New History Releases: July 2026

[00:00:02]Well, hello book. Welcome back to the history shelf. My name is Peg. I'm so glad you could join me today. Sorry for the lapse in videos. It's been uh it's been hotter than Hades here and it's really taken it out of my will to live.

[00:00:16]Um yeah, got no energy. [laughter] No energy for making videos. Um anyway, thanks for joining me. I'm really sorry that this video is late where I uh peruse some of the new history titles that have come out or are about to come out in the these final what two weeks of July. Uh so welcome to new history uh arrivals, new history releases for July 2026.

[00:00:48]This stack is actually not as big as I had expected, but I should I should probably know by now that uh you know summer months, especially June and July, you don't get a big glut. You know, the publishing world is not you know cranking things out um that quickly. But I'm tell you what, September, October, and November books are already arriving in galley form here at the history shelf. And uh yeah, those are going to be coming up. Um and I'm going to make sure I get those filmed at the end of the month prior to the month that I'll be uh sharing those releases in. So anyway, uh I'm going to show you what arrived for July here at the History Shelf. And please keep watching because I've got at least two more videos coming of just I'm catching up on all of the other books that have arrived earlier in the year. So, not July arrivals, but earlier in the summer, late spring, and they are some some fantastic titles I've got to share with you. So, stay tuned for those. Okay, are we ready to do this?

[00:02:05]All right.

[00:02:06]Yes. [laughter] All right. That's me moving my keyboard out of the way. Um, it got to be 103 degrees here in Denver yesterday.

[00:02:21]Uh, and luckily our air conditioning is working, but I'm getting cabin fever from being stuck in this house.

[00:02:31]Can't even do yard work. uh between the air quality and the the smoke in the air from wildfires, um the ozone levels, it's just constant air quality alerts and uh it doesn't feel good. And I think we're still breathing it in because I've I've been feeling kind of icky.

[00:02:52]So, yay. Yay, summer. Uh I'm ready for fall. Um I don't know about you guys.

[00:02:59]Let me know in the comments below. All right, let's start off. This is in no particular order. These are just July releases. Um, this book, tiny little book here.

[00:03:13]Uh, let's save that for later. Let's let's get into some meaty history because that's what you're here for, right? Meaty history and non-fiction.

[00:03:21]All right, since we are talking about summer, let's talk about this book, which is from Citadel Press.

[00:03:31]Uh oh, I see. It just came out. It went on sale.

[00:03:35]It says July, but it supposed to be on sale June 30th. It's probably out right now. This is from Citadel Press. Uh, and this is Summer of 71, The Five Months That Changed America by John A. Jenkins.

[00:03:52]Uh, this is a galley, so it's not a finished copy.

[00:03:57]This was the This was one year before I was I was born.

[00:04:02]Do the math. It was a country in chaos.

[00:04:06][clears throat] A calculating president seeking re-election, battling the press, subverting the political order. So, in chaos, bent on revenge. Racial tensions erupting into violence. National protests, mass arrests, leaks tied to a nationwide scandal overshadowing and possibly threatening to define the White House. Inflation surging.

[00:04:29]Wait, wait. Does this sound familiar? I um reproductive rights, freedom of the press and academic freedom under fire, frozen wages and high tariffs, conflict between the US and Russia.

[00:04:47]Surveillance and leaks. Wow. What is this? Secret federal schemes. Courageous journalists fighting back. Watergate was still one summer away. But during the fateful summer of 1971, the groundwork was being laid for the downfall of the president against the growing ideological divide of a nation. Change, unrest, intrigue, and disruption seemed to come from every corner of the country. From civil unrest in the streets to the atrocities of Vietnam leading up to the shocking league of the Pentagon Papers, from the cover up of heinous crimes protecting the political reputations of men in high government to anxious CEOs. From sweeping transformation and international relations to a charged and divided populace, the stage was being set for the drama that is still playing out today.

[00:05:36]See here, skillfully skillfully researched and based on thousands of primary and newly available sources. Award-winning reporter, longtime Washington insider, and acclaimed author John A. Jenkins paints a picture of America's fateful summer.

[00:05:55]Told through the words of the key players themselves, this enthralling page turner takes readers into the heart of America's turbulent, uncertain past that would set the country's tone for years to come. And that is your summer of 71.

[00:06:12]Uh, looks pretty darn interesting though, I have to say.

[00:06:19]A lot was going on.

