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)