History Honor Society wins 8th straight award and then gives to the Library

For the 8th consecutive year the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society at Union has the won the best national chapter award. The strong History department here at Union and the Phil Alpha Theta have performed well academically and given back to the community through a strong sense of service.  You can read the full story here! As part of this award the History department donated $250.00 to the Summar Library to buy books. We have purchased some pretty incredibly titles in hardcover and placed in the book a plate that reads:

This book was purchased with 

funds from the national office of

Phi Alpha Theta

History Honor Society, Inc.

in honor of

Union's Delta-Psi Chapter

Winner of the

2010 Phi Alpha Theta

Best Chapter Award

We are very grateful for this gift and for Dr. Carls, the outstanding History Department and Phi Alpha Theta Chapter. Below are some highlights of the books that we purchased with the gift from the History department.

Blood on the Snow

Zhivago's Children

"One of the lesser-known aspects of post-World War II Soviet history is the fate of the intelligentsia after Stalin. Zubok (history, Temple Univ.) explores the world of these intellectuals from the defeat of Hitler through Stalin's terror and purges to Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalinism in 1956 and the eventual fall of the USSR under Gorbachev. After living through Stalinism and its iron-fisted control over all aspects of life, the surviving intelligentsia looked to their 19th-century predecessors and to the ideas that launched the 1917 revolution as the source of their new intellectual inspiration. For Zubok, these ideals were best embodied by Boris Pasternak's noble doctor, Yuri Zhivago, a poet and idealist who found meaning and resurrection in love."
Hicks, Deborah. 2009. "Zhivago's Children: The Last Russian Intelligentsia." Library Journal 134, no. 11: 83. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2010).

Lincoln on Race and Slavery

Eating History

A Few Good Women

Armenian Golgotha

"Grigoris Balakian (1876-1934), a cultural and religious leader in Istanbul's Armenian community, was arrested in April 1914 with 250 other leaders and began almost four years of deportation, forced march to the Syrian desert, and abusive treatment. Thus was launched the Turkish government's program to rid the country of Armenians. Hundreds of thousands were viciously murdered or died of cold and starvation, but Balakian's fierce will to live and his encounters with a few generous people allowed him to survive and tell the story. This memoir, which Balakian published in Armenian in 1922, vividly portrays Turkish brutality as it provides his and others' stories along with well-informed commentary on Turkey's actions. Peter Balakian (English, Colgate Univ.; The Burning Tigris), the author's grandnephew, has translated this rich historical document and provided scholarly support, making available a readable and moving account that will be welcomed by both the English-speaking Armenian community and a broader audience committed to witnessing and understanding the massive cruelty and suffering that characterized widespread crimes against humanity in the 20th century. Important for readers who want to judge whether or not this was the first genocide in modern times."
Hayford, Elizabeth R. 2009. "Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918."Library Journal 134, no. 5: 111. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2010).



Slavery Civil War and Salvation

Faith in the Fight

Demons and Dancers

Lincoln & the Court

Jesus, Jobs and Justice


"Collier-Thomas (history, Temple Univ., Daughters of Thunder: Black Women Preachers and Their Sermons) has produced the first comprehensive history of African American women and their participation in religious institutions from slavery to the present. The book covers enslaved and free women preachers in the antebellum era, black women's missionary work, their struggle to gain equality with men in many denominations, and their work in their own women's organizations and in conjunction with white women's organizations to gain suffrage and civil rights. Collier-Thomas convincingly argues that religion has been a fundamental force in black women's lives, and their participation in churches has shaped public life and politics in America. Although she covers some well-worn history, such as the work of women in the African Methodist Episcopal and Baptist denominations, Collier-Thomas also surveys the untapped archives of smaller churches and organizations. The result is an almost encyclopedic chronicle. VERDICT A monumental work, this is highly recommended for academic libraries and is certainly essential for all students of African American history."
Stewart, Kate. 2009. "Jesus, Jobs, and Justice: The History of African American Women and Religion."Library Journal 134, no. 20: 117. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2010).