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Biography and Memoir November 2020 |
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His very best : Jimmy Carter, a life
by Jonathan Alter
An intimate portrait of the 39th President draws on fresh archival material to trace Jimmy Carter’s improbable rise from a humble peanut farmer and complex man of faith to an American President and Nobel Prize-winning humanitarian.
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| The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard by John BirdsallWhat it is: a richly detailed biography of chef and cookbook author James Beard (1903-1985) that expands upon author John Birdsall's James Beard Award-winning essay "America, Your Food Is So Gay."
Read it for: a nuanced portrait of the charismatic yet complicated "Dean of American Cookery," who pioneered new cuisine while grappling with his closeted sexuality, depression, and difficult workplace reputation.
Don't miss: lush descriptions of Beard's culinary creations that will whet readers' appetites. |
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Abe : Abraham Lincoln in his times
by David S. Reynolds
The award-winning author of Walt Whitman’s America presents an immersive portrait of the 16th President, from his younger life in the decades before the Civil War through his emergence as a progressive political leader and advocate for human justice. Illustrations.
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Focus on: National Book Awards
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| The Yellow House by Sarah M. BroomWhat it's about: author Sarah M. Broom's upbringing as the youngest of 12 children raised in a New Orleans East shotgun house that was later destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Why you might like it: Broom's lyrical family history explores the painful reality of redefining "home" following displacement.
Want a taste? "Without that physical structure, we are the house that bears itself up. I was now the house." |
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| What You Have Heard is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance by Carolyn ForchéWhat it's about: In 1977, after accepting the invitation of a mysterious acquaintance to visit him in El Salvador, American poet Carolyn Forché was plunged into the horrors of the country's burgeoning civil war, becoming an unlikely activist and resistance fighter.
Is it for you? Vivid depictions of violence may be too much for some readers.
Further reading: Forché's 1981 poetry collection The Country Between Us, inspired by her experiences during the war. |
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| Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah SmarshWhat it's about: the cycle of rural poverty that blighted author Sarah Smarsh's Kansas farming family for generations.
Who it's for: readers looking for a thought-provoking rejoinder to J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy.
Reviewers say: "a searing indictment of how the poor are viewed and treated in this country" (Library Journal). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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