ICYMI Independence Day Reading List

Revisit these titles recently honored by the National Book Awards while you’re lounging poolside this Fourth because there is so much American history to read about.

Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore (NF)

Written by acclaimed historian Jill Lepore, this 2013 National Book Award Finalist for nonfiction recounts the life of the other Franklin—Benjamin Franklin’s sister, Jane. The biography illuminates decades of letter-writing between Jane and Ben Franklin, establishing their close relationship, and revealing the ways in which gender, along with Jane’s 12 children, led the siblings to lead two very distinct lives.

Redeployment by Phil Klay (F)

Both a 2014 National Book Award Winner for fiction and a 5 Under 35 honoree, Redeployment by Phil Klay, is a collection of short stories thematically linked by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The stories in the collection attempt to make sense of the trauma and chaos of contemporary war, both on the front lines of battle and at home.

X by Ilyasah Shabazz, with Kekla Magoon (YPL)

Longlisted for the 2015 National Book Award for young people’s literature, X tells the story of Malcolm X from his childhood through his early 20s. Based on his actual life and written by his third daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, the book reimagines the formative years of one of the most influential figures in recent American history.

Some Luck by Jane Smiley (F)

Some Luck by Jane Smiley, which was longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award for fiction,  tells the story of Rosanna and Walter Langdon and their family of five children. Starting in Iowa at the end of the first World War, each chapter of the book covers a single year in the lives of the Langdon family, charting the course of American history through the beginning of the 1950s.