FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[Tomk2]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I agree. My history classes stopped after the Civil War. I've surmised that my teachers felt WWI and WWII were not history, but current events ... for them. Though I was studying around 1970 plus and minus a few. But I've had to learn about both world wars on my own. Vietnam & Korea I haven't even started to wonder about, yet.

I also had the same experience in school. I wanted to learn more about WW2 but was told it was "too recent" to be discussed as history. Too recent? It was at least 30 years ago when I was asking.

I think it can't be "history" until everyone who actually lived through it is dead! Once that happens, you can debate "history" and "facts" all you want, in whatever manner you want, without someone being able to stand up and tell you how wrong you are, because they were there. So in a sense, it is still current events while those who participated are still alive.

edit: but you can still learn quite a bit about the more recent events, they are called "documentaries" instead of history. LOL.

[itisbomb]

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
by Kate Moore

is $2.99 at U.S. stores

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Radium-Girls-...d_i=1000677541

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-radium-girls-1

Below is the blurb:
The incredible true story of the women who fought America's Undark danger

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.

Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.

But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.

Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives...

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, Free


The California Trail: The History and Legacy of the 19th Century Routes that Led Americans to the Golden State

Admiral David Farragut: The Life and Legacy of the American Civil War’s Most Famous Naval Officer

La Camorra: The Notorious History and Legacy of the Neapolitan Mafia

Robert Frost: The Life and Legacy of the Famous 20th Century American Poet





https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-t...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=digital...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s?i=digital-te...+river+editors

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by itisbomb

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
by Kate Moore

is $2.99 at U.S. stores

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Radium-Girls-...d_i=1000677541

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-radium-girls-1

Below is the blurb:
The incredible true story of the women who fought America's Undark danger

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.

Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.

But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.

Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives...

I will recommend this to anyone on the fence.

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, Free


Admiral George Dewey: The Life and Legacy of the Most Decorated Naval Officer in American History

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz: The Life and Legacy of the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Commander in Chief during World War II





https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-t...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=digital...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s?i=digital-te...+river+editors

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by Tomk2

I also had the same experience in school. I wanted to learn more about WW2 but was told it was "too recent" to be discussed as history. Too recent? It was at least 30 years ago when I was asking.

I had the opposite experience. All my history classes did was bang on about WW2 with occasional references to earlier wars. No cultural histories, no WW1.

I hated history class, but later became an avid reader of both non-fiction history and historical fiction. I'm just not interested in war stories in general, though I took an interest in WW1.

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, Free


Soapy Smith: The Life and Legacy of the Wild West’s Most Infamous Con Artist

The Birth of the Italian Republic: The History and Legacy of the Allied Occupation of Italy after World War II

Edith Stein: The Life and Legacy of the Jewish Philosopher Who Became a Catholic Saint

The Fall of Saigon: The History of the Battle for South Vietnam’s Capital and the End of the Vietnam War





https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-t...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=digital...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s?i=digital-te...+river+editors

[itisbomb]

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty
by Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo

is $3.99 at U.S. stores

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Poor-Economic...017203&sr=1-12

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/poor-economics-4

Below is the blurb:
Two practical visionaries upend the most common assumptions about how economics works in this gripping and disruptive portrait of how poor people actually live.

Why do the poor borrow to save? Why do they miss out on free life-saving immunizations, but pay for unnecessary drugs? In Poor Economics, Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, two award-winning MIT professors, answer these questions based on years of field research from around the world. Called "marvelous, rewarding" by the Wall Street Journal, the book offers a radical rethinking of the economics of poverty and an intimate view of life on 99 cents a day. Poor Economics shows that creating a world without poverty begins with understanding the daily decisions facing the poor.

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, Free


The War of the Spanish Succession: The History of the Conflict Between the Bourbons and Habsburgs that Engulfed Europe

Peter Skene Ogden: The Controversial Life and Legacy of the Canadian Fur Trader Who Explored the Pacific Northwest





https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-t...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=digital...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s?i=digital-te...+river+editors

[Fluribus]

There are many, perhaps too many, history books available in the current Kindle daily deal.

Enter the catacombs with trepidation.

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, Free


Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry: The Life and Legacy of Early 19th Century America’s Most Famous Naval Officer

Carl von Clausewitz: The Life and Legacy of the Prussian General Who Wrote On War

John Moses Browning: The Life and Legacy of the American Gunsmith Who Modernized Automatic and Semi-Automatic Firearms





https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-t...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=digital...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s?i=digital-te...+river+editors

[Fluribus]

Apparently, everyone has been so sad about meanie Edward I killing all the whales that nobody had written about it for a century. Suddenly, two years ago, Sean Davies stepped up and wrote a new book. Grab it at Amazon.com for $2.99.

Edward I's Conquest of Wales

Despite being out for two years nobody has written any Amazon reviews for this book. The trauma still runs deep.

[tch65721]

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan - $1.99

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SEIDR0

[Little.Egret]

Cornell University Press, Free


The Afterlives of the Terror: Facing the Legacies of Mass Violence in Postrevolutionary France by Ronen Steinberg


Cornell University Press (15 Sept. 2019)

explores how those who experienced the mass violence of the French Revolution struggled to come to terms with it. Focusing on the Reign of Terror, Ronen Steinberg challenges the presumption that its aftermath was characterized by silence and enforced collective amnesia. Instead, he shows that there were painful, complex, and sometimes surprisingly honest debates about how to deal with its legacies.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R86GZTW/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07R86GZTW/

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07R86GZTW/

[sufue]

The Imperial Presidency by Pulitzer prize-winning author, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr, usually hangs out at around $10, but has dropped to $1.99 today as part of the US Kindle Daily Deal, matched at Kobo US. Without falling afoul of the "no politics" rules, I hope I can at least say that it sounds as if it could be quite interesting and timely reading given our current political situation in the US...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Pres...dp/B0085TKO04/
Kobo US (coupon/VIPable): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...l-presidency-2

Spoiler:

A “brilliant” examination of the growth of presidential power from George Washington to George W. Bush, by a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian (Newsweek).

Over the course of two centuries, the power of the president of the United States has grown exponentially. From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, presidential power has both served and harmed the US Constitution. But is the current role of the POTUS what the Founding Fathers intended: a strong leader with an equally strong system of accountability?

In The Imperial Presidency, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. explores the growth of the executive branch’s power and influence on the US government. Hailed by the Christian Science Monitor as “brilliant [and] provocative,” this is a book that explores the history of what happened when the constitutional balance was upset in favor of presidential power, and questions how Americans should allow that balance to shape the future.

Oh yeah, and it's also free through Prime Reading if you have that...at least for me. (Do Prime Reading selections vary by person?)