[00:06:22]the year before I was born.

[00:06:24]All right, cool. Uh, let's keep moving.

[00:06:28]Let's see. Oh, this is this will be fun.

[00:06:33]This book is coming out. This one is really hard to identify sometimes. They don't even have it listed.

[00:06:42]It's supposed to come out this month, but let me um I'll come back to it when I can do a little bit of uh research on the date that it comes out because this book does not indicate, not even the pub sheet, and that's a problem.

[00:06:55]Um, same with this one. Let's see.

[00:07:01]Nope. Okay, we got one.

[00:07:05]All right, let's go to This looks really good. All right, some World War II history.

[00:07:14]This book came out July 7th from Norton, WW Norton. Love WW Norton. This is Hotel Exile, Paris in the Shadows of War by Jane Rogoa.

[00:07:29]Um, as you can see, so I just I have the uh the advanced reading copy here.

[00:07:34]Let's see if I can get in there.

[00:07:39]Let me just read from the back because I think this is better copy here. Since its birth in 1910, the Hotel Luteia has been a grand Paris institution, a meeting place for artists, intellectuals, musicians, and politicians. Andre Ye took his launch here. James Joyce lived in one of its rooms. Picasso and Matise were regular guests. But the hotel has a darker history too from the years before, during, and after the Second World War. In Hotel Exile, Jane Reggoa evokes in novelistic pros the emotions, dilemmas, and fates of the hotel's patrons. From intellectuals and political activists fleeing Nazi Germany to German counterintelligence officers who commandeered the hotel during the occupation to Holocaust survivors who sought refuge after the liberation. A masterpiece of empathy and concision, Hotel Exile offers us a vision of the edges of a war and of the three groups connected to a place, to one another, and to the dark ideology that dictated some of the 20th century's most devastating events.

[00:08:44]Wow.

[00:08:46]Oh, I know this name.

[00:08:52]I think I have that book. She also wrote Jane Rogoyo wrote surviving Ken if you remember that was the massive massacre of Polish officers by Stalin. Surviving Kton Stalin's po Polish massacre in the search for truth which won the Mark Littton History Prize. Oh, that's fantastic. Oh, she also wrote a novel Kslowski. I might have to look up her other work. Um Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'll definitely be reading this. And uh let's see if I like it enough. I might even try to get a finished copy.

[00:09:29]Fantastic guys. So, Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadows of War by Jane Rogoya.

[00:09:35]Um all right. And that is available now because I am very late with my July history book roundup. All right. We all know, right? You're like, "Stop harping on it, Peg."

[00:09:48]I shall. I shall. All right.

[00:09:52]Then we have this book from the great folks at Bloomsbury.

[00:09:57]Bloomsbury books. Love Bloomsbury books.

[00:10:00]Bloomsbury Publishing.

[00:10:02]Um, give me the actual date when this has come out.

[00:10:08]Does it tell me?

[00:10:12]Handy dandy pub sheets here.

[00:10:15]Yay, it does. Okay, so this came out about a week ago, July 14th. So it is available now from Bloomsbury. And this is Homer Haunted, the many afterles of an ancient poet by Henry Power.

[00:10:32]Um, so all of you Homer Homer fans, and I'm not talking about the Simpsons, [laughter] uh, ancient history and, um, philosophy and everything else.

[00:10:48]Homer haunted.

[00:10:52]This is going to be good. All right, let's get into it. What are we looking at here?

[00:10:59]All right, I'm going to hold it up so you can look at this beautiful cover while I read from the sheet.

[00:11:06]The Siege of Troy and Adysius's long voyage home. And you see how this ties in with the massive, you know, Chris Christopher Nolan epic, The Odyssey, which I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to go see or not. I I might just wait to run it, although it would be probably better to watch it on IMAX or something. But anyway, the siege of Troy and Odysius's long voyage home have inspired many of our most thrilling and radical poets. Henry Power takes us on a surprising journey through the afterles of these mysterious epics and the search for the poet who created them. Homer haunted guiding us through the twists and turns of the Iliad and the Odyssey. And of the two, I've always preferred the Iliad.

[00:11:50]I've always loved the Iliad. Anyway, uh Power travels to the places where Homer stories have taken root. From the islands of Greece to the Scottish Highlands, the Devon coast to suburban Los Angeles to trace the footsteps of the poets, politicians, lunatics, and lovers haunted by Homer's mythical heroes and monsters. A dazzlingly original and deeply personal testament to the power of poetry, Homer Haunted is an epic account of how our oldest stories have shaped the way we read, write, and think.

