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American serengeti: The last big animals of the great plains
By Dan Flores. 2017
America's Great Plains once possessed one of the grandest wildlife spectacles of the world, equaled only by such places as…
the Serengeti, the Masai Mara, or the veld of South Africa. Pronghorn antelope, gray wolves, bison, coyotes, wild horses, and grizzly bears: less than two hundred years ago these creatures existed in such abundance that John James Audubon was moved to write, "it is impossible to describe or even conceive the vast multitudes of these animals." In a work that is at once a lyrical evocation of that lost splendor and a detailed natural history of these charismatic species of the historic Great Plains, veteran naturalist and outdoorsman Dan Flores draws a vivid portrait of each of these animals in their glory-and tells the harrowing story of what happened to them at the hands of market hunters and ranchers, and ultimately, a federal killing program in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Around the world in 80 books
By David Damrosch. 2021
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: Coming of age at the end of our world
By Daniel Sherrell. 2021
&“ [ 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?
Hemingway's boat: everything he loved in life, and lost, 1934-1961
By Paul Hendrickson. 2011
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
The book in the Renaissance
By Andrew Pettegree. 2010
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
Anne Frank: the book, the life, the afterlife
By Francine Prose. 2009
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
Role models
By John Waters. 2010
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
The Grimm legacy (Grimm Legacy Ser.)
By Polly Shulman. 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
Why Orwell matters
By Christopher Hitchens. 2002
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
The big thirst: the secret life and turbulent future of water
By Charles Fishman. 2011
Author discusses human dependence on water and explains Americans' carefree use of the resource in the twentieth century. Describes the…
new era of water scarcity in places like Atlanta, Georgia; Melbourne, Australia; and Barcelona, Spain. Relates the effects of the shortage on the ways people live, work, and relax. 2011
The forest unseen: a year's watch in nature
By David George Haskell. 2012
Biology professor recounts what he learned when--guided by the metaphor of the mandala, the contemplation of a small part of…
something to understand the whole--he studied a one-meter circle of old-growth Tennessee woodlands for a year. Details the changing seasons' effects on the forest's plants and animals. 2012
The way of the panda: the curious history of China's political animal
By Henry Nicholls. 2011
British science writer chronicles the natural history and symbolic and political clout of this endangered species. Traces the growth of…
Western obsession with pandas between 1869 and 2010. Discusses China's appropriation of the bear's image for its national identity and covers modern research on breeding in captivity for conservation. 2011
The Sookie Stackhouse companion (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood)
By Charlaine Harris. 2011
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
Volcano: the eruption and healing of Mount St. Helens
By Patricia Lauber. 1993
Recounts the transformation of Mount St. Helens from a forested mountain to a desolate blast zone after its explosion on…
March 27, 1980. Discusses the earthquakes and mud flows that occurred and the gradual return of plants, insects, and animals. For grades 4-7. Newbery Honor Book. 1986
Beauty is a verb: the new poetry of disability
By Sheila Black, Jennifer Bartlett, Michael Northen. 2011
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
Oceana: our endangered oceans and what we can do to save them
By Michael D'Orso, Ted Danson. 2011
Environmental activist and star of the long-running television series Cheers discusses threats to the world's oceans, including pollution, overfishing, offshore…
drilling, and acidification. Suggests ways that readers can support conservation and explains the work of Oceana, an international organization dedicated to saving the seas. 2011
Rin Tin Tin: the life and the legend
By Susan Orlean. 2011
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
The white goddess: a historical grammar of poetic myth
By Robert Graves. 1999
Grevel Lindop, editor of this 1997 edition, describes it as "(among other things) an adventure in historical detective-work," in which…
Graves linguistically deciphers much of the world's mythology, explains the place in anthropology of goddess and god, and provides a basis for understanding his poetry and the modern world. 1952