Celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage, and Jewish Heritage Month in May |
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Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins
by Barbara Demick
On a warm day in September 2000, a woman named Zanhua gave birth to twin girls in a small hut behind her brother's home in China's Hunan province. The twins, Fangfang and Shuangjie, were welcome additions to her family but also not her first children. Living under the shadow of China's notorious one-child policy, Zanhua and her husband decided to leave one twin in the care of relatives, hoping each toddler on their own might stay under the radar. But, in 2002, Fangfang was violently snatched away. The family worried they would never see her again, but they didn't imagine she could be sent as far as the United States. She might as well have been sent to another world. Following stories she wrote as the Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Demick embarks on a journey that encompasses the origins, shocking cruelty, and long-term impact of China's one-child rule; the rise of international adoption and the religious currents that buoyed it; and the exceedingly rare phenomenon of twin separation. Today, Esther--formerly Fangfang--lives in Texas, and Demick brings to vivid life the Christian family that felt called to adopt her, unaware that she had been kidnapped. Through Demick's indefatigable reporting, will the long-lost sisters finally reunite--and will they feel whole again? A remarkable window into the volatile, constantly changing China of the last half century and the long-reaching legacy of the country's most infamous law, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove is also the moving story of two sisters torn apart by the forces of history and brought together again by their families' determination and one reporter's dogged work.
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Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer
by David Denby
Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. Brilliant, brash, 100 percent Jewish and 100 percent American, they were hell-bent on shaking up the world of their fathers. They worked in different fields, and, apart from clinking glasses at parties now and then, they hardly knew one another. But they shared a common historical moment and a common temperament. For all four, their Jewish heritage was electrified by American liberty. As prosperity for American Jews increased and anti-Semitism began to fade after World War II, these four creative giants stormed through the latter half of the twentieth century, altering the way people listened to music, defined what was vulgar or not, comprehended the relations of men and women, and understood the nation's soul. They were not saints; they were Jews, children of immigrants, turbulent and self-dissatisfied intellectuals who fearlessly wielded their own newly won freedom to free up American culture. Celebratory yet candid, at times fiercely critical, David Denby presents these four figures as egotistical and generous-larger-than-life, all of them, both daringly individual and emblematic of their Jewish generation.
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Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i
by Sara Kehaulani Goo
An award-winning journalist's breathtaking story of unexpected homecomings, familial hardship, and fierce devotion to ancestry creates a refreshingly new narrative about Hawaii, its native people, and their struggle to hold on to their land and culture today.
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Things in Nature Merely Grow
by Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li's remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance as she considers the loss of her teenage sons, James and Vincent, after their deaths by suicide. Though she centers the account around James, who died more recently, Li recounts both boys' lives with palpable love and paints complex, distinct portraits of each. Li writes of marking her time after James's death with piano lessons, swimming, and gardening, and gradually coming to realize that death altered neither the facts about her sons nor her relationship to them.
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108 Asian Cookies: Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen
by Kat Lieu
From the IACP award winner and bestselling cookbook author comes a first-of-its-kind collection of irresistible cookie recipes inspired by Asian flavors and techniques to excite home bakers. Canadian-born Vietnamese Chinese American, Kat Lieu sought comfort in the flavors of her youth like taro and black sesame. But she struggled to find a home for herself as a third-culture baker in American bakeries, online, or in cookbooks. In the auspiciously titled 108 Asian Cookies Lieu honors the varied and rich tapestry of Asian cultures and ingredients that inspired these recipes. And along with members from Subtle Asian Baking, the online baking group she founded, are a diverse array of original and member-submitted drool-worthy recipes for cookies and bakes incorporating ingredients from the diaspora including gochujang, ube, miso, fish sauce, sambal, tahini, matcha, and MSG stirred into each batter and dough. Bakers will learn how to whip up both classics and entirely new desserts such as: Spicy chai cookies Amaretti cookies with pandan and pistachios Taiwanese snowflake crisps Milk and cashew burfi Salted egg yolk corn flake haystacks Mochi brownies Matcha and wasabi drop cookies And even instant ramen and pho cookies! At many Asian tables, not too sweet is the highest compliment one can give--so whether these recipes are comfortingly familiar or new discoveries, 108 Asian Cookies will be sure to delight even the most discerning not too sweet kitchens for years to come.