[00:12:25]Oh, fantastic. But let let me just look at some of these chapters, tell you what to expect. Oh, this is great.

[00:12:33]Yeah. So each chapter kind of focuses on a person like they were saying the poets, politicians, uh uh writers, artists, whatever. Here we go. Um some of the chapters are u we have Alexander Pope, we have John Kates, u Matthew Arnold, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, HD and Ezra Pound. Um, some of the names I don't recognize, like David Melnik, Tom Gun, Christopher Log.

[00:13:06]Um, yeah, some of these names I don't recognize, but I re I recognize at least I'd say about half, roughly half. Oh, this is going to be good. I'm really intrigued by the chapter on Matthew Arnold.

[00:13:19]Um, what chapters? That's 103. Let's see what uh Oh, Matthew Arnold. Oh, and each each chapter has a beautiful like little uh black and white illustration to go along with it. So, here we've got father and sons, Matthew Arnold, and then this uh this beautiful drawing.

[00:13:42]Oh, fantastic. So, um yes, great. Homer haunted, guys. That's available right now.

[00:13:52]All right, we're going to head on into Oh, no. This one is August. I got ahead of myself.

[00:14:00][laughter] Oh, you guys. Well, there's a fantastic book coming out in August. I'm just going to tease it for you. I'm going to save this for the August um releases, which I plan on filming come hell or high water next week, the last week of July. And I'm going to get that video up if not before August, then on like an August 1. Um, but you guys, there's there's a new I I think I'm going to call it an intellectual Yeah, it's an intellectual biography on Hana Arent. So, you stay tuned for that video. You better hit that notification bell for my August history, new history releases. Yeah. So, okay, we're saving this for August.

[00:14:48]All right.

[00:14:50]Now, here's a book that I am slated to actually uh write a review for for a Washington Independent Review of Books.

[00:14:59]Um, this book came out today. This is July 21st. Uh, and I know a lot of you out there will probably be really uh vibing on this one.

[00:15:15]Um, I don't want to read all Okay. Yeah, we're going to read this one. Okay. You ready? because I got a finished copy and I plan on marking this one up and keeping it because I think it's going to be that good. Let's hope it is. This is the biggest lie, the prehistory of American fascism, 1818 to 1915 by Joseph Kelly and that is I have one of his other books marooned. All right, but let's let's concentrate on the biggest lie.

[00:15:44]This is a nice Oh, and this is put out by U. Yeah, another another Bloomsbury title. I'm really happy to have the finished copy. This is great. All right.

[00:15:55]Joseph Kelly's The Biggest Lie.

[00:15:58]Just trying to get that focus for you.

[00:16:02]Is an eyeopening work of narrative history tracing the roots of fascism back to the Thank you. because that's where it comes from.

[00:16:12]tracing the roots of fascism because I just finished a book on this. Sorry, I'm getting I'm getting distracted. Um, and I'm writing a review of that other book today. Like after I finish filming tonight, I'm writing a book review on this other book that talked about a lot about that kind of uh this stuff. Okay.

[00:16:29]Is an eye-opening work of narrative history tracing the roots of fascism back to the antibbellum south.

[00:16:42]The biggest lie is a lens into our country's history that provides insight into our future and current political climate.

[00:16:49]When American fascists suddenly goostepped down Main Street in the 1930s, fascism was seen by the rest of the country as a terrifying and radical new European import. It was not. It didn't come from abroad, nor was it new or radical. In his book, Kelly uncovers how 20th century European fascists learned. Oh my goodness. Here we go. Get ready, guys. Oh, man.

[00:17:15]Oh, I know I have got a lot of viewers in the American South. This is I'm just reading to you from the book jacket.

[00:17:27]Okay. In his new book, Kelly uncovers how 20th century European fascists learned from US Confederate leaders and notes that Mussolini would not have rose to power without the Confederate States of America. Wow.

[00:17:41]Okay. Well, I haven't heard that argument made before, so that's going to be interesting. Um the seed of American fascism was planted by elite southern planters who insisted that slavery need not be addressed in the constitution because it would soon die out on its own. Thus beginning the ideals of heronvoke democracy that is a German word heron voke. I know the voke means the people folk the people but I'm not sure heron.

