History Buffs

History - Politics - Current Events
	In Hiltzik’s hands, the players in this epic historical tale spring vividly to life: President Theodore Roosevelt, who conceived the project; William Mulholland, Southern California’s great builder of water works, who urged the dam upon a reluctant Congress; Herbert Hoover, who gave the dam his name though he initially opposed its construction; Frank Crowe, the dam’s renowned master builder, who pushed his men mercilessly to raise the beautiful concrete rampart in an inhospitable desert gorge. Finally there is Franklin Roosevelt, who presided over the ultimate completion of the project and claimed the credit for it. Hiltzik combines exhaustive research, trenchant observation, and unforgettable storytelling to shed new light on a major turning point of twentieth-century history.
	All students of American history know the big events that dramatically shaped our country. The Civil War, Pearl Harbor, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and 9/11 are just a few. But there are other, less famous events that had an equally profound impact. Notable conservative historian Larry Schweikart takes an in- depth look at seven of these transformative moments and provides an analysis of how each of them spurred a trend that either confirmed or departed from the vision our Founding Fathers had for America. For instance, he shows how Martin Van Buren's creation of a national political party made it possible for Obama to get elected almost two centuries later and how Dwight Eisenhower's heart attack led to a war on red meat, during which the government took control over Americans' diets. In his easy-to-read yet informative style, Schweikart will not only educate but also surprise readers into reevaluating our history.
	With deft writing and technical knowledge, vereran journalist Kalee Thompson recounts the harrowing stories of both the rescuers and the rescued who survived the deadly ordeal in the Bering Sea.
	In The Promise: President Obama, Year One, Jonathan Alter, one of the country's most respected journalists and historians, uses his unique access to the White House to produce the first inside look at Obama's difficult debut.
	The narratives that form A Nation Rising each exemplify the “hidden history” of America, exploring a vastly more complex path to nationhood than the national myth of a destiny made manifest by visionary political leaders and fearless pioneers.
	After 2006's eye-opening account of the fanatical Pilgrims in Mayflower, Philbrick tackles another American legend. Neither the golden-haired general nor the Indian chief here is the bloodthirsty warmonger often portrayed in other accounts. Both are top soldiers and natural leaders zealously looking out for their respective peoples' interests.
	The gripping story of six West Point graduates-including George Armstrong Custer-who fought each other in the Civil War.
	Transcending traditional submarine, espionage, and Cold War accounts with its level of detail and first-person perspective, Red November is an up-close examination of one of the most dangerous periods in world history and an intimate look at the lives of those who participated in our country's longest and most expensive underwater war.
	Richard Snow's non-fiction account of America's role in the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII
	Discover stories of heroism and adventure in this next installment of the blockbuster series Dangerous Book for Boys Brothers Conn and David Iggulden present their big book of heroes: the men and women who have shaped our lives and inspired generations. This treasure chest of saints, rogues, and champions of causes great and small is filled with names you will surely recognize, such as George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr. and Sir Henry Morgan and Edith Cavell, whose roles in history are no less significant or exciting. From Helen Keller and Scott of the Antarctic to Sitting Bull and the passengers of Flight 93, this dangerous book is dedicated to those who dove headfirst into battle, those who made amazing discoveries, and those who moved boundaries in their lifetimes.
	In 13 Bankers, Simon Johnson—one of the most prominent and frequently cited economists in America (former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT, and author of the controversial “The Quiet Coup” in The Atlantic)—and James Kwak give a wide-ranging, meticulous, and bracing account of recent U.S. financial history within the context of previous showdowns between American democracy and Big Finance: from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson, from Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They convincingly show why our future is imperiled by the ideology of finance (finance is good, unregulated finance is better, unfettered finance run amok is best) and by Wall Street’s political control of governmentpolicy pertaining to it.
	In this companion to the HBO(r) miniseries-executive produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman-Hugh Ambrose reveals the intertwined odysseys of four U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy carrier pilot during World War II.
	Historian Mark Gardner succeeds in writing an accessible double biography of the iconic western outlaw Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett. Maintaining an objective perspective on both men in a narrative closely tied to historic source materials, Gardner's quick-moving story follows events of the civil war in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory in 1877–78, and the Kid's death-by-shooting at the hands of Garrett in 1881. This famous shot in the dark, however, became problematic for Garrett, who for the rest of his life had to fight the image of himself as the romantic outlaw's killer.
	Egan weaves his account of the Big Burn with the creation story of the United States Forest Service. This might seem a dull, bureaucratic yarn, but Egan tells it as the stirring tale of a very odd couple: the irrepressible Teddy Roosevelt, who "burned 2,000 calories before noon and drank his coffee with seven lumps of sugar," and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, an ascetic loner who sometimes slept on a wooden pillow and for 20 years mystically clung to his deceased fiancee.