Book Spotlight: Astoria

Coming this March a true life adventure.

Astoria: Astor and Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire
A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival
     by Peter Stark

In the tradition of The Lost City of Z, Astoria is the thrilling true adventure tale of the now forgotten 1810 Astor Expedition.At a time when the edge of American settlement barely reached beyond the Appalachian Mountains, two visionaries, President Thomas Jefferson and millionaire John Jacob Astor, foresaw that one day the Pacific would dominate world trade as much as the Atlantic did in their day.Astoria is the harrowing tale of the quest to settle a Jamestown-like colony on the Pacific coast. Astor set out to establish a global trade network based at the mouth of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon.He dispatched two groups of men west: one by sea around the southern tip of South America and one by land over the Rockies.Unfolding from 1810 to 1813, Astoria is a tale of high adventure and incredible hardship, drawing extensively on firsthand accounts of those who made the journey.

Tyson

New History Books Febuary 2012

Julius Caesar: Lessons in Leadership from the Great Conqueror By Yenne, Bill Foreword by Clark, Wesley K. 2012-01 - Palgrave MacMillan 9780230112315 Check Our Catalog "No ancient ruler inspired more legends than Julius Caesar. Under his leadership, Rome conquered territory throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, reaching the North Sea and conducting the first Roman invasion of Great Britain. Acclaimed author Bill Yenne charts the major events that shaped Caesar's leadership, his rise to power, and his crashing fall" More

Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern World By Kwarteng, Kwasi 2012-02 - PublicAffairs 9781610391207 Check Our Catalog A narrative history of the British Empire, one that avoids sweeping judgmental condemnation and instead sees the Empire for what it was: a series of local fiefdoms administered in varying degrees of competence or brutality by a cast of characters as outsized and eccentric as anything conjured by Gilbert and Sullivan. More

Obama on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President By Frank, Justin A. 2011-10 - Free Press 9781451620634 Check Our Catalog Dr. Frank analyzes the sometimes perplexing behavior of our current President, reaching conclusions that provide new ways of understanding Obama--certain to fascinate admirers and opponents alike .…More

Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War By Platt, Stephen R. 2012-02 - Knopf Publishing Group 9780307271730 Check Our Catalog This narrative history of China's 19th-century Taiping Rebellion (which cost some 20 million lives) brims with unforgettable characters and vivid recreations of massive and sometimes gruesome battles--a riveting, sweeping, and intimate portrait of the largest civil war in history. …More

City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas By Crowley, Roger 2012-01 - Random House 9781400068203 Check Our Catalog The only seas Venice ruled were the Mediterranean and Black, but it dominated European trade from 1000 to 1500, an achievement that owes much to its citizens' energy and freedom but mostly to their willingness to fight. …More

The Lost History of 1914: Reconsidering the Year the Great War Began By Beatty, Jack 2012-02 - Walker & Company 9780802778116 Check Our Catalog Beatty offers a highly original view of World War I, testing against fresh evidence the long-dominant assumption that it was inevitable. Beatty writes "My book draws a new map, uncovering paths to peace long buried under the avalanche of war." …More TB

Top 10 History Books of 2011

Rankings are based on popularity determined by circulation statistics.

1. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
By Larson, Erik
2011-05 - Crown Publishing Group (NY)

The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.

2. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris
By McCullough, David
2011-05 - Simon & Schuster

McCullough tells the story of the American artists and scientists who studied in Paris, and changed America through what they learned there.

3. Zeitoun
By Eggers, Dave
2009-07 - McSweeney's Books

"This is a beautiful book. "Zeitoun" is a poignant, haunting, ethereal story about New Orleans in peril. Eggers has bottled up the feeling of post- Katrina despair better than anyone else.

4. The Perfect Nazi: Uncovering My Grandfather's Secret Past
By Davidson, Martin
2011-03 - Putnam Adult

Using the skills he honed as a documentary producer for the BBC, Davidson explores the truth behind his family's dark secret--his grandfather was a Nazi SS officer.

5. The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss
By de Waal, Edmund
2010-08 - Farrar Straus Giroux

In the 1870s, Charles Ephrussi assembled a collection of 360 Japanese ivory carvings known as "netsuke." In this grand story, a renowned ceramicist and the fifth generation to inherit the collection traces the story of a remarkable family and a tumultuous century.

6. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
By Hillenbrand, Laura
2010-11 - Random House
Telling an unforgettable story of a young lieutenant's journey into extremity, "Unbroken" is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

7. Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
By Miles, Richard
2011-07 - Viking Books

The first full-scale history of Carthage in decades, "Carthage Must Be Destroyed" reintroduces modern readers to the larger-than-life historical players and the ancient glory of this almost forgotten civilization.

8. Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
By Puleo, Stephen
2003-09 - Beacon Press
The Boston molasses flood lives dimly in popular memory, but no historian has explored it fully until now. Puleo brings this disaster to life with vivid prose, using the dreadful catastrophe as a lens through which to view the panorama of a changing Boston, as well as to survey the major events that would shape the future of 20th-century America.

9. The Whites of Their Eyes: Bunker Hill, the First American Army, and the Emergence of George Washington
By Lockhart, Paul Douglas
2011-06 – Harper

One hot June afternoon in 1775, on the gentle slopes of a hill near Boston, Massachusetts, a small band of ordinary Americans--frightened but fiercely determined--dared to stand up to a superior British force. Paul Lockhart combines military and political history to offer a major reassessment of one of the most famous battles in American history.

10. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
By Mann, Charles C.
2005-08 - Knopf Publishing Group

In this groundbreaking study, Mann shows how a new generation of anthropologists and archaeologists, using new research techniques, have come to the persuasive conclusion that more people lived in the Americas in 1491 than in Europe.

