The Frontier Awaits!

Justice at Redwillow by John D. Nesbitt

A Wyoming homesteader finds his newly acquired quarter-section of land the center of unwanted and suspicious attention. Ben Spoonhammer, the old partner who sold Jim Fontaine his 160 acres, held the title to the parcel free and clear, and there’s no legal reason why Fontaine shouldn’t take possession of the little spread and live there peacefully. But Fred Barrett and George Call, a pair of hands from the much bigger Rocking B ranch, seem all too interested in his doings. Despite the high body count—half the cast will be dead by the last sunset—Nesbitt (Don’t Be a Stranger, 2015, etc.) as usual keeps things relaxed and neighborly, even though Fontaine’s neighbors aren’t the kind you’d want yourself. (Kirkus Review)

On Cimarron by Paul Joseph Lederer

As weary settlers begin to infiltrate the Kansas area, a young family of pilgrims settles on a lower stretch of the Cimarron River. Elizabeth O'Day and her husband, Tom, virtually alone in the wilderness, have been told that the area is safe for whites. However, they soon discover a band of Kiowa Indians, their mood uncertain, living nearly across the river from where they plan to build a home. An uneasy peace endures between the people on each side of the river, and the two groups manage a sort of wary interaction. Until the War Between the States erupts nearly simultaneously with the long-standing conflict between Comanche and Kiowa and the winds of bloody war sweep across the Cimarron land from every direction. (Publisher Summary)

Changes by Pamela Nowak

Librarian Lise Dupree has a secret, one that cost her her last job: her mother is half-Sioux. In 1879, this is an unforgivable offense. Now the head librarian in Omaha, she hides her identity and passes as white. However, with the incarceration of her ailing, elderly aunt and the trial of an important chief looming on the horizon, Lise, though still not revealing who she really is, begins to show her pro-Indian sympathies. Zach Spencer, the prosecuting attorney in the Standing Bear case, disagrees with Lise but is impressed with her legal-research skills, and soon his admiration turns to love. The problem is Lise hasn't shared her heritage with Zach, and given his beloved grandfather's attitude toward Native Americans, she's sure that when he finds out, their relationship will end. Nowak has captured the prejudices of the day in this well-written historical romance and has avoided the seemingly omnipresent stereotypes many writers of historical westerns stoop to using. Standing Bear's landmark trial, which determined whether American Indians were "real" human beings or merely ignorant "savages," was a vital part of the path that eventually led to their enfranchisement. (Booklist Starred Review)

1776

Wishing everyone a safe and happy July 4th weekend!

Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War that Won it
by John Ferling

From servants to citizens: a nuanced study of the American Revolution focused on how the war changed the way Americans saw themselves. Having written abundantly about the Revolutionary War, accomplished scholar Ferling (Emeritus, History/Univ. of West Georgia; Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry that Forged a Nation, 2013, etc.) employs his extensive knowledge to relay a tremendously complicated and multi layered story of the gradual embracing of ideas of independence by the once-loyal colonists. (Kirkus Reviews)

George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution
by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger.

When General George Washington beat a hasty retreat from New York City in August 1776, many thought the American Revolution might soon be over. Instead, Washington rallied thanks in large part to a little-known, top-secret group called the Culper Spy Ring. In George Washington’s Secret Six, Townsend and his fellow spies finally receive their due, taking their place among the pantheon of heroes of the American Revolution. (Publisher Summary)

Facing East from Indian Country: a Native History of Early America by Daniel Richter

Viewed from Indian country, the sixteenth century was an era in which Native people discovered Europeans and struggled to make sense of a new world. Well into the seventeenth century, the most profound challenges to Indian life came less from the arrival of a relative handful of European colonists than from the biological, economic, and environmental forces. Drawing upon their own traditions, Indian communities reinvented themselves and carved out a place in a world dominated by transatlantic European empires. In 1776, however, when some of Britain's colonists rebelled against that imperial world, they overturned the system that had made Euro-American and Native coexistence possible. Eastern North America only ceased to be an Indian country because the revolutionaries denied the continent's first peoples a place in the nation they were creating. (Publisher Summary)

Firefight: the Century-Long Battle to Integrate New York's Bravest by Ginger Adams Otis

In 1919, when Wesley Williams became a New York City firefighter, he stepped into a world that was 100% white and predominantly Irish. As far as this city knew, black men in the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) tended horses.

Nearly a century later, many things in the FDNY had changed--but not the scarcity of blacks. New York had about 300 black firefighters--roughly 3 percent of the 11,000 New York firefighters in a city of two million African Americans. That made the FDNY a true aberration compared to all the other uniformed departments, like the NYPD. Decades earlier, women and blacks had sued over its hiring practices and won. But the FDNY never took permanent steps to eradicate the inequities, which led to a courtroom show-down. It was not until 2014 that the city settled the $98 million lawsuit.

At the center of this book are stories of courage--about firefighters risking their lives in the line of duty but also risking their livelihood by battling an unjust system. Among them: FDNY Captain Paul Washington, a second generation black firefighter, who spent his multi-decade career fighting to get minorities on the job. He faced an insular culture made up of relatives who never saw their own inclusion as favoritism.

Based on author Ginger Adams Otis' years of on the ground reporting, Firefight is an exciting blend of the high-octane energy of firefighting and critical Civil Rights history. (Publisher Summary)

Daisy Turner's Kin

Daisy Turner's Kin an African American Family Saga
by Jane C. Beck

A daughter of freed African American slaves, Daisy Turner became a living repository of history. The family narrative entrusted to her--"a well-polished artifact, an heirloom that had been carefully preserved"--began among the Yoruba in West Africa and continued with her own century and more of life.

In 1983, folklorist Jane Beck began a series of interviews with Turner, then one hundred years old and still relating four generations of oral history. Beck uses Turner's storytelling to build the Turner family saga, using at its foundation the oft-repeated touchstone stories at the heart of their experiences: the abduction into slavery of Turner's African ancestors; Daisy's father Alec Turner learning to read; his return as a soldier to his former plantation to kill his former overseer; and Daisy's childhood stand against racism. Other stories re-create enslavement and her father's life in Vermont--in short, the range of life events large and small, transmitted by means so alive as to include voice inflections. Beck, at the same time, weaves in historical research and offers a folklorist's perspective on oral history and the hazards--and uses--of memory. (Publisher Summary)

New Series Alert!

Eeny Meeny (A Helen Grace Thriller Book 1) by M. J. Arlidge

Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive.

It’s a game more twisted than any Detective Inspector Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn’t spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn’t believe them.

Helen is familiar with the dark sides of human nature, including her own, however this case—with its seemingly random victims—has her baffled. But as more people go missing, nothing will be more terrifying than when it all starts making sense....     (Publisher Summary)