Biographies
The new Negro : the life of Alain Locke
Jeffrey C. Stewart
BIOGRAPHY Locke, Alain
Nonfiction, Biographies
"A tiny, fastidiously dressed man emerged from Black Philadelphia around the turn of the century to mentor a generation of young artists including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jacob Lawrence and call them the New Negro--the creative African Americans whose art, literature, music, and drama would inspire Black people to greatness. In The New Negro : The Life of Alain Locke, Jeffrey C. Stewart offers the definitive biography of the father of the Harlem Renaissance, based on the extant primary sources of his life and on interviews with those who knew him personally. He narrates the education of Locke, including his becoming the first African American Rhodes Scholar and earning a PhD in philosophy at Harvard University, and his long career as a professor at Howard University. Locke also received a cosmopolitan, aesthetic education through his travels in continental Europe, where he came to appreciate the beauty of art and experienced a freedom unknown to him in the United States. And yet he became most closely associated with the flowering of Black culture in Jazz Age America and his promotion of the literary and artistic work of African Americans as the quintessential creations of American modernism. In the process he looked to Africa to find the proud and beautiful roots of the race. Shifting the discussion of race from politics and economics to the arts, he helped establish the idea that Black urban communities could be crucibles of creativity. Stewart explores both Locke's professional and private life, including his relationships with his mother, his friends, and his white patrons, as well as his lifelong search for love as a gay man. Stewart's thought-provoking biography recreates the worlds of this illustrious, enigmatic man who, in promoting the cultural heritage of Black people, became--in the process--a New Negro himself"--
Educated : a memoir
Tara Westover
BIOGRAPHY Westover, Tara
Biographies
"Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. As a way out, Tara began to educate herself, learning enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University. Her quest for knowledge would transform her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Tara Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it."--Provided by publisher.
The #1 most popular book of the 2018 Adult Summer Reading Program -Beth
The brilliant deep : rebuilding the world's coral reefs : the story of Ken Nedimyer and the Coral Restoration Foundation
Kate Messner
jE Messner
Picture Books, Biographies, Nature, Science
Looks at the life of the coral restoration pioneer Ken Nedimyer, from his early fascination with the ocean to his ongoing efforts to save and rebuild the world's coral reefs.
Kate Messner and Matthew Forsythe's new picture book biography about Ken Nedimyer is absolutely stunning. This is a perfect place to start learning about our rapidly changing oceans and the efforts being made to combat the bleaching of coral reefs. Parents and children will love this title, not only for it's beautiful artwork, but for the wealth of information and hope that it embodies. It's never too early or late to learn that individuals have the power to impact great change. -Casey
John
Cynthia Lennon
BIOGRAPHY Lennon, John
Biographies
Inspired by the recent Last Podcast on the Left episode about Mark David Chapman (murderer of John Lennon) I checked out this personal biography about John Lennon, written by his first wife, Cynthia (Powell) Lennon. The unique perspective of this book helps it to stand out from the litany of biographies about the idealistic Beatle. -Shawna
The Beatles : the biography
Bob Spitz
781.66092 /Beatles
Biographies
Listening to a recent episode of Last Podcast on the Left which covered the murderer of John Lennon made me think about my favorite Beatles biography. The length of Spitz's book can be daunting, but Beatles fans will quickly become engaged and read through this comprehensive biography. -Shawna
Chasing Hilary: ten years, two presidential campaigns, and one intact glass ceiling
Amy Chozick
324.973 /Chozick
Nonfiction, Biographies
The dishy, rollicking, and deeply personal story of what really happened in the 2016 election, as seen through the eyes of the New York Times reporter who gave eight years of her life to covering the First Woman President who wasn't.
Adding this book to me "to read" list. I cataloged this book when it came in, and I couldn't take my eyes off the sections on what it was like to be a political reporter covering candidates while they were in Iowa. The journalist details her times in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, writing about how different candidates were perceived at the State Fair. It's a book published by a mainstream publisher, and it mentions the butter cow! -Melody
The undoing project : a friendship that changed our minds
Michael (Michael M.) Lewis
612.8233 /Lewis
Science, Biographies
Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original studies undoing our assumptions about the decision-making process. Their papers showed the ways in which the human mind erred, systematically, when forced to make judgments in uncertain situations. Their work created the field of behavioral economics, revolutionized Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made much of Michael Lewis's own work possible. Kahneman and Tversky are more responsible than anybody for the powerful trend to mistrust human intuition and defer to algorithms.The Undoing Project is about a compelling collaboration between two men who have the dimensions of great literary figures. They became heroes in the university and on the battlefield--both had important careers in the Israeli military--and their research was deeply linked to their extraordinary life experiences. Amos Tversky was a brilliant, self-confident warrior and extrovert, the center of rapt attention in any room; Kahneman, a fugitive from the Nazis in his childhood, was an introvert whose questing self-doubt was the seedbed of his ideas. They became one of the greatest partnerships in the history of science, working together so closely that they couldn't remember whose brain originated which ideas, or who should claim credit. They flipped a coin to decide the lead authorship on the first paper they wrote, and simply alternated thereafter.This story about the workings of the human mind is explored through the personalities of two fascinating individuals so fundamentally different from each other that they seem unlikely friends or colleagues. In the process they may well have changed, for good, mankind's view of its own mind.
Added by Tom
Four Seasons in Rome : on twins, insomnia, and the biggest funeral in the history of the world
Anthony Doerr
914.5632 /Doerr
Travel, Biographies
"The recipient of an American Academy fellowship, Doerr, his wife, and their twin newborns are on their way to Rome for a year. Cultural isolation, the death of John Paul II, struggles to complete a novel, and the tales of first-time parenthood uniquely blend together as Doerr meanders his way through a one-year Roman holiday. Along the way, he meets Romans quick to praise his twins, Romans quick to prejudge an American, and Romans happy to share the secrets of their city with him. Set against this backdrop, Doerr finds it difficult to focus on the novel he plans on writing; instead, like so many other visitors, he falls for the Eternal City. For readers who have been to Rome, Doerr's reflections will leave them longing for a return trip. For those who have not, Doerr's stories of piazzas and pizzas will have them checking travel arrangements. Either way, this memoir is a wonderful combination of a writer's two dominant struggles: cultural identity and family."--
Anthony Doerr (author of All the Light We Cannot See) was a brand-new father of twins when he was granted a sabbatical in Rome. He takes on the Eternal City and the newborns all in one go, and is rewarded for it. A sort of epic love poem to Rome and family, and all there is to be aware of and savor. -Candice
Danza! : Amalia Hernández and el Ballet Folklórico de México
Duncan Tonatiuh
jE Tonatiuh
Picture Books, Biographies, Art / Art History
"This is a picture book biography for children ages 6-10 about Amalia Hernández (1917-2000), the dancer and choreographer who founded the Mexican Folkloric Ballet, a dance organization that continues to perform today. The author/illustrator is Duncan Tonatiuh"--
Added by Casey
The Road to Jonestown : Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
Jeff Guinn
289.9 /Guinn
Biographies, History, Religion
A portrait of the cult leader behind the Jonestown Massacre examines his personal life, from his extramarital affairs and drug use to his fraudulent faith healing practices and his decision to move his followers to Guyana, sharing new details about the events leading to the 1978 tragedy.
Guinn does a masterful job of drawing in the many elements of Jones' life that, in hindsight, all played some part in making him the person he came to be. I was surprised to find that, at the end of the book, some sort of sense was made of the awful situation. -Candice
Winner in the Nonfiction category -Jason