Monday, October 20, 2014

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Most Popular New History 2014


These are the most popular new history books so far of 2014, according to the library's circulation statistics.  Enjoy!





by Richard Brooks



In 1217 England was facing her darkest hour, with foreign troops pillaging the country and defeat close at hand. But, at the battle of Lincoln, the seventy-year-old William Marshal led his men to a victory that would secure the future of his nation. 

 




by Robert Hutchinson



After the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558, Protestant England was beset by the hostile Catholic powers of Europe, including Spain. Popular history dictates that the defeat of the Spanish Armada was a David versus Goliath victory, snatched by plucky and outnumbered English forces. In this tightly written and fascinating new history, Robert Hutchinson explodes this myth recreating one of history's most famous episodes in an entirely new way. 


by Edward Klein



Edward Klein delves into the rocky relationship between the Obamas and the Clintons. An old-school reporter with incredible insider contacts, Klein reveals just how deep the rivalry between the Obamas and the Clintons runs, with details on closed-door meetings buttressed by hundreds of interviews. 





by Helen Rappaport



The Romanov Sisters sets out to capture the joy as well as the insecurities of those young lives against the backdrop of the dying days of late Imperial Russia. Helen Rappaport aims to present a new and challenging take on the story, drawing extensively on previously unseen or unpublished letters, diaries and archival sources, as well as private collections. It is a book that will surprise people, even aficionados.


by Janice MacLeod



A few days into her stop in Paris, Janice meets Christophe, the cute butcher down the street-who doesn't speak English. Through a combination of sign language and franglais, they embark on a whirlwind Paris romance. She soon realizes that she can never return to the world of twelve-hour workdays and greasy corporate lingo. But her dwindling savings force her to find a way to fund her dreams again. 
 


by Ken Adelman



A dramatic account of the historic 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Iceland by Ken Adelman who was Reagan's arms control director. The meeting led to negotiations and concessions that neither side had predicted and laid the groundwork for the most sweeping arms accord in history. From his position as a participant in these historic events, Ken Adelman is able to reveal the motivations, relationships, and conversations that led to the summit's breakthroughs.




by Gordon Corrigan



Military historian Gordon Corrigan's gripping narrative of Hundred Years War fought between 1337 and 1453.  Corrigan reveals the horrors of battle and the machinations of power bringing these events refreshingly alive, and giving the great battles and personalities of the period - Edward III, The Black Prince, Henry V, and Joan of Arc among them, the full attention and reassessment they deserve.




by Carlotta Gall



Carlotta Gall has reported from Afghanistan and Pakistan for almost the entire duration of the American invasion and occupation. Gall combines searing personal accounts of battles and betrayals with moving portraits of the ordinary Afghanis. Her firsthand accounts of Taliban warlords, Pakistani intelligence thugs, American generals, Afghani politicians, and the many innocents who were caught up in this long war are riveting. Her evidence that Pakistan fueled the Taliban and protected Osama bin Laden is revelatory.



 


by Tilar J. Mazzeo



Established in 1898 in the heart of Paris, the Hôtel Ritz instantly became an icon of the city frequented by film stars and celebrity writers. By the 1920s the bar became a favorite for F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Mazzeo chronicles life at the Ritz during the Nazi occupation, when the hotel served as headquarters to the highest-ranking German officers, including Göring, and home to wealthy patrons (and to the spies among them) who stayed on in Paris. A hotbed of illicit affairs and deadly intrigue is revealed, as well as stunning acts of defiance and treachery.







by Dan McMillan



The Holocaust has long seemed incomprehensible, a monumental crime that beggars our powers of description and explanation. Masterfully synthesizing the myriad causes that led Germany to disaster, McMillan shows why thousands of Germans carried out the genocide while millions watched, with cold indifference, as it enveloped their homeland. Persuasive and compelling, How Could This Happen explains how a perfect storm of bleak circumstances, malevolent ideas, and damaged personalities unleashed history's most terrifying atrocity.
Tyson

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

What's New in Mystery and Fiction for October and November?

Wondering what's coming out in Mystery and Fiction for October and November?  Here are a few titles:







Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella
The first Shopaholic novel in four years.  Becky moves to Los Angeles to be with her husband Luke, who has gotten a job there.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
A new novel from the author of The Cloud Atlas. The book has six different narratives.   

Revival by Stephen King
A new suspense novel from King about a minister in a small New England town in the late 20th century.

The Children Act by Ian McEwan
Fiona May is a High Court Judge in London.  Her latest case concerns a 17-year-old whose parents refuse him a blood transfusion because of their religion.

maf


Friday, October 10, 2014

Try free access to Online Current and Historical Newspapers



Online Resources of the Month:  E-Newspapers      
 


Did you know that you may search and view full-text newspaper articles from the 18th century to today with your library card?  

The library has resources that may be accessed whenever and wherever you want and include these newspapers:

New York Times
Boston Globe
LA Times
Washington Post and many more.

Simply click on Databases A-Z on the WFL website under the Research tab.  The resources for the newspapers are Boston Globe, General OneFile,  Historical Newspapers, and New York Times.

Whether it is for school or genealogical research or just because you are interested, try them out to see what is waiting just for you with your WFL library card.  Find out more on October 21st 10-12 in Jackie’s Room.

