This Week in History: December 13th – 19th
Welcome to this week’s edition of the staff blog’s ‘This Week in History!’ You will find historical facts, happenings, and associated books; #1 box office movies; and #1 NY Times best sellers from years gone by, all with book recommendations included based on each topic. This will be a weekly feature, so make sure to check out each week’s posting! NOTE: Click on any of the below book/movie titles to be taken to them in our online Café catalog!
NY Times Fiction Bestsellers
- 1945 (75 years ago): The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain
- 1970 (50 years ago): Love Story by Erich Segal
- 1995 (25 years ago): The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans
- 2010 (10 years ago): Cross Fire by James Patterson
- 2015 (5 years ago): Cross Justice by James Patterson
#1 Box Office Movies
- 1970 (50 years ago): Scrooge
- 1985 (35 years ago): Rocky IV
- 1995 (25 years ago): Jumanji
- 2000 (20 years ago): What Women Want
- 2010 (10 years ago): Tron: Legacy
- 2015 (5 years ago): The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2
This Week in History
- December 13th
- 1862- The Battle of Fredericksburg, a bloody engagement of the Civil War that is won by Confederate forces led by General Robert E. Lee, is waged. (United States)
- 2000- Al Gore concedes the presidential election. (United States)
- 2003- Saddam Hussein captured near Tikrit, Iraq. (World)
- December 14th
- 1893- Frederick Jackson Turner delivers his Frontier Address at the annual meeting of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, in which his famous thesis, ‘Significance of the Frontier in American History,’ is first read in public. (Wisconsin/United States)
- 1911- Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole. (World)
- 2012- A 20-year-old shooter opens fire on children and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, leaving 28 people dead, with 20 of them children aged 7 and under. (United States)
- December 15th
- 1791- The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, is officially ratified. (United States)
- 1847- Wisconsin’s second constitutional convention convenes in Madison. (Wisconsin)
- 1890- The Dakota Sioux chief Sitting Bull is murdered by U.S. troops near the Grand River in South Dakota. (United States)
- December 16th
- 1773- The Boston Tea Party occurs in Boston Harbor, led by Samuel Adams. (United States)
- 1944- Battle of the Bulge begins during the last Christmastime of WWII. (World)
- 2009- Avatar, the highest-grossing movie in world history with receipts of $2.7 billion, is released for the first time. (United States/World)
- December 17th
- 1777- France formally recognizes the United States as a sovereign, independent nation. (United States/World)
- 1903- Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful sustained flights in an airplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. (United States/World)
- 2014- The United States and Cuba reestablished diplomatic relations that had been abandoned for more than 50 years. (United States/World)
- December 18th
- 1620- The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Harbor. (United States/World)
- 1865- Slavery is formerly abolished in the United States as the 13th Amendment is officially ratified and added to the Constitution. (United States)
- 1966- The TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! airs for the first time in America. (United States)
- December 19th
- 1777- George Washington leads the Continental Army into winter camp at Valley Forge. (United States)
- 1843- English author Charles Dickens publishes A Christmas Carol for the first time in England. (World)
- 1917- The National Hockey League (NHL) opens its first season. (United States)
Recommended Reading Related to Movies/Historical Happenings:
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
- The Fredericksburg Campaign: Winter War on the Rappahannock by Francis Augustin O’Reilly
- Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
- Too Close to Call: The Thirty-Six Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election by Jeffrey Toobin
- The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin
- Newtown: An American Tragedy by Matthew Lysiak
- The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen by Stephen R. Bown
- James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights by Richard E. Labunski
- The Last Sovereigns: Sitting Bull and the Resistance of the Free Lakotas by Robert M. Utley
- Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party & the Making of America by Benjamin L. Carp
- The Battle of the Bulge: The Photographic History of an American Triumph by John R. Bruning
- Wright Brothers, Wrong Story: How Wilbur Wright Solved the Problem of Manned Flight by William Hazelgrove
- This is Cuba: An American Journalist Under Castro’s Shadow by David Ariosto
- Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
- Valley Forge by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens