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History and Current Events May 2019
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Empty planet : the shock of global population decline
by Darrell Jay Bricker
Explores both the benefits and disruptions that could occur with a decline in the global population, including higher wages and a lower risk of famine, but also worker shortages that can weaken economies and cripple healthcare and social security.
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Putin's world : Russia against the West and with the rest
by Angela Stent
A Georgetown University professor analyzes Russia's key relationships with its neighbors and major world powers, revealing how Putin-era Russians perceive their global role. By the author of the prize-winning The Limits of Partnership.
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The new silk roads : the present and future of the world
by Peter Frankopan
In this age of Brexit and Trump, the West is buffeted by the tides of isolation and fragmentation. Yet to the East, this is a moment of optimism as a new network of relationships takes shape along the routes of the ancient trade routes. In The New Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan takes us on an eye-opening journey through the region, from China's breathtaking infrastructure investments to the flood of trade deals among Central Asian republics to the growing rapprochement between Turkey and Russia. This important book asks us to put aside our preconceptions and see the world from a new -- and ultimately hopeful -- perspective
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Out of the Gobi : my story of China and America
by Weijian Shan
Weijian Shan's Out of the Gobi is a powerful memoir and commentary that will be one of the most important books on China of our time, one with the potential to re-shape how Americans view China, and how the Chinese view life in America. Shan, a former hard laborer who is now one of Asia's best-known financiers, is thoughtful, observant, eloquent, and brutally honest, making him well-positioned to tell the story of a life that is a microcosm of modern China, and of how, improbably, that life became intertwined with America. Out of the Gobi draws a vivid picture of raw human energy and the will to succeed against all odds. ... Shan's improbable journey, from the People's Republic of China to the "People's Republic of Berkeley" and beyond, is a uniquely American success story--told with a splash of humor, deep insight, and rich and engaging detail.
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Roots quest : inside America's genealogy boom
by Jackie Hogan
In Roots Quest, sociologist Jackie Hogan digs into our current genealogy boom to ask why we are so interested in our family history. She shows how the surging popularity of genealogy is a response to large-scale social changes, and she explores the way our increasingly rootless society fuels the quest for an elemental sense of belonging-for roots.
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The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present
by David Treuer
What it is: a vivid 125-year history of Native America that details the ways that tribes have survived -- and thrived -- in the face of adversity.
About the author: David Treuer is an Ojibwe novelist and historian who grew up on Minnesota's Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
Reviewers say: "A welcome modern rejoinder to classics such as God is Red and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (Kirkus Reviews).
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Gatsby's Oxford : Scott, Zelda, and the Jazz Age Invasion of Britain: 1904-1929
by Christopher A. Snyder
Beginning in 1904, when the first American Rhodes Scholars arrived in Oxford, this book chronicles the experiences of Americans in Oxford through the Great War and the years of recovery to 1929, the end of Prohibition and the beginning of the Great Depression. This period is interpreted through the pages of The Great Gatsby, producing a vivid cultural history. It shows just how much Fitzgerald, the quintessential American modernist author, owes a debt to the medieval, the Romantic, and the European historical tradition. Archival material covering the first American Rhodes Scholars who came to Oxford during Trinity Term 1919―when Jay Gatsby claims he studied at Oxford―enables the narrative to illuminate a detailed portrait of what a “historical Gatsby” would have looked like, what he would have experienced at the postwar university, and who he would have encountered around Oxford―an impressive array of artists including Eliot, W.B. Yeats, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, Winston Churchill, J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis.
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The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government...
by Heath Hardage Lee
What it is: the forgotten story of the military wives who mobilized to bring their POW husbands home from Vietnam.
How they did it: After forming the National League of Families, the women organized media campaigns, lobbied politicians, learned encryption to send and receive coded messages (earning the nickname "Jane Bonds"), and even negotiated directly with the North Vietnamese.
Reviewers say: Book clubs will flock to this "unputdownable" tale (Library Journal) that "begs for discussion" (Booklist).
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How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States
by Daniel Immerwahr
What it is: a fast-paced, illuminating history exploring the impact of American imperialism on past and present non-mainland U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Why it matters: This absorbing work reveals a perspective on American history that is often overlooked.
Did you know? Nearly half of the mainland population is unaware that today's four million territory residents are U.S. citizens.
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| One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill BrysonWhat it's about: how a single pivotal season signaled American's ascent to the world stage.
Topics include: Charles Lindbergh's ambitious transatlantic flight; Babe Ruth's career-best record of 60 home runs; the production of The Jazz Singer (the first "talking picture"); Al Capone's reign of terror.
Read it for: Bill Bryson's sly humor and unusual factoids (for instance, Calvin Coolidge enjoyed having Vaseline applied to his head). |
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| Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby by Sarah ChurchwellWhat it is: an evocative social history that explores how "the crime of the decade," an unsolved 1922 double homicide, may have inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald to write The Great Gatsby.
Why you might like it: Thrilling, rich in detail, and sprinkled with a hint of gossip, Careless People blends aspects of biography, history, and true crime to vividly recreate the glamorous milieu of the Roaring Twenties. |
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| The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political... by Linda GordonWhat it's about: the "second Ku Klux Klan," which attracted millions of middle-class northern and midwestern Americans throughout the 1920s.
How it happened: Klan leaders, many of whom were elected government officials, amplified xenophobic fears by arguing for "100 percent Americanism" amid the country's influx of immigrants.
Don't miss: Linda Gordon's incisive discussion of the Klan's 500,000 women members, who played significant roles in the organization. |
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| When Paris Sizzled: The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter... by Mary McAuliffeWhat it is: a vibrant year-by-year chronicle of Paris' rollicking Années folles ("Crazy Years") and the larger-than-life personalities that populated the city during its creative boom.
What sets it apart: Mary McAuliffe's breezy vignettes include the exploits of lesser-known figures like cosmetics entrepreneur Helena Rubenstein and automobile manufacturer André Citroën, who hoped to be the French Henry Ford. |
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| The Great Fire: One American's Mission to Rescue Victims of the 20th Century's First... by Lou UreneckWhat it's about: In the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide, a small group of American rescuers, led by Methodist minister Asa Jennings, successfully evacuated more than 250,000 Greek and Armenian refugees from the Great Fire of Smyrna (in present-day Turkey).
Is it for you? This richly contextualized account explores the 500 years of conflict between Greece and Turkey that precipitated the tragedy.
Reviewers say: "An inspiring illumination of a hero who deserves recognition" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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