The Indian World of George Washington: First Americans, the First President, and the Birth of the Nation by Colin G. Calloway | New York, NY: Oxford University Press

Documents contained in the papers of George Washington and Philip Schuyler, long preserved as part of the Library’s collection of historic manuscripts, have been incorporated into an essential new study of the Native American world present before the birth of the American republic. This book provides opportunity to learn more about the life of George Washington and the history and impact of European-Indian diplomacy that came to shape America’s founding. - Thomas G. Lannon

Reporter: A Memoir by Seymour Hersh
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf

Essentially a primary-source account of some of the biggest scoops in investigative journalism since the Vietnam era. That the author was able to do so much research at NYPL in the records of major dailies and weeklies, wherein his stories were first featured—including records of the New York Times and the New Yorker—only highlights the grave significance of archives as sources of truth in contested times. We are thankful Seymour Hersh was able to provide additional context for these records through this incredible memoir. - Thomas G. Lannon

See the author: LIVE from the NYPL: Seymour Hersh with Paul Holdengräber: Unwanted Truths

Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York by Stacy Horn | Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

A paean to the poor souls who dwelled among the structures which served as the New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island, (now Roosevelt Island, located in the East River between Manhattan and Queens), Damnation Island is an in-depth and readable work of history that could be read by both fans and students of New York City history. Making use of the Women’s Prison Association records, Horn’s findings are at times bleak, but ultimately prevail upon the reader a sense of recurring issues in institutions designed to care for the mentally ill, and incarcerated in the past and present. The book does great work to reconstruct lives of patients and doctors, reformers and alienists, to make an unsettling history more visible. -Thomas G. Lannon

Hear more from the author in the Library Talks Podcast: The Harrowing History of Roosevelt Island

Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles by Fran Leadon | New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company

Fran Leadon’s account of the history of Broadway is thoroughly researched and engages the reader from the first page. Focusing on one of the most iconic stretches of road in New York, and known throughout the world, this book traces the social and physical changes of this famous street. Covering riots to suffrage parades, massive amounts of wealth to utter destitution, the author has done a marvelous job of showing the incredible history of Broadway. Using the George Kirwan Carr diary, the John Aspinwall Hadden diary, the John J. Sturtevant memoir, the Jeff Kisseloff oral history interviews, and material from the NYPL Rare Book Collection, the author has created an in-depth look at each mile that makes up one of the most famous roads in the world. -Cara Dellatte

The Promise and the Dream: The Untold Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy by David Margolick
New York, NY: Rosetta Books

To mark the 50th anniversary of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, David Margolick presents this dual biography of these significant political leaders, whose lives were tragically cut short. The book not only details the crucial events of 1968, but also provides context for Dr. King and RFK’s differing leadership in the civil rights movement. Interspersed throughout the narrative are quotes from journals from the Arthur M. Schlesinger papers. Schlesinger was there when King met with John F. Kennedy, and when Robert Kennedy decided to run against Lyndon Johnson in 1968. It is fascinating to see how Schlesinger’s journal helps tie together the world of Democratic politics during this monumental period. -Thomas G. Lannon

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Timothy Leary, Richard Nixon and the Hunt for the Fugitive King of LSD by Bill Minutaglio | New York, NY: Twelve

Creating an accurate timeline of the various arrests, incarcerations, and escape acts in the life of Dr. Timothy Leary is difficult to achieve. This book brings readers closer to the tumultuous reality of Leary’s wide orbit as he came to represent the revolutionary zeal of an era in spite of Nixon’s rise to power after 1969. Researched in the Timothy Leary papers, the author’s presentation of actual facts in real time achieves a colorful, even crazed narrative few other nonfiction titles can deliver. -Thomas G. Lannon

Hear more from the author in the Library Talks Podcast: The Hunt for Timothy Leary

Fear City: New York's Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics by Kim Phillips-Fein | New York, NY: Metropolitan Books

How does a large city recover from the brink of economic collapse Phillips-Fein investigated this question during her Cullman Center fellowship, as she traced New York’s 1970s economic crisis. Fear City roots the evergreen debate of austerity politics versus social liberalism in a narrative bolstered by the collections of more than 20 archival repositories throughout New York City. Here at NYPL, Phillips-Fein relied upon the institutional records of branch libraries Hunt’s Point and New Dorp, as well as library directors James W. Henderson and John Mackenzie Cory, to closely analyze the Library’s response to the fiscal downturn. - Meredith Mann

See the author: Fear City: Kim Phillips-Fein and Alexander Burns

On Press: The Liberal Values That Shaped the News by Matthew Pressman | Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press

In a timely response to contemporary accusations of media bias and "fake news," Pressman looks to the watershed years of the 1960s and 1970s, when news outlets like the New York Times were reevaluating the needs and methodologies of responsible journalism, and the stigma of the "liberal media" first took shape. Pressman explored the inner workings of the Times through the letters and memos of its editors and reporters, including Abe Rosenthal, James Reston, and Tom Wicker. -Meredith Mann

The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies by Dawn Raffel | New York, NY: Blue Rider Press

Dawn Raffel relates the story of Dr. Martin A. Couney, the German-Jewish physician who advanced medical innovations in infant care in the early 20th century. Initially using public fairs, international exhibitions, and even the Coney Island boardwalk as his platform, Couney put working incubators for premature babies on display—all during a time when few hospitals had specialized nurseries. In 1939, Couney’s spectacle came to the Amusement Area of the New York World’s Fair. Raffel turned to documents held in the New York World's Fair 1939 and 1940 Incorporated records to add detail to this chapter in Couney’s efforts. -Tal Nadan

Flannery O'Connor and Robert Giroux: A Publishing Partnership by Patrick Samway | Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press

Along with Shirley Jackson and Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor is a central figure in Southern Gothic literature, known best for her short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and novel Wise Blood.  She was a client of publishers Farrar, Straus & Giroux from her second novel, The Violent Bear It Away, to her death in 1964, and Samway traces her development as an author, and the publication history of her work, through the letters of her editor Robert Giroux and her friend, the playwright Maryat Lee—all part of the Library’s Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. records. - Meredith Mann

The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison "Promiscuous" Women by Scott Wasserman Stern | Boston, MA: Beacon Press

This work of legal history brings to light a forgotten government effort to control the spread of sexually transmitted infections through forced hospitalization and treatments, following the particular circumstances for Nina McCall. Stern contextualizes the "American Plan" of surveillance and incarceration using the records of earlier New York social hygiene associations, the Committee of Fifteen and the Committee of Fourteen. -Tal Nadan

Waterfront Manhattan : from Henry Hudson to the High Line by Kurt C. Schlichting | Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press

Kurt Schlichting creates a vivid picture of the Manhattan waterfront in his new book. The first half discusses the benefits of the strategic position Manhattan had in regards to the harbor: wharves and piers were built to accommodate the influx of merchant ships that would descend upon Manhattan Island. In the second half of his book, Schlichting delves deep into the consolidation of New York City in 1898 and the effects that had on the Manhattan waterfront. Using the Brown Brothers & Company Records, Penn Central Transportation Company Records and William J. Wilgus papers, the author provides readers with a unique look at one of Manhattan’s most distinctive features. -Cara Dellatte