04 Saturday Nov 2023
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction
Tags
19th century, African American women, Ashley (Enslaved person in South Carolina), family relationships, memory, mothers and daughters, South Carolina, Southern states, women slaves
04 Wednesday Oct 2023
Posted in 20th century, Biography, History, Non-fiction
Tags
Auschwitz (Concentration camp)|, biography, Escaped prisoners, Holocaust survivors, Jewish Holocaust, Jews, Nazi concentration camp escapes, Rudolf Vrba, Slovakia, World War 1939-45
06 Wednesday Sep 2023
Posted in action, adventure, History, murder, murder and investigation, Non-fiction, Travel
Tags
1700's, Great Britain, murder and investigation, mutiny, Patagonia (Argentina and Chile), shipwreck victims, shipwrecks, Wager (Ship)
The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound. (Amazon)
“The most gripping sea-yarn I’ve read in years….A tour de force of narrative nonfiction. Mr. Grann’s account show how storytelling, whether to judges or readers, can shape individual and national fortunes – as well as our collective memories.”—Wall Street Journal
“The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail…He fixes his spyglass on the ravages of empire, of racism, of bureaucratic indifference and raw greed…one of the finest nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” — The Guardian (UK)
“His dogged search through ships’ logs and other contemporaneous accounts of the disaster and its mutinous aftermath has turned up the kind of sterling details that make his writing sing; he is also interested in the way these events were recorded and then recounted, with many different people trying to shape the memory of what happened. Grann simultaneously reconstructs history while telling a tale that is as propulsive and adventure-filled as any potboiler.”— The Atlantic
26 Friday May 2023
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction
Tags
19th century, abolitionists, antislavery movements, biographies, Ellen Craft, England, fugitive slaves, Georgia, racially mixed women, slaves, United States, William Craft
This book presents the remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled white man and William posing as “his” slave.
“Master Slave Husband Wife, like all of the truly great American stories, spent over a century lying in wait, desperate to be told. Enter Ilyon Woo. Ellen and WIlliam Craft loved each other, but also loved freedom, and knew one was impossible without the other. And so they embarked on one of the most daring feats ever attempted in American history, a breathless story captured with breathless prose, and we readers gasp in amazement and wonder at the tragedy and triumph.” — Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Booker Prize
“A gripping adventure. . . . suspenseful and wonderfully told. A captivating tale that ably captures the determination and courage of a remarkable couple.” ― Kirkus Reviews (starred review
“For those of us who already were familiar with Ellen and William Craft, we’re so grateful for this reconsideration of this courageous couple’s story. Ilyon Woo has accomplished a phenomenal feat, presenting previously unpublished archival excavations. Certainly, this is an essential addition to early African American studies—but more than research, Woo offers the Crafts’ travels with such grace, such tenderness. Here is a necessary rendering of Black love, Black resilience, and Black humanity during one of our nation’s most fraught times.” — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois)
“A narrative of such courage and resourcefulness it seems too dashing to be true. But it is. . . . The story is so richly dramatic, and Ms. Woo so skilled at spinning it out, that at times it’s a genuine nail-biter.” — Priscilla M. Jensen ― The Wall Street Journal
13 Saturday May 2023
Posted in Biography, memoir, Non-fiction
The author will talk IN-PERSON at the Weston Public Library May 25, 2023 7 pm.
“Kwan Kew and I trained together in infectious disease in Boston, and although I knew she was an extraordinary physician I had no idea how far she had come from her impoverished and incredibly difficulty childhood in Malaysia. This poignant memoir, beautifully written and filled with humor and pathos, portrays a world few of us can imagine. That such an incredible doctor and writer could emerge from such challenging beginnings is a testament to the human spirit, or perhaps to her unique spirit. I could not put this memoir down.” Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
“A graphic testimony to Malaysian colonial/postcolonial communal differences, resistance to Chinese gender inequities, and U.S. immigrant opportunities-Kwan Kew Lai offers us a triumphalist survivor’s memoir.” Shirley Geok-lin Lim, author of Among the White Moon Faces, recipient of the American Book Award
“An evocative story of Kwan Kew Lai’s childhood in post-World War II Penang. She so beautifully shows how her background gave her the drive to soar to new heights and gain entry into one of the most prestigious colleges in the US. A must-read!” Susan Blumberg-Kason, author of Good Chinese Wife, co-editor of Hong Kong Noir
01 Wednesday Feb 2023
Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Uncategorized, United States
Tags
19th century, biography, child slaves, free African Americans, fugitive slaves, history, kidnapping victims., Legal status laws etc., race relations, slavery
“A well-told story… A deep dive into the extraordinary risks faced by free blacks in the antebellum era.”–Kirkus Reviews
“Opening an unknown world from an unsung tragedy that started in early national Philadelphia and stretched grimly South, Stolen offers a worm’s eye view of the leviathan of American slavery, and of some of its most dastardly perpetrators and its most remarkable survivors. Richard Bell has researched inventively and mastered a vast body of scholarship, as we would expect from so distinguished a historian. But he also imbues his tale with the deep humanity of a great novelist. Both riveting and heartrending, Stolen joins the great literature of America’s founding tragedy, earning a place alongside the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edward P. Jones, and Toni Morrison.” – Jane Kamensky, Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, Harvard University
“Stolen is historical storytelling at its best. Bell makes brilliant detective work come alive with vivid, powerful writing. The saga of these five boys, kidnapped and smuggled from Philadelphia to Mississippi in the 1820s, captures both the powerful undertow of slavery in the free black communities of the North and the urgent dawning of the abolitionist movement. There’s been nothing like it since Northup.” –Adam Rothman, author of Beyond Freedom’s Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery
“Rigorously researched, heartfelt, and dramatically concise, Bell’s investigation illuminates the role slavery played in the systemic inequalities that still confront Black Americans” (Booklist)
06 Saturday Aug 2022
Posted in 20th century, Biography, History, Non-fiction
Tags
Auschwitz (Concentration camp)|, autobiography, biography, Birkenau (Concentration camp)|, German prisons and prisoners, Jewish Holocaust, Magda Hellinger Blau 1916-2006, Michalovce (Slovakia)|, Slovak personal narratives, World War 1939-1945
Having heard this author on NPR describing an excerpt from the book where her mother slapped a prisoner and yanked her off a wagon – what was criticized as harsh – but , there and then, actually saved that prisoner’s life as well as hundreds of other prisoners’ lives. I was intrigued to discover how she herself managed to survive having been one of the first Jews to be sent to Auschwitz.