[00:18:09]Okay. The biggest lie chronicles fascism's emergence in the antabbellum south, its cotification under Jim Crow, and then after the SpanishAmerican War, its ascendancy in the form of Anglo-Saxon nationalism, proposing that the nation belongs to a master race, the original lie of American fascism. In this dark hour of American history, Kelly's gripping story reminds us that the moneyed elite have always excelled at deploying disinformation to bias and inflame the masses, but also that there have always been courageous patriots helping us to fight our way out of darkness and toward the light.

[00:18:47]Wow.

[00:18:49]And and Joseph Kelly, actually, he is a um he's from the south, it looks like.

[00:18:55]He is a professor of literature and history at the College of Charleston and he lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

[00:19:02]Um, it's so weird, you know, um, not weird, but in my last live stream with Bill and Brian, I don't know if you guys see my regular viewers have, you know, tuned in to watch that or saw the replay. We were talking about I was mentioning first of that lately my reading there's been a serendipity of things happening in my reading where something that I've talked about or read about somewhere else is cropping up everywhere else and that is what's happening now again I just finished a book is it here yes great I can show it to you so anyway guys this published today so check it out I'm just trying to get there you go in This is so and I'm starting this probably in the next week and I just finished this book which like I said I'm writing a review for in the next hour. Um this book is coming out in October. I highly recommend it although boy this guy pulls no punches. Um this is the Confederacy myth and I showed this on the live stream too. Um I just finished it the other night. how an insurrection of slaveholders tried to destroy the United States by Connor Williams and and this is being put out by St. Martin's Press. I really already advance recommendations for you guys. This one I I'm going to I got to get my hands on the finished copy. Um this this book was the cry decor the cry of the heart right of um focusing on and it's so much about like what this guy is is saying in his book here Joseph Kelly I haven't read this yet like I said I'll be starting it shortly um but what comes across in reading the Confederacy myth is that these these elite moneyed southern plantation owners, like the ones who were, you know, I'm not talking about every white person in the south. I'm talking about these these elite like the [laughter] I got to be careful what I say. I don't want to get anything. um they had all the money um had hundreds of slaves and basically held the American government hostage and just made sure that they got all the federal assistance they needed to make sure slavery was protected to protect their interest. It all comes back down to money, folks. It's always about money.

[00:21:40]And in my 50 plus years of reading, learning, living, experiencing life and just what I've absorbed from everything I've witnessed and and been privy to is that it all comes down to money. And you know our you know in my my Christian faith teaches me that is you know the money is the wait money is not the root of all evil. It's the love of money.

[00:22:10]That's the root of all evil. Anyway, it comes back down to protecting their interests. And they held the American government, the US government um pretty much hostage, you know, and um and this this guy here, Connor Williams, just destroys it. And in fact, he doesn't even like to he he rarely calls these people Confederates. He calls them insurrectionists, domestic enemies. Uh it's a whole new way. Well, it's actually not a whole new way of looking at the Civil War because he wants us to return to the proper memory of the Civil War, which has been lost after reconstruction, after the Lost Cause advocate started rewriting and revising history to make the Confederate War effort some type of noble, beautiful gone with the wind type of thing. when the hard cold truth laid out in facts, which this is what this guy does, Connor Williams, um it blows everything out of the water and he calls people back to celebrating the the the loyalty of, you know, the the lives that were sacri the men who went to war for the Union to save this government, to save a proposition that all men are created equal and you know we didn't we didn't start off on the best foot in the country because of the slavery you know it just it it diminished what we were supposed to be from the outset and I do believe history is a neverending kind of story until the end of the age until this world is gone um we we can still try to cleave towards that ideal and I think you know the way I remembered the Civil War growing up is is quite different from the way I look at it now because there's so much scholarship out there guys and the facts are there if you just go reading and you dig through it and then you apply your own critical thinking to say wait a minute I was kind of sold I was sold on all this kind of like oh brother against brother and we're there you know the when the 50y year reunion at Gettysburg, you had all these old Bets, you know, Confederates and Union guys shaking hands across the the wall of the u the high water mark of the Confederacy. Um but it wasn't really the reality.

[00:24:39]Uh there were hard feelings like there was so much suffering in the Civil War on both sides on both sides. And he does call for empathy for the for the southern people like who were basically kind of just kind of swept up into it without without letting them off the hook for basically what this was. You know, the confederate states of America, there never was such a thing. There was never a nation um by any rules of what makes a legitimate state and he lays them out here.

