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History and Current Events November 2019
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| The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution by Eric FonerWhat it's about: how the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th constitutional amendments (also known as the Reconstruction amendments) impacted an America still reeling from the aftermath of the Civil War.
Don't miss: an incisive and resonant look into how the Reconstruction amendments are interpreted and debated in contemporary political discourse, particularly in relation to voter rights.
Book buzz: Library Journal calls Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner's latest "a must-read for anyone interested in U.S. history." |
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| Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh MoaveniFeaturing: thirteen women and girls, with backgrounds as varied as their motivations, who left their homes in Europe and North Africa to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
Read it for: a compassionate yet critical examination of the many whys of religious extremism and radicalization.
About the author: Iranian American journalist Azadeh Moaveni expands upon her Pulitzer Prize-nominated New York Times reportage for this immersive history. |
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| Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War's Most Audacious Espionage Operation by Steve VogelWhat it's about: "Operation Gold," the ambitious yet ultimately doomed endeavor between the CIA and MI5 to construct a tunnel into East Berlin to tap into Soviet communication lines.
What happened: Thanks to the efforts of double agent George Blake, Soviet authorities had been aware of the tunnel's existence since its inception in 1951, but to protect Blake, waited until 1956 to "discover" it.
Read it for: a pulse-pounding and dramatic storyline reminiscent of a John le Carré novel. |
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New kings of the world : dispatches from Bollywood, Dizi, and K-Pop
by Fatima Bhutto
"There is a vast cultural movement emerging from beyond the Western world. Truly global in its range and allure, it is the biggest challenge yet to Hollywood, McDonald's, and blue jeans. This is a book about these new arbiters of mass culture arising from the East-India's Bollywood films, Turkish soap opera, or dizi, and South Korean pop music. Carefully packaging not always secular modernity with traditional values in urbanized settings, they have created a new global pop culture that can be easily consumed, especially by the many millions coming late to the modern world and still negotiating its overwhelming challenges. Author Fatima Bhutto profiles Shah Rukh Khan, by many measures the most popular movie star in the world; goes behind the scenes of Magnificent Century, Turkey's biggest TV show, watched by upwards of 200 million people across 43 countries; and travels to South Korea to see how K-Pop started it all, and how "Gangnam Style" became the first YouTube video with one billion views"
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| Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt AndersenWhat it is: a provocative, no-holds-barred exploration of how superstition, self-delusion, charlatanism, and conspiracy theories have always been richly embedded in the fabric of American life and culture.
Topics include: the Salem witch trials; Dr. Oz; P.T. Barnum; 1960s counterculture; Satanic Panic; Donald Trump.
Want a taste? "We have passed through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole. America has mutated into Fantasyland." |
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| Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah VowellWhat it's about: Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette's 1824 return to American soil, where he was received with great fanfare by more than 80,000 onlookers.
Don't miss: Author Sarah Vowell's unconventional research methods included attending a Lafayette-themed puppet show.
Reviewers say: This snarky romp is "especially recommended to those who are convinced that history is dry" (Library Journal). |
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| Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer WrightWhat's inside: a lighthearted yet gruesome survey of 13 diseases, including the bubonic plague, syphilis, cholera, and leprosy.
Want a taste? "There's debate today over whether the plague that led to Rome's fall was typhus or measles or smallpox. I am on Team Smallpox!"
Chapters include: "Try Being Nice Instead of Burning People as Witches;" "Spread the Word That Vaccines Are the Best;" "Never Glamorize Ill Health." |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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