“For too long, the stories of people like Magda, who were forced to make unthinkable choices, have remained untold. Unsentimental and filled with detail of her courageous dealings with notorious Nazis this is an important book that provides a rare insight into everyday life in the hellish structure of concentration camps. This thought-provoking book is a must-read for anyone interested in the Holocaust.” —Ariana Neumann, New York Times bestselling author of When Time Stopped
“[A] compelling and seamless portrait of a young woman who managed to survive and save others through cunning bravery and compassionate leadership… an extraordinary portrait of one woman who fought for others in the midst of unimaginable horror.” —BookPage (starred review)
“Hellinger has written an important perspective of the Holocaust, of a kind that we rarely see. A standout memoir that will draw the interest of readers of World War II history and women’s memoirs or biographies.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Magda’s own words, completed by her daughter’s copious research, create an unputdownable account of resilience and the power of compassion.” —Booklist
29 Wednesday Jun 2022
Posted in anecdotes, Comedy, Non-fiction, United States
This author is a born worrier…about everything….and then she became a parent! From the bestselling author of I Miss You When I Blink comes a book that will grab you in and never let you go. Her message: it she can do it, YOU can do it. Rife with humor and clear wisdom.
16 Monday May 2022
Posted in 20th century, meaning of life, memoir, Non-fiction, United States
Just after graduating college and starting a new job in Paris, Suleika Jaouad is diagnosed with leukemia. This beautifully written, powerful memoir explores her illness, treatment, and the loneliness of being a young person battling cancer, along with how it impacts her relationships with her family and friends.
“When the life we had is snatched away, how do we find the conviction to live another? Between Two Kingdoms will resonate with anyone who is living a different life than they planned to live. This is a propulsive, soulful story of mourning and gratitude—and an intimate portrait of one woman’s sojourn in the wilderness between life and death.”—Tara Westover, author of Educated
“A beautiful, elegant, and heartbreaking book that provides a glimpse into the kingdom of illness . . . Suleika Jaouad avoids sentimentality but manages to convey the depth of the emotional turmoil that illness can bring into our lives.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies
“Jaouad does a beautiful job of writing from this place of ‘dual citizenship,’ where she finds pain but also joy, kinship, and possibility.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“This is a deeply moving and passionate work of art, quite unlike anything I’ve ever read. I will remember these stories for years to come, because Suleika Jaouad has imprinted them on my heart.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love
25 Monday Apr 2022
Posted in Non-fiction, United States
Tags
18th century, Concord, enslaved persons, Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862, history, Mass., slavery, social conditions, Walden Pond
Since we live next door to Lincoln, Massachusetts let author Lemire forever change your thoughts about the green space of Walden Pond. In the 1700’s there was a community of enslaved individuals newly exposed to “freedom” whose stories need to be lifted up and shared.
Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, is most famous as the place where Henry David Thoreau went to ‘live deliberately’ and subsist on the land. Lemire . . . sets about to resurrect the memory of not only the freedmen and -women who dwelled there but also the history of slavery in Concord. . . . Ultimately, Lemire conveys the idea that before Walden Pond was a ‘green space, ‘ it was, in fact, a ‘black space.’–Library Journal
Lemire has genuinely enriched our understanding not only of the history of Concord but also of the country for which that fabled town still so often stands.–New England Quarterly
Thanks to Lemire’s ingenious research, such valiant figures as Brister Freeman and Cato Ingraham can claim their just place alongside the more famous Minutemen in the town that fired the ‘shot heard ’round the world.’–Robert Gross, author of The Minutemen and Their World
feastonbooksblog 