|
Biography and Memoir March 2019
|
|
|
|
|
What it's about:
The extraordinary true story of Odette Sansom, the British spy who operated in occupied France and fell in love with her commanding officer during World War II. | | |
|
|
|
What it's about:
Offers an account of the extraordinary teenage survivors of Parkland who became activists and pushed back against the NRA and Congressional leaders, inspiring millions of Americans to join their grassroots #neveragain movement.
|
|
| In July 2014, Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian was arrested by Iranian police, accused of spying for America. The charges were absurd. In this memoir, Rezaian writes of his exhausting interrogations and farcical trial. He also reflects on his life and childhood. |
|
| The inspiring political rise of two-term South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, a former Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Navy veteran who recently announced his 2020 presidential bid.
|
|
| An homage to the author's mother relates how she cleverly played Detroit's illegal lottery in the 1970s to support the family while creating a loving, joyful home and mothering her children to the highest standards. |
|
| Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene CooperWho it's about: Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the 24th Liberian President and Africa's first female elected head of state.
Topics include: Sirleaf's exile following her failed presidential run during the First Liberian Civil War; her handling of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
Is it for you? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Helene Cooper's mostly flattering biography spares her subject from in-depth criticisms. |
|
| Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme... by Linda HirshmanWhat it is: an engaging and evenhanded dual biography of the first two female Justices of the United States Supreme Court.
Read it for: the revealing glimpses of how the pair's disparate approaches to law impacted a number of women's rights issues, including workplace sexual harassment and reproductive rights.
Further reading: First: Sandra Day O'Connor by Evan Thomas; Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De Hart. |
|
| Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America's First Female Rocket... by George D. MorganWho it's about: Mary Sherman Morgan, the first (and only) woman employed as a rocket scientist at North American Aviation, where she worked alongside 900 male colleagues during the Space Race era.
Claim to fame: Morgan invented hydyne, the fuel used to launch the Explorer 1 satellite in 1958.
Author alert: George D. Morgan is Mary Sherman Morgan's son; he wrote a 2008 play (also named Rocket Girl) about her. |
|
| Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press by James McGrath MorrisWho it's about: pioneering journalist and activist Ethel Payne, who covered the civil rights movement for the Chicago Defender.
Notable achievements: Payne was the first African American Vietnam correspondent, the first African American reporter invited to China, and the first female African American radio/tv commentator to work for CBS.
Did you know? Payne was a witness to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; President Johnson gifted her the pen used to sign the law. |
|
| The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville by Clare MulleyWhat it is: the previously untold story of Polish-born Christine Granville, the first woman to serve as a British intelligence officer during WWII.
Don't miss: Granville's heroic (and suspenseful) feats, which included skiing the Carpathian Mountains to deliver intel, parachuting into occupied France to aid the Resistance, and bribing the Gestapo to release three of her compatriots scheduled for execution.
For fans of: Ian Fleming's James Bond novels; Granville is rumored to be the inspiration for the first Bond Girl, Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|