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Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
by Michael Luo
In 1889, when the Supreme Court upheld the Chinese Exclusion Act --a measure barring Chinese laborers from entering the United States that remained in effect for more than fifty years--Justice Stephen Johnson Field characterized the Chinese as a people 'residing apart by themselves.' They were, Field concluded, 'strangers in the land.' Today, there are more than twenty-two million people of Asian descent in the United States, yet this label still hovers over Asian Americans. In [this book], Luo traces anti-Asian feeling in America to the first wave of immigrants from China in the mid-nineteenth-century: laborers who traveled to California in search of gold and railroad work. Their communities almost immediately faced mobs of white vigilantes who drove them from their workplaces and homes. ... In 1965, when LBJ's Immigration and Nationality Act forbade discrimination by national origin, America opened its doors wide to families like those of Luo's parents, but he finds that the centuries of exclusion of Chinese-Americans left a legacy: many Asians are still treated, and feel, like outsiders today.
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To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other
by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen's To Save and to Destroy is a deeply personal reflection on outsiders in literature and in US society. Across six essays, first delivered as the Norton Lectures, Nguyen offers insightful readings of authors who shaped his craft, culminating in a poignant and vigorous call for a solidarity of the devastated.
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Stranger in the Desert: A Family Story
by Jordan Salama
Combining travelog, history, memoir and reportage, a young writer, after discovering a large binder filled with 500 years of wandering history of his Arab-Jewish family, embarks on an epic quest through the Argentine Andes in search of his heritage, while grappling with his own Jewish, Arab and Latin American identities.
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Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp
by Tracy Slater
On a late March morning in the spring of 1942, Elaine Yoneda awoke to a series of terrible choices: between her family and freedom, her country and conscience, and her son and daughter. She was the child of Russian Jewish immigrants and the wife of a Japanese American man. On this war-torn morning, she was also a mother desperate to keep her young mixed-race son from being sent to a US concentration camp. Manzanar, near Death Valley, was one of ten detention centers where our government would eventually imprison every person of Japanese descent along the West Coast--alien and citizen, old and young, healthy and sick--or, in the words of one official, anyone with even one drop of Japanese blood. Elaine's husband Karl was already in Manzanar, but he planned to enlist as soon as the US Army would take him. The Yonedas were prominent labor and antifascist activists, and Karl was committed to fighting for what they had long cherished: equality, freedom, and democracy. Yet when Karl went to war, their son Tommy, three years old and chronically ill, would be left alone in Manzanar--unless Elaine convinced the US government to imprison her as well. The consequences of Elaine's choice did not end there: if she somehow found a way to force herself behind barbed wire with her husband and son, she would leave behind her white daughter from a previous marriage. Together in Manzanar tells the story of these painful choices and conflicting loyalties, the upheaval and violence that followed, and the Yonedas' quest to survive with their children's lives intact and their family safe and whole.
