History
The colony : faith and blood in a promised land
Sally Denton
364.1523/Denton
True Crime, History
"A shocking massacre in 2019 sparks a probing investigation into the strange, violent history of a polygamist Mormon outpost in Mexico. A harmless, unassuming caravan of women and children was ambushed by masked gunmen in northern Mexico on November 4, 2019. In a massacre that produced international headlines, nine people were killed and five others gravely injured. The victims were members of the La Mora and LeBaron communities-fundamentalist Mormons whose forebears broke from the LDS Church and settled in Mexico when polygamy was outlawed. In The Colony, the best-selling investigative journalist Sally Denton picks up where initial reporting on the killings left off, and in the process tells the violent history of the LeBaron clan and their homestead, from the first polygamist emigration to Mexico in the 1880s to the LeBarons' internal blood feud in the 1970s to the family's recent alliance with the NXIVM sex cult. Drawing on sources within Colonia LeBaron itself, Denton creates a mesmerizing work of investigative journalism in the tradition of Under the Banner of Heaven and Going Clear"--
Paper bullets : two artists who risked their lives to defy the Nazis
Jeffrey H. Jackson
940.53082 /Jackson
History
"The true story of an audacious resistance campaign undertaken by an unlikely pair: two French women -- Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe -- who drew on their skills as Parisian avant-garde artists to write and distribute wicked insults against Hitler and calls to desert, a PSYOPs tactic known as "paper bullets," designed to demoralize Nazi troops occupying their adopted home of Jersey in the British Channel Islands"--
This was a part of WWII I was unaware of. This is such a riveting story of two artists who resisted the Nazis in occupied Britain. If you liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society you'll find some familiar territory here! -Amanda
Hell's half-acre : the untold story of the Benders, a serial killer family on the American frontier
Susan Jonusas
364.1523 /Jonusas
Nonfiction, True Crime, History
"In 1873 the people of Labette County in Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried on a homestead seven miles south of the town of Cherryvale, in a bloodied cellar and under frost-covered soil, were countless bodies in varying states of decay. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for over two decades, and the land on which the crimes took place became known as 'Hells Half-Acre.' When it emerged that a family of four known as the Benders had been accused of the slayings, the case was catapulted to infamy. The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders--one among thousands who were relocating further west looking for land and opportunity after the Civil War--were capable of operating 'a human slaughter pen' appalled and fascinated the nation. But who the Benders really were, why they committed such a vicious killing spree, and what became of them when they fled from the law is a mystery that has remains unsolved to this day--not that there aren't some convincing theories. Part gothic western, part literary whodunnit, and part immersive study of postbellum America, Hell's Half-Acre sheds new light on one of the most notorious cases in our nation's history while holding a torch to a society under the strain of rapid change and moral disarray. Susan Jonasus draws on extensive original archival material, and introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, including the despairing families of the victims as well as the fugitives that helped the murderers escape. Hell's Half-Acre is not simply a book about a mass murder. It is a journey into the turbulent heart of nineteenth century America, a place where modernity stalks across the landscape, violently displacing existing populations and wearily building new ones. It is a world where folklore can quickly become fact, and an entire family of criminals can slip right through a community's fingers, only to reappear at the most unexpected of times"--
I love true crime and I love history, so this book hits a sweet spot. The writing is so good--super informative and interesting, and vividly descriptive of not just the crimes, but also the time and setting. A good book to kick the summer off with! -Candice
Nazi billionaires : the dark history of Germany's wealthiest dynasties
David de (Journalist) Jong
943.086 /Jong
History, Business
A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions off the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II--and how America allowed them to get away with it. In 1946, Günther Quandt--patriarch of Germany's most iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMW--was arrested for suspected Nazi collaboration. Quandt claimed that he had been forced to join the party by his archrival, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and the courts acquitted him. But Quandt lied. And his heirs, and those of other Nazi billionaires, have only grown wealthier in the generations since, while their reckoning with this dark past remains incomplete at best. Many of them continue to control swaths of the world economy, owning iconic brands whose products blanket the globe. The brutal legacy of the dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz, and still control Porsche, Volkswagen, and BMW has remained hidden in plain sight--until now. In this landmark work of investigative journalism, David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germany's wealthiest business dynasties amassed untold money and power by abetting the atrocities of the Third Reich. Using a wealth of untapped sources, de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured slave laborers, and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler's army as Europe burned around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how America's political expediency enabled these billionaires to get away with their crimes, covering up a bloodstain that defiles the German and global economy to this day.
An eye-opening investigation into how many of Germany's largest firms and wealthiest families gained their wealth through collaborating with the Nazi Party and the Third Reich, from benefiting from confiscated property from Jewish businesses and families to using forced labor in concentration and prisoner of war camps. de Jong does not stop there. He further investigates why these companies and their leadership were able to keep their businesses and wealth, while many of their government counterparts faced trial at Nuremberg. The content might not make this an easy read, but de Jong reveals how many of these companies have not grappled with or answered for their participation in such brutal and horrific acts. -Anne M
Origin : a genetic history of the Americas
Jennifer Raff
576.5 /Raff
Nonfiction, History, Science
20,000 years ago, people crossed a great land bridge from Siberia into Western Alaska and then dispersed southward into what is now called the Americas. Until we venture out to other worlds, this remains the last time our species has populated an entirely new place, and this event has been a subject of deep fascination and controversy. No written records--and scant archaeological evidence--exist to tell us what happened or how it took place. Many different models have been proposed to explain how the Americas were peopled and what happened in the thousands of years that followed. A study of both past and present, ORIGIN explores how genetics is currently being used to construct narratives that profoundly impact Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It serves as a primer for anyone interested in how genetics has become entangled with identity in the way that society addresses the question "Who is indigenous?"
