Epoch Booklist: Recommended Reading for July 4–10

This week, we feature a kids’ picture book illustrating a beloved patriotic song and a biography of a forgotten 17th-century Massachusetts governor. 

Fiction

‘The Good Shepherd’

By C.S. Forester

This book recounts 52 hours of a 1942 winter crossing of the Atlantic by a slow convoy. It was the worst part of the Battle of the Atlantic. The escort, commanded by U.S. Navy Commander George Krause, is inadequate, and German U-boats numerous. It’s Krause’s first wartime command, and likely his first completely independent command. It demonstrates how an ordinary man rises above his limitations to meet an extraordinary situation. The book was adapted into the 2020 movie “Greyhound,” starring Tom Hanks.