United States History 1865 to Present
Forever Free : The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction
by Eric Foner. 268p (973.8FON)
"Probably no period in American history is as controversial, as distorted by
myth and as ‘essentially unknown’ as the era of emancipation and
Reconstruction, award-winning historian Foner argues in this dense,
rectifying but highly readable account." Publishers Weekly
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee : An Indian History of the American
West by Dee Brown. 487p (970.5B812B)
The classic bestselling history The New York Times called
"Original, remarkable, and finally heartbreaking....impossible to put down."
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's account of the systematic
destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the nineteenth
century.
Crazy Horse and Custer : The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors
by Stephen E. Ambrose. 527p (973.82A496C)
"istorian Stephen Ambrose looks at the connections between Crazy Horse and
Custer and their fateful battle at Little Big Horn. "Movingly told and well
written." Library Journal
Mother Jones : The Most Dangerous Woman in America by
Elliott J. Gorn. 408p (921J721g)
Her rallying cry was famous: "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the
living." A century ago, Mother Jones was a celebrated organizer and
agitator, the very soul of the modern American labor movement. "Gorn's
outstanding and dramatic biography of Mother Jones reacquaints us with this
extraordinary figure [and] serves as an excellent introduction to the early
history of the modern American labor movement." Chicago Tribune
Meet You in Hell : Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter
Partnership That Transformed America by Les Standiford. 336p (338.7
STA)
The riveting story of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the bloody
steelworkers’ strike that transformed their fabled partnership into a
furious rivalry. "Masterful . . . Standiford has a way of making the 1890s
resonate with a twenty-first-century audience." USA Today
William McKinley by Kevin Phillips. 188p (921M459yp)
Historian Phillips seeks to reevaluate the presidency of William McKinley.
"A bold, new look that, itself, deserves a serious look." Booklist
Theodore Roosevelt by Louis Auchincloss. 155p (921R677ya)
Looks at the life and presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Auchincloss "paints
a vivid portrait and almost treats the president as a quirky character in
one of his own novels of upper-class America." Publishers Weekly
1912 : Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs - The Election That Changed
the Country by James Chace. 323p (324.973C344n)
Account of the four party 1912 election. "A brisk, consistently entertaining
narrative that is alive both to politics and personality." Washington
Post Book World
Woodrow Wilson by H.W. Brands. 169p (921W691yb)
Acclaimed historian H. W. Brands offers a clear, well-informed, and timely
account of Wilson's unusual route to the White House, his campaign against
corporate interests, his struggles with rivals at home and allies abroad,
and his decline in popularity and health following the rejection by Congress
of his League of Nations.
America’s Great War : World War I and the American Experience
by Robert H. Zieger. 275p (940.4Z620a)
"In this captivating and clearly presented work. . .historian Zieger
explores the relatively brief role of the U.S. in WWI. America's role was
largely born of what Zieger portrays as President Woodrow Wilson's
singularly idealistic, overtly Christian and arrogant world view that the
U.S.--by virtue of its wealth and moral supremacy--alone could save Western
civilization." Publishers Weekly
Prohibition : Thirteen Years That Changed America by Edward
Behr. 262p (363.41B395p)
"Behr chronicles one of the grand themes of 1920s America--the national
experiment in teetotalism, with its. . .speakeasies, flappers, and gang
wars--in rollicking style." Booklist
Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Roy Jenkins. 186p
(973.917/092)
Jenkins shows FDR "in all his many incarnations: the confident son of
privilege who morphed into a wry, young politico on the rise; the startled
victim, for whom all things had previously come so easily, hitting the brick
wall of polio and fighting back, strenuously leading his broken country out
of its two great 20th-century crises: the Great Depression and World War
II." Publishers Weekly
The Worst Hard Time : The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the
Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan. 340p (978.032EGA)
"Egan tells an extraordinary tale in this visceral account of how America's
great, grassy plains turned to dust in the 1930’s…With characters who seem
to have sprung from a novel by Sinclair Lewis or Steinbeck, and Egan's
powerful writing, this account will long remain in readers' minds."
Publishers Weekly
Pearl Harbor Ghosts : The Legacy of Dec 7, 1941 by Thurston
Clarke, Holly Johnson. 320p (940.54 CLA)
Vivid account of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the human stories
surrounding the events of that fateful day.
By Order of the President : FDR and the Internment of Japanese
Americans by Greg Robinson. 322p (940.53R562b)
"Focuses on one aspect of Roosevelt's presidency during World War II, the
internment of Japanese Americans. . . the book sheds some light on a dark
episode in our history." Library Journal
Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from
Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen Ambrose. 333p
(940.54AMB)
Ambrose follows the adventures of an American infantry company in World War
II in the book that spawned the Tom Hanks TV mini series.
D-Day by Gilbert Martin. 240p (940.54 GIL)
Historian Gilbert tells the story of the 1944 Allied landings. "Through
vivid, firsthand accounts of the battle, Gilbert…captures the horror and
heroism of D-Day, from daring paratroop attacks behind enemy lines to grim
determination under withering fire on the beachheads." Barnes & Noble
Patton : A Biography by Alan Axelrod. 205p (921 P278YA)
Details life and career of "Old Blood and Guts", the World War II general.
