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History and Current Events January 2021
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A Promised Land (ebook and Audiobook)
by Barack Obama
"In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both hispolitical education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency--a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil"
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| Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History (Audiobook) by Paul FarmerWhat it is: medical anthropologist and Partners in Health cofounder Paul Farmer's chronicle of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
What's inside: a disturbing (and often gruesome) firsthand account of a public health crisis spurred by government neglect, bureaucracy, resource exploitation, and colonialism.
Featuring: heartrending testimonies from Ebola survivors and first responders; an epilogue detailing Farmer's work combatting COVID-19. |
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| Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen... by Rachel Maddow and Michael YarvitzStarring: disgraced vice president Spiro Agnew, who resigned in 1973 after he was caught committing tax fraud and running a bribery and extortion ring in his office.
Why you might like it: This well-researched examination of a lesser-known political scandal, which happened concurrently (but unrelatedly) with Watergate, offers striking parallels to current events.
Media buzz: Bag Man is an engaging expansion of the authors' podcast of the same name, which was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2018. |
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Oak Flat : A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West
by Lauren Redniss
Three generations of an Apache family of activists race against time in a legal and cultural battle to protect sacred land from corrupt government officials and a multinational mining corporation. By the National Book Award finalist author of Radioactive. Illustrations.
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| The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks; illustrated by Caanan WhiteWhat it is: a well-researched, lightly fictionalized account of the Harlem Hellfighters, the highly decorated all-Black Army regiment who fought in World War I.
Art alert: Caanan White's dark and detailed artwork doesn't shy away from gory imagery, starkly conveying the chaos and violence of war.
Book buzz: This New York Times bestseller from World War Z author Max Brooks was named a Library Journal Best Graphic Novel in 2014. |
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March. Book One (ebook)
by John Lewis
A first-hand account of the author's lifelong struggle for civil and human rights spans his youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the birth of the Nashville Student Movement.
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| Verax: The True Story of Whistleblowers, Drone Warfare, and Mass Surveillance by Pratap Chatterjee; illustrated by KhalilWhat it's about: post-9/11 American surveillance and drone warfare.
Art alert: Vivid black-and-white illustrations, including informative charts and diagrams, make the subject accessible to general readers.
Try this next: For another graphic history exploring America's surveillance state, read Ivan Greenberg's The Machine Never Blinks. |
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| Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq by Sarah GliddenWhat it's about: Accompanying two journalist friends and an Iraq War veteran during a Middle East trip to report on the impact of the war, cartoonist Sarah Glidden grappled with ethical quandaries as she learned about the complexity of the journalistic process.
Art alert: Delicate pastel watercolors complement Glidden's thought-provoking and empathetic insights into life in conflict-riven areas. |
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They Called Us Enemy (ebook)
by George Takei
Presents a graphic memoir detailing the author's experiences as a child prisoner in the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, reflecting on the choices his family made in the face of institutionalized racism.
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| Showa: A History of Japan, 1926-1939 by Shigeru Mizuki; translated by Zack DavissonWhat it is: the first of a four-part series exploring the personal and political history of Japan's Showa era (1926-1989), written and illustrated by beloved manga artist Shigeru Mizuki.
Topics include: the author's childhood in rural Sakaiminato; the Nanjing Massacre; Japan's entry into World War II.
Art alert: Mizuki contrasts realistic illustrations (for newsworthy events) with cartoony ones (for scenes of everyday life); fans of his previous works will enjoy the appearances from GeGeGe no Kitaro's Rat Man. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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