Books

New Novel "The Collaborator" Explores the Moral Ambiguities of a Holocaust Rescuer

by Diane Armstrong

Do we have the right to judge the actions of people in life and death situations? Are we honour-bound to keep promises, no matter to whom they were made, and in what situations? Can a man be a hero and a collaborator?

Newest Born of Nations: European Nationalism and the Confederate States of America

by Ann Tucker

White southerners looked to contemporary European nationalist movements and compared the South to aspiring nations abroad. This allowed them to conceive of the South as a potential nation, distinct from the North and separate from the United States, and to justify secession and the creation of the Confederacy.

Big Alex McKenzie and the Last Great Fraud of the Gilded Age

by Paul Starobin

Alexander McKenzie’s plot to corner Alaska’s gold proved to be the last great swindle of the original gilded age, as this seamy chapter in our national life gave way to what become known as the Progressive Era.

The SS Officer's Armchair

by Daniel Lee

The discovery of a trove of documents in an old armchair led the author on a five-year search for information about a previously anonymous Nazi, whose history intersected with the author's family in surprising ways.

Excerpt: Routine Dehumanization Under Jim Crow Policing

by Kevin Shird

Police in Jim Crow Alabama offered two kinds of outreach to schools: an "Officer Friendly" visit to white children, and traumatizing and intimidating threats of incarceration to black children.

"I Imagine Everything Happened on Beale Street": Remembering Memphis in "Brother Robert"

by Annye C. Anderson and Preston Lauterbach

In an excerpt from the new book Brother Robert, Annye Anderson, sister of blues legend Robert Johnson, describes time spent with Johnson in Memphis, and the trends in music, movies, and black politics that shaped Johnson's personality as well as his innovative music.

The Decline and Fall of Socialist Zionism (Review)

by Ralph Seliger

A new book examines the diminished influence of left and labor parties in Israeli politics. 

"Fiction Makes a Better Job of The Truth"? Telling the Erased Story of Lucia Joyce

by Annabel Abbs

A historical novel exposes the complex relationship between historians and sources: "Because Lucia’s own voice had been effectively smothered, most ‘facts’ came from those later responsible for incarcerating her in a series of mental asylums and hospitals. Few sources are genuinely independent, memory is notoriously fickle, and all facts are open to interpretation."

A Mathematical Duel in 16th Century Venice (Excerpt)

by Fabio Toscano translated Arturo Sangalli

The advancement of mathematics in renaissance Italy was complicated by a context of secrecy, jealousy, and competitive dueling governed by implicit codes of honor.

Spiritualism and Suspension Bridges: John Roebling and a Biographer's Sympathy for the Weird 19th Century

by Richard Haw

A biographer of Brooklyn Bridge designer John Roebling expected to write about a genius. He also ended up writing about a complete weirdo, and how one man could be both.

The Heroism of an Ordinary American Woman on the World War II Homefront

by Jim DeFelice

We should definitely celebrate people like Henry Langrehr, the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne, and the other troops who fought with them. But we should also spend a moment thanking people like his wife, who made their triumph possible.

The Other Booths

by David O. Stewart

The notoriety of the Lincoln assassination has obscured the other Booths in history, but some were as well known as John Wilkes--or even better, at least until he pulled the trigger in the president’s box at Ford’s Theater, 155 years ago this week. 

An Interview with "Most Wanted" Author Sarah Jane Marsh

by Chelsea Connolly

"Although I use individuals such as Adams, Hancock, and Paine as a vehicle for the story, I want readers to understand the American Revolution was ultimately a mass movement of the people."

The Three Daring Women Who Traversed the Himalayas

by Kayte Nunn

Antonia Deacock, Anne Davies, Eve Sims set off overland from England to Tibet in 1958, a 16,000 mile journey to aim climb one of the Himalayas’ unexplored high peaks. 

Why Holocaust Fiction?

by Bernice Lerner

Had they had a choice, I believe Hitler’s victims would have wanted nothing about the mortal crimes against them falsified. 

When the Western Wall Was A Battleground For Jewish Rights

by Moshe Phillips

The book explains how Segal and the others who followed in his footsteps transformed the Western Wall from a site of wailing to one of national pride.

Our Stories Will Carry Us to the Future. Can They Save Us Now?

by David Farrier

To avert a climate disaster, science is essential, but we also need stories. We know ourselves first and foremost in the tales we tell.

"Faster" Author Neal Bascomb on the Jewish Auto Racer who Defied Hitler

by Neal Bascomb

Rene Dreyfus, a former top driver on the international racecar circuit, had been banned from the best European teams—and fastest cars—by the mid-1930s because of his Jewish heritage.

Historical Novelists Owe the Truth to Readers–and to History

by Sharon Kay Penman

In insisting upon the importance of historical accuracy in novels, I am also making an argument that novels can add a valuable dimension to the study of history.

A Price to Be Paid

by Col. Arthur Shaw (Ret.) and Robert L. Wise

None of us had any idea how terrible the cost would be before we finished taking Okinawa. The casual observer might have concluded that the landing was so easy, war must be a walk in the park.