|
Biography and Memoir November 2017
|
|
|
|
| Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. by Danielle AllenHarvard University professor Danielle Allen had a much-loved younger cousin, Michael, who drifted into petty criminal activities that escalated until he was convicted of a felony at age 15; while rebuilding his life after 11 years of imprisonment, he was murdered. In Cuz, Allen chronicles Michael's life and death while criticizing the American criminal justice system. This heartwrenching memoir starkly contrasts Michael's life with Allen's relatively privileged one and offers details about how society fails young African American men. For additional memoirs that delve into these issues, try Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped and Lezley McSpadden's Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil. |
|
| A Disappearance in Damascus: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War by Deborah CampbellCanadian journalist Deborah Campbell began working undercover in Syria in 2007, reporting on Iraqi refugees. She became friends with Ahlam, an Iraqi woman who did humanitarian work and (at risk to her own safety) provided information to foreign reporters. After they had worked together for several years, Ahlam was arrested, and Campbell embarked on a dangerous and frustrating search for her. Vividly describing conditions in Syria, from the refugee camps to the jails, this award-winning, emotionally intense memoir may appeal to those who appreciated David Rhode and Kristen Mulvihill's A Rope and a Prayer or Amanda Lindhout's A House in the Sky. |
|
| Ali: A Life by Jonathan EigIn this balanced biography of boxer Muhammad Ali, author Jonathan Eig relates Ali's family background, the complexities of his status as a celebrity, and his later life, in addition to his boxing career. Ali places political and personal controversies in the context of the 1960s and draws on previously unavailable resources to correct the record in some instances. For another well-researched and compelling study of Ali, take a look at David Remnick's King of the World. |
|
| God's Wolf: The Life of the Most Notorious of All Crusaders, Scourge of Saladin by Jeffrey LeeCrusader Reynald de Chatillon was the only Christian leader who directly attacked the legendary Sultan Saladin during the 1180s. He's seldom recalled in the West, but is still viewed with hostility in the Islamic world -- in 2010 a terrorist bomb addressed to "Reynald de Chatillon" was hidden in a London FedEx shipment. Though Reynald's Christian rivals and Muslim enemies characterized him as a brutal, violent renegade, journalist Jeffrey Lee portrays a brilliant leader with diverse talents and a chivalric manner. This accessible, thoroughly researched portrait will intrigue Crusades buffs and those interested in current Christian-Islamic relations. |
|
| Real American: A Memoir by Julie Lythcott-HaimsIn this absorbing, moving, and candid memoir, bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims recounts her upbringing as a biracial child in 1970s America. Pulling no punches, she recounts the effects of racism on her psyche during her childhood and teen years, as well as the issues she faced in bringing up "quadroon" children with her Jewish husband. Her gradual understanding of the world as complex rather than starkly black and white leads to her self-acceptance, as well as making her determined to help Americans address racism more forthrightly. |
|
|
Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times
by Kenneth Whyte
A portrait of the 31st president traces his difficult childhood and meteoric business career through his significant contributions during World War I and the Great Depression, sharing insights into his less-recognized economic and political achievements.
|
|
|
Ernest Hemingway: A Biography
by Mary V Dearborn
A full biography of Ernest Hemingway draws on a wide range of previously untapped material and offers particular insight into the private demons that both inspired and tormented him
|
|
|
Gorbachev : His Life and Times
by William Taubman
An extensive portrait of the transformational world leader examines his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost, his role in ending the Cold War and his unintentional oversight over the collapse of the Soviet Union. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchev.
|
|
|
Fire Road: The Napalm Girl's Journey Through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness, and Peace
by Kim Phúc
"Get out! Run! We must leave this place! They are going to destroy this whole place! Go, children, run first! Go now! These were the final shouts nine year-old Kim Phuc heard before her world dissolved into flames--before napalm bombs fell from the sky, burning away her clothing and searing deep into her skin. It's a moment forever captured, an iconic image that has come to define the horror and violence of the Vietnam War. Kim was left for dead in a morgue; no one expected her to survive the attack. Napalm meant fire, and fire meant death. Against all odds, Kim lived--but her journey toward healing was only beginning. When the napalm bombs dropped, everything Kim knew and relied on exploded along with them: her home, her country's freedom, her childhoodinnocence and happiness. The coming years would be marked by excruciating treatments for her burns and unrelenting physical pain throughout her body, which were constant reminders of that terrible day. Kim survived the pain of her body ablaze, but how could she possibly survive the pain of her devastated soul? Fire Road is the true story of how she found the answer in a God who suffered Himself; a Savior who truly understood and cared about the depths of her pain. Fire Road is a story of horror and hope,a harrowing tale of a life changed in an instant--and the power and resilience that can only be found in the power of God's mercy and love."--Provided by publisher
|
|
|
Crossings: A Doctor-Soldier's Story
by Jon Kerstetter
"In Iraq, as a combat physician and officer, Jon Kerstetter balanced two impossibly conflicting imperatives - to heal and to kill. When he suffered an injury and then a stroke during his third tour, he wound up back home in Iowa, no longer able to be either a doctor or a soldier. In this gorgeous memoir that moves from his impoverished upbringing on an Oneida reservation, to his harrowing stints as a volunteer medic in Kosovo and Bosnia, through the madness of Iraq and his intense mandate to assemble a team to identify the remains of Uday and Qusay Hussein, and the struggle afterward to come to terms with a life irrevocably changed, Kerstetter beautifully illuminates war and survival, the fragility of the human body, and the strength of will that lies within."
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|