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New & Coming-Soon HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY May 2018
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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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Have Dog, Will Travel : A Poet's Journey
by Stephen Kuusisto
A blind poet describes how being laid off from his job as a small college town professor led him into acquiring his first guide dog and how it changed his life and gave him a newfound appreciation for travel and independence.
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Harry : love, life, and loss
by Katie Nicholl
"Respected biographer Katie Nicholl details the most insightful book on Prince Harry to date, based on exclusive interviews with former Palace aides, courtiers, friends, and family members, and including stories, clandestine lovers, family feuds, and family secrets never before revealed."--Provided by publisher
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This Is Me : Loving the Person You Are Today
by Chrissy Metz
A prescriptive book of inspirational and spiritual life lessons from the Golden Globe-nominated star of NBC's This Is Us examines the role of authenticity and sincerity in her successes, encouraging readers to claim their rightful places in a world that constantly undermines individuals. 150,000 first printing
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Because We Are Bad : OCD and a Girl Lost in Thought
by Lily Bailey
Written with the indelible power of Girl, Interrupted, Brain on Fire, and Reasons to Stay Alive, a lyrical, poignant memoir by a young woman about her childhood battle with debilitating obsessive compulsive disorder, and her hard-won journey to recovery. By the age of thirteen, Lily Bailey was convinced she was bad. She had killed someone with a thought, spread untold disease, and ogled the bodies of other children. Only by performing an exhausting series of secret routines could she make up for what she'd done. But no matter how intricate or repetitive, no act of penance was ever enough. Beautifully written and astonishingly intimate, Because We Are Bad recounts a childhood consumed by obsessive compulsive disorder. As a child, Bailey created a second personality inside herself--"I" became "we"--to help manifest compulsions that drove every minute of every day of her young life. Now she writes about the forces beneath her skin, and how they ordered, organized, and urged her forward. Lily charts her journey, from checking on her younger sister dozens of times a night, to "normalizing" herself at school among new friends as she grew older, and finally to her young adult years, learning--indeed, breaking through--to make a way for herself in a big, wide world that refuses to stay in check. Charming and raw, harrowing and redemptive, Because We Are Bad is an illuminating and uplifting look into the mind and soul of an extraordinary young woman, and a startling portrait of OCD that allows us to see and understand this condition as never before.
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The Motherhood Affidavits : A Memoir
by Laura Jean Baker
With the birth of her first child, soon-to-be professor Laura Jean Baker finds herself electrified by oxytocin, the "love hormone"--the first effective antidote to her lifelong depression. Over the next eight years, her "oxy" cravings, and her family, only grow--to the dismay of her husband, Ryan, a freelance public defender. As her reckless baby-making threatens her family's middle-class existence, Baker identifies more and more with Ryan's legal clients, often drug-addled fellow citizens of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Is she any less desperate for her next fix? Baker is in an impossible bind: The same drive that sustains her endangers her family; the cure is also the disease . She explores this all-too-human paradox by threading her story through those of her local counterparts who've run afoul of the law--like Rob McNally, the lovable junkie who keeps resurfacing in Ryan's life. As Baker vividly reports on their alleged crimes--theft, kidnapping, opioid abuse, and even murder--she unerringly conjures tenderness for the accused, yet increasingly questions her own innocence. Baker's ruthless self-interrogation makes this her personal affidavit --her sworn statement, made for public record if not a court of law. With a wrenching ending that compels us to ask whether Baker has fallen from maternal grace, this is an extraordinary addition to the literature of motherhood.
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Jane and Dorothy : A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility; the Lives of Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth
by Marian Veevers
Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth were born just four years apart, in the 1770s, in a world torn between heady revolutionary ideas and fierce conservatism, and both were influenced by the Romantic ideals of Dorothy's brother, William Wordsworth, and his friends. This book compares their upbringing and education, home lives and loves and, above all, their emotional and creative worlds. Original insights include a new discovery of serious depression suffered by Dorothy Wordsworth, a new and crucial discovery about Dorothy and William's relationship, and a critical look at the myths surrounding the man who stole Jane's heart.
