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New & Coming-Soon HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY December 2017
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Click on a title to check availability and to log into your account to place holds online. To place holds by phone, please call us 708-366-5205. When we are open, you can also chat with us by clicking on this link to our website: www.riverforestlibrary.org.
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The accidental president : Harry S. Truman and the four months that changed the world
by A. J. Baime
A suspenseful chronicle of the 33rd president's first four months in office traces his unlikely rise to the Oval Office and his pivotal contributions to major decisions, from the founding of the United Nations and the Nazi surrender to the liberation of concentration camps and the decision to drop the bomb. 50,000 first printing.
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Stand by your truth : and then run for your life!
by Rickey Smiley
The stand-up comedian, radio personality and TV One star shares in-depth essays on the opinions he occasionally voices on the air, from parenting and education to his Baptist upbringing and absolute conviction about being true to oneself.
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Vacationland : true stories from painful beaches
by John Hodgman
The best-selling author of That Is All presents a memoir of his cursed travels through the woods of Massachusetts and coastal Maine, describing his midlife transformation from an idealistic youth to an eccentric family man and his observations on such subjects as the horror of freshwater clams and the evolutionary purpose of the mustache.
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The Way It Was : My Life With Frank Sinatra
by Eliot Weisman
Frank Sinatra's long-time manager and friend, who was one of the singer's most trust confidantes and advisors, tells the story of the final years of the iconic entertainer from the perspective from within his inner circle. 70,000 first printing.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt : a political life
by Robert Dallek
A wide-ranging portrait of the 32nd President focuses on his career as an incomparable politician and dealmaker whose unusual skills served to unite divided factions, initiate essential reforms and transform America into an international superpower.
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The mother of black Hollywood : a memoir
by Jenifer Lewis
The "Mega Diva" star of Black-ish traces her personal journey from poverty to fame, sharing provocative insights into her battles with undiagnosed mental illness and sex addiction while citing the support of loving friends and the philosophies about self-acceptance that enabled her successes. 35,000 first printing.
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Becoming Hitler : the making of a Nazi
by Thomas Weber
An award-winning historian charts Hitler's radical transformation after World War I from a directionless loner into an influential National Socialist leader. 30,000 first printing.
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Lenin : the man, the dictator, and the master of terror
by Victor Sebestyen
"Since the birth of Soviet Russia, Vladimir Lenin has been viewed as a controversial figure, revered and reviled for his rigid political ideals. He continues to fascinate as a man who made history, and created the first Communist state, a model that would later be imitated by nearly half the countries in the world. Drawing on new research, including the diaries, memoirs, and personal letters of both Lenin and his friends, Victor Sebestyen's biography--the first in English in nearly two decades--is not only a political examination of one of the most important historical figures of the twentieth century, but a portrait of Lenin the man. Lenin was someone who loved nature, hunting, fishing and could identify hundreds of species of plants, a despotic ruler whose closest ties and friendships were with women. The long-suppressed story of the complex love triangle Lenin had with his wife, and his mistress and comrade, reveals a different character to the coldly one-dimensional figure of the legend. Sebestyen also reveals Lenin as a ruthless and single-minded despot and a 'product of his time and place: a violent, tyrannical and corrupt Russia.' He seized power in a coup, promised a revolution, a socialist utopia for the people, offered simple solutions to complex issues and constantly lied; in fact, what he created was more 'a mirror image of the Romanov autocracy.' He authorized the deaths of thousands of people, and created a system based on the idea that political terror against opponents was justified for the greater ideal. One of his old comrades who had once admired him said he 'desired the good... but created evil.' And that would include his invention of Stalin, who would take Lenin's system of the gulag and the secret police to new heights"
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Mean
by Myriam Gurba
"Myriam Gurba's debut is the bold and hilarious tale of her coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana. Blending radical formal fluidity and caustic humor, Mean turns what might be tragic into piercing, revealing comedy. This is a confident, funny, brassy book that takes the cost of sexual assault, racism, misogyny, and homophobia deadly seriously. We act mean to defend ourselves from boredom and from those who would cut off our breasts. We act mean to defend our clubs and institutions. We act mean because we like to laugh. Being mean to boys is fun and a second-wave feminist duty. Being mean to men who deserve it is a holy mission. Sisterhood is powerful, but being mean is more exhilarating. Being mean isn't for everybody. Being mean is best practiced by those who understand it as an art form. These virtuosos live closer to the divine than the rest of humanity. They're queers. Myriam Gurba is a queer spoken-word performer, visual artist, and writer from Santa Maria, California. She's the author of Dahlia Season (2007, Manic D) which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, Wish You Were Me (2011, Future Tense Books), and Painting Their Portraits in Winter (2015, Manic D). She has toured with Sister Spit and her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. She lives in Long Beach, where she teaches social studies to eighth-graders"
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Obama : An Intimate Portrait: The Historic Presidency in Photographs
by Pete Souza
A visual biography of Barack Obama's historic presidency, captured in unprecedented detail by his White House photographer, includes images documenting the most consequential hours of the Obama administration as well as the 44th President's encounters with world leaders, cultural figures and family members. 250,000 first printing.
