History

The Hub's Metropolis: Greater Boston's Development from Railroad Suburbs to Smart Growth (Hardcover)

By James C. O'Connell

$19.75

ISBN: 9780262018753

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Published: MIT Press - March 22nd, 2013

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Somerville rowhouses, huge building lots in Weston, stately homes along Comm. Ave. in Newton -- there's a reason for every aspect of the Boston area's built environment. Read about the accidental and deliberate design decisions that led to the region we know today, and then go see for yourself, using the walking tour suggestions throughout the book.

Sarah

Murder in the First-Class Carriage: The First Victorian Railway Killing (Paperback)

By Kate Colquhoun

$15.95

ISBN: 9781468300567

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Published: Harry N. Abrams - April 30th, 2013

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A little Eric Larson, a little Conan Doyle and a lot of the real nuts and bolts of Victorian police procedure.

Gary

Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution (The American Revolution Series #1) (Hardcover)

By Nathaniel Philbrick

$32.95

ISBN: 9780670025442

Availability: Available at Warehouse

Published: Viking - April 30th, 2013

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Philbrick’s clear and entertaining prose brings an old story to life. Live with our patriots and marvel at their heroism and foibles. Washington, Warren, Knox, Bunker Hill, Breed’s Hill and Battle Road. Loyalists, Generals, Admirals, and mad King George. Boston occupied and under siege! Enjoy and marvel at the exploits as Philbrick enthralls us – again!

Jane Jacobs

The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China: A History (Paperback)

By David J. Silbey

$16.00

ISBN: 9780809030750

Availability: Available at Warehouse

Published: Hill and Wang - April 9th, 2013

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Culminating in 1900, the technologically superior European powers (and Japan) essentially helped themselves to rotting Qing Dynasty China, so arrogantly that a groundswell peasant army (surreptitiously supported by the Empress) finally attacked their crypto-colonizers, resulting in several battles, sieges and international diplomatic shenanigans. A great narrative of a major puzzle piece of the Great Game of empire and hegemony.

Gary

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal (Paperback)

By Ben Macintyre

$17.00

ISBN: 9780307353412

Availability: On Our Shelves Now

Published: Broadway Books - August 12th, 2008

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Agent Zigzag is about a singular character who rose to the occasion for crown and country at a crucial time in history. Recruited by the Germans to spy on the British, career criminal Eddie Chapman turned on them to  become one of Britain’s most valuable assets. A combination of character study and action adventure combining espionage, adventure, true crime, love, World War 2 and more in a gripping, page-turning package, Chapman’s story has never been told with more verve.

Marie

The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South (Hardcover)

By Bruce C. Levine

$30.00

ISBN: 9781400067039

Availability: Hard to Find--Contact us for More Info

Published: Random House - January 8th, 2013

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It's satisfying to dip into the ongoing stream of historical Civil War literature and be able to say "This is a good one!". Levine looks into the Confederacy's complex subcultures, classes and motivations and comes up with some fascinating fresh  insights, as well as succinct renderings of pertinent battles and campaigns.

Gary

An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War (Paperback)

By J. Hoberman

$22.99

ISBN: 9781595588333

Availability: Available at Warehouse

Published: New Press - September 4th, 2012

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A delicious sociopolitical examination/rumination of the Cold War US via popular culture.  Though primarily a film critic, Hoberman has always put his reviews (even back when he was the Village Voice film critic) in a larger cultural context.  It lives up to the cover art!

Gary

The Second World War (Hardcover)

By Antony Beevor

$35.00

ISBN: 9780316023740

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Published: Little, Brown and Company - June 5th, 2012

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Beevor has written several excellent books about particular aspects of the war, and now his complete overview of the subject is  a superb addition to the latest generation of WW2 literature. He writes a compelling narrative and brings fresh insights and perspective and pulls it all together beautifully.

Gary

War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865 (Hardcover)

By James M. McPherson

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ISBN: 9780807835883

Availability: Out of Print

Published: University of North Carolina Press - September 17th, 2012

Huzzah!  A new book by the Pulitzer-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, my choice for the go-to one-volume history of the Civil War.  Here he treats the naval aspect of the conflict with the same compelling narrative style as Battle Cry, including blockade runners, extraordinary battles for dominance of the crucial Mississippi River and the total game-changing introduction of ironclads.
Gary

The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail (Hardcover)

By W. Jeffrey Bolster

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ISBN: 9780674047655

Availability: Out of Print

Published: Belknap Press - October 8th, 2012

Closely examining detailed records from explorer’s diaries to fisherman’s logs and government reports, Bolster has assembled a comprehensive environmental history of the devastating human impact on life in the North Atlantic. He shows definitively the present crisis in the fishery is the legacy of continual overfishing during the past five hundred years. This book is a major contribution to both coastal marine studies and American history.
Dale