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True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness : A Feminist Coming of Age
by Christine Lahti
A laugh-out-loud, intellectual and deeply feminist collection of interrelated personal stories by the Academy-award-winning actress best known for her work on such productions as Chicago Hope and The Blacklist focuses on the milestones of her childhood, early career and midlife while sharing candid reflections on the realities of being a woman in today's Hollywood. 75,000 first printing
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You All Grow Up and Leave Me : A Memoir of Teenage Obsession
by Piper Weiss
A riveting blend of true crime and coming-of-age memoir--The Stranger Beside Me meets Prep--that presents an intimate and thought-provoking portrait of girlhood within Manhattan's exclusive private-school scene in the early 1990s, and a thoughtful meditation on adolescent obsession and the vulnerability of youth. Piper Weiss was fourteen years old when her middle-aged tennis coach, Gary Wilensky, one of New York City's most prestigious private instructors, killed himself after a failed attempt to kidnap one of his teenage students. In the aftermath, authorities discovered that this well-known figure among the Upper East Side tennis crowd was actually a frightening child predator who had built a secret torture chamber--a "Cabin of Horrors"--in his secluded rental in the Adirondacks. Before the shocking scandal broke, Piper had been thrilled to be one of "Gary's Girls." "Grandpa Gary," as he was known among his students, was different from other adults--he treated Piper like a grown-up, taking her to dinners, engaging in long intimate conversations with her, and sending her special valentines. As reporters swarmed her private community in the wake of Wilensky's death, Piper learned that her mentor was a predator with a sordid history of child stalking and sexual fetish. But why did she still feel protective of Gary, and why was she disappointed that he hadn't chosen her? Now, twenty years later, Piper examines the event as both a teenage eyewitness and a dispassionate investigative reporter, hoping to understand and exorcise the childhood memories that haunt her to this day. Combining research, interviews, and personal records, You All Grow Up and Leave Me explores the psychological manipulation by child predators--their ability to charm their way into seemingly protected worlds--and the far-reaching effects their actions have on those who trust them most.
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Meghan : A Hollywood Princess
by Andrew Morton
From Andrew Morton, the New York Times bestselling author of Diana: Her True Story , comes a revealing, juicy, and inspiring biography of Meghan Markle, the American actress who won Prince Harry's heart. When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set up by a mutual friend on a blind date in July 2016, little did they know that the resulting whirlwind romance would lead to their engagement in November 2017 and marriage in May 2018. Since then, our fascination with the woman who has smashed the royal mold has rocketed. So different from those coy brides of recent history, Meghan is confident, charismatic, and poised; her warm and affectionate engagement interview won the hearts of the world. In this first-ever biography of the duchess-to-be, acclaimed royal biographer Andrew Morton goes back to Meghan's roots to uncover the story of her childhood growing up in The Valley in Los Angeles, her studies at an all-girls Catholic school, and her fraught family life-a painful experience mirrored by Harry's own background. Morton also delves into her previous marriage and divorce in 2013, her struggles in Hollywood as her mixed heritage was time and again used against her, her big break in the hit TV show Suits, and her work for a humanitarian ambassador-the latter so reminiscent of Princess Diana's passions. Finally, we see how the royal romance played out across two continents but was kept fiercely secret, before the news finally broke and Meghan was thrust into the global media's spotlight like never before. Drawing on exclusive interviews with her family members and closest friends, and including never-before-seen photographs, Morton introduces us to the real Meghan as he reflects on the impact that she has already had on the rigid traditions of the House of Windsor, as well as what the future might hold.
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The Family Medici : The Hidden History of the Medici Dynasty
by Mary Hollingsworth
A Italian Renaissance scholar dispels the notion that the Medici were enlightened rulers of the Renaissance and sets out to prove they were actually devious, immoral tyrants who were widely loathed in the city they made their own.
