Home / Catalog / Contact Us History and Current Events April 2020 Recent Releases The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes What it is: a gossipy history of Belle Époque France as experienced by the colorful characters who inhabited it.   Starring: licentious gynecologist Samuel Pozzi, subject of John Singer Sargent's famous 1881 portrait Dr. Pozzi at Home and friend of Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and more.  Read it for: the primary sources deployed to humorous effect (the Princess of Monaco referred to Pozzi as "disgustingly handsome.")  Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote by Ellen Carol DuBois What it is: a lively and accessible history of the women's suffrage movement, published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and packed with profiles of lesser-known activists.   What sets it apart: historian Ellen Carol DuBois' frank exploration of how proponents of the suffrage movement often excluded women of color from participating. Further reading: For a suspenseful account of how the 19th Amendment passed, check out The Woman's Hour by Elaine Weiss, soon to be adapted for TV by Stephen Spielberg.  Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction by David Enrich Follow the money: In this sobering and well-researched chronicle, New York Times finance editor David Enrich investigates Germany-based Deutsche Bank's long and troubled history, from its funding of Auschwitz to its close relationship with Donald Trump, who owed the company a staggering $350 million at the time of his election. Who it's for: fans of compelling business exposés like Andrew Ross Sorkin's Too Big to Fail or Christopher Leonard's Kochland.   82 days on Okinawa : one American's unforgettable firsthand account of the Pacific war's greatest battle by Art Shaw What it is: a 75th-anniversary account of the Battle of Okinawa is told from the first-person perspective of a Bronze Star hero and commander of the Deadeyes unit, which played a crucial role in the surrender of Japanese forces.  Read it for:  An inspiring,unforgettable eyewitness account of nearly three months of brutal combat that killed more than 100,000 Japanese soldiers and 10,000 American soldiers. Chanel's Riviera : glamour, decadence, and survival in peace and war, 1930-1944 by Anne De Courcy What it is:  explores the wealth and extravagance of the Cote d’Azur in 1938, where Coco Chanel hosted Gloria Swanson, Colette, Picasso and Somerset Maugham in her magnificent villa to escape the turmoil plaguing the rest of Europe before World War II. Want a taste:  "In the summer of 1938, the burning question on the Riviera was not what Germany was going to do next but whether or not to courtesy to the Duchess of Windsor. Buildings and Landmarks Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of History's Greatest Buildings by James Crawford What it is: an engaging, millennia-spanning survey of 20 ruined structures that offers a revealing glimpse at the civilizations that built and destroyed them.   Sites "visited:" the Library of Alexandria; the Tower of Babel; Old St. Paul's Cathedral; the Berlin Wall; the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects, the World Trade Center.   Don't miss: author James Crawford's ode to the "deleted city" -- web hosting site GeoCities, which shuttered in 2009. The Last Palace: Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House by Norman Eisen Welcome to...Prague's Petschek Villa, built by Jewish banker Otto Petschek in the 1920s and home to U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic Norman Eisen nearly a century later. What it's about: how the palatial estate survived Nazi and Soviet occupation thanks to the residents who fought to save it from destruction. Residents included: Rudolf Toussaint, the Nazi-hating German general who defied orders to burn Petschek Villa; Shirley Temple Black, who witnessed 1989's Velvet Revolution while serving as an ambassador.  Chicago's historic Hyde Park by Susan O'Connor Davis What it is: offers detailed descriptions of Hyde Park -Kenwood 's most celebrated structures from Lincoln's time into the preservationist movement of the last thirty five years. About the author:  Davis is a founding member of nonprofit Kenwood Improvement Association. Lost Chicago by David Lowe What it is:  seek to recapture the life and architecture of Chicago between 1833 and 1933, celebrating the fallen and razed private and public buildings and monuments of the Place of the Wild Onion. Don't miss:  the incredible rare photographs of the magnificent mansions, the grand hotels, the first skyscraper. Southern exposure : the overlooked architecture of Chicago's South Side by Lee Bey What it is:  spotlights  more than 60 significant places and spaces across the South Side, the book features the work by world famous luminaries such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Daniel Burnham, Eero Saarinen, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead--designs largely unseen because they are on the South Side. About the author:  Bey was a long time architecture critic at Chicago Sun Times who went on to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff for Urban  Planning under Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. He is a Senior Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Contact your librarian for more great books! If you are having trouble unsubscribing to this newsletter, please contact the Fremont Public Library District at 847-566-8702.