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Biography and Memoir July 2018
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| The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran by Masih AlinejadWhat it's about: Exiled Iranian journalist and women's rights advocate Masih Alinejad chronicles her life spent resisting the Islamic republic in this captivating and informative memoir. Did you know? Alinejad is the creator of the social media movement My Stealthy Freedom, which encourages women to defy Iran's compulsory hijab laws by sharing photographs of themselves without their head scarves. |
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Paul Simon : The Life
by Robert Hilburn
What it's about: A candid portrait of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, written with rare input by Simon himself, discusses his creative process, his marriages, his decision to leave Simon and Garfunkel, and the challenges and sacrifices of living life at the ultimate level of music artistry.
Is it for you? "As Simon prepares to bid farewell to touring later this year, Hilburn's well-researched book will be vital reading for his fans and to devotees of popular music of the past 50 years." (LJ)
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| Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale HurstonWhat it's about: In 1927, author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston interviewed Cudjo Lewis (c. 1841-1935), one of the last known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade; the transcript of their conversation was only recently discovered.
Read it for: Hurston's folkloristic preservation of Lewis's West African vernacular and storytelling.
Is it for you? Lewis' clear account of his capture and enslavement is both graphic and illuminating. |
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Famous Father Girl : A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein
by Jamie Bernstein
What it's about: Leonard Bernstein's oldest daughter presents a deeply intimate memoir of life with her father that shares insights into his complex personality, sense of humor, artistic influence and erratic creative process.
Why you might like it: "It’s clear that the author wants readers to know who her father really was; she loves and admires him, but she doesn’t put him on a pedestal. Leonard Bernstein was a flawed genius who kept some parts of himself hidden away from most of the world, and here we’re allowed to see the full man as he appeared to his daughter." (Booklist)
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The Indian world of George Washington : the first President, the first Americans, and the birth of the nation
by Colin G. Calloway
What it's about: An authoritative, sweeping, and fresh new biography of the nation's first president, Colin G. Calloway's book reveals fully the dimensions and depths of George Washington's relations with the First Americans."
Reviewers say: "Calloway is no revisionist. Historians agree that Washington's treatment of Indians was marked by self-interest, ignorance, and racism, but they prefer to emphasize areas where he did better. Insightful and illuminating..." (Kirkus)
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Focus on: Prison and Captivity
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| A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara CorbettWhat it's about: In 2008, 25-year-old Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout was captured by Somali rebels in Mogadishu and held for ransom for 15 months.
Don't miss: the urgent and evocative prose.
Is it for you? Though the memoir has an upbeat ending, Lindhout's harrowing descriptions of the violence she endured may be too disturbing for some readers. |
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| The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State by Nadia MuradWhat it is: the raw yet inspiring story of Nadia Murad's escape from captivity by the Islamic State, for whom she was forced to serve as a "sabiya" (or sex slave) after her Yazidi village in Iraq was destroyed in 2014.
About the author: Nadia Murad is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. |
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| Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan StevensonWhat it's about: In 1994, lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal representation to inmates on Alabama's death row -- many of whom face miscarriages of justice.
Further reading: Stevenson provides the foreword to Anthony Ray Hinton's heartwrenching and hopeful memoir (and Oprah's latest Book Club selection) The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, which chronicles his 30 years of false imprisonment. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Winfield, IL 60190
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