The Sound of Freedom by Raymond Arsenault

Released March 2009

This book gives an in-depth look at the life and career of Marian Anderson, an American icon whose activism was born out of the challenges she faced as an African-American singer during the time of Jim Crow and segregation.  Anderson’s talent was too great to be kept down and her beautiful contralto voice brought her well-deserved fame and adoration in Europe.

“The Sound of Freedom” traces her family origins, early life and career against the background of America’s mindset in this part of the 20th century.  The contrast of Anderson’s challenges to events of today are clear and her legacy and triumph on the Washington Mall are shown to all be a part of what made that possible.

Anderson is perhaps best known for her concert on the Washington Mall, when she sang before a massive crowd on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  That image of her in mid-song is the cover photo of this book, and is also a part of the Lissa K. McLean mural in the Delta Township District Library.  She is included on our mural celebrating women of achievement for her strength and talent and this book does a wonderful job of sharing her amazing story and it’s impact on America today. — Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Release Date: February 10, 2009

In the past week, I’ve read about 15 pages of about 5 different books and set each them aside, not because they are bad, just because they aren’t grabbing my attention right out of the gate. Thank goodness Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel came along to break my quitting streak!

The narration alternates between three characters every few chapters which keeps the story fresh and gives very different impressions of the events. Aibileen was definitely my favorite narrator, then Minny and Skeeter, but I loved the chance to hear directly from each of these three women. And the character of Hilly just captures all that close-minded, power-hungry attitude of the small-town elite. Oh, she’s awful.

Stockett does a great job building up her story of civil rights on the domestic front, introducing the indignities of being household help that were considered common and even necessary to 1960s families in Jackson, Mississippi. This is a pretty big book, around 450 pages, but it’s very well-paced, so events never feel rushed or stretched out.

I’ve heard great things about the audio as well, so if you are an audiobook fan, this might be one to listen to instead of read. — Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

The Lost City of Z by David Grann

Release date: February 24, 2009

Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett was a classic Victorian gentleman explorer. He was built to explore the Amazon – proving immune to malaria and the various other tropical fevers the plague Westerners there. He takes small parties carrying limited equipment, he makes friends with the Indians and he can live off the land. He never says die. He’s awesome.

He’s also, well, a little nuts. Not so much in the beginning, but after WWI, he starts to feel his age a little more, it’s harder to get funding and a millionaire rival begins exploring roughly the same region of the jungle as Fawcett. He becomes more reliant on spiritualism and more obsessed with the idea of proving his theory of Z, an El Dorado-like city deep in the Amazon.

His expeditions, his disappearance and the multitude of failed investigations and missions to find him make for great storytelling. Author Grann does a fine job of combing through his history, connecting with his relatives and parceling out the interesting details throughout the book. I found Grann’s own trip into the Amazon a little unsatisfying – it also attempts to tie up the mystery of Z a little too neatly.

Neat and tidy as it may be, I do like the explanation of Z and the archeological evidence and expertise behind it. It means Fawcett wasn’t going entirely mad when he pored over old legends of El Dorado, but I think it does mean that he never, never would have been able to identify what was left as what he was looking for, either. — Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

Taking Aim at the President: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Shot at Gerald Ford by Geri Spieler

Released: December 23, 2008

“On September 22, 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to kill President Gerald Ford. Investigative journalist Spieler traces the “unlikely assassin’s” convoluted path as the suburban housewife who abandoned her children meandered through relationships, marriages and careers ranging from bookkeeping to political activist turned FBI informant. Moore assumed varied personas, a skill she first displayed as an actress in high school. Despite three decades of contact with Moore, Spieler admits she still cannot explain what led Moore to attempt to kill Ford. But Spieler offers a portrait of an erratic, unstable woman with a protean capacity to shift identities, with the 1960s and ’70s as a dramatic backdrop. Fans of true crime accounts or contemporary history will savor this portrait of the first woman to make an assassination attempt on an American president.”"  — Publisher’s Weekly

1968 by Michael T. Kaufman

Released January 2009

“Former New York Times reporter Kaufman reflects on the lead stories that made 1968 ‘a year like no other.’ Beginning chronologically with the January Tet Offensive and ending with the December Apollo 8 space mission, he portrays a year ‘in which the flow of bad news never slackened,’ a year that triggered ‘many trends and events that came later.’ The narrative addresses the increasing ‘political divisions and cultural clashes’ that distinguished ‘68, including President Johnson’s declining popularity over the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, the anti-establishment student protests at Columbia University and the police brutality at the Chicago Democratic National Convention. It also examines global unrest from student protests in Paris and Mexico City to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Opening with double-page reproductions of the key Times cover article, chapters include profiles of prominent people and dramatic black-and-white photos of featured events. Written with personal insight and historical perspective, this proves a concise, astute, balanced and often moving introduction to a ‘truly unforgettable year.’”  –Kirkus

Mona Lisa in Camelot by Margaret Leslie Davis

Released: November 3, 2008

Fans of Jackie Kennedy and the Camelot years will enjoy this account of the Mona Lisa’s high profile visit to Washington, D.C. and New York City in 1963.  The author lovingly recounts Jackie’s love affair with art and art history, as well as the impact her taste and style had on the White House and Washington, D.C. at large.  There are episodes of diplomatic disaster and success, charming society anecdotes, private correspondence and behind-the-scenes glimpses at the planning and security it took to bring the world’s most famous painting to America.  The whirlwind of black-tie affairs surrounding the accomplishment moves the story along, but expect much of the focus to remain – adoringly – on Jackie.   – Sara Wedell, Adult Services Librarian

The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed

Released September 17, 2008

This title was announced as a finalist for the National Book Award in the nonfiction category.

“Starred Review. This is a scholar’s book: serious, thick, complex. It’s also fascinating, wise and of the utmost importance. Gordon-Reed, a professor of both history and law who in her previous book helped solve some of the mysteries of the intimate relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, now brings to life the entire Hemings family and its tangled blood links with slave-holding Virginia whites over an entire century. Gordon-Reed never slips into cynicism about the author of the Declaration of Independence. Instead, she shows how his life was deeply affected by his slave kinspeople: his lover (who was the half-sister of his deceased wife) and their children. Everyone comes vividly to life, as do the places, like Paris and Philadelphia, in which Jefferson, his daughters and some of his black family lived. So, too, do the complexities and varieties of slaves’ lives and the nature of the choices they had to make—when they had the luxury of making a choice. Gordon-Reed’s genius for reading nearly silent records makes this an extraordinary work.” – Publisher’s Weekly