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Biography and Memoir March 2019
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| Black is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother's Time, My Mother's Time, and... by Emily BernardWhat it is: a lyrical memoir in essays that examines author Emily Bernard's relationship to her blackness and her Southern heritage.
Topics include: Bernard's interracial marriage and adoption of twin girls from Ethiopia; her grandmother's Jim Crow-era Mississippi childhood.
Want a taste? "I am black -- and brown, too. Brown is the body I was born into. Black is the body of the stories I tell." |
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Wise guy : lessons from a life
by Guy Kawasaki
The Silicon Valley insider and best-selling author of The Art of Social Media shares life lessons in success, balance and responsibility as gleaned from his years working with such companies as Apple, Mercedes-Benz and the Wikimedia Foundation
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Joy Enough
by Sarah McColl
What it's about: the year Sarah McColl spent grappling with her mother's impending death from cancer and the dissolution of her own marriage.
For fans of: candid memoirs of loss, such as Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed.
Why you might like it: Despite its difficult subject matter, Pushcart Prize nominee McColl's introspective debut is ultimately hopeful.
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I.M. : a memoir
by Isaac Mizrahi
A memoir by the multifaceted pop culture icon includes coverage of his experiences as a gay youth in a Syrian Jewish Orthodox family, his education at LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts and the making of his documentary, Unzipped
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Grateful American : a journey from self to service
by Gary Sinise
The Oscar-nominated actor shares the lesser-known story of his journey from a troublemaking Chicago youth to co-founder of the legendary Steppenwolf Theater Company and advocate for America's active-duty defenders, veterans and first responders.
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Louisa on the front lines : Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War
by Samantha Seiple
An examination of Little Women author Louisa May Alcott's service as a Civil War nurse reveals how her experiences shaped her writing and activism, from her commitment to abolitionism to the creation of her book, Hospital Sketches.
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Hollywood's Eve : Eve Babitz and the secret history of L.A.
by Lili Anolik
A portrait of the Hollywood artist details the iconic photograph that catapulted Eve Babitz to notoriety, her high-profile affairs, her unheralded literary achievements, her years in seclusion and her recent re-emergence.
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The point of it all : a lifetime of great loves and endeavors
by Charles Krauthammer
A collection of the influential columnist's most notable works and writings includes never-before-published speeches on his political philosophy and personal history and a major, new essay about the state of global democracy
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| Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene CooperWho it's about: Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the 24th Liberian President and Africa's first female elected head of state.
Topics include: Sirleaf's exile following her failed presidential run during the First Liberian Civil War; her handling of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
Is it for you? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Helene Cooper's mostly flattering biography spares her subject from in-depth criticisms. |
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| Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme... by Linda HirshmanWhat it is: an engaging and evenhanded dual biography of the first two female Justices of the United States Supreme Court.
Read it for: the revealing glimpses of how the pair's disparate approaches to law impacted a number of women's rights issues, including workplace sexual harassment and reproductive rights.
Further reading: First: Sandra Day O'Connor by Evan Thomas; Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De Hart. |
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| Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press by James McGrath MorrisWho it's about: pioneering journalist and activist Ethel Payne, who covered the civil rights movement for the Chicago Defender.
Notable achievements: Payne was the first African American Vietnam correspondent, the first African American reporter invited to China, and the first female African American radio/tv commentator to work for CBS.
Did you know? Payne was a witness to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; President Johnson gifted her the pen used to sign the law. |
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| The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville by Clare MulleyWhat it is: the previously untold story of Polish-born Christine Granville, the first woman to serve as a British intelligence officer during WWII.
Don't miss: Granville's heroic (and suspenseful) feats, which included skiing the Carpathian Mountains to deliver intel, parachuting into occupied France to aid the Resistance, and bribing the Gestapo to release three of her compatriots scheduled for execution.
For fans of: Ian Fleming's James Bond novels; Granville is rumored to be the inspiration for the first Bond Girl, Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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