Summer Book Bingo: What You’re Reading for History or Alternative History
July 13, 2020
With summer here, we’re busy playing 2020 Summer Book Bingo, our free summer reading program with The Seattle Public Library! Download your card here. Engage with other bingo players and find out their own reading adventures by using the hashtag #BookBingoNW2020 on social media.
In a recent e-newsletter, we asked the SAL community—you!—what books you’ve been reading, or are planning to read, for the “History or Alternate History” square. You generously shared the following picks, with subjects ranging from the Great Migration to Tudor England. Want more? Check out the Seattle Public Library’s list for “History or Alternate History.”
Heather
“I read the third and final book in Hilary Mantel’s brilliant trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell, The Mirror & The Light.”
Cody
“I just started reading The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote, and How to Get it Back by Thom Hartmann. It’s meticulously researched, and includes a long list of references and citations that are almost all web addresses, meaning they are easy to access! Less than 150 pages, it’s a powerhouse in all senses of the word.”
Alison
“I read Gail Collins’ No Stopping Us Now. Loved her witty commentary, and she even mentioned the Red Cross donut ‘girls’ of WWII—my mother did that in North Africa and Italy. As kids, we thought of her as a second Clara Barton. Also, Jill Lepore’s These Truths: this certainly provides insight on how we got to where we are today.”
Robin
“I am currently reading The Price of Peace by Zachary D. Carter. It is about the life and influence of John Maynard Keynes. It is very well-written, by a youngish author who was likely not born when Keynes died. I have very much enjoyed his analysis of the events. They make sense and look much different than they do to somebody who saw Keynes’ teachings as current events.”
Krista
“I’m going to read Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.”
Susan
“I’m reading The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson—excellent book to read now. I had no idea about the Black migration north and west; it was never mentioned in any history class I took. It gives me some perspective of how we ended up with such pervasive, cultural, institutional racism that we see in our country now. It makes me so sad to see the decades, even centuries, of struggles and the unfair and unjust way Black people have been & continue to be treated in this country.”