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Notable Non-fiction January 2018
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New and Recently Released
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The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis Michael Lewis’s brilliant narrative takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. In Agriculture the funding of vital programs like food stamps and school lunches is being slashed. The Commerce Department may not have enough staff to conduct the 2020 Census properly. Over at Energy, where international nuclear risk is managed, it’s not clear there will be enough inspectors to track and locate black market uranium before terrorists do. If there are dangerous fools in this book, there are also heroes, unsung, of course. They are the linchpins of the system―those public servants whose knowledge, dedication, and proactivity keep the machinery running. Michael Lewis finds them, and he asks them what keeps them up at night.
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On the Other Side of Freedom : The Case for Hope by DeRay MckessonDeRay Mckesson, an internationally recognized civil rights activist, presents a meditative call to arms on resistance, justice and freedom on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter movement. He dissects how deliberate oppression persists, how racial injustice strips our lives of promise, and how technology has added a new dimension to mass action and social change. He argues that our best efforts to combat injustice have been stunted by the belief that racism's wounds are history, and suggests that intellectual purity has curtailed optimistic realism. The book offers a new framework and language for understanding the nature of oppression. With it, we can begin charting a course to dismantle the obvious and subtle structures that limit freedom.
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Best of Enemies : The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War by Gus RussoIn Best of Enemies, CIA maverick Jack Platt and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko, two espionage cowboys, reveal how they became key behind-the-scenes players in solving some of the most celebrated spy stories of the twentieth century, including the crucial discovery of the Soviet mole Robert Hanssen, the 2010 Spy Swap which freed Gennady from Soviet imprisonment, and how Robert De Niro played a real-life role in helping Gennady stay alive during his incarceration in Russia after being falsely accused of spying for the Americans. Through their eyes, we see the distinctions between the Russian and American methods of conducting espionage and the painful birth of the new Russia, whose leader, Vladimir Putin, dreams he can roll back to the ideals of the old USSR.
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Einstein's Shadow : A Black Hole, a Band of Astronomers, and the Quest to See the Unseeable by Seth Fletcher Photographing a black hole sounds impossible, a contradiction in terms. But Shep Doeleman and a global coalition of scientists are on the cusp of doing just that. With exclusive access to the team, journalist Seth Fletcher spent five years following Shep and an extraordinary cast of characters as they assembled the Event Horizon Telescope, a worldwide network of radio telescopes created to study black holes. He witnessed the team’s struggles, setbacks, and breakthroughs, and, along the way, Fletcher explored the latest thinking on the most profound questions about black holes: Do they represent a limit to our ability to understand reality? Or will they reveal the clues that lead to the long-sought theory of everything? Weaving a compelling narrative account of human ingenuity with excursions into cutting-edge science, Einstein’s Shadow is a tale of great minds on a mission to change the way we understand our universe—and our place in it.
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The Dinosaur Artist : Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy by Paige WilliamsIn the tradition of The Orchid Thief, The Dinosaur Artist is a stunning work of narrative journalism about humans' relationship with natural history and a seemingly intractable conflict between science and commerce. A story that stretches from Florida's Land O' Lakes to the Gobi Desert, The Dinosaur Artist illuminates the history of fossil collecting -- a murky, sometimes risky business, populated by eccentrics and obsessives, where the lines between poacher and hunter, collector and smuggler, enthusiast and opportunist, can easily blur. In her first book, Paige Williams has given readers an irresistible story that spans continents, cultures, and millennia as she examines the question of who, ultimately, owns the past.
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After Emily : Two Remarkable Women and the Legacy of America's Greatest Poet by Julie Dobrow A rich and compelling portrait of the mother and daughter who refused to be confined by the social mores of their era, After Emily explores Mabel and Millicent’s complex bond, as well as the powerful literary legacy they shared. Mabel’s tangled relationships with the Dickinsons―including a thirteen-year extramarital relationship with Emily’s brother, Austin―roiled the small town of Amherst, Massachusetts. After Emily’s death, Mabel’s connection to the family and reputation as an intelligent, artistic, and industrious woman in her own right led her to the enormous trove of poems Emily left behind. So began the herculean task of transcribing, editing, and promoting Emily’s work, a task that would consume and complicate the lives of both Mabel and her daughter. As the popularity of the poems grew, legal issues arose between the Dickinson and Todd families, dredging up their scandals: the affair, the ownership of Emily’s poetry, and the right to define the so-called "Belle of Amherst."
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Behind the Throne : A Domestic History of the British Royal Household by Adrian TinniswoodMonarchs: they're just like us. They entertain their friends and eat and worry about money. Henry VIII tripped over his dogs. George II threw his son out of the house. James I had to cut back on the alcohol bills. In Behind the Throne, historian Adrian Tinniswood uncovers the reality of five centuries of life at the English court, taking the reader on a remarkable journey from one Queen Elizabeth to another and exploring life as it was lived by clerks and courtiers and clowns and crowned heads: the power struggles and petty rivalries, the tension between duty and desire, the practicalities of cooking dinner for thousands and of ensuring the king always won when he played a game of tennis. A masterful and witty social history of five centuries of royal life, Behind the Throne offers a grand tour of England's grandest households.
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American Dialogue : The Founders and Us by Joseph J EllisThe story of history is a ceaseless conversation between past and present, and in American Dialogue Joseph J. Ellis focuses the conversation on the often-asked question "What would the Founding Fathers think?" He examines four of our most seminal historical figures through the prism of particular topics, using the perspective of the present to shed light on their views and, in turn, to make clear how their now centuries-old ideas illuminate the disturbing impasse of today's political conflicts. He discusses Jefferson and the issue of racism, Adams and the specter of economic inequality, Washington and American imperialism, Madison and the doctrine of original intent. Through these juxtapositions--and in his hallmark dramatic and compelling narrative voice--Ellis illuminates the obstacles and pitfalls paralyzing contemporary discussions of these fundamentally important issues.
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Monday, January 14 Tech Talk with Jay 11:30 a.m. Ask Jay your tech questions and he'll help as best he can, in a friendly, informal one-on-one chat. Bring your tablet, smart phone, or laptop. Tech Talk will be regularly scheduled for the second Monday of every month. Tuesday, January 29 Stealing the Body of Abraham Lincoln 6:30 p.m. Years after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, in the 1870's, a band of criminals failed in an attempt to steal Lincoln's body from his tomb in Springfield, IL. Historical lecturer Michael Jesberger will present a program on this strange and often overlooked story of our 16th President. Enroll online or at the library. Saturday, February 2 Backyard Birds 11:00 a.m. Learn how you can participate in the Audubon Society's Great Backyard Bird Count in your own backyard. Kathy Easton will have her scope to help you identify local birds. This program is for all ages. Enroll online or at the library.
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Monday, February 11 Tech Talk with Jay 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 12 Make a Card for Valentine's Day 1:00 p.m. Learn the basics of greeting card making using rubber stamped images and interesting folding and layering techniques to create Valentine's Day cards. This is a hands-on class. Enroll online or at the library. Tuesday, February 12 Great Decisions Discussions 7:00 p.m. Discuss the most critical issues facing America today. The first topic is "Refugees and Global Migration." Copies of the 2019 Briefing Book will be available to borrow in early January. Enroll online or at the library.
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Cranbury Public Library
23 North Main Street ~
Cranbury, NJ 08512 ~ Phone: 609-655-0555 ~ Contact Us
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