Iowa City Public Library | Virtual Branch

Featured Collections On the shelf & ready to reserve

Where the meet-cutes start with pratfalls--enjoy a book that makes you want to laugh *and* love.

Enjoy the warm weather while it lasts--harvest, grill, go Hawks!

Meat on the side : delicious vegetable-focused recipes for every day

The easy tree guide : common native and cultivated trees of the United States and Canada

Ball canning back to basics : a foolproof guide to canning jams, jellies, pickles, and more.

Paddling Iowa : 128 outstanding journies by canoe and kayak

Bean by bean : [a cookbook : more than 200 recipes for fresh beans, dried beans, cool beans, hot beans, savory beans, even sweet beans!]

The Iowa road guide to haunted locations

Cooking with Japanese pickles : 97 quick, classic and seasonal recipes

National Geographic pocket guide to trees & shrubs of North America

The complete book of small-batch preserving : over 300 delicious recipes to use year-round

Between earth and sky : our intimate connections to trees

Iowa's state parks : also forests, recreation areas, and preserves

Bringing nature home : floral arrangements inspired by nature

A season on the mat : Dan Gable and the pursuit of perfection

Familiar trees of North America. Eastern region

How to store your garden produce : the key to self-sufficiency

The book of greens : a cook's compendium of 40 varieties, from arugula to watercress, with more than 175 recipes

V is for vegetables : inspired recipes & techniques for home cooks from artichokes to zucchini

A harvest of pumpkins and squash : seasonal recipes

Vegetables : the most authoritative guide to buying, preparing, and cooking, with more than 300 recipes

The modern preserver's kitchen : cooking with jam, chutney, pickles and ferments

The old farmer's almanac garden fresh cookbook : fresh-from-the-garden flavor all year long!

EatingWell vegetables : the essential reference

The book of kale & friends : 14 easy-to-grow superfoods

Spicebox kitchen : eat well and be healthy with globally inspired, vegetable-forward recipes

All new square foot gardening cookbook : [taking the harvest to the table]

Ruffage : a practical guide to vegetables : 100+ recipes and 230+ variations

Pick a circle, gather squares : a fall harvest of shapes

First snow in the woods : a photographic fantasy

Moon Messenger : a family reunion during the Mid-Autumn Festival : a story told in English and Chinese

This little environmentalist : a love-the-Earth primer

Celebrating Chinese festivals : a collection of holiday tales, poems and activities

National Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month is celebrated in the United States from September 15 to October 15 to recognize the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans with roots in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. September 15 is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively.

Las fantásticas : las mujeres de el Cartel : un viaje al extraordinario mundo de las mujeres de los narcos

El abuso verbal en las relaciones : cómo reconocerlo y cómo responder

El color de la justicia : la nueva segregación racial en Estados Unidos

Josefina learns a lesson : a school story

Feng shui : vivir sano con la sabiduría china

Latino stats : American Hispanics by the numbers

Cocina en casa con Chef James : ingredientes simples, para un cocina extraordinaria

Green is a chile pepper : a book of colors

Guerra mundial Z : una historia oral de la guerra zombi

Manipulados : la batalla de Facebook por la dominación mundial

More featured collections

Events

Bookmobile at Iowa City Farmers Market

September 24, 2022 - 8:00am

Text Effects in Illustrator

September 26, 2022 - 7:00pm

Book to Art Club: Read, Make, Take!

September 28, 2022 - 4:00pm

Eat Out to Read@Pagliai's Pizza

September 29, 2022 - 4:00pm

ICPL Recommends

The swerve : how the world became modern book cover

The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I

Lindsey Fitzharris

OverDrive Audiobook
Literary Nonfiction, History, Biographies

From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind's military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed. The First World War claimed millions of lives and left millions more wounded and disfigured. In the midst of this brutality, however, there were also those who strove to alleviate suffering. The Facemaker tells the extraordinary story of such an individual: the pioneering plastic surgeon Harold Gillies, who dedicated himself to reconstructing the burned and broken faces of the injured soldiers under his care. Gillies, a Cambridge-educated New Zealander, became interested in the nascent field of plastic surgery after encountering the human wreckage on the front. Returning to Britain, he established one of the world's first hospitals dedicated entirely to facial reconstruction. There, Gillies assembled a unique group of practitioners whose task was to rebuild what had been torn apart, to re-create what had been destroyed. At a time when losing a limb made a soldier a hero, but losing a face made him a monster to a society largely intolerant of disfigurement, Gillies restored not just the faces of the wounded but also their spirits. .

This book is devastating and hopeful at the same time. It is a story that starts out harrowing, but after hard work and ingenuity by a few individuals, things change for the better. The Facemaker, a history of World War I facial reconstruction, sets the scene: how World War I was fought in new and horrific ways. It was industrial. There were a lot of advancements in weapons of war. (And of course, for what?) Lindsey Fitzharris describes this moment in time very well. Then there are the people put in the trenches and at sea and in the air, not to mention the civilians, facing this new weaponry. Fitzharris makes these stories personal and individual, the pain experienced both inside and out. She picks a number of individuals that came home with significant facial injuries and how they viewed their lives as over. Enter Harold Gillies, an ears, nose, and throat doctor, who is about to become the leading expert in facial reconstruction. If you love compelling histories of war or medicine, I recommend this book. As an aside, the audio version was excellently narrated. -Anne M