Author: Urschel, John, 1991- author. Thomas, Louisa, author. Published: 2019 Call Number: B URSCHEL Format: Books Summary: "For John Urschel, what began as an insatiable appetite for puzzles as a child quickly evolved into mastery of the elegant systems and rules of mathematics. By the time he was thirteen, Urschel was auditing college-level calculus courses. But when he joined his high school football team, a new interest began to eclipse the thrill he once felt in the classroom. Football challenged Urschel in an entirely different way, and he became addicted to the physical contact of the sport. Accepting a scholarship to play football at Penn State, Urschel refused to sacrifice one passion for another, and simultaneously pursued his bachelor's and then master's degrees in mathematics. Against the odds, Urschel found a way to manage his double life as a scholar and an athlete, and so when he was drafted to the Baltimore Ravens, he enrolled in his PhD at MIT. Weaving together two separate yet bound narratives, Urschel relives for us the most pivotal moments of his bifurcated life. He explains why, after Penn State was sanctioned for the acts of former coach Jerry Sandusky, he turned his back on offers from Ivy League universities and refused to abandon his team, and contends with his mother's repeated request, at the end of every season, that he quit the sport and pursue a career in rocket science. Perhaps most personally, he opens up about the correlation between football and CTE, and the risks he took for the game he loves. Equally at home with both Bernard Riemann's notion of infinity and Bill Belichick's playbook, Urschel reveals how each challenge--whether on the field or in the classroom--has brought him closer to understanding the two different halves of his own life, and how reason and emotion, the mind and the body, are always working together"--
Author: Laukkanen, Owen, author. Published: 2019 Call Number: F LAUKKANE Format: Books Summary: A recently widowed marine suffering PTSD from her time in Afghanistan has her service dog kidnapped by a corrupt deputy sheriff who wants to blackmail her into delivering goods allegedly stolen by her husband before his death.
Author: Massey, Sujata, author. Published: 2019 Call Number: F MASSEY Format: Books Summary: "India, 1922: It is rainy season in the lush, remote Satara mountains southeast of Bombay, where the kingdom of Satapur is tucked away. A curse seems to have fallen upon Satapur's royal family, whose maharaja died of a sudden illness shortly before his teenage son was struck down in a tragic accident. The kingdom is now ruled by an agent of the British Raj on behalf of Satapur's two maharanis, the dowager queen and the maharaja's widow. The royal ladies are in dispute over the education of the young crown prince, and a lawyer's council is required--but the maharanis live in purdah and do not speak to men. Just one person can help them: Perveen Mistry, India's only female lawyer. Perveen is determined to bring peace to the royal house and make a sound recommendation for the young prince's future, but knows she is breaking a rule by traveling alone as a woman into the remote countryside. And she arrives to find that the Satapur palace is full of cold-blooded power plays and ancient vendettas. Too late, she realizes she has walked into a trap. But whose? And how can she protect the royal children from the palace's deadly curse?"--
Author: Chang, Gordon H., author. Published: 2019 Call Number: 331.6 Format: Books Summary: "A groundbreaking, breathtaking history of the Chinese workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad, helping to forge modern America only to disappear into the shadows of history until now"-- "The long-lost tale of the Chinese workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad, helping to forge modern America only to disappear into the shadows of history. In 1864, as the Civil War still raged, throngs of Chinese migrants began to converge on the enormous western worksite of the Transcontinental Railroad. Over the next five years, they blasted tunnels through the granite cliffs of the Sierra Nevada and laid tracks across the burning Nevada and Utah deserts. As many as twelve hundred lost their lives along the route. Those who survived would suffer a different kind of death: a historical one, as they were pushed first to the margins of American life and then to the fringes of public memory. Of the twenty thousand Chinese laborers who toiled on the western portion of the Transcontinental, not one is named in histories of the railroad. Many were literate, yet not a scrap of their writing remains. In this groundbreaking book, award-winning historian Gordon H. Chang recovers the stories of these "silent spikes" and returns them to their rightful place in our national saga. Drawing on recent archeological findings, as well as payroll records, ship manifests, photographs, and other sources from American and Chinese archives, Chang retraces the laborers' odyssey in breathtaking detail. He introduces individual workers, describes their hopes and fears, and shows how they lived, ate, fought, loved, worked, and worshiped. Their sweat and blood not only fueled the ascent of an interlinked, industrial United States, but also laid the groundwork for a thriving Chinese America. A magisterial feat of scholarship and storytelling, Ghosts of Gold Mountain honors these immigrants' sacrifice and ingenuity, and celebrates their role in this defining American achievement."--Dust jacket.
