New book mini-list

Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed “Using the Mayan empire, Easter Island, the Anasazi, and other examples, the author shows how a combination of environmental factors such as habitat destruction, the loss of biodiversity, and degradation of the soil caused complex, flourishing societies to suddenly disintegrate.”

Michel Laclotte, A Key to the Louvre: Memoirs of a Curator Post-DeGaulle France from the former curator.

Paul Robert Walker, Remember Little Big Horn: Indians, Soldiers, and Scouts Tell their Stories Drama of Native American History, with lots of primary source material

Jeff Sypeck, Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of A.D. 800 “Sypeck, who teaches medieval literature at the University of Maryland, paints a splendid portrait of the emperor's various supporters, including Isaac, his Jewish envoy to Baghdad; Harun al-Rashid, the legendary caliph of Baghdad who, though the two never met, believed that he and Charlemagne would be great military and political companions; and the elephant, Abul Abaz, a gift from Harun.”

Judith Bloom Fradin, 5,000 Miles to Freedom: Ellen and William Craft’s Flight from Slavery “Ellen is a light-skinned African American, daughter of the master who raped her mother. Disguised as a wealthy Southern gentleman, she escapes with her husband, William, disguised as her slave, and they travel by train and steamboat to freedom in Boston. When their astonishing story makes the fugitive couple famous, slave catchers come after them, so the Crafts leave for England, where they continue their abolitionist work, until their return home after the Civil War.”

Robert E. Bonner, The Soldier’s Pen: Firsthand Impressions of the Civil War “Bonner uses the letters, journal entries, and sketches of 16 Civil War infantrymen, all previously unpublished, to convey the experiences of war as recounted by those who witnessed it at its most elemental level.”