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History and Current Events May 2020
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| Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best by Neal BascombWhat it is: a dramatic account of the 1938 Pau Grand Prix, when French Jewish driver René Dreyfus bested Rudi Caracciola, the driver hand-picked by Hitler to secure a German victory and fuel Nazi propaganda.
Featuring: American heiress Lucy Schell, who bankrolled Dreyfus' efforts after he was banned from all major teams because of his heritage.
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| Had I Known: Collected Essays by Barbara EhrenreichWhat it is: an incisive assemblage of previously published essays from journalist and bestselling Nickel and Dimed author Barbara Ehrenreich.
Topics include: the failings of the mental health care system; higher education's rising costs; the criminalization of poverty; sexual harassment and rape culture.
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| This is Chance! The Shaking of an All-American City, A Voice That Held It Together by Jon MooallemMarch 27, 1964: the 9.2-magnitude "Good Friday earthquake" ripped through Anchorage, Alaska, the biggest earthquake in American history to date. With no clear disaster management in place, the city panicked.
What happened next: heroic radio reporter Genie Chance tirelessly organized recovery efforts during three days of nonstop broadcasts.
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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
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| The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for... by Julie CheckowayWhat it's about: In 1937 Maui, teacher Soichi Sakamoto formed a "three-year swim club" for the impoverished Japanese American children of the area's sugar plantation workers. His goal? To produce Olympic-ready athletes in time for the 1940 Tokyo Games.
What happened next: Although the 1940 Games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II, the team competed in the 1948 Games and Sakamoto found success as a swim coach at the University of Hawaii. |
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| The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika LeeWhat it is: a sweeping survey of Asian immigration in the United States that won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Adult Nonfiction in 2016.
Why you might like it: Erika Lee's well-researched history eschews monolithic conceptions of Asian identity by detailing the specific experiences of people from various ethnic groups. |
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How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States
by Daniel Immerwahr
What it is: a fast-paced, illuminating history exploring the impact of American imperialism on past and present non-mainland U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Did you know? Nearly half of the mainland population is unaware that today's four million territory residents are U.S. citizens.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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