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The wine lover's daughter : a memoir
by Anne Fadiman
An award-winning author and essayist delves into her relationship with her father, a wine lover, by tracing his infatuation with the potent potable—from a glass he drank in Paris in 1927 to the one he had on his 80th birthday.
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Breaking free : how I escaped polygamy, the FLDS cult, and my father, Warren Jeffs
by Rachel Jeffs
The daughter of the self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints describes the abusive patriarchal culture in which she was raised by sister wives and dominating men, sharing insight into how her father remains a powerful influence on his followers in spite of his life prison sentence. 200,000 first printing.
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Growing up Fisher : musings, memories, and misadventures
by Joely Fisher
A behind-the-scenes memoir by the half sister of the late Carrie Fisher describes their upbringing in their Hollywood family, the author's personal struggles with identity, her two-decade marriage, her experiences as a mother to five children and how she became motivated to pursue a creative life in the wake of Carrie's death. 125,000 first printing.
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Gold dust woman : a biography of Stevie Nicks
by Stephen Davis
An in-depth portrait of the classic rock artist includes coverage of such topics as her role in the stardom of Fleetwood Mac, the affairs that inspired her greatest songs, her struggles with addiction and her successful solo career. By the author of Hammer of the Gods.
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Prairie fires : the American dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
by Caroline Fraser
A comprehensive historical portrait of Laura Ingalls Wilder draws on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries and official records to fill in the gaps in Wilder's official story, sharing lesser-known details about her pioneer experiences while challenging popular misconceptions about how her books were ghostwritten.
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100 amazing facts about the Negro
by Henry Louis Gates
In an homage to Joel Augustus Rogers' 1957 work, Henry Louis Gates Jr. relies on the latest scholarship to offer an overview of African, diasporic and African-American history in Q-and-A format, including such queries as: Who were Africa’s first ambassadors to Europe?; Who was the first black president in North America?; Did Lincoln really free the slaves?; and more.
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Friends divided : John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
by Gordon S Wood
A dual portrait of the second and third presidents shares insights into their disparate backgrounds, the partnership decisions that helped establish America's foundation and the unexpected ways their subsequent falling out and reconciliation corrected the course of a young republic. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire of Liberty.
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The storm before the storm : the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic
by Michael Duncan
Recreating the turbulent years from 133-80 BCE, the author tells the story of the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic—a tale of the first generation that had to cope with the dangerous new political environment made possible by Rome’s unrivaled domination over the known world—drawing many parallels to present-day America. 30,000 first printing.
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The thin light of freedom : the Civil War and emancipation in the heart of America
by Edward L. Ayers
A ground-level narrative by the award-winning author of In the Presence of Mine Enemies traces the progress of emancipation during the American Civil War, drawing on personal correspondences to document conflicts in Virginia's Great Valley and the pivotal contributions of free black soldiers who served with the U.S. Colored Troops.
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The Mayflower : the families, the voyage, and the founding of America
by Rebecca Fraser
With the aid of contemporary documents, the author brings to life an ordinary family, the Winslows, made less ordinary by their responses to the challenges of the New World after their passage on the Mayflower, in a book that looks at the First Thanksgiving and the Winslows conflicted relationship with the Wampanoag Indians. Illustrations.
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Revolution song : a story of American freedom
by Russell Shorto
From the best-selling author of The Island at the Center of the World comes an account of the American Revolution that draws on diaries, letters and more to flesh out six disparate lives affected by the war, including an African man who freed himself and his family from slavery, a woman who abandoned her abusive husband and an often-criticized George Washington.
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Inside Camp David : The Private World of the Presidential Retreat
by Michael Giorgione
Celebrates the 75th anniversary of the president’s peaceful country retreat with an insider’s account of how the leaders of the free world spent their time there, from horseback riding to jumping on a trampoline with their children and hosting diplomatic summits. 75,000 first printing.
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