Despite dire predictions in the late twentieth century that public libraries would not survive the turn of the millennium, their numbers have only increased. Two of three Americans frequent a public library at least once a year, and nearly that many are registered borrowers. Although library authorities have argued that the public library functions primarily as a civic institution necessary for maintaining democracy, generations of library patrons tell a different story. In Part of Our Lives, Wayne A. Wiegand delves into the heart of why Americans love their libraries. The book traces the history of the public library, featuring records and testimonies from as early as 1850. Rather than analyzing the words of library founders and managers, Wiegand listens to the voices of everyday patrons who cherished libraries. Drawing on newspaper articles, memoirs, and biographies, Part of Our Lives paints a clear and engaging picture of Americans who value libraries not only as civic institutions, but also as public places that promote and maintain community. Whether as a public space, a place for accessing information, or a home for reading material that helps patrons make sense of the world around them, the public library has a rich history of meaning for millions of Americans. From colonial times through the recent technological revolution, libraries have continuously adapted to better serve the needs of their communities. Wiegand demonstrates that, although cultural authorities (including some librarians) have often disparaged reading books considered not "serious, " the commonplace reading materials users obtained from public libraries have had a transformative effect for many, including people such as Ronald Reagan, Bill Moyers, Edgwina Danticat, Philip Roth, Toni Morrison, Sonia Sotomayor, and Oprah Winfrey. A bold challenge to conventional thinking about the American public library, Part of Our Lives is an insightful look into of America's most beloved cultural institutions.
This item is Non-Returnable.
Oxford University Press, USA
|
9780190248000
|
Hardcover(New Edition)
We Are Not Such Things
By Leun, Justine Van Der
A gripping investigation in the vein of the podcast Serial - a summer nonfiction pick by Entertainment Weekly and The Wall Street Journal Justine van der Leun reopens the murder of a young American woman in South Africa, an iconic case that calls into question our understanding of truth and reconciliation, loyalty, justice, race, and class. "[A] tour-de-force depiction . . . a complex, nuanced, and perhaps ultimately unknowable story that will captivate all readers." - Publishers Weekly "Stunning." - Library Journal The story of Amy Biehl is well known in South Africa: The twenty-six-year-old white American Fulbright scholar was brutally murdered on August 25, 1993, during the final, fiery days of apartheid by a mob of young black men in a township outside Cape Town. Her parents' forgiveness of two of her killers became a symbol of the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa. Justine van der Leun decided to introduce the story to an American audience. But as she delved into the case, the prevailing narrative started to unravel. Why didn't the eyewitness reports agree on who killed Amy Biehl? Were the men convicted of the murder actually responsible for her death? And then van der Leun stumbled upon another brutal crime committed on the same day, in the very same area. The true story of Amy Biehl's death, it turned out, was not only a story of forgiveness but a reflection of the complicated history of a troubled country. We Are Not Such Things is the result of van der Leun's four-year investigation into this strange, knotted tale of injustice, violence, and compassion. The bizarre twists and turns of this case and its aftermath - and the story that emerges of what happened on that fateful day in 1993 and in the decades that followed - come together in an unsparing account of life in South Africa today. Van der Leun immerses herself in the lives of her subjects and paints a stark, moving portrait of a township and its residents. We come to understand that the issues at the heart of her investigation are universal in scope and powerful in resonance. We Are Not Such Things reveals how reconciliation is impossible without an acknowledgment of the past, a lesson as relevant to America today as to a South Africa still struggling with the long shadow of its history.Praise for We Are Not Such Things "This suspenseful and engrossing story calls into question the simplicities people yearn for when justice is sought for a vicious crime. Justine van der Leun shows how a powerful desire for reconciliation can in fact obscure the truth, a truth we need in order to establish the equity and justice that all people deserve." - Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black"What an achievement! This absorbing account of the pursuit of the truth about an infamous and symbolic crime is consummate in its reach and penetration." - Norman Rush, author of Mating "This is a murder story told with the dramatic tension of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and the precision of the very best nonfiction reporting. Each page bursts with fresh insights into the contradictions of modern-day South Africa as well as the elusiveness of finding the absolute truth." - Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy and Logavina Street "A fascinating, clear-eyed journey into the disheartening political reality of contemporary South Africa." - Jill Leovy, author of Ghettoside
