This Week in History: March 7th – 13th
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
- 1946 (75 years ago): Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque
- 1971 (50 years ago): QB VII by Leon Uris
- 1986 (35 years ago): The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
- 1996 (25 years ago): Primary Colors by Anonymous/Joe Klein
- 2011(10 years ago): Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb
- 2016 (5 years ago): Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
#1 Box Office Movies
- 1971 (50 years ago): Love Story
- 1986 (35 years ago): Pretty in Pink
- 1996 (25 years ago): The Birdcage
- 2001 (20 years ago): The Mexican
- 2011 (10 years ago): Battle: Los Angeles
- 2016 (5 years ago): Zootopia
This Week in History
- March 7th
- 1876- Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for the telephone. (United States/World)
- 1923- Robert Frost’s famous poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ is first published by the New Republic. The poem would go on to be one that introduced many new students to poetry across public schools in America. (United States)
- 1965- Civil rights protesters, led by John Lewis, are beaten while trying to cross the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama by white Alabama state troopers. It would become known as ‘Bloody Sunday.’ (United States)
- March 8th
- 1917- The Russian Revolution begins in earnest. (World)
- 1971- Joe Frazier retains his world heavyweight championship by winning in a 15-round decision over former champion Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The fight was later dubbed the ‘Fight of the Century.’ (United States)
- 2014- Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappears during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A massive search effort was launched to try to find the plane and any survivors, but it was ultimately called off in early 2017. (World)
- March 9th
- 1862- The Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack, two ironclad warships during the American Civil War, takes place. (United States)
- 1959- The first Barbie doll debuts in New York City. (United States/World)
- 1997- The rapper Notorious B.I.G is killed in Los Angeles. His murderer is still at large to this day. (United States)
- March 10th
- 1864- President Abraham Lincoln signs Ulysses S. Grant’s commission to command the U.S. Army during the Civil War. (United States)
- 1933- The first German concentration camp of the Nazi regime opens in Munich at Dachau. (World)
- 1969- James Early Ray pleads guilty to murdering Martin Luther King, Jr. and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He would later recant and say he did not kill King, and several of King’s children supported Ray’s claims of innocence. (United States)
- March 11th
- 1985- Mikhail Gorbachev is picked to succeed Konstantin Chernenko to lead the USSR. (World)
- 2004- Madrid suffers a series of terrorist attacks when 10 bombs, detonated by Islamist militants, explode on four trains at three different rail stations, killing 191 people and injuring almost 1,800 others. (World)
- 2011- The largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan causes massive devastation, and the ensuing tsunami decimates the Tohoku region of the country. It also causes a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which is considered to be the second-worst nuclear disaster in history, forcing the relocation of over 100,000 people. (World)
- March 12th
- 1933- FDR broadcasts first ‘fireside chat’ during the Great Depression. (United States)
- 1938- Nazi Germany annexes Austria. (World)
- 1947- The Truman Doctrine is announced. (United States/World)
- March 13th
- 1781- William Hershel discovers Uranus. (World)
- 2005- Robert Iger is named as Disney’s new CEO. (United States/World)
- 2020- Breonna Taylor is murdered by Louisville police officers as they burst into her apartment during a botched raid. Her murder, along with that of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, led to massive protests by Black Lives Matter activists and others calling for police/systemic racism reform. (United States)
Recommended Reading Related to Movies/Historical Happenings:
- Alexander Graham Bell: The Life and Times of the Man Who Invented the Telephone by Edwin S. Grosvenor and Morgan Wesson
- Selected Poems of Robert Frost by Robert Frost
- His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham
- The Russian Revolution: A New History by Sean McMeekin
- Sparring with Smokin’ Joe: Joe Frazier’s Epic Battles and Rivalry with Ali by Glenn Lewis
- Someone is Hiding Something: What Happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? by Richard Belzer, George Noory, and David Wayne
- Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle that Changed History by Richard Snow
- Face of the American Dream: Barbie Doll, 1959-1971 by Christopher Varaste
- Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G. by Cheo Hodari Coker
- ‘Whip the Rebellion:’ Ulysses S. Grant’s Rise to Command by George Walsh
- The Last Survivor: Legacies of Dachau by Timothy W. Ryback
- Who Killed Martin Luther King?: The True Story by the Alleged Assassin by James Earl Ray
- Gorbachev: On My Country and the World by Mikhail Gorbachev
- All That Followed: A Novel by Gabriel Urza (Deals with the 2004 Madrid Bombings)
- Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster by David Lochbaum, Edwin Lyman, Susan Q. Stranahan, and the Union of Concerned Scientists
- FDR’s Fireside Chats by FDR
- The Order of the Day by Eric Vuillard (deals with Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria)
- Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization by Joe Scarborough
- Uranus: A Novel by Ben Bova
- The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
- Long Time Coming by Michael Eric Dyson