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Biography and Memoir April 2021
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We need to hang out : a memoir of making friends
by Billy Baker
A staff writer for The Boston Globe discusses his own issues maintaining friendships after age 40 and offers inspiration for overcoming loneliness and reconnecting with others in the face of increasingly hectic lives.
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To be honest
by Michael Leviton
A memoir discusses an unusual upbringing in a family fanatically devoted to honesty, and what came after.
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Surviving the White Gaze
by Rebecca Carroll
What it's about: Adopted by a white couple in infancy, Rebecca Carroll spent her formative years navigating racist vitriol -- including emotional abuse from her white birth mother -- as the only Black person in her small New Hampshire town.
Read it for: the author's frank and thoughtful account of her hard-won battle for self-acceptance.
Reviewers say: "A probing, wise investigation of racial identity" (Kirkus Reviews).
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Ida B. the queen : the extraordinary life and legacy of Ida B. Wells
by Michelle Duster
Written by her great-granddaughter, a historical portrait of the boundary-breaking civil rights pioneer includes coverage of Wells’s early years as a slave, her famous acts of resistance and her achievements as a journalist and anti-lynching activist. Illustrations.
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Kamala's way : an American life
by Dan Morain
A revelatory biography of the first Black woman to stand for Vice President charts how the daughter of two immigrants in segregated California became one of this country’s most effective power players.
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Modern warriors : real stories from real heroes
by Pete Hegseth
From Fox & Friends Weekend cohost Pete Hegseth comes a collection of stories from fifteen of America's greatest heroes--highly decorated Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, marines, Purple Heart recipients, combat pilots, a Medal of Honor recipient, and more--based on Fox Nation's show of the same name.
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Walk in My Combat Boots: True Stories from America's Bravest Warriors
by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann with Chris Mooney
What it is: a collection of eye-opening interviews with American military veterans conducted by bestselling author James Patterson and retired Army First Sergeant Matt Eversmann.
What's inside: vivid accounts of military campaigns; insights on life after service, including battles with addiction and PTSD; perspectives on military sexual harassment and discrimination.
Don't miss: dentist Major General Ron Silverman providing care to Saddam Hussein after the latter's 2003 capture.
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American baby : a mother, a child, and the shadow history of adoption
by Gabrielle Glaser
The shocking truth about postwar adoption in America, told through the bittersweet story of one teenager, the son she was forced to relinquish, and their search to find each other-- As Baby Boomers became teenagers in 1960s America, women were encouraged to stay home and raise large families, but sex and childbirth were taboo subjects. Premarital sex was common, but birth control was hard to get and abortion was illegal. In 1961, sixteen-year-old Margaret Erle fell in love and became pregnant. Her enraged family sent her to a maternity home, and after she gave birth, she wasn't even allowed to hold her own son. Social workers threatened her with jail until she signed away her parental rights. Her son vanished, his whereabouts and new identity known only to an adoption agency that would never share the slightest detail about his fate. Claiming to be acting in the best interests of all, the adoption business was founded on secrecy and lies. American Baby lays out how a lucrative and exploitative industry removed children from their birth mothers and placed them with hopeful families, fabricating stories about infants' origins and destinations, then closing the door firmly between the parties forever. Adoption agencies and other organizations that purported to help pregnant women struck unethical deals with doctors and researchers for pseudoscientific "assessments," and shamed millions of young women into surrendering their children. Gabrielle Glaser dramatically demonstrates the power of the expectations and institutions that Margaret faced. Margaret went on to marry and raise a large family with David's father, but she never stopped longing for and worrying about her firstborn. She didn't know he spent the first years of his life living just a few blocks away from her; as he grew, he wondered about where he came from and why he was given up. Their tale--one they share with millions of Americans--is one of loss, love, and the search for identity. Adoption's closed records are being legally challenged in states nationwide. Open adoption is the rule today, but the identities of many who were adopted or who surrendered a child in the postwar decades are locked in sealed files. American Baby illuminates a dark time in our history and shows a path to reunion that can help heal the wounds inflicted by years of shame and secrecy.
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Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob
by Russell Shorto
What it is: historian Russell Shorto's engaging family memoir chronicling his Italian American grandfather's rise as a small-town mobster in post-World War II Pennsylvania.
Read it for: a fast-paced and thoughtful exploration of the limitations of the American Dream; the family secrets Shorto unearths along the way.