Spiegel & Grau
|
9780812994506
|
Print book
Double Ace
By Coram, Robert
Robert Lee Scott was larger than life. A decorated Eagle Scout who barely graduated from high school, the young man from Macon, Georgia used dogged determination to achieve his dream of becoming a famed fighter pilot. In Double Ace, veteran biographer Robert Coram, himself a Georgia man, provides readers with an unprecedented look at the defining characteristics that made "Scotty" a uniquely American hero.First capturing national attention during World War II, Scott flew missions in China alongside the legendary "Flying Tigers" where his reckless courage and ten confirmed kills made headlines. Upon returning home, Scott's memoir, brashly titled God is My Co-Pilot, became an instant bestseller and a successful film. As an older man, Scott traveled the entire length of China's Great Wall and helped found Georgia's Museum of Aviation, which still welcomes 400,000 annual visitors.Yet, Scott's life was not without difficulty. His single-minded pursuit of greatness was offset by debilitating bouts of depression and his brashness placed him at odds with superior officers, wreaking havoc on his career. What wealth he gained he squandered, and his numerous public affairs destroyed his relationships with his wife and child.Written in deft style backed by meticulous research, Double Ace brings Scott's uniquely American character to life and captures Scott's fascinating exploits alongside his frustrating foibles.
Thomas Dunne Books
|
9781250040183
|
Print book
Crisis of Character
By Byrne, Gary J
In this runaway #1 New York Times bestseller, former secret service officer Gary Byrne, who was posted directly outside President Clintons oval office, reveals what he observed of Hillary Clintons character and the culture inside the White House while protecting the First Family in CRISIS OF CHARACTER, the most anticipated book of the 2016 election.
Center St
|
9781455568871
|
Hardcover
Avenue of Spies
By Kershaw, Alex
The best-selling author of The Liberator brings to life the incredible true story of an American doctor in Paris, and his heroic espionage efforts during World War IIThe leafy Avenue Foch, one of the most exclusive residential streets in Nazi-occupied France, was Paris's hotbed of daring spies, murderous secret police, amoral informers, and Vichy collaborators. So when American physician Sumner Jackson, who lived with his wife and young son Phillip at Number 11, found himself drawn into the Liberation network of the French resistance, he knew the stakes were impossibly high. Just down the road at Number 31 was the "mad sadist" Theodor Dannecker, an Eichmann protg charged with deporting French Jews to concentration camps. And Number 84 housed the Parisian headquarters of the Gestapo, run by the most effective spy hunter in Nazi Germany.
Crown Publishing Group (NY)
|
9780804140034
|
Hardcover
The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood
By Hutchinson, Robert
The gripping story of one of the most enigmatic and alluring figures in British history: a dangerous double agent and Irish rogue in King Charles II's court One morning in May 1671, a man disguised as a parson daringly attempted to seize the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Astonishingly, he managed to escape with the regalia and crown before being apprehended. And yet he was not executed for treason. Instead, the king granted him a generous income and he became a familiar strutting figure in the royal court's glittering state apartments. This man was Colonel Thomas Blood, a notorious turncoat and fugitive from justice. Nicknamed the 'Father of all Treasons,' he had been involved in an attempted coup d'etat in Ireland as well as countless plots to assassinate Charles II.
Pegasus Books
|
9781681771441
|
Print book
Hubris
By Horne, Alistair
Sir Alistair Horne has been a close observer of war and history for more than fifty years and in this wise and masterly work, he revisits six battles of the past century and examines the strategies, leadership, preparation, and geopolitical goals of aggressors and defenders to reveal the one trait that links them all: hubris.In Greek tragedy, hubris is excessive human pride that challenges the gods and ultimately leads to total destruction of the offender. From the 1905 Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, to Hitler's 1941 bid to capture Moscow, to MacArthur's disastrous advance in Korea, to the French downfall at Dien Bien Phu, Horne shows how each of these battles was won or lost due to excessive hubris on one side or the other. In a sweeping narrative written with his trademark erudition and wit, Horne provides a meticulously detailed analysis of the ground maneuvers employed by the opposing armies in each battle.
