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
#1 Box Office Movies
This Week in History
- January 10th
- 1776- Common Sense is published in the American Colonies. (United States)
- 1941- FDR introduces the lend-lease program, intending to help Britain beat Hitler’s advances while keeping America only indirectly involved in World War II. (United States/World)
- 1946- The first meeting of the United Nations is held in London, England. (World)
- January 11th
- 1908- US President Theodore Roosevelt makes the Grand Canyon a national monument. (United States)
- 1964- US Surgeon General Luther L. Terry announces that cigarette smoking is linked to lung cancer. (United States/World)
- 1978- Song of Solomon wins the National Book Critics Circle Award. (United States)
- January 12th
- 1838- Mormon leader Joseph Smith abandons his settlement in Ohio after his bank fails and flees to Missouri to avoid arrest and create a new religious community. (United States)
- 1966- The live-action Batman TV series premieres on ABC, instantly becoming a huge hit. (United States)
- 2010- A massive earthquake strikes Haiti, leading to one of the worst humanitarian disasters in one hundred years. (World)
- January 13th
- 1968- Johnny Cash performs at Folsom Prison, reinvigorating his musical career, which had been on a sharp downturn in the months and years prior to the concert. (United States)
- 1999- Michael Jordan retires for a second time. (United States)
- 2012- The Costa Concordia, a cruise ship carrying about 4,200 people, runs aground and capsizes off Giglio Island, Italy, killing 32 passengers in the process.(World)
- January 14th
- 1639- The first colonial constitution is adopted in Hartford, CT by representatives of Wethersfield, Windsor, and Hartford. (United States)
- 1784- The Continental Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain, recognizing the independence of the United States of America. (United States/World)
- 2005- The Huygens entry probe lands on Saturn’s largest moon Titan. It is the first time a spacecraft has landed on a planetary surface in the outer solar system. (World)
- January 15th
- 1929- Martin Luther King, Jr. is born in Atlanta, GA. (United States)
- 1967- Green Bay Packers win their first Super Bowl (and the first Super Bowl overall). (Wisconsin/United States)
- 2009- Pilot ‘Sully’ Sullenberger performs the ‘Miracle on the Hudson.’ (United States)
- January 16th
- 1919- Prohibition, via the 18th Amendment, is ratified by the states, but it did not go into effect until January 17, 1920. (United States)
- 1945- Adolf Hitler descends into his bunker in Berlin, where he remained for 105 days before he died by suicide. (World)
- 1979- The Shah flees Iran. (World)
Recommended Reading Related to Movies/Historical Happenings:
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
#1 Box Office Movies
This Week in History
- January 3rd
- 1959- Alaska becomes the 49th U.S. state. (United States)
- 1977- Apple is incorporated by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. (United States/World)
- 1994- State Senator Gary George proposes building a downtown retractable roof stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers, financed primarily with proceeds from a sports lottery. This stadium would eventually become Miller Park (and never will it be known as American Family [Insurance] Field, I don’t care what the Brewers and their corporate sponsors say!). (Wisconsin)
- January 4th
- 1965- U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson envisions a ‘Great Society’ in his State of the Union address. (United States)
- 1974- U.S. President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents that had been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. (United States)
- 2007- Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman Speaker of the House in the U.S. House of Representatives. (United States)
- January 5th
- 1855- King Camp Gillette is born in Fond du Lac. Working first as a traveling salesman, he eventually developed a disposable steel blade and razor before founding the Gillette Safety Razor Company, known today simply as Gillette. (Wisconsin/United States/World)
- 1920- The New York Yankees acquire Babe Ruth from the Red Sox in exchange for $125,000. (United States)
- 1933- Construction on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay begins. (United States)
- January 6th
- 1975- Wheel of Fortune premieres on NBC. (United States)
- 1994- Nancy Kerrigan is attacked at a Detroit ice rink following a practice session two days before the Olympic trials. (United States)
- 2008- Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World becomes Disney’s Hollywood Studios. (United States)
- January 7th
- 1789- The first U.S. presidential election is held. (United States)
- 1953- U.S. President Harry Truman announces the U.S. has developed the hydrogen bomb. (United States/World)
- 1979- Pol Pot, the dictator and leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, is overthrown by Vietnamese forces. (World)
- January 8th
- 1790- U.S. President George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address to Congress. (United States)