What's inside: photographs; family recipes; interviews with mob connections and other family members.
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Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted
by Suleika Jaouad
How it began: At 22, recent Princeton grad Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
What happened next: Jaouad spent five years documenting her treatment for the New York Times; when her cancer went into remission, she embarked on a 100-day road trip to meet well-wishers.
Who it's for: Readers who appreciate candid accounts of illness and recovery will be inspired by Jaouad's hopeful, life-affirming debut.
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When Harry met Minnie : a true story of love and friendship
by Martha Teichner
The Emmy Award-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent describes how she adopted a dying friend’s Bull Terrier as a companion to her own, forging unexpected heartwarming and heartbreaking bonds along the way. Illustrations.
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True believer : the rise and fall of Stan Lee
by Abraham Riesman
A revelatory portrait of the Marvel Comics legend examines Stan Lee’s influential decades of achievement as an artist and entrepreneur as well as the lesser-known private setbacks that overshadowed his career. Illustrations.
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Unfinished : a memoir
by Priyanka Chopra
In a revealing memoir, readers will accompany one of the world’s most recognizable women on her journey of self-discovery. Illustrations.
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Mike Nichols : a life
by Mark Harris
The author of Pictures at a Revolution draws on interviews with such notables as Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks to document the remarkable creative achievements and private struggles of entertainment wunderkind, Mike Nichols. Illustrations.
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Sparring with Smokin' Joe : Joe Frazier's epic battles and rivalry with Ali
by Glenn Lewis
This book aims to rectify the imbalance in coverage between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali just in time for the 50th anniversary of The Fight of the Century. It is based on several months the author spent in the gym, on the road, and in verbal tussles with the legendary champion and gives new insight into Frazier.
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Fish out of water : a search for the meaning of life
by Eric Metaxas
A five-time New York Times best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio host writes his own biography and describes growing up as the Queens-born son of Greek and German immigrants who attended Yale while feeling like an outsider.
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Madam C.J. Walker: The Making of an American Icon
by Erica L. Ball
Madam C. J. Walker-reputed to be America's first self-made woman millionaire-has long been celebrated for her rags-to-riches story. In this biography, Erica L. Ball places this remarkable and largely forgotten life story in the context of Walker's times.
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Floating in a most peculiar way
by Louis Onuorah Chude-Sokei
A prominent African-American scholar discusses his childhood displacement from the short-lived African nation of Biafra to a relative’s strictly religious Jamaican household before arriving in his mother’s California home on the eve of the LA Riots. Illustrations.
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| Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women by Susan Burton and Cari Lynn; foreword by Michelle AlexanderHow it began: After her five-year-old son was hit by a car and killed, Susan Burton turned to drugs, spending the next decade in and out of prison.
What happened next: Burton founded the nonprofit A New Way of Life, dedicated to helping women re-enter society after incarceration.
Book buzz: Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Burton's candid and moving memoir offers clear-eyed suggestions for prison reform. |
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| Notes on a Silencing by Lacy CrawfordWhat it's about: In 1990, 15-year-old Lacy Crawford was sexually assaulted by two male classmates at her New Hampshire boarding school, an act that school administrators tried to cover up.
Is it for you? Crawford's powerful account of the trauma she endured offers an unflinching examination of rape culture and the institutions that condone it.
Food for thought: "I believe, in fact, that the slur slut carries within it, Trojan-horse style, silence as its true intent." |
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| We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy PearlmanWhat it is: a sobering yet hopeful oral history of Syrian refugees' experiences in the aftermath of 2011's Arab Spring protests.
Book buzz: Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, this eye-opening collection offers a diverse array of perspectives from "a population that meets with too few opportunities to represent itself."
Further reading: For more intimate firsthand insights into the Syrian civil war, pick up Alia Malek's The Home That Was Our Country. |
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| Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah TaussigWhat it is: a witty and engaging memoir about author Rebekah Taussig's life as a wheelchair user, with frank discussions of how disability intersects with issues like sex, dating, self-image, relationships, the media, and more.
Why you should read it: Sitting Pretty is a refreshingly candid and welcome voice in the growing body of literature about disability written by disabled people themselves. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Iredell County Public Library 201 North Tradd Street Statesville, North Carolina 28677 704-878-3090www.iredell.lib.nc.us/ |
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