[00:25:17]They never were. It was a it was an insurrection.

[00:25:21]Um so this was a fascinating book. Now, this biggest lie is it sounds like it's going to also kind of reinforce some of the uh the the the uh the myths because that's what he's trying to bust in this other book, Connor Williams is. Um so, I'm I'm really intrigued. Sorry for this.

[00:25:40]I had to talk about it. I just read this book and then reading this, we're getting back to talking about southern uh plantation owners again and slaveholders again. And um it's just they did they do they were they were fascist people.

[00:25:57]They were and it wasn't about states rights.

[00:26:00]That's the other thing that drives me nuts about the Civil War. It was never about states rights.

[00:26:06]Please if you agree disagree with me and you want to defend I just I want to challenge you when this book comes out in October. please read it and then come back to me and let's talk about let's debate it. But anyway, starting this up in the next week. Looking forward to it.

[00:26:23]I'll be writing a review like I said and uh that's the other thing I need to do is update my social media with all of the re recent book reviews I've done. I am so behind.

[00:26:34]You know, even with AI, I've been trying to use AI to help me just get these social posts done.

[00:26:41]still not kind of liking what AI does.

[00:26:44]You know, I still like to write in my own voice, but I don't have a lot of time to sit there and write a two paragraph summation. You know, I just want to point you to my written piece.

[00:26:54]Um, so just, you know, if you're a longtime follower and you follow me on social media, just know that yes, I have been playing with AI a little bit. Um, what AI spits back at me, I don't take it verbatim. I usually might adapt some of it and then I insert some of my own comments, but um yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I thought it would be a timesaver, but I just feel weird about it. You know, I still want it to be me.

[00:27:17]So, you know, I just I got to find time to get my my book reviews out there for you guys. Um, okay. And now I'm going to find out this final book here.

[00:27:33]All right. Wait, before we do that one though, I've got one other book that actually published today. And you guys, I've got a um a giveaway for anyone who's interested. Uh the last time I offered one, no one was interested. I'm like, are you kidding me? No one wants a free book. Um I have an advanced reader copy of this book. this. So, if you're into philosophy, uh, French intellectualism, uh, you might want to email me and let me know you're you're interested in getting the the arc, the advanced reading copy of this, but I have the hard cover now.

[00:28:08]It looks interesting. I do like intellectual history. Uh, so I I I do plan on reading this. Uh, it looks really good. This is called The Frenchman or My Life in Theory by Emily Eeken. is published today uh from Penguin Press.

[00:28:24]Been loving some Penguin Press lately.

[00:28:27]Uh so yeah, check out this. I love the cover. It's it's so it's so it's it's very clever. Um I want to hold this up while I'm reading.

[00:28:38]Uh let's see here.

[00:28:42]All right, let's see how long I can hold this up. Okay, [laughter] because my hand was hurting on the other one.

[00:28:48]All right. Remember, if you want if you'd like an advanced reading copy of this, you know, paperback, email me at my business address, which is in the about tab on my YouTube homepage. All right, here we go. When Emily Eeken arrived at Harvard in the late 1980s, she fell under the spell of an eclectic body of philosophical texts by a handful of French authors. This was French theory. A set of Oh, here's a great word. Recendite. a set of recondite ideas that had taken American campuses by a storm during the preceding decades.

[00:29:23]In retrospect, the influence of these men in their writing seems both extraordinary and improbable.

[00:29:29]The Frenchman argued that language is all powerful, meaning unstable, and the self is an illusion. Those silly French, [laughter] sorry. Okay. Their pros was brilliant, dazzling even, but often mystifyingly elaborate and highly abstract. Yet, American students and scholars flocked to their books and lectures, intoxicated by a powerful new means of understanding and perhaps even changing the world. For Eken, an unsophisticated graduate of a small town Midwestern high school, theory was no was no mere intellectual exercise, but a way of being, a heady shortcut to worldly glamour and wisdom.

