20Th Century category: 9982 books
Orders to Kill
The Truth Behind the Murder of Martin Luther King
Language: English
Release Date: October 20, 2015
From the author of An Act of State comes a myth-shattering exposé that reveals the truth behind the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On April 4th, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped out onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, and into his killer’s line...
The Run of His Life
The People v. O. J. Simpson
Language: English
Release Date: March 27, 2013
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The inspiration for American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson on FX, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., John Travolta, David Schwimmer, and Connie Britton
The definitive account of the O. J. Simpson trial, The Run of His Life is a prodigious feat of reporting that...
The Year of Indecision, 1946
A Tour Through the Crucible of Harry Truman's America
Language: English
Release Date: March 1, 2016
A vivid account of America at the pivot point of the postwar era, Harry Truman’s first full year in office
In 1946, America had just exited the biggest war in modern history and was about to enter another of a kind no one had fought before. We think of this moment as the brilliant start of America...
Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight
Race, Class, and Power in the Rural South during the First World War
Language: English
Release Date: October 12, 2005
During World War I, thousands of rural southern men, black and white, refused to serve in the military. Some failed to register for the draft, while others deserted after being inducted. In the countryside, armed bands of deserters defied local authorities; capturing them required the dispatch of...
by Frances Osborne
Language: English
Release Date: June 2, 2009
Language: English
Release Date: June 2, 2009
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
An O, The Oprah Magazine #1 Terrific Read
In an age of bolters—women who broke the rules and fled their marriages—Idina Sackville was the most celebrated of them all. Her relentless affairs, wild sex parties, and brazen flaunting of convention...
The Seventies
The Great Shift in American culture, Society, and Politics
Language: English
Release Date: August 7, 2001
Most of us think of the 1970s as an "in-between" decade, the uninspiring years that happened to fall between the excitement of the 1960s and the Reagan Revolution. A kitschy period summed up as the "Me Decade," it was the time of Watergate and the end of Vietnam, of malaise and gas lines, but of nothing...
Isaac's Storm
A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
Language: English
Release Date: October 19, 2011
At the dawn of the twentieth century, a great confidence suffused America. Isaac Cline was one of the era's new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. The idea that a hurricane could damage the city of Galveston, Texas, where...
Contested Waters
A Social History of Swimming Pools in America
Language: English
Release Date: November 30, 2009
From nineteenth-century public baths to today's private backyard havens, swimming pools have long been a provocative symbol of American life. In this social and cultural history of swimming pools in the United States, Jeff Wiltse relates how, over the years, pools have served as asylums for the urban...
Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters
The Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America
Language: English
Release Date: August 16, 2012
Throughout the twentieth century, African Americans challenged segregation at amusement parks, swimming pools, and skating rinks not only in pursuit of pleasure but as part of a wider struggle for racial equality. Well before the Montgomery bus boycott, mothers led their children into segregated amusement...
The World's Fastest Man
The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero
Language: English
Release Date: May 7, 2019
In the tradition of The Boys in the Boat and Seabiscuit, a fascinating portrait of a groundbreaking but forgotten figure—the remarkable Major Taylor, the black man who broke racial barriers by becoming the world’s fastest and most famous bicyclist at the height of the Jim Crow era.
In the...
First
Sandra Day O'Connor
Language: English
Release Date: March 19, 2019
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The intimate, inspiring, and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, America’s first female Supreme Court justice, drawing on exclusive interviews and first-time access to Justice O’Connor’s archives—by the New York Times bestselling author Evan Thomas.
“She’s...
Not Enough
Human Rights in an Unequal World
Language: English
Release Date: April 10, 2018
The age of human rights has been kindest to the rich. Even as state violations of political rights garnered unprecedented attention due to human rights campaigns, a commitment to material equality disappeared. In its place, market fundamentalism has emerged as the dominant force in national and global...
Aloha Rodeo
Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West
Language: English
Release Date: May 28, 2019
The triumphant true story of the native Hawaiian cowboys who shocked America at the 1908 world rodeo championships
"An inspiring and impeccably crafted story of against-all-odds triumph.” —Simon Winchester
"Groundbreaking. … Not only a must-read, but an essential addition. …...
Accidental Presidents
Eight Men Who Changed America
Language: English
Release Date: April 9, 2019
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The strength and prestige of the American presidency has waxed and waned since George Washington. Accidental Presidents looks at eight men who came to the office without being elected to it. It demonstrates how the character of the man in that powerful seat affects...