History

The Barbizon : the hotel that set women free

Paulina Bren

305.409 /Bren
Nonfiction, History

World War I had liberated women from home and hearth, setting them on the path to political enfranchisement and gainful employment. Arriving in New York to work in the dazzling new skyscrapers, they did not want to stay in uncomfortable boarding houses; they wanted what men already had: exclusive residential hotels that catered to their needs, with daily maid service, cultural programs, workout rooms, and private dining. The Barbizon would become the most famous residential hotel of them all. Bren shows how young women arrived at the Barbizon with a suitcase, and hope, and found a chance to remake themselves however they pleased. -- adapted from jacket

What a fun book. I’ve always been fascinated by the Barbizon, and it was wonderful to read a book on its history that also is a marvelous history lesson in mid-century New York for women. The author details so many interesting women who lived in the Barbizon, most particularly the guest editors of Mademoiselle magazine over the years (like Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion). I could barely keep up with the wealth of information and all the intriguing characters and stories over the many decades of the Barbizon, and kept pausing to look more into many of them. This is as much of a page-turner as a non-fiction book can be! -Amanda

Fallout : the Hiroshima cover-up and the reporter who revealed it to the world

Lesley M. M. Blume

940.5425 /Blume
Nonfiction, History

"New York Times bestselling author Lesley M.M. Blume reveals how a courageous reporter uncovered one of greatest and deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century-the true effects of the atom bomb-potentially saving millions of lives"--

"Fallout" chronicles the writing of John Hersey's "Hiroshima," originally published in the August 31st, 1946 issue of "The New Yorker." The article chronicled the experiences of six survivors of the United States' dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. What is now seen as a standard text, assigned reading in many high schools, may never have been written. Hersey faced an uphill climb to report the story. There was the United States government and its limitations on where journalists could go and what they could report, as well as their denial of long-term health effects, such as radiation sickness. Also, how do you report this story to an American public that is ready to move on after a decade of war information? Every day they saw images of bomb-out cities and read statistics of the dead and the wounded in the newspapers. They spent years seeing the Japanese as an enemy. How could Hersey make this story resonate? Blume provides a fascinating account of how Hersey struck a chord. If you are a reader of "The New Yorker," this book provides great insight on the inner workings of the magazine during the 1940's. -Anne M

Disability rights movement

Amy Hayes

j323.37 Hayes
History

Traces the history of people with disabilities from the discrimination they endured during much of history through the earliest efforts at change to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the current situation.

Added by Anne W

Tales of the mighty code talkers

COMIC Tales
Read Woke, History, Graphic Novels

"There has been a great deal of writing the past several decades about Native American Code Talkers of World War Two. The published works have been about Navajos and the tremendous contribution they made in the Pacific campaigns of the war. What is often overlooked is the role played in both World Wars by men of other tribes. There were Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Creek and other tribal representatives with their languages involved as well. Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers, a graphic anthology of historically based stories, begins to fill that void. Seven stories -- two by the book's editor, Arigon Starr, dealing with Choctaw and Comanche code talkers, one by Roy Boney, Jr. on Cherokees, one by Johnnie Diacon on Creeks, and one by Jonathan Nelson on Navajos, plus stories from Lee Francis IV and Michael Sheyahshe -- provide an excellent rendering of the subject."

Added by Casey