[00:30:14]So in the Frenchmen, the Frenchman is the story of Eken's youthful love affair with French theory alongside a wider examination of its rise and fall. Uh looking closely at Jacqu Dereda, Luis Althuser, Roland Bars, Gee Deloo, Michelle Fuko, Phil Felix Gatari, Jacqu Lan, and the French-speaking Belgian Paul Dean. Eken untangles their famously difficult works with peerless delightful clarity. Well, thank goodness because I really can't understand any of that. Um, so please bombard me with your your peerless clarity. Uh once more, she brings to light the eccentric, scandalous, at times criminal lives of thinkers who themselves were often highly averse to biography in a daringly original weave of storytelling and exugesis, another great word. As she explores the magnetism of their work, Eken illuminates not just the Frenchman's enduring legacy, but some of today's deepest political, social, and intellectual arguments. She neither rejects nor flatters the Frenchman's ideas, but instead reveals how they indelibly changed our understanding of power, truth, and identity. Eeken shows how, for better or worse, the Frenchmen continue to shape and unsettle our lives today.

[00:31:38]Wow. Oh, Emily Eeken. Yeah. She's the senior editor at the New York Times Book Review, and this is her first book.

[00:31:47]Fantastic. I can't wait to dig into this.

[00:31:50]Uh, I might jump around a little bit just because some of these these concepts by these French um thinkers and writers and philosophers just they just make me want to stick a fork in my eye. So, but I'm sure Emily's going to make it a lot of fun. And I love Hey, she's from the New York Times Book Review. you know, I I get their their uh what every other week um book reviews journal in the mail. Love it. Uh all right, so let me know if you'd like to have an advanced reader copy of this. If this is your jam, let me hook you up.

[00:32:29]Also, another just another um if anyone I know times are tough, but I'm saying if I'm I need a little help mailing these books out, guys. I'm working so hard. Um, just if you could go to buy me a coffee.

[00:32:45]I don't drink coffee, but it's just it helps me with postage because I print labels here.

[00:32:51]I pay for everything and then I take them to the I take off books and and and I mail stuff out at the post office.

[00:32:58]But, uh, just some donations at that link, which is in my description box, um, would be helpful and also on my homepage. Uh, so yeah, let me know what you think. All right.

[00:33:12]And now for something completely different. Let me pause real quick while I look up this publication date for this final book.

[00:33:22]All right, so don't go anywhere.

[00:33:26]Okay, I have answers. All right.

[00:33:30]Apparently, this book is ranked number one on Amazon in the kayaking book section.

[00:33:38]Oh, I've gotten some kayakers attention here. This book came out July 14th, so it's available now. This is from Handover Square Press and this is Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America's Love for the Wild by Heather Hansman.

[00:33:55]Um, yes. I was sent this book a while ago and I thought it was going to come out in June or May or June and it it's actually was July so I was hanging on to it for a while to show you guys. Um, this is the inspiring untold story of three incredible women who spearheaded recreation, conservation, and resilience in America's most beloved landscapes.

[00:34:18]Um, in the spring of 1945, when just a handful of people had been through the Grand Canyon and boats, George E. White jumped into the river in just a life jacket and swam through the rapids. She spent the rest of her life bringing people through the canyon, kickstarting river running and the recreation industry. Well, now I know about the uh the kayaking why it's ranked number one in the kayaking kayaking books section.

[00:34:40]Um, while Georgie was guiding the river, pioneering wilderness guide an Labastile protected end danger [clears throat] endangered species and predicted the impacts of climate change from her isolated off-grid cabin in the Anderondex.

[00:34:54]Meanwhile, groundbreaking powder skier Dolores Lappel was developing an an environmental philosophy that shaped everything from the radical environmental movement of the 70s to modern conservation ethics. All three women were obsessed with the places they love and unwilling to compromise about being outside. They were relentless and revolutionary, but they were largely ignored except in small circles. Now outdoor journalist and celebrated author of Powder Days, Heather Hansman goes deep into three rugged American landscapes to bring these women's fascinating lives to the forefront of the outdoor movement, affirming the rightful place in the larger story of an evolving American wild.

[00:35:38]Okay, so this is out now in hard cover. This is my advanced copy. Um, if any of you out there have a burning uh attraction to this topic, whether it's conservation, um, you know, American parks, uh, women taking these these leading roles and all of this, let me know in the comments or shoot me an email. I'd be more than willing to send this to you, okay? I I do want to hook people up. Um, I do want to hook people up books and I get more than my fair share and I just want to share the love and spread the wealth. So, uh, yeah, let me know what you think. And that wraps up. Oh, no.

[00:36:23]Sorry. Got one more. And this we're going to go back to the one I almost started with. Here's a little volume.

[00:36:29]Uh, again for something completely different.

[00:36:32]This is from Portfolio Penguin Press.

