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History and Current Events August 2020
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Our Time Is Now (Audiobook) by Stacey Abrams What it is: a well-researched history of voter suppression and disenfranchisement in the United States.
Is it for you? Policy wonks and progressives looking for a hopeful rejoinder to current political discourse will be inspired by politician and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams' proposals to end suppression tactics.
Author alert: 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Abrams made history in 2019 by becoming the first African American woman to deliver the response to the State of the Union address. | | Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward... by Robert M. Gates What it is: an incisive exploration of the uses and misuses of American power, written by former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates.
Topics include: the 2003 invasion of Iraq; China's rise as a global superpower; North Korea's nuclear capabilities; Russia's destabilizing influence.
Reviewers say: "a judicious yet bracingly contrarian take on military and foreign policy from the ultimate insider" (Publishers Weekly). | |
The Sirens of Mars : Searching for Life on Another World (ebook)
by
Sarah Stewart Johnson
A Georgetown University planetary scientist presents a deeply personal account of the search for life on Mars, tracing her own journey as a scientist while exploring the work of historical scientists and artists whose achievements were inspired by the planet. Maps.
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Bright Precious Thing : A Memoir (ebook and Audiobook)
by
Gail Caldwell
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe literary critic and best-selling author of Let’s Take the Long Way Home chronicles the women’s movement from the 1960s through the #MeToo era to evaluate its impact on her feminist pursuits.
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Spies in the Family: An American Spymaster, His Russian Crown Jewel, and the... (ebook and Audiobook) by Eva Dillon Who it's about: Russian double agent Dimitri Polyavok and his handler, American CIA operative Paul Dillon (the author's father), two men on opposite sides of the Cold War who nonetheless struck up a lifelong friendship.
Why you might like it: Eva Dillon's intimate and well-researched account alternates between both men's experiences and explores the surprising commonalities in their home lives and career trajectories. | | The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War by Antonio & Jonna Mendez with Matt Baglio What it is: a fast-paced account of husband-and-wife duo Antonio and Jonna Mendez's time spent working as CIA agents in 1970s Moscow.
Don't miss: the gadgets (including a rappelling tool nicknamed "the Spiderman") and techniques (disguises, sleight of hand, and misdirection taught by magicians) the pair utilized in their spycraft.
Movie buzz: Ben Affleck portrayed Antonio Mendez in the Oscar-winning Argo. | | Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall (ebook and Audiobook) by Tim Mohr What it's about: the underground East German punk movement whose political activism contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Featuring: 15-year-old "Major," the self-proclaimed first punk in East Germany, known for her safety pin-adorned jackets.
Awards buzz: This engaging and richly detailed history was longlisted for the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. | | Blood and Sand: Suez, Hungary, and Eisenhower's Campaign for Peace by Alex Von Tunzelmann What it's about: how two 1956 crises -- the joint invasion of Egypt by Israeli, British and French forces, and a Soviet victory in the Hungarian Revolution -- almost plunged the world into nuclear war.
Read it for: a suspenseful, hour-by-hour account of the conflicts, which happened within weeks of each other.
Reviewers say: "an outstanding reexamination of these sad, history-altering events" (Booklist). | |
Contact your librarian for more great books!
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