Author: Maraniss, David, author. Published: 2019 Call Number: 320.973 Format: Books Summary: "A personal story of the author's father's involvement in HUAC that offers a rich portrait of McCarthy era America"-- "In a riveting book with powerful resonance today, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss captures the pervasive fear and paranoia that gripped America during the Red Scare of the 1950s through the chilling yet reaffirming story of his family's ordeal, from blacklisting to vindication. Elliott Maraniss, David's father, a WWII veteran who had commanded an all-black company in the Pacific, was spied on by the FBI, named as a communist by an informant, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, fired from his newspaper job, and blacklisted for five years. Yet he never lost faith in America, and emerged on the other side with his family and optimism intact. In a sweeping drama that moves from the Depression and Spanish Civil War to the HUAC hearings and the end of the McCarthy era, Maraniss weaves his father's story through the lives of his inquisitors and defenders as they struggle with the vital twentieth-century issues of race, fascism, communism, democracy, and First-Amendment freedoms. A grandmother spy who worked for the FBI; a committee chairman who once belonged to the Ku Klux Klan; an uncle who joined the International Brigade to fight against Franco in Spain; a black civil liberties lawyer who equated defending American communists with the fight for black equality; a famous playwright who paved the way for Elliott from Brooklyn to radical politics at the University of Michigan; a disabled veteran on HUAC who later came to regard that period as "days of shame"--these are among the compelling characters we encounter along Elliott's unforgettable journey. [This book] powerfully evokes the political dysfunctions of the 1950s while underscoring what it really means to be an American. It is an unsparing yet moving tribute from a brilliant writer to his father and the family he protected in dangerous times."--Dust jacket.
Author: Stanley, Matthew, 1975- author. Published: 2019 Call Number: 530.1109 STANLEY Format: Books Summary: The birth of a world-changing idea in the middle of a bloodbath. Einstein's War is a riveting exploration of both the beauty of scientific creativity and enduring horrors of human nature. These two great forces battle in a story that culminates with a victory now a century old, the mind bending theory of general relativity. Few recognize how the Great War, the industrialized slaughter that bled Europe from 1914 to 1918, shaped Einstein's life and work. While Einstein never held a rifle, he formulated general relativity blockaded in Berlin, literally starving. He lost 50 pounds in three months, unable to communicate with his most important colleagues. Some of those colleagues fought against rabid nationalism; others were busy inventing chemical warfare--being a scientist trapped you in the power plays of empire. Meanwhile, Einstein struggled to craft relativity and persuade the world that it was correct. This was, after all, the first complete revision of our conception of the universe since Isaac Newton, and its victory was far from sure. Scientists seeking to confirm Einstein's ideas were arrested as spies. Technical journals were banned as enemy propaganda. Colleagues died in the trenches. Einstein was separated from his most crucial ally by barbed wire and U-boats. This ally was the Quaker astronomer and Cambridge don A.S. Eddington who would go on to convince the world of the truth of relativity and the greatness of Einstein. In May of 1919, when Europe was still in chaos from the war, Eddington led a globe-spanning expedition to catch a fleeting solar eclipse for a rare opportunity to confirm Einstein's bold prediction that light has weight. It was the result of this expedition--the proof of relativity, as many saw it--that put Einstein on front pages around the world. Matthew Stanley's epic tale is a celebration of how bigotry and nationalism can be defeated, and of what science can offer when they are.
Author: Rosenblatt, Alan I., author. Carbone, Paul S., author. American Academy of Pediatrics. Published: 2019 Call Number: 618.92 AUTISM Format: Books Summary: "This guide helps parents understand how ASDs are defined and diagnosed and offers an overview of the most current behavioral and developmental therapies. Topics include: symptoms and types of ASDs, accessing care, services in the community, and the role of complementary and alternative medicine. Parents will also find inspirational and relatable stories from other caretakers."--Amazon.com.
Author: Russell, Karen, 1981- author. Container of (work) : Russell, Karen, 1981- Prospectors. Container of (work) : Russell, Karen, 1981- Bad graft. Container of (work) : Russell, Karen, 1981- Bog girl: a romance. Container of (work) : Russell, Karen, 1981- Madame Boyary's greyhound. Published: 2019 Call Number: F RUSSELL Format: Books Summary: From the Pulitzer Finalist and universally beloved author of the New York Times best sellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove, a stunning new collection of short fiction that showcases Karen Russell's extraordinary, irresistible gifts of language and imagination. Karen Russell's comedic genius and mesmerizing talent for creating outlandish predicaments that uncannily mirror our inner in lives is on full display in these eight exuberant, arrestingly vivid, unforgettable stories. In"Bog Girl," a revelatory story about first love, a young man falls in love with a two thousand year old girl that he's extracted from a mass of peat in a Northern European bog. In "The Prospectors," two opportunistic young women fleeing the depression strike out for new territory, and find themselves fighting for their lives. In the brilliant, hilarious title story, a new mother desperate to ensure her infant's safety strikes a diabolical deal, agreeing to breastfeed the devil in exchange for his protection. The landscape in which these stories unfold is a feral, slippery, purgatorial space, bracketed by the void--yet within it Russell captures the exquisite beauty and tenderness of ordinary life. Orange World is a miracle of storytelling from a true modern master.
