In Custodians of Wonder, Eliot Stein takes a vivid look at 10 astonishing people who are maintaining some of the world’s oldest and rarest cultural traditions. Read on for an introductory excerpt from the book. Minutes after I met Anna, she was gripping my wrist with one hand and patting my cheek with the other. I was 22 […] The post Introduction to Eliot Stein’s <i>Custodians of Wonder</i> appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

Suspense author Sharon Short shares the rich history behind Middle Island, the real-life location that inspired her new novel, Trouble Island. Years ago, I accompanied one of my daughters on her fifth-grade trip to Middle Bass Island, just off the shore of Ohio in Lake Erie. The class was visiting The Ohio State University’s Stone […] The post The Island Behind the Island: Real Life Inspiration for <i>Trouble Island</i> appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

by Lydia Reeder For two days, on June 27 and 28, 1860, Dr. Harriot Kezia Hunt’s Boston home teemed with activity. Housemaids arranged dozens of flowers—roses, lilies, chrysanthemums, sunflowers—into beautiful bouquets, filling the entire house with delightful scents. In the kitchen, the cook prepared assorted pound cakes, strawberry tarts, baked pears, and a towering bridal […] The post Silver Wedding appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

by The History Reader Shopping for any history-loving friends? Below is our holiday gift guide with our favorite books of 2024! The Cold Crematorium by József Debreczeni First published in Hungarian in 1950, The Cold Crematorium was never translated into a world language due to McCarthyism, Cold War hostilities and antisemitism. More than 70 years later, Read More » The post The History Reader: 2024 Holiday Gift Guide appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

Four Against the West by Joe Pappalardo is a thrilling true saga of legendary Texas figure Judge Roy Bean and his brothers―and their violent adventures in Wild West America. Read on for a chapter excerpt from Four Against the West that focuses on the legendary American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Texas, Phantley Roy Read More » The post Featured Excerpt: <i>Four Against the West</i> appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

In Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson, New York Times bestselling author Paul French examines a controversial and revealing period in the early life of the legendary Wallis, Duchess of Windsor–her one year in China. Read on for a featured excerpt or listen to the audiobook sample below. […] The post Featured Excerpt: <i>Her Lotus Year</i> appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

In Resist, award-winning journalist Rita Omokha charts the last century of civil rights activism, from the early years of renowned activist Ella Baker and others she inspired, to the first glimpse of allyship in the Bates Seven and a renewed examination of the Black Panther Party, all the way to the current generation of young […] The post Featured Excerpt: <i>Resist</i> appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

Was Socrates a real person? is one of the most googled questions about perhaps the most important philosopher in history. Socrates’s existence as a historical figure is, however, universally accepted by scholars. He was executed in 399 BCE, aged over seventy, so it’s estimated that he must have been born around 470 BCE. He was […] The post Who Was the Real Socrates? appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

It’s one of many tales of the founding of America. Settlers from England were exploring more and more of the New World, and as they did, they set up new communities far from the comfort of home. We know these stories as well as the backs of our hands, if not in detail then at […] The post Featured Excerpt: “Second Life” from <i>Cabinet of Curiosities</i> appeared first on The History Reader ..read more

by Adriana Allegri When I first learned about Hochland Home, the setting for The Sunflower House, it seemed like the stuff of dystopian science fiction. Few people knew about this state-run baby factory, created to perpetuate Hitler’s so-called Master Race. In retrospect, that isn’t surprising—Heinrich Himmler ordered all records destroyed during the last days of […] The post Lebensborn: Bearing Children for Adolf Hitler’s ‘Master Race’ appeared first on The History Reader ..read more