Harper
|
9780062397805
|
Hardcover
Did She Kill Him?
By Colquhoun, Kate
In the summer of young Southern belle Florence Maybrick stood trial for the alleged arse-nic poisoning of her much older husband Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick The xCMaybrick MysteryxD had all the makings of a sensation a pretty flirtatious young girl resentful gossiping servants rumors of gambling and debt and tor-rid mutual infidelity The case cracked the varnish of Victorian respectability shocking and exciting the public in equal measure as they clambered to read the latest revelations of Florencexs past and glimpse her likeness in Madame Tussaudxs Florencexs fate was fiercely debated in the courtroom on the front pages of the newspapers and in parlours and backyards across the country Did she poison her husband Was her previous in-fidelity proof of murderous intentions Was Jamesx own habit of self-medicating to blame for his de-mise Historian Kate Colquhoun recounts an utterly absorbing tale of addiction deception and adultery that keeps you asking to the very last page xCDid she kill himxD.
The Overlook Press; 1 edition
|
9781468309348
|
Hardcover
The Washingtons
By Fraser, Flora
A full-scale portrait of the marriage of the father and mother of our country - and of the struggle for independence that he led The Washingtons' long union begins in colonial Virginia in 1759, when George Washington woos and weds Martha Dandridge Parke Custis, a pretty, charming, and very rich young widow. The calm early years of their marriage as plantation owners at Mount Vernon and as parents to Martha's two children, Jacky and Patsy - both of whom present difficult challenges - yield to harsher times. Washington has been prominent among Virginians in opposing British government measures, and at the outbreak of fighting in 1775 he is elected commander-in-chief of the Continental army. The war sees Martha resolutely supporting her husband, sharing in the hardships at Valley Forge and other wretched winter headquarters. Essential to George's personal well-being, she is known as "Lady Washington" - a redoubtable and vastly admired figure in her own right.Flora Fraser provides us with a brilliant account of the public Washington and of the war he waged, and gives us, as well, the domestic Washingtons, whether at Mount Vernon before and during the war or in New York and Philadelphia during his presidency. Even in wartime, Martha manages to scour Philadelphia to find a doll for her newest granddaughter and keeps careful control of her Virginia inheritance. George grapples with a formidable enemy, without proper troops and often without basic supplies - his soldiers frequently lack rations, blankets, even shoes - while always fearful for his wife's welfare and safety, given the constant worry that the British might descend on Mount Vernon. Even so, a true Virginian, he manages to dance for more than three hours with Alexander Hamilton's pretty young wife at a makeshift ball.With victory and the arrival of peace in 1783, the Washingtons hope to remain at home, a hope dashed when, in 1789, George is elected our first president and Martha becomes a faultless first First Lady. During the presidency, they together negotiate the many pitfalls of establishing republican entertainment - the weekly "Congress dinner," leves, and drawing rooms - before, finally free of official responsibilities after Washington's second term, they are at last able to retreat to their beloved Mount Vernon.This is a remarkable story of a remarkable pair as well as a gripping narrative of the birth of a nation - a major, and vastly appealing, contribution to the literature of our founding fathers . . . and founding mother.
Knopf Publishing Group
|
9780307272782
|
Hardcover
Earth's Deep History
By Rudwick, Martin J. S.
Earth has been witness to mammoths and dinosaurs, global ice ages, continents colliding or splitting apart, comets and asteroids crashing catastrophically to the surface, as well as the birth of humans who are curious to understand it all. But how was it discovered How was the evidence for it collected and interpreted And what kinds of people have sought to reconstruct this past that no human witnessed or recorded In this sweeping and magisterial book, Martin J. S. Rudwick, the premier historian of the earth sciences, tells the gripping human story of the gradual realization that the Earths history has not only been unimaginably long but also astonishingly eventful. Rudwick begins in the seventeenth century with Archbishop James Ussher, who famously dated the creation of the cosmos to 4004 BC.
