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History and Current Events April 2019
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| Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam HigginbothamWhat it's about: the catastrophic April 26, 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukraine.
Why you might like it: Suspenseful and sweeping, this vivid account includes recently declassified documents and interviews with survivors.
Try this next: For a moving look at the disaster's ongoing environmental damage, read Kate Brown's Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future. |
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| How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel ImmerwahrWhat it is: a fast-paced, illuminating history exploring the impact of American imperialism on past and present non-mainland U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Why it matters: This absorbing work reveals a perspective on American history that is often overlooked.
Did you know? Nearly half of the mainland population is unaware that today's four million territory residents are U.S. citizens. |
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| Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden KeefeWhat it's about: In December 1972, Belfast widow and mother of 10 Jean McConville was wrongly accused of being an informant for the British Army. Abducted from her home by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), she was never seen again.
Why you might like it: Blending elements of murder mystery, political history, and true crime, this heartwrenching deep dive into The Troubles offers an unflinching portrait of the conflict's lasting repercussions. |
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| An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago by Alex KotlowitzWhat it is: an intimate and empathetic chronicle of the summer of 2013 in Chicago neighborhoods plagued by violence and neglect.
What's inside: immersive interviews with advocates, bystanders, victims, and perpetrators.
Author alert: Journalist Alex Kotlowitz is the author of There Are No Children Here, which was named by the New York Public Library as one of the 150 most important books of the 20th century. |
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| Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation by Steve LuxenbergWhat it's about: the complex, decades-long origins of the landmark United States Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which legally upheld racially segregated "separate but equal" facilities.
Reviewers say: Separate "is likely to become the seminal work on this crucial Supreme Court decision" (Library Journal).
For fans of: Isabel Wilkerson's sweeping Great Migration history The Warmth of Other Suns. |
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Those turbulent sons of freedom : Ethan Allen's Green Mountain boys and the American Revolution
by Christopher S. Wren
What it is: chronicles the exploits of Ethan Allen and the much-loved Green Mountain Boys of Vermont and their role in the American Revolution—both the myth and the reality.
What sets it apart: it shatters the legends and presents a surprising and interesting new account.
About the author: Wren retired from the New York Times after nearly twenty nine years as a reporter, foreign correspondent and editor. He is a visiting professor in Dartmouth's Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies Program.
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Citizens : a chronicle of the French Revolution
by Simon Schama
What it is: explores the French Revolution in terms of the vitality and infatuation with technology that motivated French citizenry toward change and the conflicting, strained economics frustrating their visions for France.
What sets it apart: Schama is more sympathetic to the ancien regime than traditional historians, seeing it as full of modern ideas, inventions, innovations, and dynamic change.
About the author: Schama is the author of numerous books, including, The Story of the Jews, Rembrandt's Eyes and Landscape and Memory.
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Red Azalea
by Anchee Min
What it is: a powerful memoir of growing up in Communist China during Mao's ascendancy chronicles a time when individuality was ruthlessly crushed, the good of the state was supreme, and love could be a capital crime.
Reviewers say: Newsweek called Min's prose "as delicate and evocative as a traditional Chinese brush painting."
About the author: Born in Shanghai in 1957, Min came to the United States with the help of actress Joan Chen. She wrote Red Azalea in her new language, English, over an eight year period.
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| The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 by Joseph J. EllisWhat it's about: the influential roles four Founding Fathers played in the political transformations occurring between the end of the American Revolution and the establishment of the federal government.
Starring: George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.
About the author: Historian Joseph J. Ellis is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. |
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| October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China MiévilleWhat it is: a breathtaking month-by-month account of Russia's two 1917 revolutions, which culminated in the rise of Vladimir Lenin and the creation of the world's first workers' state.
Read it for: award-winning fantasy author China Miéville's (Perdido Street Station) lyrical prose.
Want a taste? “Trench-drenched soldiers the colour of ripped-up earth taking what hours of respite they could, drinking tea from tin mugs.” |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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If you are having trouble unsubscribing to this newsletter, please contact the Fremont Public Library District at 847-566-8702. |
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