"Axelrod's profile relays one truth about Patton: there is no moderate
opinion about him. Vainglorious and courageous, militarily intelligent but
politically obtuse, outwardly confident but wracked with self-doubt, Patton
was one of those warriors a democracy needs in a crisis but finds useless in
peace. ." Booklist
The Conquerors : Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler’s
Germany, 1941-1945 by Michael Beschloss. 377p (940.53144B463c)
"The Conquerors is a superbly written, if brief, treatment of the political
events leading up to the defeat of Germany, with the main players brought
vividly to life by Beschloss's keen eye for detail and his ability to expose
the human strengths and weaknesses of the participants." Amazon.com
Eisenhower : A Biography (Great Generals) by John Wukovits.
224p
"In his highly readable and concise style, John Wukovits has once again
succeeded in packing a wealth of information into a single volume on the
life of one of the greatest soldier-statesmen in history." WWII History
Magazine
Shooting Star : The Brief Arc of Joe McCarthy by Tom
Wicker. 212p (973.921M478yw)
Account of the rise and fall of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his 1950’s
Communist witch hunt. "Combines insightful political history with a deft
character study to craft a wonderful introduction to this crucial American
figure." Publishers Weekly
High Noon in the Cold War : Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Cuban
Missile Crisis by Max Frankel. 206p (327.47073F851h)
Journalist Frankel re-creates an unforgettable time–in which the whole world
feared extinction. High Noon in the Cold War captures the Cuban Missile
Crisis in a new light, from inside the hearts and minds of the famous men
who provoked and, in the nick of time, resolved the confrontation.
The Cold War : A New History by John Lewis Gaddis. 333p
(909.82GAD)
"Gaddis delivers an utterly engrossing account of Soviet-U.S. relations from
WWII to the collapse of the U.S.S.R." Publishers Weekly
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow by Richard Wormser. 224p
(305.896WOR)
Companion book to a PBS series. "Wormser, a television producer and writer,
provides an illuminating, succinct history of racial discrimination in the
U.S., especially in the South." Publishers Weekly
The Thunder of Angels : The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the People
Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow by Donnie Williams and Wayne
Greenhaw. 293p (323.1761WIL)
"Reveals the depth of involvement of ordinary black folks in the Montgomery
bus boycott and their brave resistance to Jim Crow, far beyond that which is
commonly known." Booklist
Martin Luther King, Jr. : A Life by Marshall Frady. 216p
(921 K591yf)
"Potent and illuminating. . .a sharp, politically insightful, emotionally
astute and psychologically complex portrait." Publishers Weekly
Rosa Parks by Douglas Brinkley. 246p (921 P235YB)
Biography of the iconic Civil Rights figure who refused to give up her seat
on the bus. "Brinkley's tribute to Parks succeeds not because of an
abundance of fresh revelations but because of its wealth of insight and rich
portraiture." Publishers Weekly
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley.
455p (921L725x)
Classic autobiography of one of the leading African American activists of
the twentieth century. "Extraordinary. A brilliant, painful, important
book." New York Times
Lyndon B. Johnson : Portrait of a President by Robert
Dallek. 396p (921J630yd)
"In Dallek's hands, Johnson is complex, deceitful, and idealistic, and the
author shows why the man's legacy, both positive and negative, will always
command interest and debate." Booklist
They Marched into Sunlight : War and Peace Vietnam and America
October 1967 by David Maraniss. 572p (959.704MAR)
"Pulitzer Prize winner author Maraniss intertwines two compelling narratives
to capture the Vietnam War at home and on the battlefield as well as, if not
better than, any book yet written." Publishers Weekly
Tidal wave : How Women Changed America at Century's End by
Sara M. Evans. 320p (305.42EVA)
Account of the second wave of the women’s movement that started in the
1960’s.
Watergate : The Presidential Scandal that Shook America by
Keith W. Olson. 220p (973.924O520w)
Details the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon’s resignation.
"Olson is a natural storyteller completely at home with one of the great
tales of American politics in the late 20th century." Publishers Weekly
All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob
Woodward. 349p (364.132B458a)
Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and
then continuing with headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward kept
the tale of conspiracy and the trail of dirty tricks coming -- delivering
the stunning revelations and pieces in the Watergate puzzle that brought
about Nixon's scandalous downfall.
Gerald R. Ford by Douglas Brinkley. 224p
Historian Brinkley examines Ford’s career and offers a reassessment of his
presidency.
Taken Hostage : The Iran Hostage Crisis and America’s First
Encounter with Radical Islam by David Farber. 212p (955.0542 F221t)
Farber gives an account of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981 and its
implications for America.
President Reagan : The Triumph of Imagination by Richard
Reeves. 571p (921 R287R)
"A compelling read, fast-paced and scrupulously fair. . . . Anybody who is
interested in Reagan's extraordinary presidency needs to reckon with
Reeves." The New York Times Book Review
George Herbert Walker Bush by Tom Wicker. 240p
Journalist Wicker presents a brief look at the life and political career of
the 41st president. "Wicker has his opinions, but his experience endows his
survey with appeal across the political spectrum." Booklist
