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Get Inspired! New and Anticipated Histories and Biographies

Posted by Sharon on March 1, 2021
39 likes · 11 comments


Sometimes in life, we just need a little inspiration. After a particularly trying interval of time, for example. Oh…the year 2020 or the beginning of 2021, say. This collection of new biographies and historical nonfiction, covering every hemisphere and several centuries, has been assembled with an eye toward inspirational arcs.

There really is something for everyone here. Music nerds will want to check out Sonic Boom, the story of the venerated Warner Bros. music label that put musicians first (Prince! Madonna! Springsteen!). The Princess Spy follows the amazing story of Aline Griffith, audacious World War II espionage agent. And William Still profiles the courageous Underground Railroad conductor who saved hundreds of lives.

Scroll over the book covers to learn more about each book, and be sure to add the books that pique your interest to your Want to Read shelf!
 
The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration, and Resistance in World War II America
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Nellie Francis: Fighting for Racial Justice and Women's Equality in Minnesota
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Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
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The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution
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Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life and Win the 1960 Election
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Julian Bond's Time to Teach: A History of the Southern Civil Rights Movement
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Overnight Code: The Life of Raye Montague, the Woman Who Revolutionized Naval Engineering
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The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine
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Craft: An American History
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With Her Fist Raised: Dorothy Pitman Hughes and the Transformative Power of Black Community Activism
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Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, from Hendrix to Fleetwood Mac to Madonna to Prince
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Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells
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Iron Women: The Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad
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Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
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The Women's History of the Modern World: How Radicals, Rebels, and Everywomen Revolutionized the Last 200 Years
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Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age
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The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
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Midnight in Vehicle City: General Motors, Flint, and the Strike That Created the Middle Class
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The Princess Spy
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The Bears Ears: A Human History of America's Most Endangered Wilderness
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You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War
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Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am
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The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free
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Rock Me on the Water: 1974—The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television and Politics
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Upcoming Highly Anticipated Histories and Biographies


William Still: The Underground Railroad and the Angel at Philadelphia
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The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos
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Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR
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Sensational: The Hidden History of America's “Girl Stunt Reporters”
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The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany
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Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993
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What histories and biographies are you reading these days? Let's talk books in the comments!

Check out more recent articles:
Power, Sister! 20 New Books on Women’s History
Author Luvvie Ajayi Jones Wants You to Get in Trouble
Readers' Most Anticipated Books of March

 · 39 likes · 11 comments

Comments Showing 1-11 of 11 (11 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 2: by Ed Wisneski (new)
Mar 16, 2021 11:14AM

Ed Wisneski caste: the origins of our discontent


message 3: by Ed Wisneski (new)
Mar 16, 2021 11:16AM

Ed Wisneski A Promised Land


message 5: by TMR (new)
Mar 25, 2021 12:56AM

TMR Such interesting collections.


message 6: by Danna (new)
Mar 25, 2021 03:50AM

Danna Why so American-centric, though?


message 7: by Sara (new)
Mar 25, 2021 08:03AM

Sara Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II

Looking forward to this one coming out on May 11th!


message 8: by Nadia (new)
Mar 25, 2021 09:39AM

Nadia I'm excited for With Her Fist Raised, Ida B. the Queen, The Women's History of the Modern World and The Nine!


message 9: by Bonnie G. (new)
Mar 25, 2021 01:00PM

Bonnie G. Theaters of Pardoning looks great https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...


message 10: by Kaiti (new)
Mar 25, 2021 06:04PM

Kaiti Would be great to see more books about history and people outside of the US. only 3 of the first 24 books listed appear to be about people/places/events outside the US.

Additionally, does anyone know whether Icebound veers into terra nullius discourse? The summary feels like it could easily talk about the Arctic as if no one had been there before Europeans.

Similar question about "The Bears Ears" given its use of the term "wilderness".


message 11: by Jessica ☢ Spartan Ranger (new)
Mar 28, 2021 05:55AM

Jessica ☢ Spartan Ranger Danna wrote: "Why so American-centric, though?"

I was thinking the same ...


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