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History and Current Events April 2024
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A brilliant life : my mother's inspiring true story of surviving the Holocaust
by Rachelle Unreich
"The powerful, true story of a Holocaust survivor told by her daughter-a tale that reminds us of the resilience of the soul and the ability of the heart to heal. As Mira is nearing the end of her life, her daughter Rachelle wants to find out how her mother had lived through four concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and a Death March. There was a mystery to her survival, it seemed-which perhaps had something to do with the strange things that always happened around her. And, incredibly, when giving testimony later in life, she says that it was during this time-despite witnessing the depths of man's cruelty-that she learned about "the goodness of people." Born in Czechoslovakia, Mira was only 12 years old when World War II broke out. At 88, living in Australia, she is diagnosed with cancer, and her journalist daughter decides to interview her to distract her from her illness. What Rachelle discovers about her mother helps her fit together the jigsaw pieces of her own life. A Brilliant Life portrays not only how remote a prospect it was to live through the Holocaust, but what it is like to be the child of a survivor. A story of love, loss, wonder and the deepest kind of faith, A Brilliant Life questions the role that fate, chance and destiny play in one's life. It is a tribute to family, a story of incredible resilience and a chronicle of the deep connection between mother and child that not even death can destroy"
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| A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging by Lauren MarkhamJournalist Lauren Markham's "remarkable, unnerving, and cautionary portrait of a global immigration crisis" (Kirkus Reviews) chronicles the aftermath of the 2020 burning of a large refugee camp in Greece, in which young Afghan migrants were falsely accused of arson. Try this next: The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri. |
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The Unit : my life fighting terrorists as one of America's most secret military operatives
by Adam Gamal
"The first and only book to ever be written by a member of America's most secret military unit--an explosive and unlikely story of immigration, service, and sacrifice. Inside our military is a team of operators whose work is so secretive that the name ofthe unit itself is classified. Highly-trained in warfare, self-defense, infiltration, and deep surveillance, "the Unit," as the Department of Defense has asked us to refer to it, has been responsible for preventing dozens of terrorist attacks in the Western world. Never before has a member of this unit shared their story - until now. From Adam Gamal, one of the only Muslim Arab Americans to serve inside "the Unit," comes a gripping firsthand account of our nation's most secretive military group. When Adam arrived in the United States at the age of nineteen, he spoke no English, and at 5'1" and 112 pounds, he was far from what you might expect of a soldier. But compelled into service by a debt he felt he owed to his new country, he rose through the ranks of the military to become one of its most elite and skilled operators. With humor and humility, Adam shares stories of life-threatening injuries, of the camaraderie and capabilities of his team, of the incredible missions--but also of the growth he experienced as he learned to adhere to more moderate Islamic beliefs. Enthralling and eye-opening, The Unit is at once a gripping account of the fight against terror and an urgent examination of the need for diversity"
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| A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime by Casey ShermanJournalist and screenwriter Casey Sherman revisits the 1958 murder of mobster Johnny Stompanato by Cheryl Crane, the 14-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, actress Lana Turner, in this dramatic true crime account. For fans of: Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann. |
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The survivors of the Clotilda : the lost stories of the last captives of the American slave trade
by Hannah Durkin
"Joining the ranks of Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Zora Neale Hurston's rediscovered classic Barracoon, an immersive and revelatory history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on US soil, told through the stories of its survivors-the last documented survivors of any slave ship-whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways"
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| The Deerfield Massacre: A Surprise Attack, a Forced March, and the Fight for Survival in... by James L. SwansonHistorian James L. Swanson's fast-paced latest chronicles "one of the most dramatic episodes in colonial American history" -- the 1704 attack on the Deerfield settlement in Massachusetts conducted by a party of 204 Native and French raiders. Try this next: Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America by Nicole Eustace. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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New Carlisle-Olive Township Public Library 408 S. Bray St. New Carlisle, Indiana 46552 (574) 654-3046ncpl.lib.in.us |
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