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Biography and Memoir November 2018
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| Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. BlightWhat it is: a comprehensive yet accessible biography of Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), the runaway slave-turned-abolitionist orator.
About the author: Award-winning Yale historian David W. Blight is a longtime Douglass scholar and the author of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. What sets it apart: Granted access to private sources previously made unavailable to other historians, Blight offers new insights into Douglass' complicated family life. |
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The girl who smiled beads : a story of war and what comes after
by Clemantine Wamariya
What it is: Traces the author's harrowing experiences as a young child during the Rwanda massacres and displacements, which separated her from her parents and forced the author and her older sister to endure six years as refugees in seven countries, foraging for survival and encountering unexpected acts of cruelty and kindness before she was granted asylum in America.
Want a taste: "All that night we walked. I felt such rage."
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| Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and... by Mary GabrielWhat it is: a sweeping, richly contextualized portrait of five women artists who revolutionized the abstract expressionism movement.
Why it matters: Despite their trailblazing accomplishments (including their participation in the groundbreaking 1951 Ninth Street Show), these women have remained largely overlooked by the modern art scene.
Reviewers say: "an incandescent, engrossing, and paradigm-altering art epic" (Booklist); "superbly written and absorbing" (Library Journal). |
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| The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger What it's about: the close yet contentious relationship between sisters Jacqueline and Lee Bouvier, their privileged East Hampton upbringing, and their roles as America's First Lady and a princess of Poland.
Featuring: candid interviews with Lee about the women's childhood.
Don't miss: surprising, gossipy insights -- Lee was left out of Jackie's 38-page will; Jackie may have helped vet JFK's potential paramours. |
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| Good Friday on the Rez: A Pine Ridge Odyssey by David Hugh BunnellWhat it is: David Hugh Bunnell's 280-mile road trip to visit his longtime friend and "blood brother," Vernell White Thunder, at South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Why you might like it: The author vividly blends reflections of his time as a Pine Ridge schoolteacher with historical context as he passes Lakota landmarks and towns.
Don't miss: Bunnell's account of smuggling food to protesters during the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee. |
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The other slavery : the uncovered story of Indian enslavement in America
by Andrés Reséndez
What it is: Andrés Reséndez reveals the massive enslavement of tens of thousands of Native Americans from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, describing how kidnapping and forced labor played a key role in the decimation of Indian populations across North America.
About the author: He is a historian and author, specializing in colonial Latin America, borderlands, and the Iberian world.
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The turtle's beating heart : one family's story of Lenape survival
by Denise Low
What it is: Denise Low recovers the life and times of her grandfather, Frank Bruner (1889-1963), whose expression of Lenape identity was largely discouraged by mainstream society.
Want a taste: "Silence is a common symptom of the trauma of Native displacement."
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| Heart Berries by Terese Marie MailhotWhat it is: a raw and powerfully crafted coming-of-age memoir of life on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation, evocatively told in a series of concise and cogent essays.
Want a taste? "The thing about women from the river is that our currents are endless. We sometimes outrun ourselves."
About the author: First Nation writer Terese Marie Mailhot is a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts and is currently the Tecumseh Postdoctoral Fellow at Purdue University. |
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The earth is weeping : the epic story of the Indian wars for the American West
by Peter Cozzens
What it's about: Peter Cozzens describes the encroachment experienced by the tribes and the tribal conflicts over whether to fight or make peace, and explores the squalid lives of soldiers posted to the frontier and the ethical quandaries faced by generals who often sympathized with their native enemies."
Why you might like it: Cozzens seeks balance in his detailed recounting of random carnage, burned bodies, broken treaties, and treachery on both sides.
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Voices of the winds : native American legends
by Margot Edmonds
What is is: An appealing anthology gathers more than 130 Native American legends,as told by elder storytellers and tribal historians.
Featuring: A broad array of mythical figures as well as human-like characters. Evocative drawings accompany the text.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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