Amistad
Washington: The Making of the American Capital (May, $27.95) by Fergus Bordewich examines the role of compromises and alliances in making Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital.
Angel City Press
Paradise Promoted: The Booster Campaign That Created Los Angeles, 1870—1930 (Mar., $35) by Tom Zimmerman showcases the era when a small town was transformed into a major metropolis.
Duncan Baird
(dist. by Sterling)
Treasures of China: The Glories of the Kingdom of the Dragon (May, $35) by John Chinnery portrays a civilization that has fascinated outsiders for millennia.
Bantam
American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work (Mar., $27) by Nick Taylor will coincide with the 75th anniversary of FDR’s New Deal. 75,000 first printing. Ad/promo.
Basic Books
George Washington on Leadership (May, $26) by Richard Brookhiser views the first president from three perspectives—military, in government and in business. 60,000 first printing. 6-city author tour.
Basic/Civitas
April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Death and the Transformation of America (Apr., $26) by Michael Eric Dyson considers King’s influence and the ways in which his death changed America. 75,000 first printing. 10-city author tour.
B&H Books
American Heroes: In the Fight Against Islam (May, $22.99) by Oliver North contrasts the terrorism America faced in the 19th century with the terrorism it faces today. Author tour.
Black Dog & Leventhal
The Encyclopedia Britannica/Getty Images History of the World in Photographs—1850 to the Present Day (June, $50) contains 2,000 historical photos, with 20,000 more on an included CD and online access to two million more. 50,000 first printing.
Burford Books
The Ocean’s Last Greyhound: The Unfinished Saga of the SSUnited States (July, $24.95) by Ben Jacobs studies the story of this noted liner from her conception to her abandonment, then her possible revival.
Collins UK
(dist. by Trafalgar square/IPG)
London’s Dead: A Guided Tour of the Graveyards of London (June, $24.95) by Ed Glinert unearths some of the city’s more gruesome tales in this compendium of facts and anecdotes.
Columbia Univ. Press
A Brief History of the Masses (Aug., $34.50) by Stefan Jonsson combines cultural history with a discussion about the fate of democracy in a globalized world.
Cornell Univ. Press
Awaiting the Heavenly Country: The Civil War and America’s Culture of Death (June, $26.95) by Mark S. Schantz argues that the country’s nonchalant attitude about death helped facilitate the war’s carnage.
Counterpoint
Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination (June, $26) by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann ventures behind the scenes of this political powder keg.
Crown
The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine (May, $24.95) by Benjamin Wallace explains how a 1787 Chateau Lafite threatens to bring down the rare wine industry. 100,000 first printing.
Da Capo Press
Ghosts at the Table: Riverboat Gamblers, Texas Rounders, Roadside Hucksters, and the Living Legends Who Made Poker What It Is Today (Apr., $26) by Des Wilson.
A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America—One State Quarter at a Time (May, $25) by Jim Noles contemplates what the 50 state quarter coins reveal about a changing America.
Fair Winds Press
The War Chronicles: Volume One, New Perspectives on Conflicts That Changed the Course of History from Chariots to Flintlocks: 1350 B.C. to 1800 A.D. (July, $29.95) by Joseph Cummins. Essays describe each major war, focusing on turning points, key players and technological advantages.
Free Press
Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies on 9/11 (June, $26) by Lynn Spencer views the front lines of the attack through the eyes of commercial pilots, the FAA Command Center and others. Ad/promo.
Giles
(dist. by Antique Collectors’ Club)
The Naming of America: Martin Waldseemuller’s 1507 World Map (Mar., $24.95) by John W. Hessler examines the creation of the first map to display the name “America.”
Harcourt
Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire (May, $27) by Alex Abella chronicles the history of the RAND think tank. 75,000 first printing. Ad/promo.
Harmony
When the World Came to Town: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (Mar., $27.50) by David King studies the intrigue behind the events. 50,000 first printing.
Harvard Univ. Press
The Road to Dallas: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Mar., $35) by David Kaiser places that event against a backdrop of organized crime and the government’s attempts to eliminate Castro.
The Sixties Unplugged: A Kaleidoscopic History of a Disorderly Decade (Mar., $29.95) by Gerard DeGroot considers a time when idealism, tolerance and creativity gave way to cynicism, chauvinism and materialism.
Henry Holt
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World (Apr., $27.50) by Tony Horowitz re-examines the European discovery of the American continent.
Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest’s Most Controversial Season (May, $26) by Nick Heil focuses on the people left for dead on the mountain’s north face in 2006.
ISI Books
Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America (June, $28) by Craig Shirley tells of Reagan’s climb to the presidency.
Loyola Press
More than a Dream: How One School’s Vision Is Changing the World (Mar., $22.95) by G.R. Kearney tells how a Jesuit vision to help underprivileged students in Chicago became a model for educational success. $35,000 ad/promo.
Lyons Press
Truth at Last: The Untold Story Behind James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Apr., $24.95) by John Larry Ray and Lyndon Barsten presents new evidence that challenges the idea that James Earl Ray acted alone.
Mercury Books
(dist. by IPM)
The History of Shipwrecks (June, $25) by Angus Konstam tracks the history of humankind at sea.
Metropolitan Books
Hell’s Cartel: IG Farben and Its Devil’s Pact with Nazi Germany (Aug., $27.50) by Diarmuid Jeffreys traces the rise and fall of the huge conglomerate.
