoln: The Proclamation in Text, Context, and Memory

Harold Holzer. As we near its sesquicentennial, a distinguished Lincoln scholar examines the problematic history of the Emancipation Proclamation.  Holzer's tripartite narrative deals first with the historical context of the Proclamation. The author then moves to a discussion of the Proclamation's rhetorical deficiencies. Finally, Holzer turns to the iconography surrounding Lincoln and emancipation. A fine introduction to what promises in 2013 to become a nationwide discussion.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal

James Simon. This dramatic history illuminates the uniquely American conflict between constitutional reverence and popular politics. New York Law School prof Simon spotlights the struggle between a conservative Court under Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and a frustrated President Franklin Roosevelt on key New Deal measures in the 1930s. With the present-day Court poised to rule on health care reform amid controversies over the governments power to address economic turmoil, Simons account of a very similar era is both trenchant and timely.--Publisher's Weekly (Check Catalog)

The Story of Ireland: A History of the Irish People

Neil Hegarty. Irish fiction writer Hegarty emphasizes the external political and cultural forces shaping the destiny of the Emerald Isle and chips away at the usual myths by presenting a sweeping panorama that includes the first Christian communities, Columbanuss powerful sermons, the Viking settlements, the early great documents of the new land, and the long reach of the Roman Catholic Church into Irish affairs. Without succumbing to a dry academic tone, Hegarty offers a finely researched and timely celebration of Ireland's turbulent history and conservative people.--Publisher's Weekly (Check Catalog)

City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas

Roger Crowley. The only seas Venice ruled were the Mediterranean and Black, but it dominated European trade from 1000 to 1500. While mildly neglected compared to Britain and France, Venice receives a stirring account from British historian Crowley. The author concentrates on its golden years and the wars that made them possible, passing over its great but less-pugnacious cultural accomplishments. An action-packed political and military history that will remind readers of the Italian sea power that prevailed for centuries before Western European nations arrived on the scene.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations

Norman Davies. Distinguished British historian Davies delves into 15 once-great, now-fallen states, from the ancient Visigoths to the Soviet Union. The author again displays an enormous breadth of knowledge in this selective yet comprehensive historical study of thriving kingdoms that eventually gave way to internal or external forces such as implosion or conquest. A fine concluding chapter, "How States Die," offers a robust roundup for the diligent reader. As usual with Davies, an exceedingly accomplished and dauntingly thorough study.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation Into War

The History Channel resident historian Gillon reminds readers that everyone expected war. Having broken Japan's diplomatic code, American officials knew that morning that Japan's embassy had been ordered to destroy its code machines. Little useful activity and no important decisions resulted, and Gillon wisely cuts away from the confusion to deliver background information and generous biographies of FDR, Eleanor and a dozen leading figures.
An excellent introduction to Roosevelt and his times with heavy emphasis on events surrounding Pearl Harbor.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

The longest war : the enduring conflict between America and al-Qaeda

Peter Bergen. A revelatory, pull-no-punches history of the War on Terror, from before 9/11 to the present day. CNN national security analyst and journalist Bergen takes a critical look at all phases of the conflict between the West and al-Qaeda. Drawing on an impressive range of both Western and Islamic sources, the author examines the historical and philosophical underpinnings of the jihadist movement, most importantly as exemplified by Osama bin Laden. Bergen looks at the lessons learned on both sides of the war, notably the U.S. military's rediscovery of one of the lessons of Vietnam: Small units working closely with the indigenous population can achieve what large concentrations of conventional force cannot. The author concludes that, simply by surviving so long, bin Laden has created a movement likely to carry on his brand of anti-Americanism for the foreseeable future. One of the deepest and most disturbing investigations of one of the defining issues of our era.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America

Scott Weidensaul. In this comprehensive chronicle, Pulitzer Prize winner Weidensaul sheds light on the shadowy world of pre-Revolutionary America, when the unconscionable chicanery of white explorers and settlers was met with horrific vengeance by the established Indian tribes. As straight history, it can be dry stuff, as the author's arsenal of facts tends to slow him down. Nonetheless, Weidensaul weaves together an impressive number of true stories, bolstered by first and secondhand records and journals. Students of early American history will be the most attentive audience for the book, but any reader who picks it up will get a very real picture of what it was like to live and die in the New World.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

December 1941: Twelve Days That Began a World War

Evan Mawdsley. Suspenseful chronicle of the 12 days in December 1941 that would define the perimeters of the global conflagration. Mawdsley embarks on the action from the first day and never lets up in this crisp, chronological study--from the Japanese Imperial Conference's ratification of war on Dec. 1 against the United States, Britain and the Netherlands, setting in motion the Southern Operation invasion, to Germany's declaration of war on the U.S. on the 11th. A rigorous, sharp survey of this decisive moment in the war.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

Seeking Sicily: A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean

John Keahey. Veteran newspaperman Keahey turns his journalistic eye toward Sicily, a "strange, magnificent, brooding island." Keahey meticulously observes the history, colorful customs and culture of Sicilians with boundless curiosity. After illuminating the island's varying economic strata, Keahey retraces the fascinating history of village squares once used for public burnings and the restoration of a local prison. In a superbly sensory chapter, Keahey marvels at variations in Sicilian cuisine with mouthwatering descriptions flooding the pages of this lush travelogue. With extensive details and a fond admiration of its people, Keahey effectively articulates why the people of this charming island "are Sicilians before they are Italians, and why no amount of time under the control of Rome will ever change that."--Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

The 1970s: A New Global History from Civil Rights to Economic Inequality ( America in the World )

Thomas Borstelmann. Keeping contemporary history timely and accessible, Borstelmann shows the significance of 1970s American politics, culture, and religion on the following decades. He accurately explores political and social crises, gender and racial equality protests, alterations in global market trends, and regional turbulence throughout the Soviet Union, Africa, and the Far East. Nuggets of genuine insight without any social agenda are found frequently within these pages.--Publisher's Weekly (Check Catalog)

After the Fall: The End of the European Dream and the Decline of a Continent

Walter Laqueur. Laqueur draws on past history and current insight to present a profile of the current European crisis. The author is more concerned with broader questions of demography and culture, assimilation of immigrants and new approaches to education and social policy than to questions of political and economic integration. A clear guide to understanding and solving a profound set of problems.--Kirkus (Check Catalog)

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

Stephen Greenblatt. Harvard humanities professor Greenblatt shows how the discovery of the last existing manuscript of Lucretius's "On the Nature of Things"—a radical book proclaiming that the world manages without gods and is made of small particles in constant motion—led to the Renaissance. The swerve? Lucretius allowed for the existence of free will in his atom-bound universe by theorizing that those little particles swerve randomly. More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian.--Library Journal/Kirkus (Check Catalog)

Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero

Chris Mathews. Drawing on interviews with friends and former staffers, as well as on such familiar biographical incidents as Kennedy's rescue of the PT-109 crew and his resulting back injury, Matthews reveals a man who through inner direction and tenacious will created himself out of the loneliness and illness of his youth and who taught himself the hard discipline of politics through his own triumphs and failures. Matthews' stirring biography reveals Kennedy as a fighting prince never free from pain, never far from trouble, and never accepting the world he found.--Publisher's Weekly (Check Catalog)