Hot Dates

Recently I noticed that there are a number of books with titles that are simply dates. I thought it would be fun to compile a list of some of them, along with short synopses, and maybe you'll discover a hidden gem among all the standard titles on the shelf. So make a date with some of these great books!

1356 by Bernard Cornwell

Bringing to life the violence, action and heroism of the battlefield, this brilliant recreation of the Battle of the Poitiers in 1356 follows a severely outnumbered English army as they, through the ingenious planning of Edward the Black Prince, defeated the French and captured the Poitiers and French King John II.

1632 by Eric Flint

A mysterious accident in time causes twenty-first-century American democracy to collide head-on with the Thirty Years War in seventeenth-century Germany as Mike Stearn and a group of armed miners take on a gang of strangely attired invaders who are threatening peaceful Grantville, West Virginia.

1876 by Gore Vidal

Returning to America after his long European sojourn, Charlie Schuyler, Aaron Burr's unacknowledged son, and Charlie's widowed daughter seek financial and political advancement in the centennial power centers, as republican idealism is giving way to imperial expediency.

1929 by Frederick Turner

A novelization of jazz artist Bix Beiderbecke's early jams at a Capone-controlled casino, grueling cross-country tours, disastrous cinematic efforts, experiences during the stock market crash, and his final musical efforts.

1940 by Jay Neugeboren

Set on the eve of America's entry into WWII, award-winning novelist Jay Neugeboren's first novel in 20 years is built around the fascinating historical figure, Dr. Eduard Bloch, an Austrian doctor who had been physician to Adolf Hitler and his family when Hitler was a boy and young man, and who cared for Hitler's mother during her illness and death. The historical Bloch was the only Jew for whom Hitler ever personally arranged departure from Europe, and he must now, living in the Bronx, face accusations over the special treatment he received from the Nazi dictator.

1968 by Joe Haldeman

Spider, a confused young soldier, barely escapes the horrors of Vietnam and is nearly destroyed in the postwar psychomedical establishment, while his old girlfriend, Beverly, finds challenges in her antiwar protests.

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity
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The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future.