History | Prepub Alert, November 2024 Titles

History highlights include an exploration of the Wild West, a book about the discovery of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance, a history of moutaineering, and a look at reproductive rights pioneers; plus two hit podcasts receive book treatments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clavin, Tom. Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9781250282408. 304p. $30. HISTORY

Bestselling Clavin (Wild Bill) explores the bandit hideouts in Wyoming and Utah that provided shelter to robbers, thieves, and others with a bounty on their head. These lawless locales housed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, among others. Clavin’s work ranges across the 1880s and ’90s. With a 200K-copy first printing.

DiMeo, Nate. The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past. Random. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9780593446157. 320p. $33. HISTORY

DiMeo, the creator and host of The Memory Palace podcast and coauthor of Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America, which was a finalist for the Thurber Prize, offers a collection of stories from history. In addition to the stories, the work is particularly designed to showcase images as well.

French, Paul. Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9781250287472. 320p. $30. HISTORY

Edgar and Dagger Award–winner French (Midnight in Peking) considers the year Wallis Simpson lived in China while married to a naval aviator. Her time there shaped her aesthetic, forged friendships, and may have allowed her to help the U.S. through undercover diplomatic work. It also served to supply fodder for those who opposed her marriage to the king of England.

Gorton, Stephanie. The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America. Ecco. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9780063036291. 304p. $32. HISTORY

Gorton, who has written for NewYorker.com and The Millions and worked in publishing, writes a history of two leading reproductive rights pioneers, Margaret Sanger and Mary Dennett. She traces their rivalry, political differences, and explores how their struggle and actions affected generations.

Hamilton, Nigel. Lincoln vs. Davis: The War of the Presidents. Little, Brown. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9780316564632. 800p. $38. HISTORY

Bestselling Hamilton (JFK: Reckless Youth), who has been longlisted for the National Book Award, turns to the American Civil War. He considers Abraham Lincoln’s role as commander-in-chief facing off against Jefferson Davis, who, unlike Lincoln, entered the war with battle experience. The new biography mines the papers of Lincoln’s aides and generals as well as the collected archives of both Lincoln and Davis.

Light, Daniel. The White Ladder: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering. Norton. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9781324066217. 496p. $32.50. HISTORY

A climber for decades, Light debuts with a history of mountaineering that is focused on pre-1921 summits. The book spans mountain ranges across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Light particularly highlights the contributions of Indigenous climbers and local guides.

Mahnke, Aaron, with Harry Marks. Cabinet of Curiosities: A Historical Tour of the Unbelievable, the Unsettling, and the Bizarre. St. Martin’s. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9781250291202. 336p. $32. HISTORY

Mahnke, along with Marks, adapts his hit podcast into this book filled with astounding, strange, and curious stories from history. Collected from the show, these are the tales that resonate with Mahnke, who is also known for his podcast Lore. With a 150K-copy first printing.

Paranque, Estelle. Thorns, Lust, and Glory: The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn. Hachette. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9780306835933. 400p. $32.50. HISTORY

Historian Paranque (Northeastern Univ. London and Univ. of Warwick), the author of the buzzy Blood, Fire, & Gold, offers a new biography of Anne Boleyn, focused particularly on her time within the French royal court and the world she was forced to navigate.

Shears, John & Nico Vincent. Endurance: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Legendary Ship. Nov. 2024. ISBN 9781426223839. 256p. $50. HISTORY

This highly visual account, a tie-in to the forthcoming feature film and traveling exhibition, traces the mission of the Endurance22, the expedition team that found the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance. The team leader, John Shears, and the subsea manager, Nico Vincent, cowrite the text of this large-scale book, with full-spread presentations.

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