Part of Our Lives
By Wiegand, Wayne A
Despite dire predictions in the late twentieth century that public libraries would not survive the turn of the millennium, their numbers have only increased. Two of three Americans frequent a public library at least once a year, and nearly that many are registered borrowers. Although library authorities have argued that the public library functions primarily as a civic institution necessary for maintaining democracy, generations of library patrons tell a different story. In Part of Our Lives, Wayne A. Wiegand delves into the heart of why Americans love their libraries. The book traces the history of the public library, featuring records and testimonies from as early as 1850. Rather than analyzing the words of library founders and managers, Wiegand listens to the voices of everyday patrons who cherished libraries. Drawing on newspaper articles, memoirs, and biographies, Part of Our Lives paints a clear and engaging picture of Americans who value libraries not only as civic institutions, but also as public places that promote and maintain community. Whether as a public space, a place for accessing information, or a home for reading material that helps patrons make sense of the world around them, the public library has a rich history of meaning for millions of Americans. From colonial times through the recent technological revolution, libraries have continuously adapted to better serve the needs of their communities. Wiegand demonstrates that, although cultural authorities (including some librarians) have often disparaged reading books considered not "serious, " the commonplace reading materials users obtained from public libraries have had a transformative effect for many, including people such as Ronald Reagan, Bill Moyers, Edgwina Danticat, Philip Roth, Toni Morrison, Sonia Sotomayor, and Oprah Winfrey. A bold challenge to conventional thinking about the American public library, Part of Our Lives is an insightful look into of America's most beloved cultural institutions. This item is Non-Returnable.
We Are Not Such Things
By Leun, Justine Van Der
A gripping investigation in the vein of the podcast Serial - a summer nonfiction pick by Entertainment Weekly and The Wall Street Journal Justine van der Leun reopens the murder of a young American woman in South Africa, an iconic case that calls into question our understanding of truth and reconciliation, loyalty, justice, race, and class. "[A] tour-de-force depiction . . . a complex, nuanced, and perhaps ultimately unknowable story that will captivate all readers." - Publishers Weekly "Stunning." - Library Journal The story of Amy Biehl is well known in South Africa: The twenty-six-year-old white American Fulbright scholar was brutally murdered on August 25, 1993, during the final, fiery days of apartheid by a mob of young black men in a township outside Cape Town. Her parents' forgiveness of two of her killers became a symbol of the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa. Justine van der Leun decided to introduce the story to an American audience. But as she delved into the case, the prevailing narrative started to unravel. Why didn't the eyewitness reports agree on who killed Amy Biehl? Were the men convicted of the murder actually responsible for her death? And then van der Leun stumbled upon another brutal crime committed on the same day, in the very same area. The true story of Amy Biehl's death, it turned out, was not only a story of forgiveness but a reflection of the complicated history of a troubled country. We Are Not Such Things is the result of van der Leun's four-year investigation into this strange, knotted tale of injustice, violence, and compassion. The bizarre twists and turns of this case and its aftermath - and the story that emerges of what happened on that fateful day in 1993 and in the decades that followed - come together in an unsparing account of life in South Africa today. Van der Leun immerses herself in the lives of her subjects and paints a stark, moving portrait of a township and its residents. We come to understand that the issues at the heart of her investigation are universal in scope and powerful in resonance. We Are Not Such Things reveals how reconciliation is impossible without an acknowledgment of the past, a lesson as relevant to America today as to a South Africa still struggling with the long shadow of its history.Praise for We Are Not Such Things "This suspenseful and engrossing story calls into question the simplicities people yearn for when justice is sought for a vicious crime. Justine van der Leun shows how a powerful desire for reconciliation can in fact obscure the truth, a truth we need in order to establish the equity and justice that all people deserve." - Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black"What an achievement! This absorbing account of the pursuit of the truth about an infamous and symbolic crime is consummate in its reach and penetration." - Norman Rush, author of Mating "This is a murder story told with the dramatic tension of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and the precision of the very best nonfiction reporting. Each page bursts with fresh insights into the contradictions of modern-day South Africa as well as the elusiveness of finding the absolute truth." - Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy and Logavina Street "A fascinating, clear-eyed journey into the disheartening political reality of contemporary South Africa." - Jill Leovy, author of Ghettoside