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When the Stones Speak: The Remarkable Discovery of the City of David and What Israel's Enemies Don't Want You to Know
by Doron Spielman
This is the untold story of the rediscovery of the ancient City of David in Jerusalem and the powerful evidence that proves the Jewish people's historical and indigenous connection to the Holy Land. Since the founding of Israel in 1948, the Jewish people have faced nine wars against multiple enemies. Yet, beyond the physical conflicts, a deeper ideological battle has been waged against Israel and the Jewish people. This war, crafted by certain Arab leaders and echoed by international organizations like the United Nations, seeks to erase the Jewish people's ancestral ties to the land, casting them as outsiders, imposters, and settlers. One thing, however, stands in the way of the denialists: the 3,800-year history of the City of David, a site lying just south of the Old City. Archeologists at the site are unearthing evidence that proves the Jewish people's origin story in the land for over three millennia. Every shovel of dirt reveals that while others may claim to be indigenous to Jerusalem, the Jewish people are, in fact, more indigenous to the Land of Israel than perhaps any other group living anywhere in the world. This is the timely story of those who transformed City of David from a neglected hilltop village into one of the most important archeological heritage sites in the world, while facing powerful global institutions and terror groups that would do almost anything to keep this truth hidden. Highly relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book foreshadows the events and historical denialism that unfolded with Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
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My Vietnam, Your Vietnam : A Father Flees, a Daughter Returns
by Christina Vo
My Vietnam, Your Vietnam chronicles the divergent journeys of a Vietnamese father, who fled war on a small boat to find refuge in the United States, and his American-born daughter, who ventures to Vietnam as an adult, capturing the stark contrast between their perspectives on their shared homeland. In this dual memoir, Christina Vo and her father, Nghia M. Vo, delve into themes of identity and heritage, with intertwined stories that present a multifaceted portrayal of Vietnam and its profound influence on shaping both familial bonds and individual identities across time. Captivating in its fluid movement and evocative depictions of place, My Vietnam, Your Vietnam offers readers a rich, multilayered exploration of Vietnam through two very distinct voices and perspectives. The memoir aims to deepen readers' understanding and appreciation of Vietnam and its culture by showcasing these two contrasting viewpoints.
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Enmity and Empathy: Japanese Americans in Minnesota During World War II
by Ka F. Wong
The experiences of Japanese Americans and their allies fighting discrimination in wartime Minnesota demonstrate how diverse groups stood together amidst the turmoil--a legacy relevant in today's divisive world.The forced eviction and confinement of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor in 1941 was one of the worst civil rights violations of the twentieth century, and the repercussions were numerous. The effect in Minnesota was dramatic: only fifty-one Japanese American people lived in the state in 1940, but by war's end there were several thousand. Drawing on personal interviews, archival sources, and historical literature, scholar and professor Ka Wong explores the courageous struggles of trailblazers who left the incarceration camps and rebuilt their lives in the North Star State, overcoming hostility and hardship along the way. Despite the enmity ignited by war hysteria, bonds of empathy developed between the resettlers and allies who advocated for them personally and professionally. This volume illustrates the multiple ways in which Japanese American people transformed both wartime Minnesota and their own lives, including narratives of college students pursuing higher education, young men and women training at the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage and then Fort Snelling, the US Cadet Nurse Corps serving in Rochester hospitals, and entrepreneurial families and individuals in the Twin Cities and beyond. Presenting the inspiring stories of Japanese Americans in Minnesota during World War II, Enmity and Empathy spotlights a hidden chapter in the state's history.
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The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness
by Arthur C. Brooks
If you struggle to discern life's meaning, you're not alone. Millions today describe a growing sense of emptiness, a lack of purpose and significance. And there's a reason: Rapid cultural, economic, and technological changes have rewired our brains, reducing their ability to perceive depth and purpose. In The Meaning of Your Life, social scientist and happiness expert Arthur C. Brooks shows you how to push back against these changes and find the meaning you need to live a happy, fulfilling life. Relying on cutting-edge science, he offers practical, evidence-based strategies for breaking free of the powerful trends and personal habits that dull your focus on the why of your life. Drawing on the great philosophers and the world's faith traditions, he shows how everyone can--and must--approach life's most important and mysterious questions and provides a blueprint that will help even the most skeptical person find a life of spiritual transcendence, passionate love, and true calling. What is the meaning of my life? is not an unanswerable question, but rather the start of a pilgrimage into unexplored corners of your consciousness.
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From Seed to Table: A Comprehensive Guide to Gardening, Preserving, and Cooking for Sustainable Living
by Diane Devereaux
Internationally recognized preservation expert Diane Devereaux, helps readers embrace seasonal living with practical, proven advice for eating healthier and living more sustainably. Cook with the seasons to maximize flavor and nutrition From Seed to Table is your essential guide to cultivating self-reliance, reducing waste, and building a healthier, more sustainable way of life-one seed at a time.
