The Books Briefing: The Leaders Who Weathered Historical Storms

📚 Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the First Clash Over the New Deal, by Eric Rauchway

The secret network of black teachers behind the fight for desegregation

“Black educators called themselves hidden provocateurs—these are the people figuring out, on a local level, how to provoke change and maneuver to get better facilities and more funding.”

📚 The Lost Education of Horace Tate: Uncovering the Hidden Heroes Who Fought for Justice in Schools, by Vanessa Siddle Walker

Abraham Lincoln’s radical moderation

“The Radicals were quick on their feet, exploiting national turmoil to break a legislative logjam … Here was the chance to neutralize the Democratic aversion to centralized power and advance a collectivist vision of the commercial republic.”

📚 Congress at War: How Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America, by Fergus M. Bordewich

📚 The Civil War: A Narrative, by Shelby Foote

The civic organizations that relied on women volunteers

“Women have long formed collective organizations intended to improve American society. They volunteered their time, waged political campaigns, and advocated for the poor and elderly. They organized voters, patronized the arts, and protested the government.”

📚 Natural Allies: Women’s Organizations in American History, by Anne Firor Scott

📚 The Paradox of Gender Equality: How American Women’s Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice, by Kristin A. Goss

The incredible rubber glove

“To [Dr.] Bloodgood’s surprise, wearing [gloves] during hernia surgeries led to a dramatic drop-off in the infection rate. To which [Dr.] Halsted responded, fittingly: ‘Why was I so blind not to have perceived the necessity for wearing them all the time?’”

📚 Doctors: The Biography of Medicine, by Sherwin B. Nuland

About us: This week’s newsletter is written by Rosa Inocencio Smith. Her quarantine book club is reading Middlemarch, by George Eliot.

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Rosa Inocencio Smith is an assistant editor at The Atlantic.