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History and Current EventsJuly 2015
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"When the young Pablo Picasso arrived in Paris in October 1900 he made his way up the hillside of Montmartre to the lodgings he was borrowing from another Catalan artist before heading down to investigate the nightlife." ~ from Sue Roe’s In Montmartre
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Fateful ties : a history of America's preoccupation with China
by Gordon H. Chang
"Americans look to China with fascination and fear, unsure whether the rising Asian power is friend or foe but certain it will play a crucial role in America's future. This is nothing new, Gordon Chang says. For centuries, Americans have been convinced of China's importance to their own national destiny. Fateful Ties draws on literature, art, biography, popular culture, and politics to trace America's long and varied preoccupation with China. China has held a special place in the American imagination from colonial times, when Jamestown settlers pursued a passage to the Pacific and Asia. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Americans plied a profitable trade in Chinese wares, sought Chinese laborers to build the West, and prized China's art and decor. China was revered for its ancient culture but also drew Christian missionaries intent on saving souls in a heathen land. Its vast markets beckoned expansionists, even as its migrants were seen as a 'yellow peril' that prompted the earliest immigrationrestrictions. A staunch ally during World War II, China was a dangerous adversary in the Cold War that followed. In the post-Mao era, Americans again embraced China as a land of inexhaustible opportunity, playing a central role in its economic rise. Through portraits of entrepreneurs, missionaries, academics, artists, diplomats, and activists, Chang demonstrates how ideas about China have long been embedded in America's conception of itself and its own fate. Fateful Ties provides valuable perspective on this complex international and intercultural relationship as America navigates an uncertain new era"--Provided by publisher
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| In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse, and the Birth of Modernist Art by Sue RoeBeginning about 1900, the Paris suburb of Montmartre became one of the trendiest artists' enclaves in history. Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani, Constantin Brancusi, Gertrude Stein, and many other painters, sculptors, writers, musicians, and dancers lived and worked there. Author Sue Roe engagingly and vividly creates a portrait of the time, place, and people while exploring modernist movements such as Fauvism and Cubism. In Montmartre focuses on the years from 1900-1911. For another absorbing history of artists in Paris, read Stanley Meisler's Shocking Paris, which explores Montparnasse between the World Wars. |
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Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones
In Dreamland, investigative journalist Sam Quinones explores the impact of widespread addiction to opiates in the U.S. Showing how pharmaceutical companies have promoted the use of painkillers such as OxyContin, Quinones makes the connection between painkiller addiction and the desire for cheaper highs, which have become available in the form of black tar heroin smuggled from Mexico. Describing how the drug runners operate, he also analyzes law enforcement issues and relates personal stories of smugglers, addicts, and their families. This report provides a startling and disturbing view of illegal drugs and illicit use of legal opiates in America.
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The Wright brothers
by David G McCullough
Chronicles the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the Wright brothers, sharing insights into the disadvantages that challenged their lives and their mechanical ingenuity. By the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author of Truman.
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Great Books You Might Have Missed
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| The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation Is Changing the Middle East by Juan ColeThe Millennial generation in Arab countries possesses internationally oriented education, technological savvy, and awareness of political history, argues historian Juan Cole in this captivating analysis of recent events. Not only are these young people tired of oppressive, undemocratic rule: they have the will and the means to do something about it. Cole's book, The New Arabs, focusing especially on Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia, offers a detailed picture of how and why the Arab Spring movements succeeded in those three countries, and paints an intriguing broader picture of 21st-century Arab societies. For another fascinating view of contemporary Islamic activism, read Amir Ahmad Nasr's My Isl@m. |
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| The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It by John W. DeanIn June 1972, an inept group of burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, DC. It seemed incredible that the White House could have sponsored the operation, yet one of Nixon's former staffers led the break-in team. As details of the burglary conspiracy emerged, Watergate came to symbolize the unraveling of Nixon's presidency. Drawing on his own notes in addition to a huge volume of transcribed tape recordings, author John Dean, formerly a Nixon advisor, analyzes the slow-motion disaster that ended with Nixon's historic resignation from the presidency. The Nixon Defense provides a balanced report, which Kirkus Reviews calls "essential to anyone's library of Nixoniana." |
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| The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving America's Coldest Cases by Deborah HalberTo fans of television programs such as CSI, it may be a surprise to learn that there remain tens of thousands unidentified bodies in America. In The Skeleton Crew, science writer Deborah Halber explores the methodology of amateur sleuths who devote time and resources to solving some of these cold cases. This work may seem unpleasant, but Halber doesn't shrink from depicting everything from visits to morgues to stumbling across decomposed corpses. Despite her gruesome subject, Halber's relaxed, conversational style makes her account intriguing and accessible. Anyone captivated by puzzles and true crime stories will appreciate this well researched volume. |
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| Hiroshima Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings and Their Aftermath by Paul HamIn this moving account that draws on interviews with survivors as well as official records, historian Paul Ham explores the atomic bombs' effects on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He relates the development of nuclear weapons and the Allied decision to use them and, in alternating chapters, describes the circumstances in Japan, where civilians were at the mercy of their leadership and defenseless against enemy attacks. In his argument that the bombings were unnecessary, Ham focuses on the Japanese people directly affected and includes accounts of American Christians' criticism of the nuclear destruction. Those who recall John Hersey's absorbing report in Hiroshima will find Hiroshima Nagasaki a thought-provoking update on the subject. |
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| Operation Shakespeare: The True Story of an Elite International Sting by John ShiffmanThe most advanced military technology -- vital to maintaining an edge in global warfare -- comes in tiny, easily smuggled packages. In order to head off technology theft by Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China, the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. developed a complex sting operation called Operation Shakespeare. In this well researched, detailed account, acclaimed investigative journalist John Shiffman describes the international market for advanced technology and the difficulty of enforcing U.S. laws restricting technology exports. Operation Shakespeare follows the trail of one purchasing agent and smuggler who was ultimately snared by the sting, revealing the international complexity of these shadowy enterprises. This report will especially fascinate military technology and espionage aficionados. |
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The forgotten man : a new history of the Great Depression
by Amity Shlaes
A reinterpretation of the Great Depression seeks to demonstrate how the failures of Hoover and Roosevelt to understand the prosperity of the 1920s directly contributed to massive national burdens that marginalized everyday citizens, in an account that shares the survival stories of lesser-known historical figures from the period. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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