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A transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, through classic and modern literary works that are in conversation with one…
another and with the world around them *Featured in the Chicago Tribune' s Great 2021 Fall Book Preview* Inspired by Jules Verne&’s hero Phileas Fogg, David Damrosch, chair of Harvard University&’s department of comparative literature and founder of Harvard&’s Institute for World Literature, set out to counter a pandemic&’s restrictions on travel by exploring eighty exceptional books from around the globe. Following a literary itinerary from London to Venice, Tehran and points beyond, and via authors from Woolf and Dante to Nobel Prize–winners Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka, Mo Yan, and Olga Tokarczuk, he explores how these works have shaped our idea of the world, and the ways in which the world bleeds into literature. To chart the expansive landscape of world literature today, Damrosch explores how writers live in two very different worlds: the world of their personal experience and the world of books that have enabled great writers to give shape and meaning to their lives. In his literary cartography, Damrosch includes compelling contemporary works as well as perennial classics, hard-bitten crime fiction as well as haunting works of fantasy, and the formative tales that introduce us as children to the world we&’re entering. Taken together, these eighty titles offer us fresh perspective on enduring problems, from the social consequences of epidemics to the rising inequality that Thomas More designed Utopia to combat, as well as the patriarchal structures within and against which many of these books&’ heroines have to struggle—from the work of Murasaki Shikibu a millennium ago to Margaret Atwood today. Around the World in 80 Books is a global invitation to look beyond ourselves and our surroundings, and to see our world and its literature in new ways
&“ [ Warmth ] is lyrical and erudite, engaging with science, activism, and philosophy . . . [Sherrell] captures the…
complicated correspondence between hope and doubt, faith and despair—the pendulum of emotional states that defines our attitude toward the future. &” — The New Yorker &“Beautifully rendered and bracingly honest.&” —Jenny Odell, author of How to Do Nothing From a millennial climate activist, an exploration of how young people live in the shadow of catastrophe Warmth is a new kind of book about climate change: not what it is or how we solve it, but how it feels to imagine a future—and a family—under its weight. In a fiercely personal account written from inside the climate movement, Sherrell lays bare how the crisis is transforming our relationships to time, to hope, and to each other. At once a memoir, a love letter, and an electric work of criticism, Warmth goes to the heart of the defining question of our time: how do we go on in a world that may not?
Wasdin, a former Navy SEAL Team Six sniper, chronicles his training and war experiences, including special operations during Desert Storm.…
Details the mission that almost cost him his life--the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia, the basis for the 2001 movie Black Hawk Down. Some violence, strong language. Bestseller. 2011
A Marine's searing and intimate story—"A passionate, fascinating, and deeply humane memoir of both war and of the hard work…
of citizenship and healing in war&’s aftermath. A superb addition to our understanding of the Vietnam War, and of its lessons&” (Phil Klay, author of Redeployment ). John Musgrave had a small-town midwestern childhood that embodied the idealized postwar America. Service, patriotism, faith, and civic pride were the values that guided his family and community, and like nearly all the boys he knew, Musgrave grew up looking forward to the day when he could enlist to serve his country as his father had done. There was no question in Musgrave&’s mind: He was going to join the legendary Marine Corps as soon as he was eligible. In February of 1966, at age seventeen, during his senior year in high school, and with the Vietnam War already raging, he walked down to the local recruiting station, signed up, and set off for three years that would permanently reshape his life. In this electrifying memoir, he renders his wartime experience with a powerful intimacy and immediacy: from the rude awakening of boot camp, to daily life in the Vietnam jungle, to a chest injury that very nearly killed him. Musgrave also vividly describes the difficulty of returning home to a society rife with antiwar sentiment, his own survivor's guilt, and the slow realization that he and his fellow veterans had been betrayed by the government they served. And he recounts how, ultimately, he found peace among his fellow veterans working to end the war. Musgrave writes honestly about his struggle to balance his deep love for the Marine Corps against his responsibility as a citizen to protect the very troops asked to protect America at all costs. Fiercely perceptive and candid, The Education of Corporal John Musgrave is one of the most powerful memoirs to emerge from the war
Explores the last twenty-seven years of the life of writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) and describes the solace that he found…
aboard his fishing boat Pilar, which he obtained in 1934. Discusses both Hemingway's literary career and his family, including his cross-dressing youngest son Gregory. Some strong language. 2011
Chronicles the first one hundred fifty years of the printed word. Details the origins and evolution of print, culminating in…
Gutenberg's innovation and its momentous consequences for humankind. Examines the religious, economic, and cultural concerns that influenced the production of books. 2010
Author of Ship of Ghosts (DB 63121) chronicles the seven sea battles to secure the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal…
that began in August 1942. Official documents and day-by-day accounts drawn from survivors portray an underfunded campaign, nascent use of radar, tremendous losses, and a determined Japanese opponent. 2011
Analyzes The Diary of a Young Girl (DB 57022) as a literary work, a Holocaust narrative, and a cultural artifact.…
Examines the evidence that Anne rewrote her memoir to increase its appeal. Discusses the published book's use in classroom instruction and its adaptation for stage and film. 2009
Baltimore director of cult films Pink Flamingos and Hairspray pens essays about the people he admires, including singers Johnny Mathis…
and Little Richard, writer Tennessee Williams, former Charles Manson groupie Leslie Van Houten, gay pornographers, and bar owners. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2010
Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repository, which houses magical objects from…
the Grimm brothers' fairy tales. When items disappear Elizabeth and the other pages are drawn into frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods. For grades 6-9. 2010
Essayist explores the life and work of George Orwell (1903-1950), best known as the author of 1984 and Animal Farm.…
Discusses Orwell's political beliefs and the ways they were shaped by the times in which he lived. Challenges Orwell's critics and argues that his ideas remain relevant. 2002
Features the novella Small-Town Wedding, in which Sookie and her boss Sam, a shape-shifter, attend nuptials in Sam's Texas hometown.…
Includes trivia and fan questions, recipes, and a guide to Sookie's world of vampires, werewolves, and fairies. 2011
Texas ranchhand-turned-Navy SEAL recalls his career as the sniper with the most kills in U.S. military history. Describes his training,…
his four tours of duty in Iraq, and the strains of deployment on his family life. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. 2012
Eric Greitens recounts his personal odyssey from humanitarian to soldier. Relates studying the history of humanitarianism as a Rhodes scholar,…
working with genocide survivors as a volunteer, and joining the Navy SEALs to make a difference. Some violence and some strong language. 2011
Former army captain recalls returning stateside with numerous physical injuries--including traumatic brain injury--and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after two tours…
in Iraq. Describes acquiring a service dog named Tuesday and ways the canine helped him recover. 2011
Emmy Award-winning journalist relates discovering her father's hidden past, years after her mother's death. Recounts learning that Richard Cosby, born…
Ryszard Kossobudzki in Poland, endured life as a World War II freedom fighter, a POW, an escapee, and a refugee. 2010
Anthology shows disability through the lenses of poetry and essays. Features works of early and mid-twentieth-century poets, such as Josephine…
Miles and Larry Eigner, as well as from participants in the later "disability/crip poetics" movement, including John Lee Clark and Daniel Simpson. Offers critical commentary. 2011
Author retraces the travels of English adventurer Sir John Mandeville, who left for the Holy Land in 1322 and returned…
in 1356 with tales of countries throughout Asia that he claimed to have visited. Discusses the influence Mandeville had on explorers and writers in his day. 1996
Relates the 1918 discovery of an abandoned German shepherd puppy on a French World War I battlefield by American soldier…
Lee Duncan. Describes Rin Tin Tin and his descendants' acting roles from early silent movies to the 1950s television show. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2011
Annual anthology of stories, essays, and poems published by small presses. In "We Don't Deserve This" married, globe-trotting physicians Jake…
and Sarah, who haven't seen their kids in years, discover that the two young teens are child pornographers. Strong language, some violence, and some descriptions of sex. 2011