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First Ladies of the Republic : Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role
by Jeanne E. Abrams
America's first First Ladies--Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Dolley Madison--had the challenging task of playing a pivotal role in defining the nature of the American presidency to a fledgling nation and to the world. In First Ladies of the Republic, Jeanne Abrams breaks new ground by examining their lives as a group. From their visions for the future of the burgeoning new nation and its political structure, to ideas about family life and matrimony, these three women had a profound influence on one another's views as they created the new role of presidential spouse. Martha, Abigail and Dolley walked the fine line between bringing dignity to their lives as presidential wives, and supporting their husbands' presidential agendas, while at the same time, distancing themselves from the behavior, customs and ceremonies that reflected the courtly styles of European royalty that were inimical to the values of the new republic. In the face of personal challenges, public scrutiny, and sometimes vocal criticism, they worked to project a persona that inspired approval and confidence, and helped burnish their husbands' presidential reputations. The position of First Lady was not officially authorized or defined, and the place of women in society was more restricted than it is today. These capable and path-breaking women not only shaped their own roles as prominent Americans and "First Ladies," but also defined a role for women in public and private life in America.
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The Island That Disappeared : The Lost History of the Mayflower's Sister Ship and Its Rival Puritan Colony
by Tom Feiling
The creation myth of the United States begins with the plucky English puritans of the Mayflower --but what about the story of its sister ship, the Seaflower. Few people today know the story of the passengers aboard the Seaflower, who in 1630 founded a rival puritan colony on an isolated Caribbean island called Providence. They were convinced that England's empire would rise not in barren New England, but rather in tropical Central America. However, Providence became a colony in constant crisis: crops failed, slaves revolted . . . and then there were the pirates. And, as Tom Feiling discovers in this surprising history, the same drama was played out by the men and women who re-settled the island one hundred years later. The Island That Disappeared presents Providence as a fascinating microcosm of colonialism--even today. At first glance it is an island of devout churchgoers - but look a little closer, and you see that it is still dependent on its smugglers. At once intimate and global, this story of puritans and pirates goes to the heart of the contradictory nature of the Caribbean and how the Western World took shape.
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The age of Eisenhower : America and the world in the 1950s
by William I Hitchcock
Citing the enduring popularity of America's 34th President, an original and penetrating assessment of Eisenhower analyzes his considerable influence on the Cold War, today's America and the nature of the presidency itself. By the Pulitzer Prize-finalist author of The Bitter Road to Freedom.
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Bad Stories : What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country
by Steve Almond
Like a lot of Americans, Steve Almond spent the weeks after the 2016 election lying awake, in a state of dread and bewilderment. The problem wasn't just the election, but the fact that nobody could explain, in any sort of coherent way, why America had elected a cruel, corrupt, and incompetent man to the Presidency. Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country is Almond's effort to make sense of our historical moment, to connect certain dots that go unconnected amid the deluge of hot takes and think pieces. Almond looks to literary voices--from Melville to Orwell, from Bradbury to Baldwin--to help explain the roots of our moral erosion as a people. The book argues that Trumpism is a bad outcome arising directly from the bad stories we tell ourselves. To understand how we got here, we have to confront our cultural delusions: our obsession with entertainment, sports, and political parody, the degeneration of our free press into a for-profit industry, our enduring pathologies of race, class, immigration, and tribalism. Bad Stories is a lamentation aimed at providing clarity. It's the book you can pass along to an anguished fellow traveler with the promise, This will help you understand what the hell happened to our country .
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Above and Beyond : John F. Kennedy and America's Most Dangerous Cold War Spy Mission
by Casey Sherman
From the authors of the bestselling The Finest Hours comes the riveting, deeply human story of President John F. Kennedy and two U-2 pilots, Rudy Anderson and Chuck Maultsby, who risked their lives to save America during the Cuban Missile Crisis During the ominous two weeks of the Cold War's terrifying peak, two things saved humanity: the strategic wisdom of John F. Kennedy and the U-2 aerial spy program. On October 27, 1962, Kennedy, strained from back pain, sleeplessness, and days of impossible tension, was briefed about a missing spy plane. Its pilot, Chuck Maultsby, was on a surveillance mission over the North Pole, but had become disoriented and steered his plane into Soviet airspace. If detected, its presence there could be considered an act of war. As the president and his advisers wrestled with this information, more bad news came: another U-2 had gone missing, this one belonging to Rudy Anderson. His mission: to photograph missile sites over Cuba. For the president, any wrong move could turn the Cold War nuclear. Above and Beyond is the intimate, gripping account of the lives of these three war heroes, brought together on a day that changed history.
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