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History and Current Events May 2021
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A most beautiful thing : the true story of America's first all-black high school rowing team
by Arshay Cooper
"Now a documentary narrated by Common, produced by Grant Hill, Dwyane Wade, and 9th Wonder, from filmmaker Mary Mazzio. The moving true story of a group of young men growing up on Chicago's West side who form the first all-black high school rowing team in the nation, and in doing so not only transform a sport, but their lives. Growing up on Chicago's Westside in the 90's, Arshay Cooper knows the harder side of life. The street corners are full of gangs, the hallways of his apartment complex are haunted by junkies he calls "zombies" with strung out arms, clutching at him as he passes by. His mother is a recovering addict, and his three siblings all sleep in a one room apartment, a small infantry against the war zone on the street below. Arshay keeps to himself, preferring to write poetry about the girl he has a crush on, and spends his school days in the home-ec kitchen dreaming of becoming a chef. And then one day as he's walking out of school, he notices a boat in the school lunchroom, and a poster thatreads "Join the Crew Team". Having no idea what the sport of crew is, Arshay decides to take a chance. This decision to join is one that will forever change his life, and those of his fellow teammates. As Arshay and his teammates begin to come together to learn how to row--many never having been in water before--the sport takes them from the mean streets of Chicago, to the hallowed halls of the Ivy League. But Arshay and his teammates face adversity at every turn, from racism, gang violence, and a sport that has never seen anyone like them before. A Most Beautiful Thing is the inspiring true story about the most unlikely band of brothers that form a family, and forever change a sport and their lives for the better"
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| The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos by Judy BatalionWhat it's about: the courageous Jewish women resistance fighters operating in Poland during World War II.
Read it for: a propulsive and richly detailed account that's "sure to become part of the WWII canon" (Booklist).
Movie buzz: Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg has optioned The Light of Days for a film adaptation. |
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How to Argue With a Racist : What Our Genes Do and Don't Say About Human Difference by Adam Rutherford Race is real because we perceive it. Racism is real because we enact it. But the appeal to science to strengthen racist ideologies is on the rise - and increasingly part of the public discourse on politics, migration, education, sport and intelligence. Stereotypes and myths about race are expressed not just by overt racists, but also by well-intentioned people whose experience and cultural baggage steer them towards views that are not supported by the modern study of human genetics. Even some scientists are uncomfortable expressing opinions deriving from their research where it relates to race. Yet, if understood correctly, science and history can be powerful allies against racism, granting the clearest view of how people actually are, rather than how we judge them to be. How to Argue with a Racist is a vital manifesto for a twenty-first century understanding of human evolution and variation, and a timely weapon against the misuse of science to justify bigotry.
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Hell and other destinations : a 21st-century memoir by Madeleine Korbel AlbrightLeaving office in 2001 as America's first female Secretary of State, Albright considered the possibilities: she could write, teach, travel, give speeches, start a business, fight for democracy, help to empower women, campaign for favored political candidates, spend more time with her grandchildren. Instead of choosing one or two, she decided to do it all. Her memoir of the past twenty years is a haze of constant motion: navigating half a dozen professions, clashing with presidents and prime ministers, learning every day.
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Agent Sonya : Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy
by Ben Macintyre
"The New York Times bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor tells the thrilling true story of the most important female spy in history: an agent code-named "Sonya," who set the stage for the Cold War. In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with a slight foreign accent. By all accounts, she seemed to be living a simple, unassuming life. Her neighbors in the village knew little about her. They didn't know that she was a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer. They didn't know that her husband was also a spy, or that she was running powerful agents across Europe. Behind the facade of her picturesque life, Burton was a dedicated Communist, a Soviet colonel, and a veteran agent, gathering the scientific secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the bomb. This true-life spy story is a masterpiece about the woman code-named "Sonya." Over the course of her career, she was hunted by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis, MI5, MI6, and the FBI-and she evaded them all. Her story reflects the great ideological clash of the twentieth century-between Communism, Fascism, and Western democracy-and casts new light on the spy battles and shifting allegiances of our own times. With unparalleled access to Sonya's diaries and correspondence and never-before-seen information on her clandestine activities, Ben Macintyre has conjured a page-turning history of a legendary secret agent, a woman who influenced the course of the Cold War and helped plunge the world into a decades-long standoff between nuclear superpowers."
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The Covid Chronicles : Lessons from New Zealand by Paul LittleFor the first time in history, on 15 March 2020 the New Zealand government closed the country's borders. What followed was a story unprecedented in almost every way imaginable. ...The Covid Chronicles is a multi-stranded account of one of the most extraordinary times in Aotearoa's history, and the lessons we must heed for our future.
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True crimes and misdemeanors : the investigation of Donald Trump
by Jeffrey Toobin
The CNN chief legal analyst and best-selling author of American Heiress presents a behind-the-scenes account of the Mueller investigation to explain how in spite of associate convictions and an impeachment, Donald Trump had survived to run for reelection.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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