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History and Current Events January 2021
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| Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism by Sharyl AttkissonWhat it is: a sobering and provocative investigation into the ways in which modern news media is manipulated.
About the author: Sharyl Attkisson is a five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award.
Is it for you? Readers may see Attkisson's discussion of Donald Trump's presidential misdeeds as apologia. |
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| The Killer's Shadow: The FBI's Hunt for a White Supremacist Serial Killer by John Douglas and Mark OlshakerWhat it's about: serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin's three-year crime spree, which began with a shooting at a St. Louis synagogue in 1977.
Read it for: FBI profiler John Douglas' breakneck pursuit of Franklin; the pair's confrontation once the latter was imprisoned.
Reviewers say: "This is a must read for those looking for insight into the minds of those instigating racial violence today" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History by Paul FarmerWhat it is: medical anthropologist and Partners in Health cofounder Paul Farmer's chronicle of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
What's inside: a disturbing (and often gruesome) firsthand account of a public health crisis spurred by government neglect, bureaucracy, resource exploitation, and colonialism.
Featuring: heartrending testimonies from Ebola survivors and first responders; an epilogue detailing Farmer's work combatting COVID-19. |
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| Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen... by Rachel Maddow and Michael YarvitzStarring: disgraced vice president Spiro Agnew, who resigned in 1973 after he was caught committing tax fraud and running a bribery and extortion ring in his office.
Why you might like it: This well-researched examination of a lesser-known political scandal, which happened concurrently (but unrelatedly) with Watergate, offers striking parallels to current events.
Media buzz: Bag Man is an engaging expansion of the authors' podcast of the same name, which was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2018. |
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| The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State by Declan WalshWhat it is: an incisive debut exploring the tumult of modern Pakistan, written by Guardian and New York Times journalist Declan Walsh, who spent nearly a decade living and reporting in the country.
What sets it apart: Walsh's profiles of nine individuals (the titular "nine lives") whose experiences offer illuminating perspectives on Pakistan's ongoing ails.
Reviewers say: "This masterfully reported account deserves a wide readership" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks; illustrated by Caanan WhiteWhat it is: a well-researched, lightly fictionalized account of the Harlem Hellfighters, the highly decorated all-Black Army regiment who fought in World War I.
Art alert: Caanan White's dark and detailed artwork doesn't shy away from gory imagery, starkly conveying the chaos and violence of war.
Book buzz: This New York Times bestseller from World War Z author Max Brooks was named a Library Journal Best Graphic Novel in 2014. |
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| Verax: The True Story of Whistleblowers, Drone Warfare, and Mass Surveillance by Pratap Chatterjee; illustrated by KhalilWhat it's about: post-9/11 American surveillance and drone warfare.
Art alert: Vivid black-and-white illustrations, including informative charts and diagrams, make the subject accessible to general readers.
Try this next: For another graphic history exploring America's surveillance state, read Ivan Greenberg's The Machine Never Blinks. |
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A Fire Story
by Brian Fies; illustrated by Brian Fies
Explores: How the author and his family coped with the 2017 wildfires of Northern California that resulted in forty-four fatalities and the destruction of 6,200 homes.
About the author: Brian Fies is an award-winning writer and cartoonist whose widely acclaimed first graphic novel Mom's Cancer kicked off the Abrams Image list and won the 2005 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic (the first Web comic to win the award in this new category), the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize for Best Comic, the 2007 Harvey Award for Best New Talent, and the 2007 German Youth Literature Prize, among other awards and recognition. Although he lost his home in the fire, Brian and his wife, Karen, are rebuilding in Santa Rosa, California.
Book buzz: "The clean, simple art, tinted in bright spot colors, gives the material breathing room and makes the characters relatable. Without pleading or preaching, this affecting record guides readers through the experience of enormous loss, then out through the other side." -- Publishers Weekly, March 11, 2019
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Banned Book Club
by Hyun Sook Kim; illustrated by Hyun Sook Kim
What it does: Documents the gripping true story of the South Korean author’s student days under the authoritarian regime of the early 1980s, describing how she defied state censorship laws by joining an underground banned book club to read great works of literature.
Book buzz: "... the messages of hope are universal, as are the poignant reminders that change can happen when people are willing to speak up." -- Publishers Weekly, December 16, 2019
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Tiananmen 1989
by Lun Zhang; translated by Adrien Gombeaud; illustrated by Ameziane
Tells: the story of China's infamous June Fourth Incident -- otherwise known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre -- from the first-hand account of a young sociology teacher who witnessed it all.
About the author: Lun Zhang was a young sociology teacher, in c harge of the movement's security when the events occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Forced to flee China, he became a refugee in France where he now lives and works as a professor of Chinese civilization.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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