|
History and Current Events November 2019
|
|
|
|
|
A voyage long and strange : rediscovering the new world
by Tony Horwitz
A chronicle of the period in American history between Columbus's discovery of the New World and Jamestown's founding evaluates the dramatic voyages and first-contact experiences of numerous European adventurers in search of such elusive treasures as gold, the fountain of youth, and potential religious converts. $250,000 ad/promo.
|
|
| The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. GraffWhat it is: a heartwrenching collection of first-person accounts from survivors, first responders, and witnesses of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Is it for you? Intimate and apolitical, this vivid, hour-by-hour chronicle of one of America's most tragic days is unflinching in its depictions of loss.
Further reading: Mitchell Zuckoff's richly detailed history Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11. |
|
| Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh MoaveniFeaturing: thirteen women and girls, with backgrounds as varied as their motivations, who left their homes in Europe and North Africa to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
Read it for: a compassionate yet critical examination of the many whys of religious extremism and radicalization.
About the author: Iranian American journalist Azadeh Moaveni expands upon her Pulitzer Prize-nominated New York Times reportage for this immersive history. |
|
| Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt AndersenWhat it is: a provocative, no-holds-barred exploration of how superstition, self-delusion, charlatanism, and conspiracy theories have always been richly embedded in the fabric of American life and culture.
Topics include: the Salem witch trials; Dr. Oz; P.T. Barnum; 1960s counterculture; Satanic Panic; Donald Trump.
Want a taste? "We have passed through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole. America has mutated into Fantasyland." |
|
| The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture by Euny HongWhat it's about: Hallyu (or The Korean Wave), the global dissemination of South Korean popular culture that has exploded since the 1990s and has been aided by technological progress, economic changes, and government investments.
Author alert: Journalist Euny Hong's life experiences richly inform this breezy account -- she grew up in Seoul's Gangnam District, famously immortalized in PSY's satirical song "Gangnam Style." |
|
| Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer WrightWhat's inside: a lighthearted yet gruesome survey of 13 diseases, including the bubonic plague, syphilis, cholera, and leprosy.
Want a taste? "There's debate today over whether the plague that led to Rome's fall was typhus or measles or smallpox. I am on Team Smallpox!"
Chapters include: "Try Being Nice Instead of Burning People as Witches;" "Spread the Word That Vaccines Are the Best;" "Never Glamorize Ill Health." |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Lambton County Library 787 Broadway St. Wyoming, Ontario N0N1T0 519-845-3324www.lclibrary.ca |
|
|
|