TB

Disunion

Disunion

"The flag that flew over Fort Sumter on April 12-13, 1861, had 33 stars representing each state in the Union. The star for Kansas, which had been admitted to the Union in January 1861, was not added until July. "

Fort Sumter flag from New York Times Disunion blog.

Disunion is a blog posted by the New York Times in remembrance of the 150th anniversary of our Civil War. The blog follows the daily events as they unfold, mixing modern multimedia and contemporary sources and images. Highlights so far include Lincolns handwritten proclamation of war, interactive Civil War timeline, pages from Walt Whitman's notebook, and interactive behind the scenes at Lincoln's inauguration. Of course lots of photos and articles from the Times archive. In addition, the Disunion blog will provide a reexamination of historical assessments as the Civil War unfolds.

TB

AtoZ the USA--Featured Online Resource

Whether you are a student with a report /paper or a person planning a vacation, AtoZ the USA offers you maps, photos, and in-depth information on the:

• history
• geography
• points of interest
• arts & culture
• symbols
• statistics
• and more
  

for the USA--the 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia.

Bookmark it today in preparation for your moment of need!

SH

New Books on the American Revolution

Was it General Gage or General Howe who commanded the redcoats at Bunker Hill? What prominent member of the Son's of Liberty was American's first traitor? Could the agitator Samuel Adams been behind a hedge or around the corner of a tavern on Lexington green and have fired the "shot heard round the world"? Find out in these new books about the War for Independence.



Revolutionaries : A New History of the Invention of America by Jack N. Rakove

In the early 1770s, the men who invented America were living quiet, provincial lives. None set out to become "revolutionary" by ambition, but when events in Boston escalated, they found themselves thrust into a crisis that moved, in a matter of months, from protest to war.



Invisible Ink : Spycraft of the American Revolution
by John Nagy

During the American Revolution, espionage was critical to the successes and failures of both Colonial and British war efforts. Invisible Ink is an entertaining survey of the various techniques, as well as accounts of some of the more notable spies and spying episodes of the period.




Perilous Fight : America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815
by Stephen Budiansky

Drawing extensively on diaries, letters, and personal accounts from both sides, Budiansky re-creates the riveting encounters at sea in bloody clashes of cannonfire and swordplay; the intimate hopes and fears of vainglorious captains and young seamen in search of adventure; and the behind-the-scenes political intrigue and maneuvering in Washington and London.



As If an Enemy's Country : The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution
by Richard Archer

In the dramatic few years when colonial Americans were galvanized to resist British rule, perhaps nothing did more to foment anti-British sentiment than the armed occupation of Boston. Richard Archer has written a gripping narrative of those critical months between October 1, 1768 and the winter of 1770 when Boston was an occupied town.




With Fire and Sword : The Battle of Bunker Hill
by James L. Nelson

A masterful new history of the first real battle of the Revolutionary War. If Lexington and Concord was the shot heard around the world, then Bunker Hill was the volley that rocked Parliament and the ministry of George III.

TB

History Websites

A collection of useful history websites.

A Chronology of US Historical Documents

http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/

This site is a Chronology with links to U.S. Historical Documents.

American History and World History

http://www.historycentral.com/index.html

This site has 500 primary sources in American History.

Archival Sound Recordings

http://sounds.bl.uk/Default.aspx

The British Library's Archival Sound Recordings Online.

Atlas Obscura | Wondrous, curious, and bizarre locations around the world

http://atlasobscura.com/

The Atlas is a collaborative project whose purpose is to catalog all of the "wondrous, curious, and esoteric places" that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks.

Best of History Web Sites

http://www.besthistorysites.net/

Gives links to history websites by period.

Chronicling America - The Library of Congress

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1910 and

find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.

CIA - The World Factbook

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

The New CIA World Factbook updates its information every two weeks.

Documenting the American South homepage

http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html

Documents the American South with material related to southern history, literature, and culture.

From Revolution to Reconstruction: Documents

http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/D/index.htm

This site links to Primary documents and State of the Union Speeches.

Galaxy of Images | Smithsonian Institution Libraries

http://www.sil.si.edu/ImageGalaxy/index.cfm

The thousands of images from the more than 1.5 million printed books and manuscripts in the collections of Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

Harvard Open Collections Program

http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/

OCP offers new, virtual collections of thematically linked material selected from

numerous Harvard repositories.

HBO Archives: Archival Collection: The March of Time®

http://hboarchives.com/apps/searchlibrary/ctl/marchoftime

Episodes from The March of Time newsreel and documentary series, produced from 1935 to 1967.

The Living Room Candidate

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

Presidential Election Commercials Since 1952.

National Museum of the American Indian : Collections Search

http://www.nmai.si.edu/searchcollections/home.aspx

This site includes a sample of NMAI’s object and historic photo collections.

Newseum

http://www.newseum.org/

Newspaper Front Pages .

Our Documents - 100 Milestone Documents

http://www.ourdocuments.gov/content.php?flash=true&page=milestone

Primary Documents Selected by the National Archives and Records Administration.

POTUS -- Presidents of the United States

http://www.potus.com/

This site provides information on the Presidents of the United States.

Primary Documents in American History

http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/PrimDocsHome.html

Library of Congress presents primary documents on American history.

Pritzker Podcasts

http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/podcasts/index.jsp

This site has podcasts of the best authors, historians, journalists, and members of the military discussing their latest books on military history and military fiction.

Railroads and the Making of Modern America

http://railroads.unl.edu/

This site has documentary materials on the railroads.

Roman Emperors

http://www.roman-emperors.org/

This site is an online encyclopedia of the rulers of the Roman Empire.

United States Digital Map Library.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~usgenweb/maps/

This site had digitized historical maps of the United States.

TB