Publisher: Gotham Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/01/2011
ISBN-13: 9781592406524
ISBN-10: 1592406521

Just My Type is a "zestfully informative" (Booklist) history of typefaces, from the early print era through their appearance on your computer screen right now. Author Simon Garfield describes scandalous, eccentric typeface creators (like Frederic Goudy, John Baskerville, and others) whose names you may know only as fonts in MS Word. His insights into why certain typefaces trigger psychological, social, and even gender-specific cues to affect how we respond to their message are fascinating, and maybe even useful! Did Gotham sweep President Obama into office? Do emails to your boss seem smarter if you choose Verdana? Before you hit "send" one more time, enjoy this lively look at the history and secret life of letters.

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/26/2011
ISBN-13: 9780393064476
ISBN-10: 0393064476

In the early 15th century, papal scribe Poggio Bracciolini discovered a tattered copy of De Rerum Nature (On the Nature of Things), by classical Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher Titus Lucretius Cara. His discovery was rife with subversive content: Lucretius damned religion as superstition. Lucretius also wrote that all earthly matter (including man) consisted of tiny particles, swerving in constant motion and full of energetic potential. Given the overwhelming dominance of religion in Bracciolini's day, his decision not to destroy the manuscript is the first of many unexpected, meaningful "swerves" -- sudden, unpredictable changes -- that engendered modern philosophical, political, artistic, and scientific thought.

Publisher: Crown Publishing
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/20/2011
ISBN-13: 9780307452894
ISBN-10: 0307452891

In 1944, a chimney fire drew Paris police to the home of a respected physician, Marcel Petiot; inside they found a charnel house of dismembered bodies. As Petiot eluded authorities and Nazi forces retreated from Paris, officials learned how the doctor had preyed upon Jews fleeing the Gestapo, luring them with false promises of safe passage out of the city. After his capture, Petiot turned his trial into a media circus by insisting upon his dedication to the French Resistance. Burdened by mistrust, anger, and self-loathing long after the Nazi occupation ended, the citizens of Paris seemed almost inured to Petiot's crimes -- but French history, true-crime, and WWII buffs will all be left gasping by this one.

Publisher: Doubleday Publishing
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/20/2011
ISBN-13: 9780385526265
ISBN-10: 0385526261

This blazing triple-portrait of President Garfield, his deranged killer, and Alexander Graham Bell (who, surprisingly, was among those who labored in vain save the President's life) vividly illuminates Gilded Age America itself: Garfield's personal achievements epitomize its grace, while Bell's skill as a scientific inventor embodies its innovative spirit -- and, sadly, Guiteau's life and actions reflect the diffidence with which19th-century society treated mental illness. Author Candice Millard delivers a long-overdue, eloquent testament to the lost potential of a great man, as well as a page-turning account of the shocking events that unnecessarily contributed to his death. If you liked Eric Rauchway's Murdering McKinley, explore The Destiny of the Republic.

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Publisher: Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/10/2007
ISBN-13: 9780151011858
ISBN-10: 0151011850

Religious historian F. Forrester Church examines America's first tumultuous battle over the role of religion in American politics, which raged from the presidency of George Washington to the administration of James Monroe, examining the struggle between the proponents of order and the defenders of liberty over the issue of the separation of church and state. His well-researched, well-written account is a perfect introduction to religion in American history for general history buffs. For a work that treats modern-day America's debate in more detail, consider Jon Meacham's American Gospel, too.

First Chapter  Table of Contents  

Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/01/2003
ISBN-13: 9780385509510
ISBN-10: 0385509510

Brothers and fundamentalist Mormons Ron and Dan Lafferty murdered their younger brother's wife and baby daughter on July 24, 1984. Their horrifying crime -- motivated, they insisted by God's direct revelation -- shocked the country, and appalled mainstream Mormon practitioners. Best-selling author Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air) goes beyond the true-crime veneer to conduct a commendably impartial, detailed historical investigation into Mormonism from its 19th-century inception by founder Joseph Smith through the modern-day practices of the faith's most extreme factions. Fans of HBO's "Big Love," true-crime fans who followed the 2002-2003 Elizabeth Smart case, and American history buffs will all find this a riveting, informative read.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/20/2007
ISBN-13: 9780812976663
ISBN-10: 0812976665

Newsweek editor and bestselling author Jon Meacham offers an incisive historical portrait of religion and politics in America, from the colonial period to the present day. He argues that the U.S. was founded on the belief that all faiths are equal under the law, and that contemporary society should embrace the principles of the Founding Fathers. Meacham also covers early religious differences as well as the wartime presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. If more about the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers interests you, try David Holmes' Faiths of the Founding Fathers too.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Riverhead Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/07/2008
ISBN-13: 9781594489990
ISBN-10: 1594489998

Author Sarah Vowell, a frequent contributor to NPR's "This American Life," follows up her acclaimed Assassination Vacation by taking a look at the Puritans. Interweaving history, memoir, and social commentary, Vowell both educates and entertains as she documents the lives and complicated legacies of prominent Puritans such as John Winthrop, Roger Williams, and Anne Hutchinson. Publishers Weekly calls this book a "witty exploration of the ways in which our country's present predicaments are inextricably tied to its past."