LibraryAware October 2025

Recent Releases

Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS
by Lisa Rogak

Working in the European theater, China and Washington, D.C., Betty MacDonald, Zuzka Lauwers, Jane Smith-Hutton and Marlene Dietrich, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in World War II. Read-alike: The Indomitable Florence Finch: The Untold Story of a War Widow Turned Resistance Fighter and Savior of American POWs by Robert J. Mrazek.

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America
by Kostya Kennedy

Reexamines the famous midnight ride, revealing it as a complex, collaborative effort involving multiple riders and several near-disasters, while exploring its pivotal role in the early stages of the American Revolution through fresh archival research and overlooked historical accounts. For fans of: American Tempest: How the Boston Tea Party Sparked a Revolution by Harlow Giles Unger.

Source Code: My Beginnings
by Bill Gates

The software giant explores his personal journey, recounting his early influences, friendships, family and first steps in computing that paved the way for his revolutionary career and later philanthropic focus, offering an intimate look at the experiences that shaped him. Try this next: Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist
by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Theater and culture writer Daniel Pollak-Pelzner’s debut charts the startling rise of Lin-Manuel Miranda -- creator of the Broadway hits Hamilton and In the Heights -- from inner-city kid to worldwide phenomenon. Pollack-Pelzner interviewed Miranda and other intimate sources, and his background and expertise render him an “astute observer of the more human side of creating art” (Kirkus Reviews). Try this next: How to Survive a Killer Musical by Douglas J. Cohen.

Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis
by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley with Mary Jane Ross

More than 50 years after her divorce from the King of Rock and Roll, Priscilla Beaulieu Presley candidly recalls finding her independence after her relationship with Elvis, which had dominated her life since she was 14. Presley is frank about her triumphs (success as an actor) and tragedies (the deaths of her daughter and grandson), as well as the grief she felt after her ex-husband’s death. Try this next: Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story by Leslie Jamison.

Saints and Liars: The Story of Americans Who Saved Refugees from the Nazis
by Deborah Dwork

Long before their country officially joined the war, American aid workers were active in rescue efforts across Europe. Two such Americans were Martha and Waitstill Sharp, who were originally sent to Prague as part of a relief effort but turned immediately to helping Jews and dissidents after the 1939 invasion by Germany. They were not the only ones. Renowned historian Debâorah Dwork follows the story of rescue workers in five major cities as the refugee crisis expanded to Vilna, Shanghai, Marseille, and Lisbon. Followed by Nazi agents, spiriting people across borders, they learned secrecy. Others negotiated with government representatives, like Laura Margolis, who worked with the Japanese, to get enough food and warm shelter for the refugees in Shanghai. Yet, the women also often faced lack of support from their agencies; if part of a couple, they fought to get paid even at a low salary despite working as long and hard as their husbands. Moving and revelatory, Saints and Liars illuminates the unpredictable circumstances and often fast-changing historical events with which these aid workers contended, while revealing the moral questions they encountered and the devastating decisions they had to make. Drawing on a multitude of archival documents, from letters to diaries and memos, Dwork offers us a rare glimpse into the lives of individuals who--at times with their organizations' backing, but sometimes against their directives--sought to help people find safe haven from persecution. For fans of: The Foragers: The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust's Most Audacious Rescue Operation by Roger Moorhouse.

Mark Twain
by Ron Chernow

Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, under Halley's Comet, the rambunctious Twain was an early teller of tall tales. He left his home in Missouri at an early age, piloted steamboats on the Mississippi, and arrived in the Nevada Territory during the silver-mining boom. Before long, he had accepted a job at the local newspaper, where he barged into vigorous discourse and debate, hoaxes and hijinks. After moving to San Francisco, he published stories that attracted national attention for their brashness and humor, writing under a pen name soon to be immortalized. Chernow draws a richly nuanced portrait of the man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune and crafted his celebrity persona with meticulous care. Twain eventually settled with his wife and three daughters in Hartford, where he wrote some of his most well-known works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, earning him further acclaim. He threw himself into American politics, emerging as the nation's most notable pundit. While his talents as a writer and speaker flourished, his madcap business ventures eventually forced him into bankruptcy; to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered the death of his wife and two daughters, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play. Further reading: The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allen Poe and the Forging of American Science by John Tresch.

Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Finding Freedom
by Christine Brown Woolley

Reality TV star Christine Brown Woolley speaks earnestly about her Mormon faith and upbringing and candidly about her choice -- following the conclusion of her TLC show Sister Wives -- to leave the tradition of fundamentalist polygamy in which she was raised. If you like this, be sure to read Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear by Jinger Duggar Vuolo.

Contact your librarian for more great books!