Book reviews and excerpts from exceptional books about history, current affairs and religion

YA History, Current Affairs and Religion

Recommended books found: 4

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Death in the Jungle

Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown

by Candace Fleming

Hardcover: Apr 2025

Critics' Consensus:

How did Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, convince more than 900 of his followers to commit "revolutionary suicide" by drinking cyanide-laced punch? From a master of narrative nonfiction comes a chilling chronicle of one of the most notorious ...

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Banned Together

Our Fight for Readers' Rights

by Ashley Hope Pérez

Hardcover: Mar 2025

Critics' Consensus:

A dazzling YA anthology that spotlights the transformative power of books while equipping teens to fight for the freedom to read, featuring the voices of 15 diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators.

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Impossible Escape

A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe

by Steve Sheinkin

Hardcover: Aug 2023

Critics' Consensus:

From three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin, a true story of two Jewish teenagers racing against time during the Holocaust - one in hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape.

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Chew on This

Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food

by Eric Schlosser, Charles W. Wilson

Hardcover: May 2006 | Paperback: Apr 2007

Critics' Consensus:

Bestselling author Eric Schlosser takes what he learnt and documented in his popular book, Fast Food Nation, and presents it to preteens and adolescents - the fast food industry's biggest market.

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