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Armchair TravelApril 2016
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"We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage." ~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), U.S. president
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| Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising... by Brady CarlsonDid you know that George Washington's body was kept in a falling-apart tomb for the first 30 years after his death? Learn about this and other eye-opening stories in this fast-paced, fascinating first book by public radio journalist Brady Carlson. Ever since he was a boy, Carlson has been intrigued by the lives and -- thanks to a childhood trip to Lincoln's tomb -- the afterlives of American presidents. Indulging his interest in this fun (and funny) book, Carlson travels across the country to explore what happens when presidents die, sharing their death stories, the wild and varied ways that people have memorialized them (from sandwiches to Mt. Rushmore), and the histories of presidential monuments. |
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| And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East by Richard EngelNot long out of Stanford, Richard Engel headed to the Middle East in 1996 to work as a journalist. Now NBC's chief foreign correspondent, he draws on nearly two decades in the area to share insights into the region's past and present as he blends reportage with his personal experiences in Jerusalem, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and other places. He's dodged bullets and been kidnapped while covering stories about area leaders, the Arab Spring, many wars, regional terrorism, and the experiences of regular people caught in the crossfire. Anyone interested in a fast-paced, intelligent account of what the Middle East is like right now should read this book. |
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| Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia by Anne GarrelsWhat is life in Russia really like and why do Russians love Vladimir Putin? Anne Garrels, formerly an NPR correspondent based in Moscow, answers these complicated questions using a variety of people (from taxi drivers to doctors) in the Chelyabinsk region as a microcosm. Having visited the area (which is located far from Moscow) for two decades, she not only offers "a collection of scrupulous, timely journalistic portraits" (Kirkus Reviews) that document the differences in everyday lives over time, but also describes how growing freedoms have not always been beneficial, and shares what Russians really think of the West. |
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| The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey by Dawn Anahid MacKeenDuring and after World War I, the Ottoman government killed over a million Armenians in one of the first modern genocides. One survivor was Stepan Miskjian; he escaped from a caravan leading him to slaughter, walked 1,000 miles across Turkey and Syria, and later wrote journals about his experiences. Using those journals as a starting point, his granddaughter, journalist Dawn Anahid MacKeen retraced his footsteps, learning about her grandfather, her roots, herself, and the Middle East in the process. Those who enjoyed Meline Toumani's There Was and There Was Not, which examined the genocide and took a close look at modern Turkey, should read this inspirational tale of survival, which Library Journal says "is on par with Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken." |
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Crossing the plains with Bruno
by Annick Smith
"Smith brings together a mix of travel and relationship, western history and family history, human love and animal love centering one the two-week journey she and her dog Bruno took in her car to visit her mother. Her meditations, triggered by place, explore how the past impinges on the present"
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Navigating Historical Waters
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| Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony HorwitzBetween 1768 and 1779, British Navy Captain James Cook embarked on three highly adventurous voyages that allowed him to map the last uncharted parts of the globe. Following in Cook's footsteps, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tony Horwitz and his very funny friend Roger Williamson travel around the Pacific (Tahiti, Bora Bora, Hawaii, etc.), enjoying their own modern-day adventures. Horwitz also provides a history lesson on what life was like for 18th-century sailors and offers an analysis of how Cook's visits -- and the attention of the Western world in general -- came to affect the local populations in the places he visited. Armchair travelers, sailors, and historians alike will find something to enjoy in this informative and entertaining read. |
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Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
by Alfred Lansing
Describes how the ship of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton became immobilized by ice for 10-months on his 1914 expedition to Antarctica, resulting in an 850-mile journey back to civilization with only a skeleton crew remaining. 60,000 first printing.
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1421 : the year China discovered America
by Gavin Menzies
Argues that the Chinese discovered America and established colonies there before Columbus and that European explorers such as Magellan and Cook "discovered" new lands using pre-existing Chinese maps
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| Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik LarsonDuring World War I, on May 7, 1915, one of the world's worst maritime disasters occurred: RMS Lusitania -- a passenger ship traveling from New York to Liverpool -- was struck by a torpedo fired by a German U-boat. Though this occurred just 11 miles off the southern coast of Ireland, within 18 minutes the ship had already sunk, killing nearly 1,200 of the passengers and crew. Taking modern readers on a fascinating journey to the past, bestselling author Erik Larson splices survivors' accounts of the tragedy together with descriptions of life aboard the U-boat; he also offers insightful discussions of history, politics, espionage, and maritime technology in this "intriguing, entirely engrossing" (Kirkus Reviews) narrative. |
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Slaves, Sailors, Citizens : African Americans in the Union Navy
by Steven J. Ramold
The US Navy, faced with a shortage of labor and the flood of escaped slaves who kept seeking refuge on ships that were supposed to be blockading Confederate ports, officials took the obvious step of recruiting the African Americans. Ramold describes how thousands of African Americans transformed the navy, fought against slavery, demonstrated their courage and skill, fought in every major naval battle and campaign, and were promptly banned from the Navy when the war ended.
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Some You May Have Missed!
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The life and times of the thunderbolt kid : a memoir
by Bill Bryson
The best-selling author of A Walk in the Woods and I'm a Stranger Here Myself describes his all-American childhood growing up as a member of the baby boom generation in the heart of Iowa, detailing his rich fantasy life as a superhero known as the Thunderbolt Kid and his his remarkably normal 1950s family life. 250,000 first printing.
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Walden on wheels : on the open road from debt to freedom
by Ken Ilgunas
In this frank and witty memoir, Ken Ilgunas lays bare the existential terror of graduating from the University of Buffalo with $32,000 of student debt. Inspired by the frugality and philosophy of Henry David Thoreau, Ilgunas undertook a 3-year transcontinental journey, working in Alaska as a tour guide, garbage picker, and night cook to pay off his student loans before hitchhiking home to New York. Debt-free. He used the last of his savings to buy himself a used Econoline van and outfitted it as his new dorm. The van, stationed in a campus parking lot, would be more than an adventure--it would be his very own "Walden on Wheels." Freezing winters, near-discovery by campus police, and the constant challenge of living in a confined space would test Ilgunas's limits and resolve in the two years that followed.
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West with the night
by Beryl Markham
Describes growing up in an Africa that no longer exists, training and breeding race horses, flying mail to Sudan, and being the first woman to fly the Atlantic, east to west.
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Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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Prince George's County Memorial Library System 9601 Capital Lane Largo, Maryland 20774 301-699-3500www.pgcmls.info/ |
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