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History and Current Events November 2018
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An Unlikely Journey : Waking Up from My American Dream
by Julian Castro
The keynote speaker at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, former San Antonio mayor and secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama tells his remarkable and inspiring life story. 40,000 first printing.
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Valley Forge
by Bob Drury
The #1 New York Times best-selling authors of The Heart of Everything That Is return with an account of Valley Forge, the Continental Army winter camp where George Washington turned the tide of the American Revolution. Illustrations. Tour
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| The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben MacintyreWho it's about: disillusioned KGB operative-turned double agent Oleg Gordievsky, whose work on behalf of MI6 helped end the Cold War.
What's inside: propulsive descriptions of Gordievsky's nail-biting schemes; lists of codenames and aliases used during his spycraft.
For fans of: John le Carré (who calls The Spy and the Traitor "the best true spy story I have ever read"). |
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| The Library Book by Susan OrleanWhat's the story? In April 1986, a devastating fire engulfed the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, destroying over one million books and leading to the building's seven-year closure. Was it an accident...or arson?
Check it out: This "love letter to libraries everywhere" (Library Journal) offers an immersive blend of true crime, journalistic reportage, history, and biography, culminating in a sweeping tribute to the library as an enduring cultural institution. |
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| The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate MooreWhat it's about: As World War I escalated, American women tasked with painting watch dials (many used by soldiers) were exposed to the gruesome effects of radiation poisoning.
Why it matters: The surviving workers eventually took their employers to court; the outcome improved labor laws and led to a greater scientific understanding of radiation's harmful effects.
Reviewers say: "written with clarity and a sympathetic voice that brings these figures and their struggles to life" (Library Journal). |
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The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote
by Elaine Weiss
What it is: a page-turning and uplifting chronicle of the women's suffrage movement, culminating in the struggle to ratify the 19th Amendment in 1920.
Why you might like it: Elaine Weiss dramatically conveys hair-raising suspense in a story where the outcome is already well-known, while also noting how echoes of suffragettes' compromises on racial equality are still felt today.
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The women who made New York
by Julie Scelfo
The Women Who Made New York reveals the untold stories of the phenomenal women who made New York City the cultural epicenter of the world. Many were revolutionaries and activists, like Zora Neale Hurston and Audre Lorde. Others were icons and iconoclasts, like Fran Lebowitz and Grace Jones. There were also women who led quieter private lives but were just as influential, such as Emily Warren Roebling, who completed the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge when her engineer husband became too ill to work. -- amazon.com
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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