This is a great read for anyone interested in the history and archaeology of the Americas, and the theories and existing evidence of the first people to live there. It's a much-needed update and refresher on the topic! This book has a lot of detail, but is presented in a way that makes it eminently readable and highly entertaining. -Candice
Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies
Laura Thompson
OverDrive Audiobook
History
Heiresses: surely they are among the luckiest women on earth. Are they not to be envied, with their private jets and Chanel wardrobes and endless funds? Yet all too often those gilded lives have been beset with trauma and despair. Before the 20th century a wife's inheritance was the property of her husband, making her vulnerable to kidnap, forced marriages, even confinement in an asylum. And in modern times, heiresses fell victim to fortune-hunters who squandered their millions. Heiresses tells the stories of these women: Mary Davies, who inherited London's most valuable real estate, and was bartered from the age of twelve; Consuelo Vanderbilt, the original American "Dollar Heiress", forced into a loveless marriage; Barbara Hutton, the Woolworth heiress who married seven times and died almost penniless; Patty Hearst, heiress to a newspaper fortune who was arrested for terrorism. However, there are also stories of achievement: Angela Burdett-Coutts, who became one of the greatest philanthropists of Victorian England; Nancy Cunard, who lived off her mother's fortune and became a pioneer of the civil rights movement; Daisy Fellowes, elegant linchpin of interwar high society and noted fashion editor. Heiresses is about the lives of the rich, who—as F. Scott Fitzgerald said—are 'different'. But it is also a bigger story about how all women fought their way to equality, and sometimes even found autonomy and fulfillment.
Unlike many books about this topic that are more gossipy, Thompson really looks at the social issues and the power (or complete lack of power) woman had over their own money in England and Europe. From the time of Henry VIII to the 20th Century, Thompson examines individual women from Mary Davies to Jennie Churchill to Barbara Hutton and how different laws, social pressure, and culture impacted their experiences as heirs to large fortunes. It is a pretty engaging, interesting read. And this is one of those audiobooks where the author's voice is truly magnetic. You can tell she loved researching and writing this book. -Anne M
The dressmakers of Auschwitz : the true story of the women who sewed to survive
Lucy Adlington
940.5318 /Adlington
History
Drawing on a vast array of sources, including interviews with the last surviving seamstress, this powerful book tells the story of the brave women who used their sewing skills to survive the Holocaust, exposing the greed, cruelty and hypocrisy of the Third Reich.
This was a beautiful and heartbreaking read about an aspect of the Holocaust I was not aware of. It was inspiring to read about what these women did to survive and help each other and all they encountered. -Amanda
Women in white coats : how the first women doctors changed the world of medicine
Olivia M. Campbell
610.922 /Campbell
Nonfiction, History, Science
Documents the true stories of three pioneering women who defied Victorian-era boundaries to become the first women doctors, discussing how they banded together to support each other and advocate for women's health in a male-dominated field.
For fans of Hidden Figures and Radium Girls comes the remarkable story of three Victorian women who broke down barriers in the medical field to become the first women doctors, revolutionizing the way women receive health care. With gripping storytelling based on extensive research and access to archival documents, Women in White Coats tells the courageous history these women made by becoming doctors, detailing the boundaries they broke of gender and science to reshape how we receive medical care today. -Angie
Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
Rosalyn
133.4309/Schanzer
Religion, History
"Tackling the same twisted subject as Stacy Schiff's much-lauded book The Witches: Salem, 1692, this Sibert Honor book for young readers features unique scratchboard illustrations, chilling primary source material, and powerful narrative to tell the true tale.In the little colonial town of Salem Village, Massachusetts" (From Amazon)
A historical account with just the right amount of flavorful text and illustrations to keep it interesting. A humbling look at what superstition and zeal can do to people when it's not tempered with reason. -Mykle
The woman they could not silence : one woman, her incredible fight for freedom, and the men who tried to make her disappear
Kate (Writer and editor) Moore
BIOGRAPHY Packard, E. P. W.
History
"1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Threatened by Elizabeth's intellect, independence, and outspokenness, her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her and makes a plan to put her back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum. The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband. But most disturbing is that Elizabeth is not the only sane woman confined to the institution. There are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line--conveniently labeled "crazy" so their voices are ignored. No one is willing to fight for their freedom, and disenfranchised both by gender and the stigma of their supposed madness, they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose..."--
This incredible work of nonfiction reads like a fast-past melodrama. -Anne M
This was fast read, engaging and shocking in its subject matter. It will enlighten the reader on a community they may not be aware of but will still seem relatable. -Amanda