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Biography and Memoir September 2020
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| Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy by Edward BallWhat it is: the follow-up to Edward Ball's National Book Award-winning Slaves in the Family that focuses on the author's great-great-grandfather, a member of the Ku Klux Klan in late 19th-century New Orleans.
Read it for: Ball's sobering and incisive reckoning with a family legacy of white supremacy.
Reviewers say: "It won't be a comfortable reading experience, and it's not meant to be, but it's a necessary one" (Booklist). |
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A Knock at Midnight : a Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom
by Brittany K. Barnett
What it is: an urgent call for justice-system reform presented by an award-winning attorney.
Read it for:in the story of a disadvantaged, African-American single mother from the rural South who was separated from her young daughter and sentenced to life in prison for a first-time offense.
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Resistance : a Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage
by Tori Amos
What it is: The Grammy-nominated music artist reflects on how her career has reflected her political views on toxic patriarchal power structures.
Read it for: active engagement in protecting the environment and supporting the #MeToo movement.
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Who is Alex Trebek? : Beloved TV Host : a Biography
by Lisa Rogak
What it is: A best-selling biographer gives readers a look at Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek's early life, his career and his personal life.
Read it for: A celebration of the man who has created a remarkable legacy that will live on in popular culture for generations to come.
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The Price of Peace : Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes
by Zachary D. Carter
What it is: a biography of the economist behind 1936’s world-changing book The General Theory describes his extraordinary life.
Read it for: a look at the moral philosopher, political theorist, statesman and anti-authoritarian thinker who believed that art and ideas could conquer war and deprivation.
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| Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented... by Charles KingWhat it is: a sweeping group biography of the women who studied cultural anthropology under Franz Boas in the early 20th century.
Why you might like it: This engaging history explores how these trailblazing scientists challenged notions of Western cultural superiority.
On the roster: Ruth Benedict, Ella Cara Deloria, Margaret Mead, and Zora Neale Hurston. |
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The Other Wes Moore : One Name, Two Fates
by Wes Moore
What it is: A book tracing the parallel lives of two youths with the same name born a year apart in the same community, describing how the author grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, White House Fellow and promising business leader while his counterpart suffered a life of violence and imprisonment.
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| Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League by Dan-el Padilla PeraltaWhat it is: Dominican author Dan-el Padilla Peralta's inspiring memoir about triumphing over adversity: growing up undocumented and impoverished in Harlem, the bookish Peralta had limited opportunities for educational advancement.
What happened next: Peralta caught the attention of a library worker who helped him find placement at Manhattan's prestigious Collegiate School; he later graduated summa cum laude from Princeton, earned a second Bachelor's degree at Oxford, and completed a PhD at Stanford. |
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Lab Girl
by Hope Jahren
What it is: A memoir by an award-winning paleobiologist traces her childhood in her father's laboratory, her longtime relationship with a colleague, and the remarkable discoveries they've made both in the lab and during extensive field research assignments
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| Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy WickendenWhat it's about: In 1916, two well-to-do best friends, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, left their homes in Auburn, New York to teach in the remote settlement of Elkhead on the Colorado frontier.
Author alert: Dorothy Wickenden is the executive editor of The New Yorker and the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff; she conducted interviews and used letters and newspaper articles to inform this fascinating fish-out-of-water tale. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Our mailing address is:
Orland Park Public Library14921 Ravinia Avenue Orland Park, IL 60462
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