"That they had fought for freedom abroad only to be denied it anew at home awakened African Americans to the fact that only a collective, nationwide effort would secure their basic constitutional rights." ~ from Rawn James, Jr.'s The Double V
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| The Underdogs: Children, Dogs, and the Power of Unconditional Love by Melissa Fay GreeneService dogs provide life-giving support to people with disabling conditions, but some agencies won't place dogs with people who have especially severe limitations. In The Underdogs, acclaimed author Melissa Fay Greene relates what happened when Karen Shirk decided to raise her own service dog after being turned down by numerous organizations. She eventually launched 4 Paws for Ability, which specializes in matching dogs with people who have unusual needs. Greene, "a master at telling the most human of stories" (Booklist), recounts the circumstances of many of these beneficiaries, offering an inspiring and informative picture of the people, the dogs, and their remarkable partnerships. |
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| Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years by John GuyIn Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years, historian John Guy draws on extensive research into obscure archival records to create a complex portrait of one of the most powerful monarchs in history. Focusing on Queen Elizabeth I's later years, Guy explores the vulnerabilities she concealed behind a façade of competent authority. Critiquing the best-known historical accounts and producing evidence from other sources, he also delves into her personal relationships, events that undermined her equanimity (such as the death of Mary, Queen of Scots), and her struggle to prevail as a woman in a male-dominated society. For new insights into the Virgin Queen, take a look at this scholarly, accessible, and compelling book. |
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| All the Presidents' Gardens: Madison's Cabbages to Kennedy's Roses... by Marta McDowellJust in time for gardening season and vacation trips to the District of Columbia, All the Presidents' Gardens offers a fascinating historical tour of the White House grounds. Garden historian Marta McDowell chronicles the events the gardens have witnessed while detailing individual presidents' interest in seed-collecting (George Washington, who never lived in the city named for him), goats (Abraham Lincoln), golf (Dwight D. Eisenhower), tree houses (Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy), and vegetables (First Lady Michele Obama). Placing each president in the context of his times, McDowell focuses on the grounds and gardeners while supplying abundant illustrations and witty anecdotes about gardening challenges. For additional engaging accounts about American leaders and horticulture, try Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardeners. |
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| Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor by Clinton RomeshaIn 2009, the U.S. military decided to close a vulnerable string of outposts in Afghanistan that were meant to deter Taliban insurgents from free movement across the Pakistan border. Just as the closures were beginning, the Taliban launched a deadly, all-out assault at one location, Command Outpost Keating. In Red Platoon, Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha recounts the firefight, starting with his own training, the capabilities of his troops, and the conditions that exacerbated Keating's vulnerability. His riveting description of the battle itself provides vivid and sobering detail. Military history buffs and readers concerned about the war in Afghanistan will find much to appreciate in this book. |
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The Grid : The Fraying Wires between Americans and Our Energy Future
by Gretchen Anna Bakke
A revelatory examination of America's national power grid traces how it developed while exposing its current vulnerabilities, making strategic recommendations for how it can be improved to meet the challenges of instability, security and sustainability.
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Ahead of The Curve : Inside the Baseball Revolution
by Brian Kenny
The outspoken MLB Network commentator draws on stories from baseball's present and past to reveal the important role of analytical thinking in today's game, examining why baseball leaders have compromised teams by favoring traditional rather than logical strategies.
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Life of the Party : The Remarkable Story of How Brownie Wise Built, and Lost, a Tupperware Party Empire
by Bob Kealing
"The incredible story of Brownie Wise, the Southern single mother--and postwar #Girlboss--who built, and lost, a Tupperware home-party empire Before Mary Kay, Martha Stewart, and Joy Mangano, there was Brownie Wise, the charismatic Tupperware executive who converted postwar optimism into a record-breaking sales engine powered by American housewives. In Life of the Party, Bob Kealing offers the definitive portrait of Wise, a plucky businesswoman who divorced her alcoholic husband, started her own successful business, and eventually caught the eye of Tupperware inventor, Earl Tupper, whose plastic containers were collecting dust on store shelves. The Tupperware Party that Wise popularized, a master-class in the soft sell, drove Tupperware's sales to soaring heights. It also gave minimally educated and economically invisible postwar women, including some African-American women, an acceptable outlet for making their own money for their families--and for being rewarded for their efforts. With the people skills of Dale Carnegie, the looks of Doris Day, and the magnetism of Eva Peron, Wise was as popular among her many devoted followers as she was among the press, and she become the first woman to appear on the cover of BusinessWeek in 1954. Then, at the height of her success, Wise's ascent ended as quickly as it began. Earl Tupper fired her under mysterious circumstances, wrote her out of Tupperware's success story, and left her with a pittance. He walked away with a fortune and she disappeared--until now. Originally published as Tupperware Unsealed by the University Press of Florida in 2008--and optioned by Sony Pictures, with Sandra Bullock attached to star--this revised and updated edition is perfectly timed to take advantage of renewed interest in this long-overlooked American business icon"
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Dog Medicine : How My Dog Saved Me from Myself
by Julie Barton
A poignant first memoir of how the author's relationship with her dog saved her from suicidal depression describes her unsuccessful work with therapists and loved ones before she adopted a Golden Retriever puppy who became a loyal companion throughout her difficult recovery. Original.
