Books

"The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III" by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser

by James Thornton Harris

Peter Baker and Susan Glasser's biography of the influential Republican political dealmaker at the heart of the Reagan-Bush era offers a compelling account of James A. Baker's career, but shows him to have been more motivated by power than by a vision of its uses. 

Review: "The Third Man: Churchill, Roosevelt, Mackenzie King, and the Untold Friendships that Won WWII"

by Walter G. Moss

Canadian Prime Minister William Mackenzie King kept a voluminous diary that is an incredible source of insight into his role as a witness (and often an influencer) to the wartime and post-World War II leadership of Roosevelt and Churchill. A new book distills the 30,000 pages of the diary. 

Pamela, Randolph and Winston: The Wartime Discord of the Churchills

by Josh Ireland

The recent Royal Family drama had nothing on the relationship of Winston Churchill and his son Randolph, which was thrown into tumult by the younger Churchill's marital problems at the onset of World War II. 

Telling the Story of the "Ghost Children" of Germans who Plotted Against Hitler

by Ann Bausum

Reprisals for the failed "Valkyrie" plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944 included the families of the accused conspirators. Author Ann Bausum describes her research into the experiences of detained children and the work of retelling them for young readers in her book "Ensnared in the Wolf's Lair." 

"Freedom of the Press in Small-Town America"

by Robert W. Frizzell

A review of HNN contributor Steven Hochstadt's new book of collected op-ed essays written between 2009 and 2018. The writings of a liberal Long Island Jew in a small-town midwestern newspaper offer a lens onto the question of the cultural divide in contemporary America. 

Review – The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive by Philippe Sands

by James Thornton Harris

The life of Otto Wachter, the SS officer indicted for the murder of 400,000 Jews in Ukraine, complicates the "banality of evil" idea. Philippe Sands shows him as both a bureaucrat and a cruel ideologue, as well as a man sufficiently aware of his guilt to go on the run. 

The Women Who Fought Tooth and Nail for the Flint Sit-Down Strikes

by Edward McClelland

Genora Johnson and the women of Flint, Michigan were the backbone of the sit-down strike campaigns that secured union recognition at General Motors. 

"We Just Did What We Had To": Telling the Story of a Slovenian Partisan and a Kiwi POW

by Doug Gold

The author tells a dramatic story of World War II: the meeting of his in-laws, a Slovene partisan fighter and a Kiwi prisoner of war under Nazi occupation.

Review: Does "The Princess Spy" Pierce the Veil of its Subject's Fictions?

by Robert Huddleston

A new biography of Aline Griffiths, Countess of Romanones, takes on the self-fashioned myths of the American-born woman who married a Spanish aristocrat after serving the OSS in Madrid during World War II. Does it succeed in finding the facts of her career as a spy?

When Did America Stop Being Great?

by Nick Bryant

Nick Bryant began observing America as a 16 year old at the patriotic spectacle of the 1984 Olympics. His book traces the path from "Morning in America" to "American Carnage," fixing some blame but also seeking a way through. 

Four Things You (Probably) Don't Know about the Werewolves of the Ancient World

by Daniel Ogden

Movie werewolves come mostly from the pulp fiction of the early 1900s. But werewolf stories date back to the literature of the 12th century, which most likely drew from even older stories preserved in folklore since the times of ancient Greece and Rome. 

With Her Fist Raised: Dorothy Pitman Hughes and the Transformative Power of Community Activism

by Laura L. Lovett

Recovering the legacy of New York activist and organizer Dorothy Pitman Hughes means writing "a history of the women’s movement with children, race, and welfare rights at its core, a history of women’s politics grounded in community organizing and African American economic development."

From Red Finn Halls to The Lincoln Brigade: Class Formation on Washington’s “Red Coast”

by Jerry Lembcke

If the current crisis revives interest in class as an analytical concept, a recent book on union organizing on the Washington state coast offers a model for reconstructing the work, community and social life of a community. 

Neal Gabler's "Catching the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour"

by James Thornton Harris

Neal Gabler's first volume of a biography of Ted Kennedy praises the long-serving senator as the driving force of a hugely consequential period of liberal legislative success. Those looking for gossip or consideration of his personal failures may be disappointed.

Notre Dame: The Soul of France (Review)

by Jeff Roquen

Agnès Poirier's book describes the central place of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris in the city and in French history both religious and secular, and the angst provoked by its threatened destruction by fire in 2019.

How Hudson Stuck's Ascent of Denali Boosted Recognition of Indigenous Alaskans

by Patrick Dean

Hudson Stuck came to America from England in 1885 and lived a life that echoed the era's adventure books, with one important twist. He leveraged his fame from summitting North America's highest peak to advocate for the rights of native Alaskans, beginning with insisting that the mountain he climbed be known by its indigenous name, Denali. 

Reflections on Fredrik Logevall's "JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956"

by Sheldon M. Stern

Fredrik Logevall's new JFK biography is one of the first by a historian who did not personally experience the Kennedy years. Longtime JFK Library historian says this is all to the good, as Logevall makes extensive use of available primary sources to place Kennedy's political and diplomatic views in the context of his formative experiences in wartime. 

Review of Robert Putnam’s "The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again"

by Walter G. Moss

Robert Putnam's book on the "Great Divergence" toward economic inequality, political polarization and social fragmentation contains ample historical generalization, but asks big questions that it will be worth historians' time to engage. 

How Wood Helped America Become Great – But Mislay its Sense of History

by Roland Ennos

Industrializing America's infrastructure was much more likely than Europe's to be made of wood. This accident of nature and geography helped drive rapid expansion, but today means much of the 19th century built environment of the United States has vanished. 

How Venetians Invented Health Care

by Meredith F. Small

It's been widely discussed during this pandemic year that Venetians invented the quarantine. But the author of a new book on Venice's history of innovation argues that it was just one of the public health measures for which we can thank them.