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The great escape
By Paul Brickhill. 2000
The Great Escape tells how more than six hundred men in a German prisoner of war camp worked together to…
achieve an extraordinary break-out. Every night for a year they dug tunnels, and those who weren't digging forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes to wear once they had escaped. All of this was conducted under the very noses of their prison guards. When the right night came, the actual escape itself was timed to the split second - but of course, not everything went according to plan... 2000.With three beautiful children, a new house, and financial security, John and Aileen Crowley had it all until their two…
youngest children were diagnosed with Pompe disease and given only months to live. Refusing to accept a death sentence, John quit his job and invested in a biotechnology start-up to find a cure. Battling scientific setbacks, conflict of interest accusations, and business troubles, John and Aileen were tested to their limits as a revolutionary new treatment for the disease was found. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. 2010.Les figures de l'ombre: le rêve américain et l'histoire inédite des mathématiciennes noires qui ont aidé les États-Unis à remporter la course spatiale
By Margot Lee Shetterly, Johan-Frédérik Hel-Guedj. 2017
L'histoire extraordinaire de trois scientifiques Afro-Américaines qui ont propulsé les Etats-Unis en tête de la conquête spatiale. Les ordinateurs de…
couleur . Tel était le descriptif de poste des mathématiciennes afro-américaines Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson et Christine Darden, employées à la NASA dans les années soixante. Armées de simples crayons, règles et calculatrices, très loin des ordinateurs hyper performants que nous connaissons aujourd'hui, ces quatre scientifiques ont permis la réussite de la mission de John Glenn en 1962 : il fut le premier astronaute américain en orbite, dix mois seulement après Youri Gagarine. Grâce à ces femmes, les Etats-Unis devaient prendre la tête de la course à la conquête spatiale. Pourtant, leurs noms sont restés inconnus du grand public pendant plus de cinquante ans. Dans une Amérique des années soixante rongée par la ségrégation raciale (à la NASA, Blancs et Noirs de déjeunaient pas à la même table), sans compter le sexisme auquel elles devaient faire face, leurs carrières ont été pour ainsi dire oblitérées. C'est après un travail de recherche très méticuleux que Margot Lee Shetterly réhabilite aujourd'hui leur histoire dans ce document exceptionnel, adapté au cinéma par Hollywood. 2017.Le Pacifique: de l'autre côté de l'océan,l'enfer
By Hugh Ambrose. 2011
Novembre 1941, les troupes américaines quittent la Chine. Août 1945, l'avion du général MacArthur se pose sur le territoire japonais.…
Entre ces deux événements, cinq recrues inexpérimentées, cinq soldats venant d'horizons différents sont plongés dans une guerre violente sur le front asiatique. Débâcle de Bataan, tumulte de Guadalcanal, implacables forteresses de corail de Peleliu, terribles charniers d'Okinawa ; puis retour au pays, triomphal mais douloureux. Chacun joue son rôle dans ce conflit, et tous doivent puiser dans leurs ultimes ressources physiques et mentales pour venir à bout d'un ennemi qui préfère mourir plutôt que de se rendre. Descriptions régulières de violence, beaucoup de langage grossier, et quelques descriptions de nature sexuelle. 2011. Titre uniforme: The Pacific.La trêve (Le livre de poche #15438)
By Primo Levi. 2003
A la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, un groupe d'Italiens, rescapés des camps nazis, entame une marche de plusieurs…
mois : « accompagnés » par l'Armée Rouge, ils cherchent à rejoindre leur terre natale. Héros et traîtres, paysans et voleurs, savants et nomades se retrouvent pêle-mêle dans une réjouissante pagaille : autant d'hommes qui redécouvrent, émerveillés, la vie, le monde, la forêt, les filles, sans oublier l'art du trafic pour subsister... La Trêve est le récit picaresque et authentique de leurs tribulations extravagantes sur les routes d'Europe centrale. A travers la confrontation de deux peuples, Primo Levi révèle les ressources merveilleuses d'hommes qui se montrèrent à la hauteur de leur destin.Call the midwife: [a memoir of birth, joy, and hard times] (Call the Midwife. #1.)