Double Ace
By Coram, Robert
Robert Lee Scott was larger than life. A decorated Eagle Scout who barely graduated from high school, the young man from Macon, Georgia used dogged determination to achieve his dream of becoming a famed fighter pilot. In Double Ace, veteran biographer Robert Coram, himself a Georgia man, provides readers with an unprecedented look at the defining characteristics that made "Scotty" a uniquely American hero.First capturing national attention during World War II, Scott flew missions in China alongside the legendary "Flying Tigers" where his reckless courage and ten confirmed kills made headlines. Upon returning home, Scott's memoir, brashly titled God is My Co-Pilot, became an instant bestseller and a successful film. As an older man, Scott traveled the entire length of China's Great Wall and helped found Georgia's Museum of Aviation, which still welcomes 400,000 annual visitors.Yet, Scott's life was not without difficulty. His single-minded pursuit of greatness was offset by debilitating bouts of depression and his brashness placed him at odds with superior officers, wreaking havoc on his career. What wealth he gained he squandered, and his numerous public affairs destroyed his relationships with his wife and child.Written in deft style backed by meticulous research, Double Ace brings Scott's uniquely American character to life and captures Scott's fascinating exploits alongside his frustrating foibles.
Crisis of Character
By Byrne, Gary J
In this runaway #1 New York Times bestseller, former secret service officer Gary Byrne, who was posted directly outside President Clintons oval office, reveals what he observed of Hillary Clintons character and the culture inside the White House while protecting the First Family in CRISIS OF CHARACTER, the most anticipated book of the 2016 election.
Avenue of Spies
By Kershaw, Alex
The best-selling author of The Liberator brings to life the incredible true story of an American doctor in Paris, and his heroic espionage efforts during World War IIThe leafy Avenue Foch, one of the most exclusive residential streets in Nazi-occupied France, was Paris's hotbed of daring spies, murderous secret police, amoral informers, and Vichy collaborators. So when American physician Sumner Jackson, who lived with his wife and young son Phillip at Number 11, found himself drawn into the Liberation network of the French resistance, he knew the stakes were impossibly high. Just down the road at Number 31 was the "mad sadist" Theodor Dannecker, an Eichmann protg charged with deporting French Jews to concentration camps. And Number 84 housed the Parisian headquarters of the Gestapo, run by the most effective spy hunter in Nazi Germany.
The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood
By Hutchinson, Robert
The gripping story of one of the most enigmatic and alluring figures in British history: a dangerous double agent and Irish rogue in King Charles II's court One morning in May 1671, a man disguised as a parson daringly attempted to seize the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Astonishingly, he managed to escape with the regalia and crown before being apprehended. And yet he was not executed for treason. Instead, the king granted him a generous income and he became a familiar strutting figure in the royal court's glittering state apartments. This man was Colonel Thomas Blood, a notorious turncoat and fugitive from justice. Nicknamed the 'Father of all Treasons,' he had been involved in an attempted coup d'etat in Ireland as well as countless plots to assassinate Charles II.
Hubris
By Horne, Alistair
Sir Alistair Horne has been a close observer of war and history for more than fifty years and in this wise and masterly work, he revisits six battles of the past century and examines the strategies, leadership, preparation, and geopolitical goals of aggressors and defenders to reveal the one trait that links them all: hubris.In Greek tragedy, hubris is excessive human pride that challenges the gods and ultimately leads to total destruction of the offender. From the 1905 Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, to Hitler's 1941 bid to capture Moscow, to MacArthur's disastrous advance in Korea, to the French downfall at Dien Bien Phu, Horne shows how each of these battles was won or lost due to excessive hubris on one side or the other. In a sweeping narrative written with his trademark erudition and wit, Horne provides a meticulously detailed analysis of the ground maneuvers employed by the opposing armies in each battle.
