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Virginia Hall-- rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg-- became the first woman to deploy to occupied France, before the United States had even entered the war. At a time when sending female secret agents into enemy territory was still strictly forbidden, Hall coordinated a network of spies to blow up bridges, report on German troop movements, arrange equipment drops for Resistance agents, and recruit and train...
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"Drawing from a lifetime of lessons learned, seven-time Emmy winner Betty White's wit and wisdom take center stage as she tackles topics like friendship, romantic love, aging, television, fans, love for animals, and the brave new world of celebrity. If You Ask Me mixes her thoughtful observations with humorous stories from a seven- decade career in Hollywood"--Publisher's description.
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Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more.
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Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro...
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"Scientific methods, tools, and discoveries have shaped modern civilization and created the landscape we've built for ourselves on which to live, work, and play. Tyson shows how an infusion of science and rational thinking renders worldviews deeper and more informed than ever before-and exposes unfounded perspectives and unjustified emotions. With crystalline prose and an abundance of evidence, Starry Messenger walks us through the scientific palette...
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"One journalist's memoir of her personal friendship with Harper Lee and her sister, drawing on the extraordinary access they gave her to share the story of their lives. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the best loved novels of the twentieth century. But for the last fifty years, the novel's celebrated author, Harper Lee, has said almost nothing on the record. Journalists have trekked to her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, where Harper...
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In 1861, a secret society didn't want an abolitionist in the highest office, so they planned an elaborate scheme to assassinate the brand new President in Baltimore as Lincoln's Inauguration train was headed to the Capital. The plot was foiled thanks to famed detective Allan Pinkerton, who infiltrated the group with undercover agents, including one of the first female private detectives in America.
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In "Washington : a Life" celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation, dashing forever the stereotype of a stolid, unemotional man, and revealing an astute and surprising portrait of a canny political genius who knew how to inspire people.
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A dynamic history of the muckracking press and the first decade of the Progressive era as told through the intense friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft--a close relationship that strengthens both men before it ruptures in 1912 when they engage in a brutal fight for the presidential nomination that cripples the progressive wing of the Republican Party, causing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to be elected, and changing the country's history....
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Two victims of infamous Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro share the stories of their abductions, their captivity, and their dramatic escape. Drawing on their recollections and the diary kept by Amanda Berry, she and Gina DeJesus describe a decade of unimaginable torment as Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan interweave accounts of the efforts to find the missing girls. Hope is a harrowing yet inspiring chronicle of two women...
11) The last lecture
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Reflections of a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who lectured on "Really achieving your childhood dreams," shortly after having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His advice concerned seizing the moment while living, rather than dying.
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On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive. This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation...
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The author, a physician and reporter, provides a landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, and a suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice. She reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos. After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat...
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This work presents a meticulously researched biography of Jesus that draws on biblical and historical sources to place his achievements and influence against the turbulent backdrop of his time. Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, the author sheds new light on one of history's most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus Christ through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic...
15) Hard choices
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Hillary Rodham Clinton's inside account of the crises, choices, and challenges she faced during her four years as America's 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future.
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In 2002, Larry Levin and his twin sons took their beloved terminally ill cat to the Ardmore Animal Hospital outside Philadelphia to be put to sleep. What began as a terrible day got brighter as the ugliest dog they had ever seen - missing an ear, and with half his face in scar tissue - captured their hearts. Used as bait for fighting dogs at four months old, Oogy had been left to die. Unable to resist his charms, the Levins - whose sons were adopted...
17) The Pacific
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In this companion book to the HBO series on the war in the Pacific, historian Hugh Ambrose focuses on five American soldiers who each took an active role in the difficult and costly--in terms of lives--campaign to reach the Japanese mainland. Ambrose recounts key battles--Guadalcanal, Midway, Okinawa, and the lesser-known Peleliu--and he provides a soldier's eye view of the events, conveying the great valor and sacrifices of those in uniform.
18) Worthy
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A gripping, painfully honest, and ultimately inspirational memoir from global superstar and creator of the Red Table Talk series Jada Pinkett Smith. In a media driven landscape that crafts narratives for our celebrities, Smith recounts her story in an intimate conversation with readers. Along the way, she explores her path to accepting her power as a woman, and her discovery that a strong sense of self is every woman's right and saving grace. An impactful...
19) Countdown 1945: the extraordinary story of the atomic bomb and the 116 days that changed the world
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April 12, 1945: After years of bloody conflict in Europe and the Pacific, America is stunned by news of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death. In an instant, Vice President Harry Truman, who has been kept out of war planning and knows nothing of the top-secret Manhattan Project to develop the world's first atomic bomb, must assume command of a nation at war on multiple continents--and confront one of the most consequential decisions in history....
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"The Best Strangers in the World is a witty, poignant book that captures Ari Shapiro's love for the unusual, his pursuit of the unexpected, and his delight at connection against the odds."--Ronan Farrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and New York Times-bestselling author of Catch and Kill and War on Peace From the beloved host of NPR's All Things Considered, a stirring memoir-in-essays that is also a lover letter to journalism. In...