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Biography and Memoir March 2019
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Bing Crosby : Swinging on a Star : The War Years 1940-1946
by Gary Giddins
What it's about: a NBCC Winner and preeminent cultural critic focuses on Crosby's most memorable period, the war years and the origin story of "White Christmas."
Don't miss: this book is a much-anticipated follow-up to the universally acclaimed first volume, Bing Crosby : A Pocketful of Dreams : The Early Years 1904-1940.
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| Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future by Pete ButtigiegWhat it's about: the inspiring political rise of two-term South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, a former Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Navy veteran who recently announced his 2020 presidential bid.
Did you know? Buttigieg is the first openly gay Democratic candidate to run for president.
Try this next: For another engaging memoir by a young Democratic politician and Afghanistan veteran, try Jason Kander's Outside the Wire: Ten Lessons I've Learned in Everyday Courage. |
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| The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers by Bridgett M. DavisWhat it's about: the Detroit Numbers, an underground lottery popular in African American neighborhoods throughout the 1960s and '70s.
Starring: Numbers bookie Fannie Davis, who parlayed her wits and talents into a successful 34-year business to support her family and community.
Author alert: Baruch College journalism professor and novelist Bridgett M. Davis (Into the Go-Slow) penned this heartfelt tribute to her mother. |
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| Joy Enough by Sarah McCollWhat it's about: the year Sarah McColl spent grappling with her mother's impending death from cancer and the dissolution of her own marriage.
For fans of: candid memoirs of loss, such as Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed.
Why you might like it: Despite its difficult subject matter, Pushcart Prize nominee McColl's introspective debut is ultimately hopeful. |
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| Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene CooperWho it's about: Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the 24th Liberian President and Africa's first female elected head of state.
Topics include: Sirleaf's exile following her failed presidential run during the First Liberian Civil War; her handling of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
Is it for you? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Helene Cooper's mostly flattering biography spares her subject from in-depth criticisms. |
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Rise of the Rocket Girls : The Women Who Propelled Us, From Missiles to the Moon to Mars
by Nathalia Holt
What it's about: This book traces the pivotal achievements of the elite female science recruits at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where in the mid-20th century they transformed rocket design and enabled the creations of the first American satellites.
Kirkus Reviews says: "Besides chronicling the development of America's space program, Holt recounts the women's private lives—marriages, babies, and the challenge of combining motherhood and work—gleaned from her interviewees' vivid memories. A fresh contribution to women's history."
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| Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press by James McGrath MorrisWho it's about: pioneering journalist and activist Ethel Payne, who covered the civil rights movement for the Chicago Defender.
Notable achievements: Payne was the first African American Vietnam correspondent, the first African American reporter invited to China, and the first female African American radio/tv commentator to work for CBS.
Did you know? Payne was a witness to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; President Johnson gifted her the pen used to sign the law. |
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| The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville by Clare MulleyWhat it is: the previously untold story of Polish-born Christine Granville, the first woman to serve as a British intelligence officer during WWII.
Don't miss: Granville's heroic (and suspenseful) feats, which included skiing the Carpathian Mountains to deliver intel, parachuting into occupied France to aid the Resistance, and bribing the Gestapo to release three of her compatriots scheduled for execution.
For fans of: Ian Fleming's James Bond novels; Granville is rumored to be the inspiration for the first Bond Girl, Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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