[00:36:36]Uh, this also came out July 14th. This a little tiny volume. It's called The Practice The Practice of Not Reading, which seems antithetical to the entire book industry.

[00:36:48]Um, Zen Wisdom for a Happy Life by Rushun Kusanagi.

[00:36:56]Ryan Kusanagi.

[00:36:58]Like I said, little tiny thing.

[00:37:01]Uh let's see here.

[00:37:04]Oh, this is an interesting tagline.

[00:37:06]Hardship is part of life. Suffering is something we add.

[00:37:12]I don't know if that's always I don't know about that. Okay. In this profound and clarifying book, oh Buddhist monk, Buddhist monk Rushin Kusanagi teaches a core truth of the Buddha's path. It is not what happens to us that disturbs the heart but the desires, aversions and judgments that arise in the mind.

[00:37:34]When we stop reacting, the mind settles. We find peace.

[00:37:42]Uh drawing on the ancient wisdom of Buddha, Husanagi teaches how to immediately release anger, anxiety and compare and comparison, how to loosen attachment to good and bad, and how to let our reactions come and go like ocean waves.

[00:37:58]H loved by hundreds of thousands of readers across Japan. A that's nice.

[00:38:03]This life-changing book is now available in English for the first time. For anyone seeking the vital freedom that comes with the practice of non-reaction, this is your guide.

[00:38:14]Okay, this I'm also going to offer this up to anyone who might who might be interested, any of you who practice Buddhism.

[00:38:26]One moment.

[00:38:30]Sorry about that. I had a um my car's in the shop and I'm waiting for the mechanic to call me back and I thought that was him but it was not. All right.

[00:38:39]So, if anyone out there um is interested in the practices of of like Buddhist, you know, teachings and how to live this whole this whole aspect of non-reaction, um I've never it doesn't work for me.

[00:38:51]First of all, I've never been drawn to any type of Buddhist teachings. It's just my personal uh I my faith is Christian. And I follow I just follow like you know those teachings especially I mean New Testament gospel and Jesus Christ that's that's what I focus on and I do believe suffering is a part of life. So I mean I my beliefs are radically diametrically opposed to this. I don't think people are meant to be we're emotional creatures. It's just built into us. So when hard times happen and when people are having physical ailments or they're watching someone they love suffer and and I just think suffering is real. It's not about our reactions cause the suffering. It's to me it's just to live is to suffer. You know what I mean? Um and so I I just I I can't I this is not going to work for me. you know, this whole thing about um to let our reactions come and go like ocean waves as if we're like a a rock on the shoreline. Uh this inanimate piece of and just let let things hit you. Just don't react. It's just not a human to me. It's just not a natural thing. It just doesn't I mean, if someone I mean I I know that these these Buddhist monks, they they train all their lives to have that type and I think they get really good at it. And I think you can learn some of these these these techniques to maybe not overreact, but you know, I'm just editorializing.

[00:40:25]It's this book's not going to work for me. So, oh, did I say the practice of not reading? Oh my [laughter] god. It's the practice of not reacting.

[00:40:37][laughter] I thought it was the practice of not reading. And uh that's okay. Wow.

[00:40:43]The practice of not paying attention.

[00:40:46]That's that's what I'm guilty of. Um, sorry. Even with my glasses on and then I'm looking at the the mirror reaction in the and I I I look I saw reading. I don't know why.

[00:40:58]Any any of you out there interested, let me know. It's yours. Okay. Thank you guys for joining me for this very weird uh new history release um July video.

[00:41:11]Wow. Okay. Um, another video is coming really soon because I've got two stacks of books that um I'm I just need to catch up on on a ton of new arrivals.

[00:41:21]But I wanted to at least get my my monthly segment done even though I'm midway through the month, if not more.

[00:41:26]Uh, but August is coming real soon. So, get ready for August. Uh, again, thanks for joining me here at the History Shelf, guys. I hope you're doing well out there and staying cool.

[00:41:37]I hope if any of you out there are suffering um suffering in whatever form that is physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, um I I pray my God's blessings.

[00:41:55]I pray God's blessings to give you strength, to give you love, to give you comfort, and to give you perseverance, and to give you hope. So, and that is my my prayer and my hope for you. So, let's end there, guys. Uh until next time.

[00:42:14]Thanks for joining me here at the History Shelf. Be sure to like and subscribe and all that groovy stuff. And u we'll see you next time. Bye.