Back to Book Group Page

Needham History Center & Museum Book Group – 2020-2021 List
October 27 – The Great Influenza (John Barry)
December 1 – The Beekeeper of Aleppo (Christy Lefteri)
January 26 – Voyage of Mercy (Stephen Puleo)
February 23 – Spying on the South (Tony Horwitz)
March 23 – The Glass Castle (Jeanette Walls)
April 27 – Perfection Salad, Something from the Oven, or What She Ate – choose one by Laura Shapiro
May 25 – The Three-Cornered War: Union, Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (M. Nelson)
June 22 – Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads (Paul Theroux)

Needham History Center & Museum Book Group – 2019-2020 List
September 24 – These Truths (Jill Lepore)
October 22 – Becoming (Michelle Obama)
December 3 – The Red Notice (Bill Browder)
January 28 – Making Haste from Babylon: the Mayflower Pilgrims and their World (Nick Bunker)
February 25 – The Enchantress of Numbers (Jennifer Chiaverini)
The remainder of the year’s schedule was cancelled

Needham History Center & Museum Book Group – 2018-2019 List
September 25– The Last Fish Tale (Mark Kurlansky)
October 23 – Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America’s First Imperial Adventure (Julia Siler)
November 27 – The Guns of August (Barbara Tuchman)
December – no meeting. Happy Holidays!
January 22 – Eleanor of Aquitaine (Alison Weir)
February 26 – The Peabody Sisters (Megan Marshall)
March 26 – A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)
April 23 – The Last Days of Dogtown (Anita Diamant)
May 28 – Charlotte Bronte: a Fiery Heart (Claire Harman)
June 25 – our Annual book-related field trip, this year to Hammond Castle in Gloucester

Needham History Center & Museum Book Group – 2017 – 2018  List
September 26 – Hamilton (Ron Chernow)
October 24 – SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (Mary Beard)
November 28 – Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
December – No meeting, but we suggest Blizzard of Glass – The Halifax Explosion of 1917 (Sally M Walker).
January 23 – Hillbilly Elegy (JD Vance)
February 27 – The Gods of Gotham (Lindsay Faye)
March 27 – Sisters In Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor & Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court (L. Hirshman)
April 24 – The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (Stephen Greenblatt)
May 22 – The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman (Nancy Marie Brown)
June 26 – Book Group field trip to Gloucester, in preparation for our summer read – The Last Fish Tale.

Needham History Center & Museum Book Group – 2016 – 2017  List
September 27 – The Warmth of Other Suns (Isabel Wilkerson)
October 25 – Isaac’s Storm (Erik Larsen)
December 6 – 97 Orchard (Jane Ziegelman)
January 24, 2017 – Margaret Fuller (Megan Marshall)
February 28 – The Race Underground (Doug Most)  Needham author!
March 28 – Crow Hollow (Michael Wallace)
April 25 – Wives of Los Alamos (TaraShea Nesbit)
May 23 – Daughters of the Samurai (Janice Nimura)
June 13 – Group field trip to Concord – Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Orchard House

Needham History Center & Museum Book Group – 2015 – 2016  List
September 22, 2015 – Undaunted Courage (Stephen Ambrose)
October 27 – Patriots (A. J. Langguth)
November 17 – Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Jean Lee Latham)
December 15 – Reading about the Gardner Museum robbery:  Pick one (or more!):  The Art Forger (Barbara Shapiro), The Gardner Heist (Ulrich Boser), or Master Thieves (Stephen Kurkjian)
January 26, 2016 – The Name of War (Jill Lepore)
February 23 – The Frozen Water Trade: A True Story (Gavin Weightman)
March 22 – Orphan Train (Christina Baker Klein)
April 26 – Southern Lady, Yankee Spy (Elizabeth R. Varon)
May 24 – Dead Wake: the Last Crossing of the Lusitania  (Erik Larson)
June 7 – Group field trip t0 the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth

Needham History Center & Museum Book Group – 2014-2015 List
September 23 – Book of Ages:  the Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin (by Jill Lepore)
October 28 – Caleb’s Crossing (by Geraldine Brooks)
December 9 – Harvard Yard  (by William Martin)
January 27 – cancelled for snow
February 24 – Dark Tide (by Stephen Puleo)
March 24 – Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air (by Richard Holmes)
April 28 – The Given Day (by Dennis Lehane)
May 26 – Cascade (by Maryanne O’Hara)
June 16 – Group field trip to the Quabbin Reservoir

Needham History Center & Museum Book Group – 2013-2014 List
October 29 at 10am – People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks.
November 19 at 10am – Nella Last’s War (The Diaries of Nella Last)
December – no meeting
January 28 at 10am – Midnight Ride, Industrial Dawn by Robert Martello
February 25 at 10am – Someone Knows my Name  (Lawrence Hill)  Celebrating African-American History Month!
March 25 – Call the Darkness Light  (Nancy Zaroulis)  Celebrating Women’s History Month!
April 29 – The Silver Pigs (Lindsey Davis)
May 27 – Founding Mothers (Cokie Roberts)
June 24 – A group field trip to the Lowell mills.