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History and Current Events May 2021
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When evil lived in Laurel : the "White Knights" and the murder of Vernon Dahmer
by Curtis Wilkie
"The inside story of how a courageous FBI informant helped to bring down the KKK chapter responsible for a brutal civil rights-era killing. By early 1966, the civil rights work of Vernon Dahmer, head of the Forrest County chapter of the NAACP and a dedicated advocate for voter registration, was well-known in Mississippi. This put him in the crosshairs of the White Knights, one of the most violent sects of the KKK in the South-which carried out his murder in a raid that burned down his home and store. A riveting account of the incident and its aftermath, When Evil Lived in Laurel is a tale of obsession, in which the infamous Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers became so fixated on killing Dahmer that the bungled attack ultimately led to Bowers's downfall and the destruction of his virulently racist organization. Drawing on the diary of a former Klan infiltrator who risked his life to help break the White Knights, veteran journalist Curtis Wilkie brings fresh light to this chapter in the history of civil rights in the South"
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| The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos by Judy BatalionWhat it's about: the courageous Jewish women resistance fighters operating in Poland during World War II.
Read it for: a propulsive and richly detailed account that's "sure to become part of the WWII canon" (Booklist).
Movie buzz: Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg has optioned The Light of Days for a film adaptation. |
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The secret history of home economics : how trailblazing women harnessed the power of home and changed the way we live
by Danielle Dreilinger
"The surprising, often fiercely feminist, always fascinating, yet barely known, history of home economics. The term "home economics" may conjure traumatic memories of lopsided hand-sewn pillows or sunken cakes. But obscured by common conception is the story of the revolutionary science of better living. The field exploded opportunities for women in the twentieth century by reducing domestic work and providing jobs as professors, engineers, chemists, and businesspeople that were otherwise foreclosed. In The Secret History of Home Economics, Danielle Dreilinger traces the field's history from small farms to the White House, from Victorian suffragists to Palo Alto techies. Home economics followed the currents of American culture even as it shaped them; Dreilinger brings forward the racism within the movement along with the strides taken by Black women who were influential leaders and innovators. She also looks at the personal lives of home economics' women, as they chose being single, shared lives with women, or tried for egalitarian marriages. This groundbreaking and engaging history restores a maligned subject to its rightful importance"
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| Children Under Fire: An American Crisis by John Woodrow CoxWhat it is: a sobering study examining the traumatic impact of gun violence on children.
What's inside: heartwrenching profiles of survivors and those who've lost loved ones to gun violence; persuasive calls for gun reform backed by extensive research.
Book buzz: Children Under Fire is an expansion of reporter John Woodrow Cox's Pulitzer Prize-nominated Washington Post series. |
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| Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec MacGillisWhat it is: an impassioned account of Amazon's destabilizing impact on American communities and labor practices, featuring interviews with Amazon employees.
Topics include: how Amazon fosters competition between cities vying to host its new facilities, despite limited job growth for the "winners;" how its campuses contribute to gentrification and displacement.
For fans of: Jessica Bruder's Nomadland. |
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Forget the Alamo : the rise and fall of an American myth
by Bryan Burrough
"Three noted Texan writers combine forces to tell the real story of the Alamo, dispelling the myths, exploring why they had their day for so long, and explaining why the ugly fight about its meaning is now coming to a head. Every nation needs its creation myth, and since Texas was a nation before it was a state, it's no surprise that its myths bite deep. There's no piece of history more important to Texans than the Battle of the Alamo, when Davy Crockett and a band of rebels went down in a blaze of gloryfighting for independence from Mexico, losing the battle but setting Texas up to win the war. However, that version of events, as Forget the Alamo definitively shows, owes more to fantasy than reality. Just as the site of the Alamo was left in ruins for decades, its story was forgotten and twisted over time, with the contributions of Tejanos, Texans of Mexican origin who fought alongside the Anglo rebels, scrubbed from the record, and the origin of the conflict over Mexico's push to abolish slavery papered over.
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| Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico by Juan Villoro; translated by Alfred MacAdamWhat it is: Mexican novelist Juan Villoro's inventive essay collection exploring the history of Mexico City, from ancient times to the present.
What sets it apart: Villoro's engaging nonlinear narrative, grouped by themes including "Places," "City Characters," and "Ceremonies," evokes the experience of travel by encouraging readers to discover the city on their own terms.
What's in a name? "Horizontal Vertigo" refers to the decision to build the city outward rather than upward to mitigate damage from earthquakes. |
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| The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights by Dorothy WickendenStarring: "co-conspirators and intimate friends" Harriet Tubman, Frances Seward, and Martha Coffin Wright, each of whom played a key role in the women's suffrage and abolitionist movements.
Read it for: an accessible and eye-opening history of the intersection of progressive causes in 19th-century America and the often unheralded women at the forefront of fighting for them. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Dwight Foster Public Library
209 Merchants Ave. Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin 53538 (920) 563-7790 fortlibrary.org
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