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History and Current Events June 2018
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The sun does shine : how I found life and freedom on death row
by Anthony Ray Hinton
A revelatory memoir by a man who spent 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit describes how he became a victim of a dangerously flawed legal system, recounting the years he shared with dozens of fellow inmates who were eventually executed before his exoneration and his post-release decision to commit his life to prison reform.
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The Restless Wave : Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations
by John McCain
Written while confronting a mortal illness, McCain looks back with appreciation on his years in the Senate, his historic 2008 campaign for the presidency against Barack Obama, and his crusades on behalf of democracy and human rights in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Always the fighter, McCain attacks the “spurious nationalism” and political polarization afflicting American policy. He makes an impassioned case for democratic internationalism and bi-partisanship. He tells stories of his most satisfying moments of public service, including his work with another giant of the Senate, Edward M. Kennedy. Senator McCain recalls his disagreements with several presidents, and minces no words in his objections to some of President Trump’s statements and policies. At the same time, he offers a positive vision of America that looks beyond the Trump presidency.
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Damnation Island : Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York
by Stacy Horn
Today we call it Roosevelt Island. Then, it was Blackwell’s, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals. Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world ever seen, Blackwell’s Island quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, “a lounging, listless madhouse.”
In the first contemporary investigative account of Blackwell’s, Stacy Horn tells this chilling narrative through the gripping voices of the island’s inhabitants, as well as the period’s officials, reformers, and journalists, including the celebrated Nellie Bly. Digging through city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports, Horn brings this forgotten history alive: there was terrible overcrowding; prisoners were enlisted to care for the insane; punishment was harsh and unfair; and treatment was nonexistent. Damnation Island shows us how far we’ve come in caring for the least fortunate among us—and reminds us how much work still remains.
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| The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics by Stephen CossWhat it's about: This sweeping colonial history links the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1721 to the democratization of the press, exploring the impact of these fevers -- medical and political -- on a nascent America.
Why you might like it: Ambitious yet accessible, The Fever of 1721 features anecdotes about famous players in early American history, including a teenage Benjamin Franklin. |
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| Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital by David OshinskyWhat it is: a lively 300-year chronicle of the iconic New York City hospital, from its origins as a pest house for yellow fever and cholera patients to its enduring status as a refuge for the marginalized.
Notable patients: Sylvia Plath, Charlie Parker, Mark David Chapman.
Did you know? Bellevue is the oldest public hospital in the United States and admits over 600,000 patients annually. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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