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History and Current Events November 2017
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| Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica BruderAuthor Jessica Bruder, who teaches at the Columbia School of Journalism, spent several years traveling with older Americans who have become itinerant workers in order to make ends meet. In Nomadland, she describes how they assume a "wheel estate" (instead of "real estate") existence as they travel from one seasonal job to the next, exchanging information on safe camping sites and enjoying the camaraderie of the road. Bruder vividly and sympathetically characterizes these "workampers" as she critiques the financial systems that have led them to adopt this solution. |
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| A First-Class Catastrophe: The Road to Black Monday, the Worst Day in Wall Street History by Diana B. HenriquesOn Monday, October 19, 1987, "Black Monday," the financial market fell 22.6 percent. It was the worst day in Wall Street history -- more so than the biggest decline during the crash of 1929. Offering accessible, jargon-free explanations, author Diana Henriques depicts the crisis in terms of changes in silver trading, the increased significance of financial futures trading, and the introduction of both institutional investors and computer-driven trades. She also demonstrates why the regulatory agencies were unprepared to deal with this perfect financial storm and argues for the establishment of more effective regulation. |
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| The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors by Dan JonesIn 1119, after the First Crusade, a remnant of Christian warriors formed a new kind of religious order: the Knights of Templar, devoted to protecting pilgrims from Europe to the Holy Land. An enduring legend grew up around the Templars, producing speculation, conspiracy theories, and eventually, charges of heresy. In The Templars, historian Dan Jones has separated myth from reality and allegation from truth. Fans of medieval history, especially those intrigued by the Knights Templar, won't want to miss this engaging and unbiased account. |
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| The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life by Lauren MarkhamAuthor Lauren Markham was working as a counselor in an Oakland, California school district when she met identical twins Raúl and Ernesto Flores. The teenagers had fled El Salvador to escape deadly gang violence, knowing no English and unprepared for American society. Markham traces their harrowing journey to the U.S. and their struggles to survive in a strange land, shedding light on the difficulties of undocumented minors; she also offers details on migrant shelters, the Texas border wall, and court proceedings in immigration cases. |
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| The Cold War: A World History by Odd Arne WestadThe immediate historical roots of the Cold War sprouted after World War II, when Soviet-led countries faced off against the U.S. and its allies. Though the division of Germany into East and West, the Iron Curtain cutting off Eastern Europe, and the American anticommunist frenzy of the 1940s and '50s come readily to mind, award-winning historian Odd Arne Westad traces the Cold War's origins to the Industrial Revolution and illuminates its effects throughout the world. In a starred review, Library Journal calls this "one of the best written" books on the subject. |
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The Blood telegram : Nixon, Kissinger, and a forgotten genocide
by Gary Jonathan Bass
A full-length account of the involvement of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in Pakistan's brutal 1970s military dictatorship argues that they encouraged China's military presence in India, illegally supplied weapons used in massacres and embraced military strategies that have negatively impacted geopolitics for decades. By the author of Freedom's Battle.
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The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book
by Peter Finn and Petra Couvée
Doctor Zhivago, a novel published in translation during the late 1950s by Russian author Boris Pasternak, created a sensation in the West with its negative depiction of the Russian Revolution. The CIA recognized that the book could promote anti-Communist sentiment within the Soviet Union, so they arranged to produce copies of the original Russian text and sneak them into Russia. The Zhivago Affair relates the exciting story of how the book-smuggling was accomplished, the severe consequences the Kremlin imposed on Pasternak and his family, and the international controversy aroused by the novel. Publishers Weekly calls this a "triumphant reminder that truth is sometimes gloriously stranger than fiction."
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The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
by David E. Hoffman
In 1978, at the height of the Cold War, Adolf Tolkachev, a Soviet military engineer, began passing details of the USSR's technological developments to the CIA in Moscow. Tolkachev's information allowed the U.S. to match and surpass Soviet weapons development, justifying the astronomical sums the CIA paid him. In this riveting, well researched book, author David Hoffman traces the heart-stopping risks that marked both Tolkachev's activities and those of the CIA. The Billion Dollar Spy brings Tolkachev to life while revealing some of the most significant -- and dangerous -- intelligence gathering of the era.
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The Nazis next door : how America became a safe haven for Hitler's men
by Eric Lichtblau
"The shocking story of how America became one of the world's safest postwar havens for Nazis. Until recently, historians believed America gave asylum only to key Nazi scientists after World War II, along with some less famous perpetrators who managed to sneak in and who eventually were exposed by Nazi hunters. But the truth is much worse, and has been covered up for decades: the CIA and FBI brought thousands of perpetrators to America as possible assets against their new Cold War enemies. When the Justice Department finally investigated and learned the truth, the results were classified and buried. Using the dramatic story of one former perpetrator who settled in New Jersey, conned the CIA into hiring him, and begged for the agency's support when his wartime identity emerged, Eric Lichtblau tells the full, shocking story of how America became a refuge for hundreds of postwar Nazis"
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Ike's bluff : President Eisenhower's secret battle to save the world
by Evan Thomas
The Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek and best-selling author examines the White House years of Dwight Eisenhower and reveals the former president, often viewed as a doddering lightweight, as a brilliant, intellectual tactician who could be both patient and ruthless and generous and self-serving. 75,000 first printing
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Twin Falls Public Library201 4th Ave. ETwin Falls, Idaho 83301208-733-2964
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