history

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history

Uncomfortable conversations with a Jew

2024
For Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby no question about Jews is off-limits. They go there. They cover Jews and money. Jews and power. Jews and privilege. Jews and white privilege. The Black and Jewish struggle. Emmanuel asks, Did Jews kill Jesus? To which Noa responds, "Why are Jewish people history's favorite scapegoat?" They unpack Judaism itself: Is it a religion, culture, a peoplehood, or a race? And: Are you antisemitic if you're anti-Zionist? The questions, and answers, might make you squirm, but together, they explain the tropes, stereotypes, and catalysts of antisemitism in America today. The topics are complicated and Acho and Tishby bring vastly different perspectives. Tishby is an outspoken Israeli American. Acho is a mild-mannered son of a Nigerian American pastor. But they share a superpower: an uncanny ability to make complicated ideas easy to understand so anyone can follow the straight line from the past to our immediate moment, and then see around corners. Acho and Tishby are united by the core belief that hatred toward one group is never isolated: if you see the smoke of bigotry in one place, expect that we will all be in the fire.

The princes in the tower

solving history's greatest cold case
"In 1483, Edward V (age twelve) and his brother Richard, Duke of York (age nine), disappeared from the Tower of London. History has judged they were murdered on the orders of Richard III. This new book reveals the truth behind the greatest unsolved mystery in English history" --.

Legacy

a black physician reckons with racism in medicine
2024
"The . . . story of a Black physician, her career in medicine, and the deep inequities that still exist in the U.S. healthcare system"--Provided by publisher.

The unvanquished

the untold story of Lincoln's special forces, the manhunt for Mosby's Rangers, and the shadow war that forged America's special operations
2024
"From the bestselling author of The Indispensables, the unknown and dramatic story of irregular guerrilla warfare that altered the course of the Civil War and inspired the origins of America's modern special operations forces. The Civil War is most remembered for the grand battles that have come to define it: Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, among others. However, as bestselling author Patrick K. O'Donnell reveals in The Unvanquished, a vital shadow war raged amid and away from the major battlefields that was in many ways equally consequential to the conflict's outcome. At the heart of this groundbreaking narrative is the epic story of Lincoln's special forces, the Jessie Scouts, told in its entirety for the first time. In a contest fought between irregular units, the Scouts hunted John Singleton Mosby's Confederate Rangers from the middle of 1863 up to war's end at Appomattox. With both sides employing pioneering tradecraft, they engaged in dozens of raids and spy missions, often perilously wearing the other's uniform, risking penalty of death if captured. Clashing violently on horseback, the unconventional units attacked critical supply lines, often capturing or killing high-value targets. North and South deployed special operations that could have changed the war's direction in 1864, and crucially during the Appomattox Campaign, Jessie Scouts led the Union army to a final victory. They later engaged in a history-altering proxy war against France in Mexico, earning seven Medals of Honor; many Scouts mysteriously disappeared during that conflict, taking their stories to their graves. An expert on special operations, O'Donnell transports readers into the action, immersing them in vivid battle scenes from previously unpublished firsthand accounts. He introduces indelible characters such as Scout Archibald Rowand; Scout leader Richard Blazer; Mosby, the master of guerrilla warfare; and enslaved spy Thomas Laws. O'Donnell also brings to light the Confederate Secret Service's covert efforts to deliver the 1864 election to Peace Democrats through ballot fraud, election interference, and attempts to destabilize a population fatigued by a seemingly forever war. Most audaciously, the Secret Service and Mosby's Rangers planned to kidnap Abraham Lincoln in order to maintain the South's independence. The first full chronicle of the shadow war between North and South, rich in action and offering original perspective on history, The Unvanquished is a dynamic and essential addition to the literature of the Civil War"--.

The Seven Wonders of the ancient world

an extraordinary new journey through history's greatest treasures
2024
An award-winning historian, who has traveled to the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, reveals the latest archaeological discoveries to bring these monuments and the distinct cultures that built back to life, taking us on a journey into the indomitable ambition and creativity of the human spirit.

The exvangelicals

loving, living, and leaving the white evangelical church
2024
A work of memoir and investigative journalism on the exvangelical movement: its origins; stories of its members; and its social, cultural, and political impact.

The history of death

2017
Death may be universal, but just as every culture has found ways of living life differently, each has also found different and sometimes extraordinary ways to deal with dying and the effects that it has on the people left behind. This wide-ranging book examines the compelling subject of death and burial in varied cultures, societies, and ages. It considers the rituals surrounding death, from the drama of medieval French royal funerals to the live burials of the Dinka in the Sudan, and from facing death, with the 5,000 strong terra-cotta army, as the first Chinese emperor Shihuangdi did in 260 B.C., to the elaborate mausolea of wealthy Victorians. Covering all periods in history and religions, The History of Death also examines the differing approaches to funerals, whether solemn, celebratory, drunken or even sexually promiscuous. It illuminates the combination between the earthly and spiritual in furneral rites, the practices of human sacrifice and ritual killing, as well as the processes of grieving, burial, cremation, remembrance, and the differing concepts of life after death.

Last rites

the evolution of the American funeral
2022
Ceremonies for honoring the departed are crucial parts of our lives, but few people know where our traditional practices come from--and what they reveal about our history, culture, and beliefs about death. In Last Rites, author Todd Harra takes you on a fascinating exploration of American customs around death, burial, and remembrance.

Dangerous ideas

a brief history of censorship in the West, from the ancients to fake news
2021
"A fascinating examination of how restricting speech has continuously shaped our culture, and how censorship is used as a tool to prop up authorities and maintain class and gender disparities"--Provided by publisher.

The worlds I see

curiosity, exploration, and discovery at the dawn of AI
2023
"The moving memoir of a girl coming of age as an immigrant in America who finds her calling as a scientist at the forefront of the AI/Machine Learning revolution. Fei-Fei Li is known to the world as the creator of ImageNet, a key catalyst of modern artificial intelligence (AI). But her career in science was improbable from the start. Moving from China's middle class to American poverty, her family navigated the hardships of immigrant life while struggling to care for an ailing mother at every step. However, Fei-Fei's adolescent knack for physics endured, sparking a journey that would lead her to computer science, experimental cognitive science, and, ultimately, the still-obscure world of AI. It positioned her to make a defining contribution to the breakthrough we now call the AI revolution and brought her face-to-face with the extraordinary possibilities-and the extraordinary dangers-of the technology she loves. Emotionally raw and intellectually uncompromising, The Worlds I See is a story of science in the first person, documenting one of the century's defining moments from the inside"--Provided by publisher.

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