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Biography and Memoir August 2017
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Ants Among Elephants : An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India
by Sujatha Gidla
Like one in six people in India, Sujatha Gidla was born an untouchable, into the Indian caste system. While most untouchables are illiterate, her family was educated by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, making it possible for Gidla to attend elite schools and move to America at the age of twenty-six. It was only then that she saw how extraordinary--and yet how typical--her family history truly was. Her mother, Manjula, and uncles Satyam and Carey were born in the last days of British colonial rule. They grew up in a world marked by poverty and injustice, but also full of possibility. In the slums where they lived, everyone had a political side, and rallies, agitations, and arrests were commonplace. The Independence movement promised freedom. Yet for untouchables and other poor and working people, little changed. Satyam, the eldest, switched allegiance to the Communist Party. Gidla recounts his incredible transformation from student and labor organizer to famous poet and founder of a left-wing guerrilla movement. And Gidla charts her mother's battles with caste and women's oppression. Page by page, Gidla takes us into a complicated, close-knit family as they desperately strive for a decent life and a more just society. A moving portrait of love, hardship, and struggle, Ants Among Elephants is also that rare thing: a personal history of modern India told from the bottom up.
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| Going Deep: John Philip Holland and the Invention of the Attack Submarine by Lawrence GoldstoneLate in the 19th century, Irish inventor John Philip Holland designed the first torpedo-firing submarine that could stay submerged for a long period, but his efforts to sell his designs to Irish revolutionaries and the U.S. Navy ended in disappointment. In Going Deep, historian Lawrence Goldstone provides a "delightful" (Publishers Weekly) biography of Holland, bringing his achievements to light while explaining his political and financial difficulties. To follow up with a comprehensive history of submarines, check out Thomas Parrish's The Submarine. |
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| Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie IzzardBritish comedian Eddie Izzard, who finds accessible humor in a wide range of erudite subjects (including linguistic history, sexual politics, mad kings, and chickens with guns), wittily and candidly recounts his life in this "more rueful than boastful" (Kirkus Reviews) memoir. Izzard's fans will be intrigued by the challenges in his life, while those unfamiliar with his career may be delighted to discover a new source of television and film entertainment. |
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| Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening by Manal Al-SharifThough author Manal Al-Sharif grew up as a devoutly fundamentalist Muslim in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, she later received a technical education that led to a job as a computer security engineer. In Daring to Drive, she relates how she publicized a protest movement, the Women2Drive campaign, with a video recording of herself driving a car. This eye-opening memoir vividly portrays the customary restrictions on girls and women in her country as well as the difficulties of pushing for social change. For additional insight into women's lives in Saudi Arabia, try Jean Sasson's Princess or Carmen bin Ladin's Inside the Kingdom. |
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| A Beautiful, Terrible Thing: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal by Jen WaiteIn A Beautiful, Terrible Thing, author Jen Waite movingly reveals the disintegration of her relationship with her husband, which began when she confronted him about a disturbing email from another woman. In alternating chapters that either depict her idyllic life with him before she realized he wasn't the person he claimed to be, or portray the anguish of her gradual discoveries about his personality, Waite's memoir offers a "frank and visceral" (Kirkus Reviews) warning to others who may have a tendency to dismiss potential red flags. |
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| Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen AbbottIn this well-researched group biography that reads like a spy thriller, author Karen Abbott portrays some unusual participants in the American Civil War. Four women aided their causes (two on the Union side and two for the Confederacy) by going against expected norms to collect and pass on valuable information. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy weaves together parallel accounts of the women's activities and includes additional historical details about other women who assumed unconventional roles during the war. |
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| The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service by Henry A. CrumptonCIA agent and counterterrorism expert Henry Crumpton recounts his 25-year career as a spy in this absorbing and eye-opening memoir. Providing descriptions of espionage duties from routine administration to the challenges of field espionage, he relates his early advocacy of spy drones and critiques both the Bush and the Obama administrations' actions regarding the CIA. The Art of Intelligence presents an "entertainingly frank" (The Washington Post) insider view of the Agency that espionage and history buffs won't want to miss. |
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Spies in the Family : An American Spymaster, his Russian Crown Jewel, and the Friendship that Helped End the Cold War
by Eva Dillon
Spanning fifty years and three continents, Spies in the Family is a deeply researched account of two families on opposite sides of the lethal espionage campaigns of the Cold War, and two men whose devoted friendship lasted a lifetime, until the devastating final days of their lives. With impeccable insider access to both families as well as knowledgeable CIA and FBI officers, Dillon goes beyond the fog of secrecy to craft an unforgettable story of friendship and betrayal, double agents and clandestine lives, that challenges our notions of patriotism, exposing the commonality between peoples of opposing political economic systems Both a gripping tale of spy craft and a moving personal story, Spies in the Family is an invaluable and heart-rending work.
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MacArthur's Spies : The Soldier, the Singer, and the Spymaster Who Defied the Japanese in World War II
by Peter Eisner
On January 2, 1942, Japanese troops marched into Manila unopposed by U.S. forces commanded by General Douglas MacArthur. Manila was a strategic port, a romantic American outpost and a jewel of a city, and Tokyo saw conquest of the Philippines as essential toward cutting off Allied supply lines and the key in its plan to control of all of Asia, including Australia. Thousands of soldiers surrendered and were sent on the notorious Bataan Death March, 80 miles to a prison camp. But thousands of other Filipinos and Americans refused to surrender and hid in the Luzon hills above Bataan and Manila. This is the story of three of them, and how they successfully foiled the Japanese for more than two years, sabotaging Japanese efforts - including their planned invasion of Australia-and preparing the way for MacArthur's return.
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| The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government by David TalbotIn The Devil's Chessboard, author David Talbot, founding editor-in-chief of Salon, provides chilling details of 1950s CIA Director Allen Dulles' secret influence during and after World War II. With deep connections to powerful business interests, attorney Dulles planned to fight Communism after the war -- in cooperation with German capitalists. Later, he went well beyond intelligence gathering to promote covert actions around the world, including a coup in Iran and the Bay of Pigs debacle in Cuba. For additional recent studies of Dulles, check out Scott Miller's Agent 110. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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