I love Broadway musicals. My fiancé is a political junkie. One of my best friends is a sucker for British history. With today’s TWIH, I’m out to please us all! You’re sure to find a topic of interest to you in this smorgasbord of subjects, so let’s take a look back at…

This Week in History

March 9, 1934: Russian cosmonaut Yury Gagarin was born. Gagarin was the world’s first man in space.
Get a detailed, behind-the-scenes account of the U.S. response to Russian advances in spaceflight during the 1960s in Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes by Billy Watkins.

March 10, 1629: England’s King Charles I dissolved Parliament.
Those interested in British history will definitely want to check out A Strange and Formidable Weapon: British Responses to World War I Poison Gas. In this intriguing work, author Marion Girard examines the varied ways different sectors of British society viewed chemical warfare through cartoons, military records, novels, treaties, and other sources.

March 11, 1993: Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate as the first female attorney general of the United States.
With Hillary Clinton as a viable candidate for the presidency, the role of women in politics is a hot topic in the media. Read about the life and work of another influential female politician in the forthcoming Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother’s Life in Politics by Beth Boosalis Davis (available August 2008 from the University of Nebraska Press).

March 12, 1922: American novelist, poet, and Beat movement figure Jack Kerouac was born.
Fans of Kerouac and On the Road will want to take a look at two new offerings from UNP with themes similar to Kerouac’s classic coming-of-age novel—Bicycling beyond the Divide by Daryl Farmer and The Enders Hotel by Daniel Schrand.

March 13, 1947: The Lerner and Loewe musical Brigadoon opened on Broadway.
Read about the lives and careers of the musical masterminds behind Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, Camelot, Gigi, and Paint Your Wagon—lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (1918–86) and composer Frederick Loewe (1901–88)—in The Musical Worlds of Lerner and Loewe by Gene Lees.

March 14, 1883: Karl Marx, the famed political philosopher, died at age 64.
Anyone interested in the work of Karl Marx would do well to read the thoughts of one of his most prominent pupils, Max Horkheimer. Pick up a copy of A Life in Letters: Selected Correspondence for a glimpse at how Horkheimer expounded on Marxist theory and how his work was influenced by historical events such as the Holocaust and the Vietnam War.

That brings today’s TWIH posting to a close. Have a great weekend, bloggers! We’ll see you on Monday for new reviews and an interview with Dan Levitt, author of Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees’ First Dynasty.