Did She Kill Him?
By Colquhoun, Kate
In the summer of young Southern belle Florence Maybrick stood trial for the alleged arse-nic poisoning of her much older husband Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick The xCMaybrick MysteryxD had all the makings of a sensation a pretty flirtatious young girl resentful gossiping servants rumors of gambling and debt and tor-rid mutual infidelity The case cracked the varnish of Victorian respectability shocking and exciting the public in equal measure as they clambered to read the latest revelations of Florencexs past and glimpse her likeness in Madame Tussaudxs Florencexs fate was fiercely debated in the courtroom on the front pages of the newspapers and in parlours and backyards across the country Did she poison her husband Was her previous in-fidelity proof of murderous intentions Was Jamesx own habit of self-medicating to blame for his de-mise Historian Kate Colquhoun recounts an utterly absorbing tale of addiction deception and adultery that keeps you asking to the very last page xCDid she kill himxD.
The Washingtons
By Fraser, Flora
A full-scale portrait of the marriage of the father and mother of our country - and of the struggle for independence that he led The Washingtons' long union begins in colonial Virginia in 1759, when George Washington woos and weds Martha Dandridge Parke Custis, a pretty, charming, and very rich young widow. The calm early years of their marriage as plantation owners at Mount Vernon and as parents to Martha's two children, Jacky and Patsy - both of whom present difficult challenges - yield to harsher times. Washington has been prominent among Virginians in opposing British government measures, and at the outbreak of fighting in 1775 he is elected commander-in-chief of the Continental army. The war sees Martha resolutely supporting her husband, sharing in the hardships at Valley Forge and other wretched winter headquarters. Essential to George's personal well-being, she is known as "Lady Washington" - a redoubtable and vastly admired figure in her own right.Flora Fraser provides us with a brilliant account of the public Washington and of the war he waged, and gives us, as well, the domestic Washingtons, whether at Mount Vernon before and during the war or in New York and Philadelphia during his presidency. Even in wartime, Martha manages to scour Philadelphia to find a doll for her newest granddaughter and keeps careful control of her Virginia inheritance. George grapples with a formidable enemy, without proper troops and often without basic supplies - his soldiers frequently lack rations, blankets, even shoes - while always fearful for his wife's welfare and safety, given the constant worry that the British might descend on Mount Vernon. Even so, a true Virginian, he manages to dance for more than three hours with Alexander Hamilton's pretty young wife at a makeshift ball.With victory and the arrival of peace in 1783, the Washingtons hope to remain at home, a hope dashed when, in 1789, George is elected our first president and Martha becomes a faultless first First Lady. During the presidency, they together negotiate the many pitfalls of establishing republican entertainment - the weekly "Congress dinner," leves, and drawing rooms - before, finally free of official responsibilities after Washington's second term, they are at last able to retreat to their beloved Mount Vernon.This is a remarkable story of a remarkable pair as well as a gripping narrative of the birth of a nation - a major, and vastly appealing, contribution to the literature of our founding fathers . . . and founding mother.
Earth's Deep History
By Rudwick, Martin J. S.
Earth has been witness to mammoths and dinosaurs, global ice ages, continents colliding or splitting apart, comets and asteroids crashing catastrophically to the surface, as well as the birth of humans who are curious to understand it all. But how was it discovered How was the evidence for it collected and interpreted And what kinds of people have sought to reconstruct this past that no human witnessed or recorded In this sweeping and magisterial book, Martin J. S. Rudwick, the premier historian of the earth sciences, tells the gripping human story of the gradual realization that the Earths history has not only been unimaginably long but also astonishingly eventful. Rudwick begins in the seventeenth century with Archbishop James Ussher, who famously dated the creation of the cosmos to 4004 BC.