Lake Bluff Library Adult Reading Lists: Microhistories

Explores the contradictions at the founding of the United States, focusing on the coexistence of slavery and Native American displacement with ideals of freedom, and analyzes the debates and compromises of the Revolutionary generation that shaped early national policies and attitudes.
(Description from NoveList)

For the first time, and with surprising and revealing insights, Kamala Harris tells the story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history.
(Description from NoveList)

A definitive, headline-making exposé of how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has carried out the largest-scale theft of intellectual property, technology, and data in history--reshaping the global balance of power and redrawing the geopolitical map for decades to come.
(Description from NoveList)

Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes reveals the fascinating history behind energy transitions over time—wood to coal to oil to electricity and beyond. (Description from catalog)

Critiques the myth of American orphanhood by exploring its historical realities, including the oppressive nature of early orphanages, systemic classism and racism, and her personal experiences, urging a reevaluation of society's approach to child welfare and community care.
(Description from NoveList)

The story of a woman who overcame the limitations and expectations imposed by her social status and pushed forward an entirely new branch of science that we still use today.
(Description from catalog)

In the tradition of Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma, an extraordinary investigation into the human lives at the heart of the American grocery store What does it take to run the American supermarket? How do products get to shelves? Who sets the price? And who suffers the consequences of increased convenience end efficiency? (Description from catalog.)

An exuberant work of popular history: the story of how streets got their names and houses their numbers, and why something as seemingly mundane as an address can save lives or enforce power. (Description from NoveList.)

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants -- and the equally powerful taboos. (Description from catalog)

Blending together natural history, philosophy and science, this stunning meditation on the extraordinary lives of whales takes readers on an exploration of the natural world to reveal what whales can teach us about ourselves, our planet and our relationship to other species. (Description from NoveList.)

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-selling author of The Emperor of All Maladies comes a magnificent history of the gene and a response to the defining question of the future: What becomes of being human when we learn to “read” and “write” our own genetic information?
(Description from NoveList)

A captivating exploration into the secretive and sensuous world of truffles, the elusive food that has captured hearts, imaginations, and palates worldwide. (Description from Amazon)

Profoundly intertwined with human civilization, milk has a compelling and a surprisingly global story to tell. Tracing the liquid's diverse history from antiquity to the present, Mark Kurlansky details its curious and crucial role in cultural evolution, religion, nutrition, politics, and economics. (Description from NoveList)

Nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Patten and her husband, Joshua, were young and ambitious members of New England seafaring families. In 1856, they entered a clipper ship race to San Francisco. As their ship sailed down the Atlantic coast of South America, Joshua fell deathly ill and was confined to his bunk. As factions among the crew agitated for mutiny, Mary Ann stepped into the breach and convinced them to support her, just as they slammed into a gale that would last 18 days.
(Description from NoveList)

Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind--"the wives, the sons, and the daughters," as Gordon Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.
(Description from NoveList)

A propulsive, never-before-told story of one family’s shocking involvement as Nazi and Japanese spies during WWII and the pivotal role they played in the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
(Description from NoveList)

Jam-packed with fresh, revelatory evidence, the author’s research strongly infers that by the time the house lights dimmed inside of Ford’s Theatre on April 14th, 1865, Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth had been working alongside, if not in direct concert with, the Confederate Secret Service for nearly a year.
(Description from NoveList)

An extensively researched account of the life of a wealthy and influential Washington socialite of the mid-20th century, who inspired a Broadway musical with her extravagant parties, her close relationships with U.S. presidents, and her pioneering support for the Equal Rights Amendment.
(Description from NoveList)

A history of the process for using and controlling atomic weapons during World War II and at the beginning of the Cold War.
(Description from NoveList)

Examining the historical reality behind the myth of the Wild West, this account explores how post-Civil War Texas became a breeding ground for widespread violence, shaping the gunfighter culture that spread across the American frontier and later became enshrined in popular imagination.
(Description from NoveList)

Former Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson tells our nation's torturous racial history through his own family's story, starting with his great-grandfather's freedom from slavery and threading his way to his own narrative and reaching today's Black Lives Matter movement, asking whether this time will be different.
(Description from NoveList)

Sara Vladic reveals the gripping, untold history of the United States under attack during World War II and the improbable patriots who stepped up to defend their country in her hour of need. Together their efforts turned the tide of war at home and saved thousands of American lives.
(Description from NoveList)

Based on a decade of research and writing, enriched by eyewitness interviews and revealing documents obtained through dozens of freedom of information requests, Kennedy's Coup vividly recreates the Kennedy Administration's secret encouragement of the fatal 1963 military coup against South Vietnam's defiant president.
(Description from NoveList)

Declaration uncovers the lesser-known stories, surprising twists, and forgotten voices behind the most iconic document in U.S. history.
(Description from NoveList)

In a polarized era, history can become a subject of political contention. Many see America as perfect; others argue that the national experiment is fundamentally flawed. The truth, Jon Meacham shows, likely lies between these extremes. This rich and diverse collection covers a wide spectrum of history, from 1619 to the twenty-first century.
(Description from NoveList)