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Making Mill City: Flour and Fortune in Minneapolis
by Robert M. Frame III
A richly illustrated history of the flour factories that transformed the milling industry worldwide--and forever changed the culture and architecture of Minneapolis. Among the most consequential advances of the Industrial Revolution was the invention of the modern roller mill, which sent the traditional millstone into obsolescence and fundamentally changed the production of a key ingredient to feeding the world. Making Mill City tells the story of how revolutionary technologies originating at St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River put Minneapolis on the map and cemented its global status as Mill City. With deep historical detail and abundant illustrations, Robert M. Frame III charts the dramatic transformation of Minneapolis milling--and urban life--between the early 1870s and 1920s.
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Ghosts of Fourth Street: My Family, a Death, and the Hills of Duluth
by Laurie Hertzel
Every family has its stories and secrets. Laurie Hertzel's family had more than its share. At an early age, Laurie, the seventh of the ten Hertzel children, took on the challenge of sorting them out. Not old enough to be one of the Big Kids, yet too old to be with the Three Little Kids, she spent most of her time alone, reading, wandering, and observing her family as they moved around her in their house in Duluth. Everything shattered after the sudden death of Laurie's oldest sibling, eighteen-year-old Bobby, when she was just nine years old. Moving back and forth in time, Laurie reflects on Bobby's death and what happens to a family's story when no one can talk about a tragedy and its toll. With keen attention, candor, and grace, Laurie paints a vivid portrait of 1960s Duluth as she poignantly examines a family contending with grief and the fact that life steadily goes on--snow and school buses, Christmases and Thanksgivings, ice skating and tobogganing and climbing trees, with ghosts always lingering at the edges.
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Apple: The First 50 Years
by David Pogue
On April 1, 1976, two scruffy twentysomethings, both named Steve, founded a startup. Their goal: To bring the revolutionary power of computers to everyone. Over the next five decades, Apple reshaped the technology and cultural landscapes, introducing the public to breakthroughs like the mouse, laser printing, CD-ROM, WiFi, digital video, home networking, touchscreen phones, and tablets. Jobs's obsessive eye for detail set the stage for products--Mac, iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch--that married advanced technology with beauty, simplicity, and fine design. The book busts long-held myths; goes backstage for both the titanic successes (450 million iPods, 700 million iPads, 2.2 billion iPhones) and the instructive failures (Lisa, Apple III, MobileMe); and assesses the forces that challenge Apple's dominance as it enters its second half century. Bursting with tales of frenetic all-nighters, engineering genius, and creative rebellion, this book is a true testament to Apple's unique and innovative vision, and a must read for anyone whose life Apple has touched.
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Plant This, Not That: Over 200 Native Plant Swaps for a More Sustainable, Pollinator-Friendly Garden
by Elise Howard
A comprehensive guide to creating a native plant garden anywhere in the contiguous United States, with an easy-to-follow, this, not that format. These days, home gardeners know that many traditional, non-native garden plants--like English ivy, barberry, and burning bush--don't support our bees, butterflies, birds, and other creatures. And that native plants are more likely to thrive, because they evolved as part of the local ecology, so they often require less fussy maintenance and don't depend on pesticides and fertilizers. But gardeners ready to make the switch may ask: Where do I begin? And how do I find the best native plants for my landscape? Plant This, Not That considers some of the most common non-native (and often, invasive) plants in North American gardens and suggests substitutions for more beneficial and equally beautiful natives. Each native plant listing includes a full-color photo, along with sun, water, and soil requirements; ornamental features (including bloom time and color and whether the plant has berries, fruit, and/or fall color); and the pollinators known to depend on and support that plant. Accompanying maps show every plant's locally native range, down to the county level. The book also features an overview of how native plants contribute to our local ecosystems, where to shop for them, advice on maintaining a mostly native garden, and resources to learn more about native planting.
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