Don’t miss the best new history from the past month, hand-picked by our editors! Check out this month’s history picks — which include a gripping World War II tale from a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a sweeping account of how storytelling has transformed over time, and more!

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	How a sex scandal involving two priests upended a Prussian city — and changed the West forever WHY IT’S READWORTHY: “One of our greatest historians” (The Times) recounts a moral panic that illuminates the era’s fierce philosophical and theological debates Receiving rave reviews from The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, and many more “A brilliant miniature history of 19th-century Prussia — its politics, class tensions, and cultural life brought vividly to the page” (Bancroft Prize–winning author David S. Reynolds) Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: GET EBOOK ON: Amazon Other formats and retailers As the world’s great powers battle for supremacy, what can the past reveal about our shared future? WHY IT’S READWORTHY: “A short book on a big subject that will make you think long after you put it down” (Fareed Zakaria) From a Yale professor of history and global affairs who’s also a Bancroft Prize–winning author Draws thought-provoking parallels between our current geopolitical challenges and those of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: GET EBOOK ON: Amazon Other formats and retailers ‘A captivating mosaic of wartime Berlin’ (Financial Times) WHY IT’S READWORTHY: From movie stars to resistance fighters to forced laborers, see what life was like for Berlin residents during World War II Drawn from letters, diaries, and interviews with eyewitnesses “A beautifully written account of a city under military and moral siege” (Pulitzer Prize–winning author Anne Applebaum) Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: GET EBOOK ON: Amazon Other formats and retailers Motherhood, over thousands of years WHY IT’S READWORTHY: Meet a medieval nun with revolutionary ideas about the maternal body, an abolitionist advocating for enslaved mothers, and more “A perfectly timed and illuminating triumph that consolidates Cleghorn’s place among the foremost voices in medical history” (New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris) “Impressive research informs [this] vibrantly detailed” read (Kirkus Reviews starred review) Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: GET EBOOK ON: Amazon Other formats and retailers During World War II, an unlikely group waged a secret battle to protect American shores WHY IT’S READWORTHY: Get to know the mobsters, double agents, scientists, and more who staved off sea invasions in this unique slice of wartime history From a New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed documentary filmmaker “A humdinger of a World War II tale populated by a cast of characters even Hollywood couldn’t invent” (Pulitzer Prize finalist James M. Scott) Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: GET EBOOK ON: Amazon Other formats and retailers In 1943, a civilian exchange between the US and Japan changed the course of thousands of lives WHY IT’S READWORTHY: A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist illuminates a little-known chapter of World War II history Learn how the US forcibly repatriated Japanese Americans in a desperate bid to rescue Allied civilians from Asia A “quietly devastating account that spotlights how man’s inhumanity to man flourishes in wartime” (Publishers Weekly) Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: GET EBOOK ON: Amazon Other formats and retailers The million-year history of stories, told here for the first time WHY IT’S READWORTHY: Traces the development of eight major storytelling tools — from fire and drawings to the printing press and smartphones “This astonishing work of history will change how you see the screen in your pocket and how you hear the story in your head” (Daniel H. Pink) “A riveting exploration of how tools have transformed the stories we tell — and who we become” (Adam Grant) Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: GET EBOOK ON: Amazon Other formats and retailers Discover ‘the real story of America’ (Beth Macy) in this captivating look at a complex city WHY IT’S READWORTHY: A New York Times reporter charts the history of El Paso, the nation’s most famous border town, through the lives of five families Covers everything from the impact of the Mexican Revolution to today’s changing immigration policies “This brilliantly told book makes a persuasive claim that El Paso belongs in the center of the American narrative” (Pulitzer Prize–winning author Lawrence Wright) Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: GET EBOOK ON: Amazon Other formats and retailers Meet Empress Maria Theresia’s seven daughters, all pawns in 18th-century dynastic politics WHY IT’S READWORTHY: Includes Queen Marie Antoinette of France; Maria Christine, Duchess of Teschen; and Carolina of Naples, Napoleon’s staunch enemy “A richly detailed history of eventful lives” (Kirkus Reviews starred review), based on the women’s diaries and letters Court intrigue, personal ambition, and revolution abound in this “novel and insightful” page-turner (Adam Zamoyski) Learn more... MEDIA MENTIONS: