Books to Look For (May): History

Darjeeling: A History of the World's Greatest Tea by Jeff Koehler (Bloomsbury USA, 304 pages, May 12)


Considered to be the finest tea in the world, Darjeeling is "planted at high elevation in the heart of the Eastern Himalayas in an area of northern India bound by Nepal to the west, Bhutan to the east, and Sikkim to the north." In this tea history, Koehler explores the colonial and economic history and implications of Darjeeling, a fascinating journey indeed.



1920: The Year that Made the Decade Roar by Eric Burns (Pegasus, 400 pages, May 15)

Of course, 1920 is the beginning of what we still call the "Roaring Twenties," but Eric Burns insists that we focus on this particular year as a watershed moment in its own right. The twenties may be known for extravagance and subsequent economic disaster, but the beginning of the decade was much more complicated (and fascinating) than that.