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Showing 1 - 20 of 3721 items
The hare with amber eyes: a hidden inheritance
By Edmund De Waal, Edmund De Waal. 2011
British ceramic artist relates tracing his family's history through the ownership of a collection of netsuke, ornamental Japanese carvings, which…
he inherited in 1994. Describes the wealthy Ephrussi clan's lives in Vienna and Paris and their origins as Jewish merchants from Odessa, Russia. 2010
Legacy of ashes: the history of the CIA
By Tim Weiner. 2007
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter investigates sixty years of the Central Intelligence Agency. Uses archival documents and interviews to illustrate that the…
agency's mission of gathering intelligence has faltered due to blunders, structural flaws, and philosophical conflicts. Posits that national security is jeopardized by the CIA's disarray. National Book Award. Bestseller. 2007
Sleeping with the enemy: Coco Chanel's secret war
By Hal Vaughan. 2011
American diplomat and foreign correspondent uses overseas archives to document French fashion designer Coco Chanel's collaboration with the Nazis during…
World War II. Discusses Chanel's childhood; emergence on the social scene as a couture, perfume maker, and mistress of titled men; anti-Semitism; and involvement with the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS). 2011
The triple agent: the al-Qaeda mole who infiltrated the CIA
By Joby Warrick. 2011
Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalist details the December 30, 2009, gathering in Khost, Afghanistan, of CIA and U.S. military officials…
and Pakistani and Afghani operatives to meet Jordanian pediatrician and spy Humam Khalil al-Balawi. Relates Balawi's subsequent suicide bombing, which killed himself and seven CIA personnel. 2011
Terezín: voices from the Holocaust
By Ruth Thomson. 2011
Uses extracts from diaries and memoirs to describe Terezín, Czechoslovakia, in 1941-1945, when the Nazis turned the small town into…
a transit camp for imprisoning Jewish people before sending them to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Relates the prisoners' feelings and their observations about camp events. For grades 5-8. 2011
The year of goodbyes: a true story of friendship, family and farewells
By Debbie Levy. 2010
Inspired by her mother Jutta's poesiealbum--an album of poems written by friends--and Jutta's diary, Levy presents a blank-verse recollection of…
the rapidly increased danger for Jews in Nazi Germany, which culminated in Jutta's family moving to the United States before World War II. For grades 5-8. 2010
The company we keep: a husband-and-wife true-life spy story
By Robert Baer, Dayna Baer. 2011
The author of See No Evil (DB 53770), the basis for the movie Syriana, and his wife Dayna share their…
anecdotes of working for the CIA. They describe their first meeting while on assignment in the Balkans and recount falling in love years later. Some strong language. 2011
Author of Wildflower (DB 70537) investigates the case of Christian Gerhartsreiter, who came to America from Germany in 1978 and…
adopted a series of blue-blood identities. Details Gerhartsreiter's schemes, including his last and biggest, when he posed as "Clark Rockefeller" and kidnapped his own daughter. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2011
Framed by an account of housewife and mother Greta Kuckhoff, this chronicle of resistance to the Nazis by a group…
of artists, intellectuals, and German government workers in Berlin details the actions and risks these ordinary citizens took to protest anti-Semitism--and relates the consequences. 2009
The faith club: a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew-- three women search for understanding
By Priscilla Warner, Suzanne Oliver, Ranya Idliby. 2007
After the 9/11 attacks three American women--one Jewish, one Christian, and one Muslim--decided to collaborate on an interfaith children's book…
to show the similarities among their religions. They discovered that their own misunderstandings had to be addressed first, leading to candid dialogue as their faith club sought common ground. 2006
Unorthodox: the scandalous rejection of my Hasidic roots
By Deborah Feldman. 2012
Author, born in the 1980s, describes being raised by her Hasidic grandparents in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood after her mother left…
her developmentally disabled father. Discusses being an outcast and her arranged marriage, limited access to reading material, and lack of educational or employment opportunities. Bestseller. 2012
Double cross: the true story of the D-day spies
By Ben Macintyre. 2012
Author of Operation Mincemeat (DB 71406) recounts the deception the Allies used to keep secret the planned location of their…
1944 invasion of France. Details the efforts of Tommy "Tar" Robertson of Britain's MI5 to turn playboys, party girls, and eccentrics--all of whom were Nazi spies--into double agents. Bestseller. 2012
The Jewish festivals: a guide to their history and observance
By Hayyim Schauss, Ḥayim Shoys. 1996
Historical background for Jewish festivals and feast days. Uses details of the celebrations to help explain the basic precepts of…
Judaism. Describes the biblical origin of observances and traces the ways they have evolved. Translated from Yiddish by Samuel Jaffe with a 1996 foreword by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner. 1938
Damn few: making the modern SEAL warrior
By Ellis Henican, Rorke Denver. 2013
Retired Lieutenant Commander Denver describes the training and attitude it takes to be a successful Navy SEAL. Discusses his missions…
in the Middle East and his later duty directing the SEAL's training program. Relates his role in making the movie Act of Valor. Violence and strong language. 2013
Hunting the jackal: a special forces and CIA soldier's fifty years on the frontlines of the war against terrorism
By Tim Keown, Billy Waugh. 2005
Army Special Forces and CIA operative Billy Waugh chronicles his half-century career, which took him to sixty-four countries and included…
covert missions trailing Osama bin Laden in 1991 and 1992 and a pivotal role in the 1994 capture of Carlos the Jackal. Some violence and some strong language. 2004
The Pope and I: how the lifelong friendship between a Polish Jew and John Paul II advanced the cause of Jewish-Christian relations
By Jerzy Kluger, Gianfranco Di Simone. 2012
Autobiography recounts the author's childhood friendship in 1920s Poland with Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005), who became Pope John Paul II in…
1978. Kluger, a Jew, describes surviving World War II and reuniting with his friend after almost thirty years. Translated from Polish. 2011
Iranian author--writing under a pseudonym and changing some details to avoid retaliation--recounts the years he spied for the CIA in…
Iran. Explains why he grew disillusioned with the Revolutionary Guards and offered to help the United States, where he had studied in the 1970s. Some violence. 2010
Argo: how the CIA and Hollywood pulled off the most audacious rescue in history
By Matt Baglio, Antonio Mendez, Antonio J. Mendez. 2012
Former CIA officer Mendez recounts the rescue of six Americans who escaped from the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November…
4, 1979, when it was overrun by militants. Details the plan to extract the diplomats from Iran disguised as members of a Hollywood film crew. Some strong language. 2012
A death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel: murder, money, and an epic power struggle in China
By Wenguang Huang, Pin Ho, Pin He. 2013
Journalists recount the 2011 murder of British business consultant Neil Heywood in China and the subsequent investigation that revealed scandals…
and power struggles within the Communist Party. They contend that unwanted international media attention directly influences Chinese politics. 2013
Bomb: the race to build and steal the world's most dangerous weapon
By Steve Sheinkin. 2012
Award-winning author recounts the history of the atom bomb and the race among the United States, Nazi Germany, and the…
Soviet Union to build--or steal--the deadly weapon during World War II. For junior and senior high and older readers. 2012