August 2018 list by Dan Berube
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Daughters of the Winter Queen
by Nancy Goldstone
Documents how a betrayed Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of James I, raised her four daughters amid the glorious art and culture of the Dutch Golden Age, tracing how their remarkable stories and dynastic ambitions shaped a three-decade war and fulfilled the promises of their great-grandmother, Mary Queen of Scots.
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Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History
by Yunte Huang
A wryly whimsical dual portrait of famous 19th-century conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker shares an Asian-American perspective on their improbable lives, describing their rise from savvy side-show celebrities to wealthy Southern gentry, their large family and how their experiences reflected America's historical penchant for objectifying differences.
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| Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America by Alissa QuartOutlines counter-intuitive recommendations for meeting the challenges of today's high parenting costs and unstable job markets that are imposing difficult hardships on the middle class. |
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Tesla: Inventor of the Modern
by Richard Munson
Describes how the formerly unappreciated scientist and inventor with the bizarre personal life and enigmatic behavior contributed so much to our modern world, including plans for cell phones, the internet, death-ray weapons and interstellar communications in the early 1900s.
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There Are No Grown-Ups: A Midlife Coming-of-Age Story
by Pamela Druckerman
The author confronts the realities of being forty, examining how the modern forties are less associated with midlife than in the past and discussing the disconnects of social media, the French perspectives about libido, and the challenges of raising kids while caring for aging parents.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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