MIT Press
The Tropics of Empire: Why Columbus Sailed South to the Indies (May, $29.95) by Nicolas Wey Gomez presents a radical revision of geographical history.
Morrow
Ladies of Liberty (Apr., $26.95) by Cokie Roberts looks at the lives and times of the women who helped shape America. 400,000 first printing.
1434 (June, $26.95) by Gavin Menzies contends that the European Renaissance was spurred in large part by Chinese advances in science, art and technology. 150,000 first printing.
National Archives (U.K.)
(dist. by IPM)
British Intelligence: Secrets, Spies and Sources (Aug., $34.95) by Stephen Twigge et al. draws on the once secret records of MI5 to shed light on 20th-century intelligence.
Will’s Will: The Last Wishes of William Shakespeare (May, $14.95) by the National Archives. This facsimile edition includes modern explanations of context and terms.
Naval Institute Press
Contrails over the Mojave: The Golden Age of Jet Flight Testing at Edwards Air Force Base (Mar., $29.95) by George J. Marrett. A former test pilot takes off where Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff ended in 1963.
Northern illinois Univ. Press
Hitler’s Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism (Mar., $39.95) by Kevin P. Spicer reveals the story of brown priests—Catholic clergymen who participated in the Nazi movement.
Osprey Publishing
(dist. by Random House)
The Concentration Camp Counterfeiter (July, $24.95) by Moritz Nachtstern portrays the human side of a little-known Nazi operation that could have changed the fate of WWII.
Iwo Jima (May, $24.95) by Derrick Wright narrates the battle and considers those who fought in it.
Oxford Univ. Press
Murder of a Medici Princess (Apr., $28) by Caroline Murphy centers on Isabella de’ Medici, Florence’s leading art patron, who was killed by her husband when she was 34.
Pantheon
Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution (May, $26) by Robert H. Patton explores an overlooked aspect of the war: legalized sea rovers commissioned by the Continental Congress.
Pegasus Books
(dist. by W.W. Norton)
World War I: The African Front (July, $30) by Edward Paice probes Britain’s ill-fated campaign against the Germans in East Africa.
Pelican
The Berlin Airlift: The Salvation of a City (Mar., $24.95 ) by Jon Sutherland and Diane Canwell documents the story that marked the climax of the first Cold War crisis.
Penguin Press
Standard Operating Procedure (Mar., $25.95) by Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris addresses the events at Abu Ghraib prison, based on interviews with the Americans involved.
The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (Apr., $29.95) by Steve Coll chronicles the bin Laden family’s rise to privilege.
Quercus
(dist. by Trafalgar Square/IPG)
Emperors of Rome: The Story of Imperial Rome from Julius Caesar to the Last Emperor (July, $27.95) by David Potter depicts these rulers from the golden age of Augustus to the destruction of Pompeii and beyond.
SourceBooks
1858: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and the War They Failed to See (Apr., $24.95) by Bruce Chadwick tells of the Civil War’s celebrated figures and the events leading to the conflict.
Southern illinois Univ. Press
Confederate Daughters: Coming of Age During the Civil War (Mar., $29.95) by Victoria E. Ott examines Confederate identity through the lives of teenage daughters of slaveholding, secessionist families.
Stackpole Books
Lincoln at Peoria (July, $34.95) by Lewis Lehrman examines Abe Lincoln’s antislavery speech and its ramifications for his political writings and the institution of slavery.
Taschen
The Circus, 1870—1950 (May, $200), edited by Noel Daniel, brings to life the grit and glamour under the big top; includes 1,000 color and b&w illustrations.
Texas Tech Univ. Press
Rights in the Balance: Free Press, Fair Trial, andNebraska Press Association v. Stuart (May, $40) by Mark Scherer traces the NPA’s battle to overturn a media gag order in the 1970s trial of Erwin Simants.
Thames & Hudson
King Tutankhamun: The Treasures of the Tomb (Apr., $80) by Zahi Hawass describes the objects in the tomb in the order that they were uncovered.
Times Books
In Nixon’s Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate (Mar., $25) by L. Patrick Gray III and Ed Gray. The FBI director who kept his silence for more than 30 years relates the last untold Watergate story.
Univ. of Arizona Press
Rocky Mountain Heartland: Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming in the Twentieth Century (May, $39.95) by Duane A. Smith recounts major social, political and economic events.
Univ. of Minnesota Press
The Dallas Myth: The Making and Unmaking of an American City (May, $34.95) by Harvey J. Graff scrutinizes Dallas’s origin myth and governance ideology to show the city in a new light.
Univ. of North Carolina Press
Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know About the Civil War (Apr., $28) by Gary W. Gallagher shows how recent film and art both reflect and influence the currents of their times. Author tour.
Univ. of North Texas Press
Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II (Mar., $24.95) by Sarah Byrn Rickman describes how Love led the first group of women to fly military aircraft for the U.S. Army.
Weinstein Books
Courage (Apr., $24.95) by Gordon Brown introduces the values and ideas of the British prime minister via eight portraits of notable men and women. Author publicity.
Westholme
Sitting Bull (Apr., $29.95) by Bill Yenne profiles the Indian leader whose life spanned the defeat of Custer and the final destruction of Plains culture.
Zenith Press/MBI Publishing
FBI 100 Years: An Unofficial History (Apr., $34.95) by Henry M. Holden marks the bureau’s history via an illustrated account of its workings.
