New This Week: March 4th

Today’s two new books promise to provide readers with deep insights into pivotal moments in American history and politics from the Iran-Contra scandal to North Carolina History and Journalism. Learn more about these titles below or visit our Hot Off the Press page to see everything new publishing this month.

Southern New, Southern Politics: How a Newspaper Defined a State for a Century by Rob Christensen

“Over the past fifty years no one has written more authoritatively about North Carolina politics than Rob Christensen. That sureness of historical and political touch has culminated in a superb study of the News and Observer and the Daniels family. Southern News, Southern Politics is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics of race and politics that have shaped liberalism in North Carolina from the 1890s to Donald Trump.”—Tony Badger, Emeritus Paul Mellon Professor of American History, Cambridge University

“Christensen has offered us a lively and engaging book that chronicles the newspaper’s evolution and impact in a detailed and thoughtful way.”—Sid Bedingfield, author of Newspaper Wars: Civil Rights and White Resistance in South Carolina, 1935–1965

The Breach: Iran-Contra and the Assault on American Democracy by Alan McPherson

“Under Donald Trump, I personally witnessed corruption that seriously undermined our national security and eroded our democratic norms. Alan McPherson’s groundbreaking book demonstrates how the biggest Reagan scandal laid the groundwork for Trump and his ilk.”—Lt. Col. (Ret.) Alexander Vindman, former Director for European Affairs for the US National Security Council and author of Here, Right Matters: An American Story

“One of the things that is most valuable about this study is the manner in which McPherson expertly weaves varied sources together: previous studies, academic work, the journalism of the period, and most impressively, the documentary evidence from the Iran-Contra scandal, which he is apparently the first person to make use of.”—Eric Alterman, author of The Cause: The Fight for American Liberalism from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama