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Reviews

Reviews

by Tom Clavin - Biography, History, Nonfiction

In July 1865, "Wild Bill" Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt in Springfield, MO --- the first quick-draw duel on the frontier. Thus began the reputation that made him a marked man to every gunslinger in the Wild West. Even before his death, Wild Bill became a legend, with fiction sometimes supplanting fact in the stories that surfaced. The legend of Wild Bill has only grown since his death in 1876, when cowardly Jack McCall famously put a bullet through the back of his head during a card game. Bestselling author Tom Clavin has sifted through years of western lore to bring Hickock fully to life in this rip-roaring, spellbinding true story.

by Pam Houston - Essays, Memoir, Nonfiction

On her 120-acre homestead high in the Colorado Rockies, beloved writer Pam Houston learns what it means to care for a piece of land and the creatures on it. Elk calves and bluebirds mark the changing seasons, winter temperatures drop to 35 below, and lightning sparks a 110,000-acre wildfire, threatening her century-old barn and all its inhabitants. Through her travels from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, she explores what ties her to the earth, the ranch most of all. Alongside her devoted Irish wolfhounds and a spirited troupe of horses, donkeys and Icelandic sheep, the ranch becomes Houston’s sanctuary, a place where she discovers how the natural world has mothered and healed her after a childhood of horrific parental abuse and neglect.

by Dr. Jeremy Brown - Health, History, Nonfiction

While influenza is now often thought of as a common and mild disease, it still kills over 30,000 people in the US each year. Dr. Jeremy Brown, currently Director of Emergency Care Research at the National Institutes of Health, expounds on the flu's deadly past to solve the mysteries that could protect us from the next outbreak. In INFLUENZA, he talks with leading epidemiologists, policy makers, and the researcher who first sequenced the genetic building blocks of the original 1918 virus to offer both a comprehensive history and a roadmap for understanding what’s to come.

by Ana Warner and Curt Warner, with Dave Boling - Memoir, Nonfiction

Seahawks star running back Curt Warner and his wife, Ana, were prominent figures in Seattle in the early 1990s. When they dropped from the public eye after Curt’s retirement, everyone assumed it was for a simpler life. But the reality behind their seclusion was a secret they hid from even their closest friends: their twins, Austin and Christian, had been diagnosed with severe autism. What followed was a painful struggle to hold their family and their marriage together in a home filled with chaos, emotional exhaustion, and constant fear for the safety of their unpredictable but beloved boys. Now, after years of silence, the Warners share their inspiring journey from stardom and success to heartbreaking self-imposed isolation.

by Ariel Burger - Memoir, Nonfiction

The world remembers Elie Wiesel --- Nobel laureate, activist and author of more than 40 books, including Oprah’s Book Club selection NIGHT --- as a great humanist. He passed away in July 2016. Ariel Burger first met Wiesel at age 15. They studied together and taught together. WITNESS chronicles the intimate conversations between these two men over decades, as Burger sought counsel on matters of intellect, spirituality and faith, while navigating his own personal journey from boyhood to manhood, from student and assistant to rabbi and, in time, teacher.

by Tina Turner - Memoir, Nonfiction

From her early years in Nutbush, Tennessee, to her rise to fame alongside Ike Turner to her phenomenal success in the 1980s and beyond, Tina Turner candidly examines her personal history, from her darkest hours to her happiest moments and everything in between. MY LOVE STORY is an explosive and inspiring story of a woman who dared to break any barriers put in her way. Emphatically showcasing Tina’s signature blend of strength, energy, heart and soul, this is a gorgeously wrought memoir as enthralling and moving as any of her greatest hits.

by Michael D. Doubler - Biography, Music, Nonfiction

One of the earliest performers on WSM in Nashville, Uncle Dave Macon became the Grand Ole Opry's first superstar. His old-time music and energetic stage shows made him a national sensation and fueled a 30-year run as one of America's most beloved entertainers. Michael D. Doubler tells the amazing story of the Dixie Dewdrop, a country music icon. Born in 1870, David Harrison Macon learned the banjo from musicians passing through his parents' Nashville hotel. After playing local shows in Middle Tennessee for decades, a big break led Macon to Vaudeville, the earliest of his 200-plus recordings and eventually to national stardom.

by Casey Gerald - Memoir, Nonfiction

Casey Gerald's story begins at the end of the world: Dallas, New Year's Eve 1999, when he gathers with the congregation of his grandfather's black evangelical church to see which of them will be carried off. His beautiful, fragile mother disappears frequently and mysteriously; for a brief idyll, he and his sister live like Boxcar Children on her disability checks. When Casey --- following in the footsteps of his father, a gridiron legend --- is recruited to play football at Yale, he enters a world he's never dreamed of. But even as he attains the inner sanctums of power, Casey sees how the world crushes those who live at its margins. He sees how the elite perpetuate the salvation stories that keep others from rising. And he sees, most painfully, how his own ascension is part of the scheme.

by Maxwell King - Biography, Entertainment, Nonfiction, Performing Arts

Fred Rogers (1928-2003) was an enormously influential figure in the history of television. As the creator and star of "Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood," he was a champion of compassion, equality and kindness, fiercely devoted to children and taking their questions about the world seriously. Based on original interviews, oral histories and archival documents, THE GOOD NEIGHBOR traces Rogers’ personal, professional and artistic life through decades of work. It includes his surprising decision to walk away from the show in 1976 to make television for adults, only to return to the neighborhood to help children face complex issues such as divorce, discipline, mistakes, anger and competition.

by Anne Boyd Rioux - Literary Criticism, Nonfiction

Soon after its publication, LITTLE WOMEN became an enormous bestseller and one of America’s favorite novels. Its popularity quickly spread throughout the world, and the book has become an international classic. When Anne Boyd Rioux read the novel in her 20s, she had a powerful reaction to the story. Through teaching the book, she has seen the same effect on many others. In MEG, JO, BETH, AMY, Rioux recounts how Louisa May Alcott came to write LITTLE WOMEN, drawing inspiration for it from her own life. Rioux also examines why this tale of family and community ties, set while the Civil War tore America apart, has resonated through later wars, the Depression, and times of changing opportunities for women.