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| The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War by Tim ButcherIn July 1914, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the June 28th assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Having determined that the assassination grew out of anti-Austrian and anti-Monarchical propaganda, the Austrians used their July Ultimatum as the first step in justifying their invasion of Serbia, which led to the start of World War I. In The Trigger, author Tim Butcher traces the assassin's background and details the political unrest arising from imperial oppression in the Balkans. Part travelogue and part biography, this account brings the region and its people to life while demonstrating how resentments extending back to Ottoman rule continue into the 21st century. |
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An Idea Whose Time Has Come : Two Presidents, Two Parties, and The Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964
by Todd S Purdum
"A top Washington journalist recounts the dramatic political battle to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the law that created modern America, on the fiftieth anniversary of its passageIt was a turbulent time in America--a time of sit-ins, freedom rides,a March on Washington and a governor standing in the schoolhouse door--when John F. Kennedy sent Congress a bill to bar racial discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations. Countless civil rights measures had died on Capitol Hill inthe past. But this one was different because, as one influential senator put it, it was "an idea whose time has come."In a powerful narrative layered with revealing detail, Todd S. Purdum tells the story of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, recreating the legislative maneuvering and the larger-than-life characters who made its passage possible. From the Kennedy brothers to Lyndon Johnson, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Hubert Humphrey and Everett Dirksen, Purdum shows how these all-too-human figures managed,in just over a year, to create a bill that prompted the longest filibuster in the history of the U.S. Senate yet was ultimately adopted with overwhelming bipartisan support. He evokes the high purpose and low dealings that marked the creation of this monumental law, drawing on extensive archival research and dozens of new interviews that bring to life this signal achievement in American history. Often hailed as the most important law of the past century, the Civil Rights Act stands as a lesson for our own troubled times about what is possible when patience, bipartisanship, and decency rule the day. "
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| Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-VormThe Manhattan Project scientists detonated the first nuclear bomb in the desert of New Mexico on July 16, 1945. In Trinity, writer and illustrator Jonathan Fetter-Vorm presents a concise, straightforward history of nuclear weapons development, going back to Marie Curie's discovery of radioactivity and culminating with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Fetter-Vorm's clear illustrations and informative and thought-provoking text work well as "both a graphic primer and a philosophical meditation" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea by Sheila Miyoshi JagerBrothers at War is a compelling, comprehensive history of the Korean War: how it started, why it hasn't technically ended, and how North Korea continues to stockpile weapons with assistance from China, while its people go without the basic necessities of life. The armistice signed on July 27, 1953 largely stopped the hostilities, but a peaceful settlement of the conflict remains elusive. Historian and journalist Sheila Miyoshi Jager provides a long view of the war, chock-full of insights and impeccably researched detail, depicting the roots of internal conflict in World War II and continuing through the 2011 funeral of leader Kim Jong Il. |
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| The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military by Rawn JamesOn July 26, 1948, Executive Order 9981 mandated the desegregation of U.S. military services, but though this change came about at the stroke of President Harry Truman's pen, it represented 200 years of struggle by African Americans to attain acceptance in the military. In The Double V, author Rawn James chronicles unfair policies and treatment within the armed forces in parallel with discrimination in civilian society. Focusing on the 20th century, he describes specific instances of second-class treatment, beginning with prohibiting African American troops from marching in the Paris victory parade following World War I. The biographical sketches he includes provide inspiration in contrast with the discouraging background of Jim Crow. |
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The Bill of the Century : The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act
by Clay Risen
"The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the single most important piece of legislation passed by Congress in American history. This one law so dramatically altered American society that, looking back, it seems preordained--as Everett Dirksen, the GOP leader in the Senate and a key supporter of the bill, said, "no force is more powerful than an idea whose time has come." But there was nothing predestined about the victory: a phalanx of powerful senators, pledging to "fight to the death" for segregation, launched the longest filibuster in American history to defeat it. The bill's passage has often been credited to the political leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, or the moral force of Martin Luther King. Yet as Clay Risen shows, the battle for the Civil Rights Act was a story much bigger than those two men. It was a broad, epic struggle, a sweeping tale of unceasing grassroots activism, ringing speeches, backroom deal-making and finally, hand-to-hand legislative combat. The larger-than-life cast of characters ranges from Senate lions like Mike Mansfield and Strom Thurmond to NAACP lobbyist Charles Mitchell, called "the 101st senator" for his Capitol Hill clout, and industrialist J. Irwin Miller, who helped mobilize a powerful religious coalition for the bill. The "idea whose time had come" would never have arrived without pressure from the streets and shrewd leadership in Congress--all captured in Risen's vivid narrative. This critical turning point in American history has never been thoroughly explored in a full-length account. Now, New York Times editor and acclaimed author Clay Risen delivers the full story, in all its complexity and drama"
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| Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah VowellReaders looking for smart history plus wry wit will cheer author Sarah Vowell's sally-forth history of U.S. imperialism and the Aloha State. Her informed, irreverent tale sparkles with little-discussed details of Hawaii's annexation in July 1898: con men, lepers, promiscuous whalers, missionaries convinced prostitution would kill them all, and Hawaiian natives convinced that prayer would kill them first. If you're still hungry for Hawaiian history after devouring Unfamiliar Fishes, try James Haley's Captive Paradise. |
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