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History and Current EventsApril 2016
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"As our train approached a bridge spanning the railroad tracks, I saw people waving at us from above, and then, suddenly, loaves of bread came raining down on us." ~ from Thomas Buergenthal's A Lucky Child
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In a Different Key: The Story of Autism
by John Donvan and Caren Zucker
In 1943, Donald Triplett of Forest, Mississippi was the first person to be diagnosed with autism. This comprehensive history of the condition by journalists John Donvan and Caren Zucker traces Triplett's story (which has a positive outcome) and those of many others. The book describes unfortunate early approaches to autism and includes recent advances in diagnosis, education, and social inclusion, offering hope for people with autism and their families. For more on current views of the subject, try Steve Silberman's accessible and richly detailed Neurotribes.
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Ancestral Journeys : The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings by Jean MancoProvides an analysis of prehistoric migration in an effort to determine how and when Europe's earliest inhabitants arrived, and describes recent findings in genetics that now link early European farmers, tools and techniques to their neighbors in the Near East.Who are the Europeans? Where did they come from? In recent years scientific advances have yielded a mass of new data, turning cherished ideas upside down. The idea of migration in prehistory, so long out of favour, is back on the agenda. Visions of continuity now have to give way to a more dynamic view of Europe's past, with one wave of migration followed by another, from the first human arrivals to the Vikings. This pioneering book brings together for the first time the latest genetic evidence and combines it with archaeology and linguistics to produce a new history of Europe.
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| West of Eden: An American Place by Jean SteinIn West of Eden, author Jean Stein draws on hundreds of oral accounts to stitch a rich tapestry depicting Hollywood and Los Angeles in the first half of the 20th century. Focusing on five well-known figures, one of whom is Stein's father Jules, the founder of MCA, she portrays studio moguls, actors, oil barons, and their spouses, lovers, and families. Both insightful and gossipy, this history of Tinseltown has much to offer movie buffs, celebrity enthusiasts, and popular history lovers, who will appreciate Stein's "exhaustive research and brand-new interviews" (Publishers Weekly). |
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Death in Florence : the Medici, Savonarola, and the battle for the soul of a Renaissance city by Paul Strathern "By the end of the fifteenth century, Florence was well established as the home of the Renaissance. As generous patrons to the likes of Botticelli and Michelangelo, the ruling Medici embodied the progressive humanist spirit of the age, and in Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) they possessed a diplomat capable of guarding the militarily weak city in a climate of constantly shifting allegiances between the major Italian powers. However, in the form of Savonarola, an unprepossessing provincial monk, Lorenzo found his nemesis. Filled with Old Testament fury and prophecies of doom, Savonarola's sermons reverberated among a disenfranchised population, who preferred medieval Biblical certainties to the philosophical interrogations and intoxicating surface glitter of the Renaissance. Savonarola's aim was to establish a 'City of God' for his followers, a new kind of democratic state, the likes of which the world had never seen before. The battle between these two men would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events--invasions, trials by fire, the 'Bonfire of the Vanities', terrible executions and mysterious deaths--featuring a cast of the most important and charismatic Renaissance figures. Was this a simple clash of wills between a benign ruler and religious fanatic? Between secular pluralism and repressive extremism? In an exhilaratingly rich and deeply researched story, Paul Strathern reveals the paradoxes, self-doubts, and political compromises that made the battle for the soul of the Renaissance city one of the most complex and important moments in Western history" -- provided by publisher.
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| The Last Thousand: One School's Promise in a Nation at War by Jeffrey E. SternHaving already spent years in Afghanistan, international affairs journalist Jeffrey Stern embedded himself in a Kabul slum to learn about an unusual educational effort. In The Last Thousand, he portrays the efforts of a Shia teacher called Aziz to educate thousands of Hazara boys and girls (a disadvantaged Afghan ethnic group) in his secular school. Illuminating his narrative with vivid portraits of the school's leaders, Stern frames his account with the impending withdrawal of American troops and resulting complications for ethnic minorities left behind. Through his focus on a particular institution, Stein makes sense of both individual human struggles and broad cultural, religious, and political forces in this accessible account. |
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Focus on: The Nazi Holocaust
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| A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas BuergenthalAt ten years old, Thomas Buergenthal had already survived the Polish Ghetto of Kielce and two Nazi labor camps before being transported to Auschwitz, where he was separated from his parents. As one of the camp's youngest prisoners, Buergenthal had several near-brushes with death, but fate -- or luck, to which he attributes his survival -- always intervened. In this inspiring memoir, Buergenthal, who became a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, recounts his extraordinary story. For additional personal accounts of Auschwitz, try Laurence Rees' oral history-based Auschwitz. |
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| The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the... by Patrick DesboisAccording to author Patrick Desbois, a quarter of the six million people killed during the Holocaust were executed and buried in mass graves. Desbois, a French priest, led an effort early in the 21st century to locate burials in Ukraine and interview witnesses. The Holocaust by Bullets documents his team's findings, which include archival materials, heart-wrenching recollections of the killings, and physical evidence from the gravesites. The gruesome eyewitness accounts reveal that children were forced to help with the burials and that some victims were buried alive, among other atrocities. Kirkus Reviews calls this detailed narrative "agonizing to read and utterly necessary." |
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| Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage... by Wendy HoldenIn 1944, three women in the early stages of pregnancy were separated from their husbands and incarcerated in the Auschwitz death camp. All three managed to conceal their pregnancies from the Nazis, and their children were born just before the Allied liberation of the concentration camps. In this remarkable account, author Wendy Holden draws from interviews, letters, and other documents to chronicle the women's lives before 1939, their arduous struggles in the slave-labor camp, and their ultimate triumph, thanks in part to secretly kind prison guards and other strangers. |
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| Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Wendy LowerHistorical accounts of the Third Reich generally portray women as supporting Hitler on the home front, while their active participation in violent operations has been overlooked. Historian Wendy Lower's ground-breaking study, drawn from extensive archival research, vividly details how women were employed in Eastern Europe to identify Jews to be executed, loot Jewish property, and even kill the disabled. Some of the women cooperated under duress, but the stunning truth is that many relished the violence. Booklist praises Hitler's Furies as "a welcome addition to the literature on the Holocaust." |
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| 50 Children: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission ... by Steven PressmanDuring the late 1930s, the Nazis were severely restricting Jewish emigration while also making it clear that Jews weren't welcome in Germany and Austria. In 50 Children, journalist Steven Pressman recounts a carefully planned but dangerous rescue of Jewish children from Vienna undertaken by his wife's grandparents, Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus. This thoroughly researched, heart-rending account details the Krauses' plan, their personal recollections, and their travel to Vienna to locate 50 children and bring them to Pennsylvania. Pressman's reports on American resistance to aiding the Jews creates a disturbing counterpoint to the Krauses' inspiring story in this absorbing expansion on his HBO documentary of the same name. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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