History

History (from Greek ἱστορία - historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation") is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history and its usefulness. This includes discu ...more

New Releases Tagged "History"

Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age

Reproductive Wrongs: A Short History of Bad Ideas About Women

Cave Mountain: A Disappearance and a Reckoning in the Ozarks

A Woman's Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering

The Dangerous Shore: How a Motley Crew of Scientists, Mobsters, Double Agents, Retirees, Volunteer Pilots (and a Boy Scout) Stopped the Invasion of America

The Information State: Politics in the Age of Total Control

True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color—from Azure to Zinc Pink

No One’s Coming: The Rogue Heroes Our Government Turns to When There’s Nowhere Else to Turn

You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her

Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe

Indigenous Citizens: Native Americans' Fight for Sovereignty, 1776-2025

The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change

The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya (Unearthing the Past)

A Kingdom and a Village: A One-Thousand-Year History of Moscow

More new releases tagged "history"...

Giveaways

The First All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, FDR and America at the Crossroads

Randall Sullivan

Release date: Jun 02, 2026

Acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan brilliantly renders a snapshot of America struggling to find its footing amid the ravages of the Great Depressio Acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan brilliantly renders a snapshot of America struggling to find its footing amid the ravages of the Great Depression, told through the story of the first all-star baseball game in Major League history

In July of 1933, America was at or near the lowest point in its history. It was revived, in part, by a World’s Fair staged in the city of Chicago and the baseball game that became the centerpiece of it.

Franklin Roosevelt had been inaugurated president four months earlier, at virtually the same moment Adolph Hitler became chancellor of Germany. The world and the country seemed to be at a tipping point. With whispers of the danger gathering in Europe just beginning to cross the Atlantic, American cities were filled with cardboard and tar paper shantytowns called “Hoovervilles.” Tens of thousands of young men took to riding the rails as a way of life while their younger siblings stood with their parents in breadlines. The state of America was so bleak that even the country’s national pastime, baseball, was suffering a loss of fans and revenue that threatened its continued existence.

An attempted assassination of Franklin Roosevelt that resulted in the death of Chicago’s mayor triggered a series of events that led, almost miraculously, to the idea that a contest pitting baseball’s greatest stars against one another might revive the sport, the city and the United States itself. In a moment that lifted the spirits of the whole country, Babe Ruth, on his last legs as a player, would rise to the occasion as the star of this historic contest.

The First All-Star Game is the story of baseball’s centrality in American history, and of a game that was expected to be a singular event but has been held annually for almost a century. But it is also the story of America in the early years of the Great Depression, told through a cast of characters that features Babe Ruth and Franklin Roosevelt, but includes as well Al Capone, Charles Lindbergh, Sally Rand, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, and all of the legendary players and managers who took part in what was called The Game of the Century. ...more
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Availability: 25 copies available, 2333 people requesting

Giveaway dates: Mar 22 - Apr 21, 2026

Countries available: U.S.

If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation

Daniel Hahn

Release date: Apr 21, 2026

How does Shakespeare remain Shakespeare when every word is changed? In this playful, meditative exploration of translating the world’s most beloved pl How does Shakespeare remain Shakespeare when every word is changed? In this playful, meditative exploration of translating the world’s most beloved playwright, Daniel Hahn guides us through the magic of bringing the Bard to a global audience.

"For those who care deeply about language, and about Shakespeare. . . this will be a treasured book." —James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of Shakespeare

Shakespeare may have breathed the air of sixteenth-century England, but today, all the world is his stage. Every year, millions of people, from Bogotá to Borneo, read Hamlet for the first time, thanks to the tireless work of translators. Drawing on the work of the very best of them, Hahn dives into the infinitesimally complicated ways the great playwright is reinvented and yet sounds, somehow, like himself—in Chinese, Dutch, Turkish, and more than a hundred other languages.

From word order, puns, and punctuation to metaphor, accent, and song, Shakespeare’s variety of genius presents an endless set of conundrums, among them: How does Romeo and Juliet’s love story unfold if their dialogue cannot form a sonnet (nor rhyme), as it does in the original? How can you form wordplay around the letter “I” and its sound if its meanings are not shared in other languages? These are just two out of millions of issues facing translators tasked with bringing Shakespeare to non-English languages, non-Shakespearean eras and cultures. To attempt such a feat, they must cut and add beats, maintain rhymes, adapt names and locations, and preserve meaning while not unilaterally prioritizing it, all while knowing that for each word, line, or scene they construct, another option is yet to be discovered.

Traveling the world, Hahn speaks to writers and actors engaging with Shakespeare’s work, sharing stories of his own. Hahn, whose great-grandfather produced one of Brazil’s earliest Shakespeare translations, emerges as a wise and enthusiastic guide, teacher, and sleuth. If This Be Magic does not require knowledge of any other language or more than a passing acquaintance with the Bard’s canon, but it draws out fascinating insights on both. As nerdy as they come (there is a chapter on commas), supremely readable, and funny throughout, this is a book for everyone and a fitting tribute to the Globe’s Bard. ...more
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Availability: 20 copies available, 2161 people requesting

Giveaway dates: Apr 02 - Apr 21, 2026

Countries available: U.S.

Ghosts of Sicily: The True Story of the Naval Intelligence Agents Who Courted the Mob to Fight Nazis in America and the Battlefields of Italy

Mark Harmon,

Leon Carroll Jr.

Release date: Apr 14, 2026

We're giving away 20 SIGNED copies of the new book Ghosts of Sicily by Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll, Jr. NCIS Fans, This Is For You! ...more
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Availability: 20 copies available, 4322 people requesting

Giveaway dates: Apr 14 - Apr 21, 2026

Countries available: U.S.

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