SH

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: New Science Fiction and Fantasy October 2014


New Science Fiction and Fantasy October 2014

This is a particularity good month for new SF & Fantasy releases.


(Oct 1) Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Breq is ordered to go to Athoek Station to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew -- a lieutenant she murdered in cold blood.


(Oct 7) The Lost Stars: Imperfect Sword by Jack Campbell

The Midway Star System has been successfully liberated, but the but the former rulers of the Syndicate Worlds won't surrender the region without a fight.


(Oct 7) The Dark Defiles by Richard K. Morgan

Ringil sees the world tipping into another war with the dragon folk. And, most terrifying of all, the prophecy of a dark lord come to rule may be coming true. Final in a series which started with the Steel Remains.

(Oct 7) A Call to Duty by David Weber & Timothy Zahn

When Travis enlistes in the Royal Manticoran Navy he finds out life isn't exactly what he expected. A new entry in the Honor Harrington universe by Timothy Zahn of Star Wars fame and series creator Weber.

(Oct 9) Proxima by Stephen Baxter

Colonizing the world of Proxima Centauri could mean the never-ending existence of humanity, but no one wants to be a settler. There is no glamour in the mission, only hardship, loneliness, and emptiness.  But that’s where Yuri comes in -- because sometimes exploration isn’t voluntary.

(Oct 14) War Dogs by Greg Bear

They made their presence on Earth known thirteen years ago, providing technology and scientific insights far beyond what mankind was capable of.But they were being hounded by enemies and needed our help – and Skyrines like me were volunteered to pay the price.

(Oct 14) The Time Roads by Beth Bernobich

Éire is one of the most powerful empires in the world, and many look to it for stability and peace.  Brilliant Éireann scientists have already bent the laws of nature for Man's benefit, and now they are striving to conquer the nature of time.

(Oct 21) The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton

The Raiel convince Nigel Sheldon to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void. Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace.

(Oct 28) The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss 

Deep below the University, there is a dark place. A young woman lives there, tucked among the sprawling tunnels of the Underthing, snug in the heart of this forgotten place. Her name is Auri, and she is full of mysteries.

(Oct 28) The Peripheral by William Gibson

Where Flynne and Burton live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Burton has a job, and he's offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn't what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder.
Tyson






Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Book Spotlight: The Nixon Defense

The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It
 
by John W.
Dean
 
Based on Nixon's overlooked recordings, New York Times bestselling author John W. Dean connects the dots between what we've come to believe about Watergate and what actually happened. Watergate forever changed American politics, and in light of the revelations about the NSA's widespread surveillance program, the scandal has taken on new significance. 


Yet remarkably, four decades after Nixon was forced to resign, no one has told the full story of his involvement in Watergate. In The Nixon Defense , former White House Counsel John W. Dean, one of the last major surviving figures of Watergate, draws on his own transcripts of almost a thousand conversations, a wealth of Nixon's secretly recorded information, and more than 150,000 pages of documents in the National Archives and the Nixon Library to provide the definitive answer to the question: What did President Nixon know and when did he know it?

Through narrative and contemporaneous dialogue, Dean connects dots that have never been connected, including revealing how and why the Watergate break-in occurred, what was on the mysterious 18 1/2 minute gap in Nixon's recorded conversations, and more. In what will stand as the most authoritative account of one of America's worst political scandals, The Nixon Defense shows how the disastrous mistakes of Watergate could have been avoided and offers a cautionary tale for our own time.

Tyson







Friday, September 19, 2014

 Dodging Extinction: Power, Food, Money and the Future of Life on Earth

by
Anthony D. Barnosky.
Paleobiologist Anthony D. Barnosky presents compelling evidence that unless we rethink how we generate the power we use to run our global ecosystem, where we get our food, and how we make our money, we will trigger what would be the sixth great extinction on Earth, with dire consequences.

Optimistic that we can change this ominous forecast if we act now, Barnosky provides clear-cut strategies to guide the planet away from global catastrophe. 

In many instances the necessary technology and know-how already exist and are being applied to crucial issues; human-caused climate change, feeding the world's growing population, and exploiting natural resources. 

Barnosky tells the overarching story of geologic and evolutionary history and how it informs the way humans inhabit, exploit, and impact Earth today. 

Tyson
 

Monday, September 8, 2014

Book Spotlight: Secret Lives of the Tsars

Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia

by Michael Farquhar


Farquhar, a writer at the Washington Post and an expert on the royals, chronicles the world's most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose three-hundred-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess, and unimaginable venality.

We meet Catherine the Great, with her endless parade of virile young lovers; her unhinged son, Paul I, who ordered the bones of one of his mother's paramours dug out of its grave and tossed into a gorge; and Grigori Rasputin, the "Mad Monk," whose mesmeric domination of the last of the Romanov tsars helped lead to the monarchy's undoing.

From Peter the Great's penchant for personally beheading his recalcitrant subjects (he kept the severed head of one of his mistresses pickled in alcohol) to Nicholas and Alexandra's brutal demise at the hands of the Bolsheviks, Secret Lives of the Tsars captures all the splendor and infamy that was Imperial Russia.
Tyson

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

What's new in Fiction and Mystery for September?

Wondering what's new in Fiction and Mystery for September?  Here are a few titles:




Mean Streak by Sandra Brown

Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child

The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory