This Week in History: November 1st-7th
Welcome to the first 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. This will be a weekly feature, so make sure to check out each week’s posting!
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 Lost World by Michael Crichton
- 2010 (10 years ago): American Assassin by Vince Flynn
- 2015 (5 years ago): See Me by Nicholas Sparks
#1 Box Office Movies
- 1970 (50 years ago): Taste the Blood of Dracula
- 1985 (35 years ago): Death Wish 3
- 1995 (25 years ago): Get Shorty
- 2000 (20 years ago): Charlie’s Angels
- 2010 (10 years ago): Saw 3D
- 2015 (5 years ago): The Martian
This Week in History
- November 1st
- 1512- The Sistine Chapel ceiling opens to the public. (World)
- 1927- Ford Model A begins production. (United States)
- 1952- The U.S. detonates the world’s first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb. (World/United States)
- November 2nd
- 1911- First vocational school opens in Wisconsin in Racine. (Wisconsin)
- 1930- Haile Selassie is crowned Emperor in Ethiopia. (World)
- 1957- The Soviet Union launches a dog into orbit as the first animal in space onboard Sputnik 2. (World)
- November 3rd
- 1964- Washington, D.C. residents gain the right to vote in federal elections. (United States)
- 1998- Tommy Thompson wins fourth term for governorship of Wisconsin. (Wisconsin)
- 2014- One World Trade Center officially opens in New York City on the site of the Twin Towers. (United States)
- November 4th
- 1922- Entrance to King Tut’s tomb discovered. (World)
- 1958- Governor Gaylord Nelson elected to be governor of Wisconsin. (Wisconsin)
- 1979- Iranian Hostage Crisis begins in Tehran when Iranian students storm the U.S. embassy and take U.S. citizens hostage. (United States/World)
- November 5th
- 1862- The 10th Wisconsin Light Artillery fought in an engagement at Nashville, Tennessee during the Civil War. (Wisconsin/United States)
- 1941- The order to bomb Pearl Harbor in one month is given by Hideki Tojo in Tokyo, Japan. (World)
- 2006- Saddam Hussein sentenced to death in Iraq. (World)
- November 6th
- 1837- Burlington, Iowa selected as temporary capital of the Wisconsin Territory. (Wisconsin)
- 1962- The U.N. condemns apartheid in South Africa. (World)
- 1985- American newspapers reveal Iran Contra Affair. (United States)
- November 7th
- 1942- Carl Frederick Zeidler, former mayor of Milwaukee who resigned the post to enlist in the armed forces during WWII, is killed when his ship was torpedoed near Cape Town, South Africa by German forces.
- 1944- FDR wins unprecedented fourth term. (United States)
- 2009- The Affordable Care Act passes the U.S. House of Representatives. (United States)
Recommended Reading Related to Movies/Historical Happenings:
- The Martian by Andy Weir
- Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard
- Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes
- Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age by Matthew Brzezinski
- Tommy: My Journey of a Lifetime by Tommy Thompson
- The Shadow King: The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut’s Mummy by Jo Marchant
- 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
- The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassified History by Peter Kornbluh and Malcolm Byrne
- World War II Milwaukee by Meg Jones
(Click on any of the above book/movie titles to be taken to them in our online Café catalog!)