History - Modern - 20th Century

A "riveting" (Wall Street Journal) book tells the unbelievable true story of an escape tunnel under the Berlin Wall--the people who built it, the spy who betrayed it, and the media event it inspired. In September 1961, at the height of the Cold War,...

The astonishing biography of a mineral that can sustain our world- or destroy it Uranium occurs naturally in the earth's crust-yet holds the power to end all life on the planet. This is its fundamental paradox, and its story is a fascinating window into...

The dramatic and consequential history of Germany's short-lived experiment with democracy between the world wars, when vibrant cultural experimentation collided with political and economic turmoil Out of the ashes of the First World War, Germany launched an unprecedented political project: its first democratic government....

How can one European capital be responsible for most of the West's intellectual and cultural achievements in the twentieth century? Viennese ideas saturate the modern world. From California architecture to Hollywood Westerns, modern advertising to shopping malls, orgasms to gender confirmation surgery, nuclear fission...

An absorbing and definitive modern history of the Vietnam War from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Secret War.Vietnam became the Western world's most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for...

A stirring testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of music, Violins of Hope tells the remarkable stories of violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust, and the Israeli violin maker dedicated to bringing these inspirational instruments back to...

Wars & Treaties, 1815 to 1914A growing number of people are devoting their attention to a closer study of foreign affairs. Many of them may not have the opportunity to read the larger volumes of histories; and, indeed, even if they had, they would...

Intimate in voice and sweeping in historical reach, Was It Just a Matter of Luck? bears witness to the endurance of memory and the moral force of survival. Through the voice of his mother, Ray Kaner - a fiercely intelligent young woman who endured...

From National Jewish Book Award Winner and author of Israel, a bold reevaluation of the tensions between American and Israeli Jews that reimagines the past, present, and future of Jewish lifeRelations between the American Jewish community and Israel are at an all-time nadir. Since...

Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young. In November 1965, some...

Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young. In November 1965, some...

From a master historian and the critically acclaimed author of Lenin, comes a dramatic and gripping account of the political and cultural upheavals that lead to the death of democracy in Weimar era Germany--a story ripped out of today's headlines. In this masterful work...

The Joseph Roth revival has finally gone mainstream with the thunderous reception for What I Saw, a book that has become a classic with five hardcover printings. Glowingly reviewed, What I Saw introduces a new generation to the genius of this tortured author with...

Packed with personal anecdotes and details you won't find anywhere else, this is the secret history of World War II. "A fast-moving overview stuffed with interesting factoids and historical tidbits . . . Casual readers will find themselves carried along, and hardened military buffs...

An American historian and a German sociologist seek answers from those who lived through Nazi Germany: how did the country stand by while one of the biggest genocides in history took place? The horrors of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust still present some...

The panoramic story of the 1980s, exploring the triumphs and failures of the decade that shaped the 21st century more than any other, from a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter who witnessed the transformations firsthand In January 1980, America seemed broken. Inflation raged. Interest rates...

In this astonishing story that "reads like a thriller and is so, so timely" (BuzzFeed) Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father's past: "Like Anne Frank's diary, it offers a story that needs to be told and heard" (Booklist, starred review). In...

In this lively and ambitious book, James Sheehan, former president of the American Historical Association, charts what is perhaps the most radical shift in Europe's history: its transformation from war-torn battlefield to peaceful, prosperous society. For centuries, war was Europe's defining narrative, affecting every...

The first account of Jewish children's flight from Nazi Germany to France--and their subsequent escape to America from the Vichy regime At the eve of the Second World War, an estimated 1.6 million Jewish children lived in Nazi-occupied Europe. While 10,000 of them escaped...

Why? explores one of the most tragic events in human history by addressing eight of the most commonly asked questions about the Holocaust: Why the Jews? Why the Germans? Why murder? Why this swift and sweeping? Why didn't more Jews fight back more often?...