Holiday Gift Guide 2022: Books for News Junkies and History Buffs

Looking for a gift for your favorite history buff? We have you covered. Try one of these reads!

How to Win the War on Truth

by Samuel C. Spitale; illustrated by Allan Whincup

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath meets Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe in this illustrated guide to navigating today’s post-truth landscape, filled with examples of modern-day propaganda campaigns.

We’re bombarded with information like never before. Some of it’s true, some of it’s spin, and some of it’s flat-out fake news. And that’s by design. Propaganda helps governments and corporations sell us products, lifestyles, and ideas. Sometimes the agenda is harmless, but other times it’s destructive, and it’s not always easy to spot the difference.

Whether you want to be informed on the issues or debunk misinformation wherever you encounter it, How to Win the War on Truth is here to help. You’ll learn:

• The history of propaganda, from Edward Bernays to Fox News
• Why simple messages are so powerful
• Who profits from propaganda
• How propaganda is manufactured and delivered directly to you
• How to find the truth for yourself

Filled with cleverly illustrated real-world examples of propaganda in all its forms, How to Win the War on Truth will help you see the world with clear eyes for the first time. Because when it comes to preserving democracy and fighting for our rights, it’s essential that we do.

Signing Their Lives Away

by Denise Kiernan and Joseph D’Agnese

An entertaining and essential collection of stories about the surprising and strange fates of the fifty-six Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence.

In the summer of 1776, a group of 56 men risked their lives and livelihood to defy King George III and sign the Declaration of Independence—yet how many of them do we remember? Signing Their Lives Away introduces readers to the eclectic group of statesmen, soldiers, slaveholders, and scoundrels who signed this historic document—and the many strange fates that awaited them. To wit:

• The Signer Who Was Poisoned By His Nephew
• The Signer Who Was Killed In a Duel
• The Signer Who Went to Prison
• The Signer Who Was Lost at Sea
• The Signer Who Achieved Fame as a Brewer

Complete with portraits of every signatory, Signing Their Lives Away provides an entertaining and enlightening narrative for students, history buffs, politicos, and Hamilton fans alike.

Anything for a Vote

by Joseph Cummins

An updated and illustrated compendium of mudslinging, character assassinations, and below-board election strategies from U.S. presidential politics throughout history!

Discover the “dirty tricks of the covert and the sleazy” in this giftable volume for American history buffs (New York Times Magazine).

Covering 225-plus years of smear campaigns, slanderous candidates, and bad behavior in American elections, this comprehensive history is the authoritative tour of political shade-throwing from George Washington to Barack Obama. You might think today’s politicians play rough—but history reveals that dirty tricks are as American as apple pie. Let the name-calling begin!

• 1836: Congressman Davy Crockett accuses candidate Martin Van Buren of secretly wearing women’s clothing: “He is laced up in corsets!”
• 1864: Candidate George McClellan describes his opponent, Abraham Lincoln, as “nothing more than a well-meaning baboon!”
• 1960: Former president Harry Truman advises voters that “if you vote for Richard Nixon, you ought to go to hell!”

Full of sleazy and shameless anecdotes from every presidential election in United States history, Anything for a Vote is a valuable reminder that history does repeat itself, lessons can be learned from the past (but usually aren’t), and our most famous presidents are not above reproach when it comes to the dirtiest game of all—political campaigning.

Take me back to the full holiday gift guide!