By Jennifer Worth. 2012
In the 1950s, twenty-two-year-old Jenny Lee leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in…
London's East End slums. While delivering babies all over the city, Jenny encounters a colourful cast of women - from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lives, to the woman with twenty-four children who can't speak English, to the prostitutes of the city's seedier side. Basis of the BBC TV series. Followed by "Shadows of the workhouse". 2012.First man: the life of Neil A. Armstrong
By James R Hansen. 2018
On July 20, 1969, the world stood still to watch thirty-eight-year-old American astronaut Neil A. Armstrong become the first person…
ever to step on the surface of another heavenly body. Perhaps no words in human history became better known than those few he uttered at that historic moment. Upon his return to Earth, Armstrong was honored and celebrated for his monumental achievement. He was also--as James R. Hansen reveals in this fascinating and important authorized biography--misunderstood. Armstrong's accomplishments as an engineer, a test pilot, and an astronaut have long been a matter of record, but Hansen's unprecedented access to private documents and unpublished sources and his interviews with more than 125 subjects (including more than fifty hours with Armstrong himself) yield this first in-depth analysis of an elusive American celebrity still renowned the world over. 2018.Hidden figures: young readers' edition
By Margot Shetterly. 2016
The amazing true story of four African American female mathematicians at NASA who helped achieve some of the greatest moments…
in our space program. Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African American women who lived through the Civil Rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country. For grades 3-6. 2019 Coretta Scott King Honor Book for Best Illustration. 2016.Hidden figures: the American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race
By Margot Lee Shetterly. 2016
Before John Glenn orbited Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as…
“human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. The book follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. Bestseller. 2016.Defiance: the Bielski partisans
By Nechama Tec. 2008
The prevailing image of European Jews during the Holocaust is one of helpless victims, but many Jews struggled against the…
terrors of the Third Reich. This is the history of one such group, a forest community numbering more than 1,200 Jews, that carried out the largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews in World War II. These men and women of all ages - hungry, largely unarmed, and exposed to harsh winter weather - smuggled Jews out of heavily guarded ghettos, led retaliatory raids against Nazi collaborators, and offered protection to all Jewish fugitives who could find their way to them. Some descriptions of violence. 2008.All things bright and beautiful
By James Herriot. 1976
James is now married and living with his wife on the top floor of Skeldale House, while Siegfried, his former…
boss and now partner, lives downstairs with Siegfried's brother Tristan. James continues the rewarding life of a country vet, bumping over the dales in his small dog-filled car and meeting a host of unforgettable characters. 1976.All creatures great and small
By James Herriot. 1975
This is the first book in the series about a Yorkshire veterinary practice by the newest member to "the firm".…
With his wry wit and generous warmth he introduces his readers to many local characters as he goes on a daily round of calls wrestling with the ailments of the wide variety of animals he treats. Contains the first 2 books of the series: "If only they could talk" (DC00438) and "It shouldn't happen to a vet" (DC00944) as well as the first 3 chapters of "Let sleeping vets lie" (DC05525). Followed by "All things bright and beautiful". 1975.We were soldiers once -and young: Ia Drang, the battle that changed the war in Vietnam
By Harold G Moore, Joseph L Galloway. 1993
Lieutenant General Moore and Galloway, a journalist, focus on the first major ground battle of a war that lasted ten…
years. Drawing on their own experiences and that of other participants, they describe four days of combat waged by 450 men in the Ia Drang valley of Vietnam and provide their view of the impact of this war on a proud generation of soldiers. 1993.War
By Sebastian Junger. 2010
For one year, in 2007-2008, Sebastian Junger accompanied a single platoon of thirty men from the storied 2nd battalion of…
the U.S. Army, as they fought their way through a remote valley in Eastern Afghanistan. Over the course of five trips, Junger was in more firefights than he can count, men he knew were killed or wounded, and he himself was almost killed. War is a narrative about combat: the fear of dying, the trauma of killing and the love between platoon-mates who would rather die than let each other down. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. 2010.The zookeeper's wife
By Diane Ackerman. 2007
When Germany invaded Poland, bombers devastated Warsaw--and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers…
Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into the empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants and refusing to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, even as Europe crumbled around her. Bestseller. 2007.The soloist: a lost dream, an unlikely friendship, and the redemptive power of music
By Steve Lopez. 2008
Los Angeles Times columnist describes his relationship with Nathaniel Ayers, a former student at Juilliard, who became homeless after succumbing…
to paranoid schizophrenia. Lopez discusses his and his readers' efforts to expose callous treatment of Ayers and relates Ayers's attempts at recovery. Some violence and some strong language. Bestseller. 2008.Rocket boys: a memoir
By Homer H Hickam. 1998
A retired NASA engineer reminisces about his boyhood in the Sputnik era in West Virginia, when his first rocket attempt…
burned down his mother's garden fence. He and his friends improved their models culminating in winning the 1960 National Science Fair. The movie October Sky is based on this book. 1998.Always smile: Carley Allison's secrets for laughing, loving and living /
By Alice Kuipers. 2019
Carley Allison was an up-and-coming young figure skater and singer who died tragically at the age of 18 of a…
cancer so rare there were only seven cases in the world. In this book, you will come to know Carley in her own words and in the words of the people who knew and loved her. Kuipers weaves the memories of Carley's friends, family, and boyfriend with the blog Carley kept throughout her journey, from the moment she was diagnosed until her final months of searching for treatment that would keep the disease at bay. Kuipers also recreates pivotal moments from Carley's point of view, acting as ventriloquist for a voice lost too young. This book is built around the words she lived by, both in sickness and in health. Above all, again and again, she summed up her philosophy in two words: always smile. For senior high readers. 2019.The battle of Arnhem, the greatest airborne operation of World War II, was the master-stroke by which Field Marshal Montgomery…
proposed to end the war in 1944. The strategy of "dropping the combined forces of the American and British armies behind German lines" to capture the crucial bridge across the Rhone, ended in defeat for the Allies. 1974.Prozac nation: young and depressed in America
By Elizabeth Wurtzel. 1996
Wurtzel claims to speak for herself and for a young generation facing major societal problems. A former popular-music critic for…
the New Yorker, she details her life with depression, from a despairing pre-adolescence through suicide attempts after college. Prozac has helped her, but she worries that its trendy reputation may minimize the seriousness of depression.