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History and Current Events September 2020
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| Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture by Emma DabiriWhat it is: an engaging sociopolitical history of Black hairstyles around the globe.
Why it matters: Combining memoir, history, and pop culture analysis, this incisive own voices debut from Irish Nigerian BBC correspondent Emma Dabiri investigates the myriad ways in which Black hairstyles are colonized, fetishized, criminalized, and appropriated.
Reviewers say: "sure to become the definitive book on the politics, culture, and economics of Black hair" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession With... by Colin DickeyWhat it's about: the hows and whys of humans' enduring fascination with fringe beliefs and unexplained paranormal phenomena.
Topics include: the lost civilization of Lemuria; the 1876 Kentucky meat shower; Bigfoot; the Jersey Devil; the Loch Ness Monster.
What sets it apart: author Colin Dickey's thought-provoking exploration of how these myths appropriate and erase Native cultures. |
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| To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq by Robert DraperWhat it is: an eye-opening history of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Read it for: a richly detailed and evenhanded account of how hubris, Bush administration infighting, congressional support, and favorable media coverage facilitated this fateful policy decision.
What's inside: interviews with key officials including Colin Powell, Paul Wolfowitz, and Condoleezza Rice. |
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| After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America by Jessica GoudeauWhat it is: an intimate interwoven chronicle of two refugee families' disparate experiences seeking asylum in America.
Starring: Mu Naw, a Christian woman from Myanmar who found success in America as a businesswoman; Hasna, a Syrian Muslim who became separated from her family after the Trump administration's travel ban was implemented in 2017.
About the author: Texas journalist and activist Jessica Goudeau has spent over a decade working with refugee resettlement organizations. |
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| Deep Delta Justice: A Black Teen, His Lawyer, and Their Groundbreaking Battle... by Matthew Van MeterThe background: In 1966 Louisiana, Black teen Gary Duncan attempted to stop a fight and was charged with battery, a decision he appealed after he was denied a trial.
What happened next: The landmark Supreme Court decision Duncan v. Louisiana (1968) established the right to a jury trial and became a key victory for the civil rights movement.
Book buzz: This engaging history has earned comparisons to Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy; a documentary is in development at HBO. |
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Exploration and Exploitation
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America's Secret History : How the Deep State, the Fed, the JFK, MLK, and RFK assassinations, and much more led to Donald Trump's presidency
by Steve Harris
"The Truth Behind the Stories They Don't Want You to Know America's Secret History presents an undistorted picture of the history of the United States beginning from the enactment of the Constitution. Never in one volume have so many unknown facts that disprove America's history books been brought together in a cohesive historical context, all based on verifiable information. Among dozens of revelations, America's Secret History ties together a wealth of historical facts from highly credible sources to create a cohesive narrative of uncharted American history that lead us to the presidency of Donald J. Trump. Consider: Utilizing the House of Representative's little-known 1953 Reece Committee revelations, the Carnegie, Rockefeller, Guggenheim, and Ford foundations have systematically controlled education and the high-level appointees to the US State Department for the last century with the full knowledge and approval of the United States government. Conclusive proof that Abraham Lincoln's assassination was actually an attempted coup d'état, and President Garfield's assassination was the first successful coup. JFK's and the combined assassinations of RFK and MLK-just two months apart-were the third successful coup d'état. All were Deep State initiatives to mold the government into its intended purposes. In 1971, Americans woke up to what the New York Times called "Nixon Shock," which completely eliminated the gold standard from American currency. Removing gold backing from America's money, combined with the soon-to-come rise of globalism, led directly to what the Oxfam charity organization recently announced: 26 people now own the same wealth as the poorest 50 percent of the world (almost four billion people). Not another conspiracy theory book, America's Secret History reveals many more hidden truths and the undisclosed context that drove them, weaving all of them together to explain just how we find ourselves in Donald Trump's America"
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Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X
by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith
What it's about: Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X's brief but tumultuous friendship, which was initially strengthened -- though later torn apart -- by their involvement in the Nation of Islam (NOI).
Read it for: the sobering contrast between Ali's ascent in the NOI and Malcolm's fall from it, culminating in the latter's 1965 assassination.
What's inside: previously unseen sources, including FBI records and Malcolm's personal papers.
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Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America
by Beth Macy
What it is: a gut-wrenching history of America's rising opioid epidemic that puts a human face on the disheartening statistics.
Why it matters: Journalist Beth Macy began her research in her own community of Roanoke, Virginia, highlighting the day-to-day struggles of those from all walks of life struggling with addiction.
Further reading: American Fix: Inside the Opioid Addiction Crisis -- and How to End It by Ryan Hampton.
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Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
by Mikki Kendall
What it's about: how mainstream feminism prioritizes white women while ignoring marginalized voices.
Why you might like it: In this incisive collection of essays, author Mikki Kendall draws on her own experiences as a black woman who has experienced poverty, racial discrimination, and violence to deliver an enlightening guide to embracing intersectionality.
Chapters include: "Solidarity is Still for White Women;" "The Hood Doesn't Hate Smart People;" "Allies, Anger, and Accomplices."
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A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America's...
by Rachel Devlin
What it is: an informative account of the women and girls who fought for school desegregation between the 1940s and 1960s.
Did you know? In many of the era's desegregation cases, including 1954's Brown v. Board of Education, female plaintiffs vastly outnumbered male plaintiffs.
Try this next: Janet Dewart Bell's inspiring oral history Lighting the Fires of Freedom collects interviews with black women who were involved in the civil rights movement.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Daviess County Public Library 2020 Frederica Street Owensboro, Kentucky 42301 (270) 684-0211
www.dcplibrary.org
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