January’s Best History Books

The Lost City of the Monkey God, by Douglas Preston
Preston sure knows a good story when he finds one. Legends of a sacred White City in the jungles of Honduras, the last fingerhold of an ancient civilization to which natives fled from the conquistadors, bring the novelist/adventurer to the jungle. Stories of journalist Theodore Morde’s visit there in the 1940s—capped by his inexplicable suicide before he could reveal the exact location of the lost city—add the perfect novelistic flare, and Preston is off and running. Fans of the author know half the fun is hearing all the ways he almost kills himself during his real-world adventures, and fans of history will feel the thrill of discovery crackling in the pages.

My Life, My Love, My Legacy, by Coretta Scott King (as told to Barbara Reynolds)
Beginning in 1975, Barbara Reynolds was a confidante and friend to Coretta Scott King. She’s taken the many private conversations the two shared and crafted this memoir, a kind of oral history that focuses on the work King did in the wake of her husband’s assassination. For many who can only think of Coretta Scott King as the wife of Martin Luther King, this book is a refreshing reminder that King was a powerhouse for the Civil Rights movement in her own right, and a woman who shared her husband’s beliefs and his level of energy. The book offers both a personal glimpse of an important woman as well as a clear case for her significance to history.

Unprecedented: The Election that Changed Everything, by Thomas Lake, Jodi Enda
With the hottest of hot takes, CNN Politics and Thomas Lake (with a foreword by Jake Tapper) offer up a review of what has turned into one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential campaigns of all time. With “behind the scenes” material gathered by CNN’s reporters during the entire 2016 election, Unprecedented seeks to unravel the messy rhetoric and establish the issues, missteps, and personalities that have been dominating our news cycles for two years now. With the resources of CNN to draw on, this is the book that can made sense of this election as it happened.

Three Days in January: Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Final Mission, by Bret Baier and Catherine Whitney
Just about everyone is familiar with Eisenhower’s farewell address, in which he warned about the rising influence of the “military-industrial complex.” Baier and Whitney explore the final days of Eisenhower’s administration as he prepared to turn power over to the young John F. Kennedy, cognizant that Kennedy had, in part, leveraged the public’s fear of the Soviet Union in order to win the election. The time for a thorough reexamination of Eisenhower’s presidency and these telling final weeks is long overdue, and any student of politics seeking insight into 2017’s transfer of power will benefit from this fascinating book. Eisenhower was a paradox in many ways—and a surprisingly prescient one.

Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail, by Jonathan Chait
With the election of Donald Trump, one question that remains to be answered is the fate of President Barack Obama’s legacy. Chait makes the compelling argument that Obama’s legacy will stand with those of the most successful and dynamic presidents in history. Chait focuses on Obama’s ingenuity in overcoming the stiff legislative resistance of the Republican Party throughout the eight years of his administration, building an image of Obama as a clever, energetic chief executive—and as a liberal who hasn’t received his full credit due to the distorting lens of current events. Whatever side of the aisle you hail from, it behooves you to have a balanced view of recent history, and this book is a powerful resource for that purpose.

Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin, by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin
It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Trayvon Martin was gunned down while walking home, carrying a bottle of juice and talking on his phone. Martin has become a symbol of gun violence, institutional racism, and police dysfunction, but as his story has inspired millions to action, Trayvon the person has been buried under hot-takes and editorials. Rest in Power is an attempt to tell Trayvon’s story—the story of a young man of unlimited potential. Told in alternating chapters by Trayvon’s mother and father, this book shows us the human behind the news headlines and the movements—a human who will never be able to tell his own story.

The Way of the Strangers, by Graeme Wood
Wood, a contributing editor at Atlantic, made a splash with his article What ISIS Really Wants, the result of unprecedented access to the men and women around the world who dropped everything to join the Islamic State. This book is the expanded, more detailed version of that remarkable article, offering up invaluable—and incredible—insights into the appeal the supposed Caliphate has for those who believe its founding was prophesied, and its mission, the holiest possible. Anyone wishing to understand the confusing and violent world we have inherited must read this amazing work of journalism.