- 1815- U.S. General (and future President) Andrew Jackson defeats Great Britain in the Battle of New Orleans, the final engagement in the War of 1812. (United States)
- 2011- U.S. representative Gabby Giffords is shot during an assassination attempt; she survives, but six others are killed. (United States)
- January 9th
- 1861- Mississippi becomes the second U.S. state to secede from the Union in the run-up to the American Civil War. (United States)
- 2001- Apple introduces iTunes, a digital media player application that, with the year’s later debut of the iPod, revolutionizes digital music and the music industry at large. (World)
- 2007- Steve Jobs debuts the iPhone for the very first time. (World)
Recommended Reading Related to Movies/Historical Happenings:
- Alaska’s History: The People, Land, and Events of the North Country by Harry Ritter
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Baseball in Beertown: America’s Pastime in Milwaukee by Todd Mishler
- Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson’s White House by Joshua Zeitz
- Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon
- Nancy Pelosi: The Life, Times, and Rise of Madam Speaker, aka the OG by Brenda Jones and Krishan Trotman
- Babe Ruth’s Called Shot: The Myth and Mystery of Baseball’s Greatest Home Run by Ed Sherman
- Golden Gate: The Life and Times of America’s Greatest Bridge by Kevin Starr
- Artistry on Ice: Figure Skating Skills and Style by Nancy Kerrigan
- The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 Secrets of the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom by Susan Veness
- You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe
- The Day We Lost the H-Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Weapons Disaster in History by Barbara Moran
- How to Feed a Dictator: Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Enver Hoxha, Fidel Castro, and Pol Pot Through the Eyes of Their Cooks by Witold Szablowski
- Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle that Shaped America’s Destiny by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger
- Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly
- 1861: A Novel by Robert Greenwalt
- The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone by Brian Merchant
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
#1 Box Office Movies
This Week in History
- December 27th
- 1831- Charles Darwin sets sail on the HMS Beagle, beginning the voyage on which he would formulate his theory of evolution. (World)
- 1932- Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City. (United States)
- 2007- Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto is assassinated. (World)
- December 28th
- 1065- Westminster Abbey opens for the first time in London. (World)
- 1832- Citing political differences with President Andrew Jackson and a desire to fill a vacant Senate seat in South Carolina, John C. Calhoun becomes the first vice president in U.S. history to resign from office. (United States)
- 1973- The Endangered Species Act is signed into law by President Richard Nixon. (United States)
- December 29th
- 1170- Archbishop Thomas Becket is murdered by knights of King Henry II of England, leading to a cessation of attempts by the king to separate the church and state in England. (World)
- 1845- The Republic of Texas is annexed by the United States, triggering the start of the Mexican-American War. (United States/World)
- 1890- More than 200 Sioux Indians are massacred in the area of Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota by U.S. troops commanded by Colonel James W. Forsyth. (United States)
- December 30th
- 1853- The U.S. acquired nearly 30,000 square miles of additional northern Mexican territory with the signing of the Gadsden Purchase. The land would come to be a part of Arizona and New Mexico when they became states. (United States)
- 1922- The USSR is established. (World)
- 2006- Former dictator Saddam Hussein is executed in Iraq. (World)
- December 31st
- 1967- Green Bay Packers triumph over the Dallas Cowboys in the ‘Ice Bowl.’ (Wisconsin/United States)
- 1972- Roberto Clemente, a famous Pittsburgh Pirate, dies in a plane crash en route to Nicaragua with relief supplies collected for earthquake survivors. (United States/World)
- 1991- The Soviet Union legally ceases to exist. (World)
- January 1st
- 1818- Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is published for the first time. (World)
- 1863- The Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved people in the Confederacy, is issued by Abraham Lincoln. (United States)
- 1959- Dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba after his regime is toppled by rebel forces led by Fidel Castro. (World)
- 2002- The Euro is formally introduced as the new type of currency in Europe. (World)
- January 2nd
- 1788- Georgia becomes the fourth state and officially enters the Union. (United States)
- 1974- President Richard Nixon signs a national speed limit into law. (United States)
- 1980- Détente between the U.S. and the USSR ends as President Jimmy Carter speaks out against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. (United States/World)
Recommended Reading Related to Movies/Historical Happenings:
