|
Biography and Memoir October 2017
|
|
|
|
| The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine... by Jason FagoneDuring World War I, Elizebeth Smith, a brilliant Shakespeare scholar, met her future husband, William Friedman, at the Riverbank research facility in Chicago. Both became highly successful codebreakers, breaking German codes during the war, cracking liquor smugglers' communications during Prohibition, and deciphering Nazi signals in World War II. Elizebeth's work was so top-secret, it was easy for male officials (notably J. Edgar Hoover) to take credit for her work, but journalist Jason Fagone has stripped away the secrecy that had obscured her contributions. If you enjoyed The Woman Who Smashed Codes, check out Liza Mundy's recently published Code Girls. |
|
| Rescued from ISIS: The Gripping True Story of How a Father Saved His Son by Dimitri BontinckIn 2013, author Dimitri Bontinck, a former Belgian Army soldier, learned that his 18-year-old son Jay had gone to Syria to join ISIS. This gripping and astonishing memoir chronicles what Dimitri learned about Jay's conversion to Islam in the context of the intense level of Islamic radicalization occurring in Belgium. Bontinck then details his risky efforts to trace his son in Syria, and the conclusion of his odyssey. The "loving and revealing tribute to the father-son bond" (Publishers Weekly) adds inspiration to his sobering account. |
|
| Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Conflict Photographer, and Their Journey Back... by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O'ReillyIn Shooting Ghosts, Marine veteran Thomas Brennan and battle photographer Finbarr O'Reilly team up to offer insight into their experiences in Afghanistan. Both of them were psychologically traumatized by their ordeals -- Brennan by his wounds from an explosion and O'Reilly's from the intensity of what he witnessed. Though civilian O'Reilly found help relatively easily, Brennan had to negotiate the complex military bureaucracy as well as the Marine culture of machismo. In this account, they defy the tradition that psychological trauma is a source of shame and make an appeal for mental health treatment for veterans. |
|
| The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek by Howard MarkelBrothers John Harvey and Will Kellogg made Battle Creek, Michigan famous for their work in promoting health (and healthy breakfast cereal) from the 1870s to the mid-20th century. Ironically, they hated each other! In The Kelloggs, Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of the history of medicine, details the brothers' lives, careers, and intra-family warfare. Business history, medical history, and legal history combine in this "superb warts-and-all" (Kirkus Reviews) presentation of two radically different personalities whose success depended on their sibling rivalry. |
|
|
Cuz : or the life and times of Michael A.
by Danielle S. Allen
A searing family memoir by the Harvard professor and award-winning author of Our Declaration traces her beloved, ambitious younger cousin's 11-year imprisonment and the corrupting role of gangs and star-crossed love in his early death.
|
|
| Playing Hurt: My Journey from Despair to Hope by John Saunders with John U. BaconSports journalist John Saunders started his professional life in hockey, but switched to sportscasting in his early twenties and was acclaimed for his work on ABC and ESPN television. In Playing Hurt, he reveals his abusive childhood, his struggles with addiction, and his battle with major depression. Introducing his affecting life story, he states his goal of breaking a major taboo: "the taboo that tells men they must never confess that they suffer from mental illness." Saunders died in 2016 of natural causes shortly after completing the first draft of this book. |
|
|
Gorbachev : his life and times
by William Taubman
An extensive portrait of the transformational world leader examines his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost, his role in ending the Cold War and his unintentional oversight over the collapse of the Soviet Union. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchev.
|
|
Fall into books at Avon Lake Public Library |
|
|
Avon Lake Public Library 32649 Electric Blvd. Avon Lake, Ohio 44012 440-933-8128alpl.org |
|
|
|