Author: Cotton, Tom, author. Published: 2019 Call Number: 355.6 Format: Books Summary: An extraordinary journey behind the scenes of Arlington National Cemetery, Senator Tom Cotton's Sacred Duty offers an intimate and inspiring portrait of "The Old Guard," the revered U.S. Army unit whose mission is to honor our country's fallen heroes on the most hallowed ground in America. Cotton was a platoon leader with the storied 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment -- The Old Guard -- between combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the height of the Iraq Surge, he carried the flag-draped remains of his fallen comrades off of airplanes at Dover Air Force Base, and he laid them to rest in Arlington's famed Section 60, "the saddest acre in America." He also performed hundreds of funerals for veterans of the Greatest Generation, as well as the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The Old Guard has embodied the ideals of honor and sacrifice across our nation's history. America's oldest active-duty regiment, dating back to 1784, The Old Guard conducts daily military-honor funerals on the 624 rolling acres of Arlington, where generations of American heroes rest. Its soldiers hold themselves to the standard of perfection in sweltering heat, frigid cold, and driving rain. Every funeral is a no-fail, zero-defect mission, whether honoring a legendary general or a humble private. In researching and writing the book, Cotton returned to Arlington and shadowed the regiment's soldiers, from daily funerals to the state funeral of President George H. W. Bush to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, reliving the honor -- and the challenges -- of duty at the nation's "most sacred shrine." Part history of The Old Guard, part memoir of Cotton's time at Arlington, part intimate profile of the today's soldiers, Sacred Duty is an unforgettable testament to the timeless power of service and sacrifice to our nation.
Author: Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc. Published: 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 Call Number: 917.5924 2018 Format: Continuing Resources Summary: Offers up-to-date coverage of every attraction in all theme parks, and includes hotels and restaurants in all price ranges.
Author: Darke, Minnie, author. Published: 2019 Call Number: F DARKE Format: Books Summary: When childhood sweethearts Justine (Sagittarius and serious skeptic) and Nick (Aquarius and true believer) bump into each other as adults, a life-changing love affair seems inevitable. To Justine, anyway. Especially when she learns Nick is an astrological devotee, whose decisions are guided by the stars, and more specifically, by the horoscopes in his favorite magazine. The same magazine Justine happens to write for. As Nick continues to not fall headlong in love with her, Justine decides to take Nick's horoscope, and Fate itself, into her own hands. But, of course, Nick is not the only Aquarius making important life choices according to what is written in the stars. Charting the ripple effects of Justine's astrological meddling, Star-Crossed is a delicious, intelligent, and affecting love story about friendship, chance, and how we all navigate the kinds of choices that are hard to face alone.
Author: Weir, Alison, 1951- author. Published: 2019 Call Number: F WEIR Format: Books Summary: "Newly widowed and the father of an infant son, Henry VIII realizes he must marry again to ensure the royal succession. Forty-six, overweight, and suffering from gout, Henry is soundly rejected by some of Europe's most eligible princesses. Anna of Kleve, from a small German duchy, is twenty-four, and has a secret she is desperate to keep hidden. Henry commissions her portrait from his court painter, who depicts her from the most flattering perspective. Entranced by the lovely image, Henry is bitterly surprised when Anna arrives in England and he sees her in the flesh. Some think her attractive, but Henry knows he can never love her. What follows is the fascinating story of an awkward royal union that somehow had to be terminated. Even as Henry begins to warm to his new wife and share her bed, his attention is captivated by one of her maids-of-honor. Will he accuse Anna of adultery as he did Queen Anne Boleyn, and send her to the scaffold? Or will he divorce her and send her home in disgrace?"--
Author: Walker, Wendy, 1967- author. Published: 2019 Call Number: F WALKER Format: Books Summary: One is stable and has the perfect family; the other struggles to break free from her troubled past. When Laura Lochner disappears after going on a blind date with a man she met on an internet dating site, her sister Rosie Ferro takes matters into her own hands. But as Rosie begins the search, her greatest fears come to the surface. Is Laura the one in danger... or is she the threat? -- adapted from jacket
Author: Geroux, William, author. Published: 2019 Call Number: 940.54 Format: Books Summary: "On the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic separated from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the North Pole, seeking safety from Nazi bombers and U-boats in the perilous white maze of ice floes, growlers, and giant bergs. Despite the risks, they had a better chance of survival than the rest of Convoy PQ-17, a fleet of thirty-five cargo ships carrying $1 billion worth of war supplies to the Soviet port of Archangel--the limited help Roosevelt and Churchill extended to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to maintain their fragile alliance, even as they avoided joining the fight in Europe while the Eastern Front raged. The high-level politics that put Convoy PQ-17 in the path of the Nazis were far from the minds of the diverse crews aboard their ships. U.S. Navy Ensign Howard Carraway, aboard the SS Troubadour, was a farm boy from South Carolina and one of the many Americans for whom the convoy was to be a first taste of war; aboard the SS Ironclad, Ensign William Carter of the U.S. Navy Reserve had passed up a chance at Harvard Business School to join the Navy Armed Guard. All the while, The Ghost Ships of Archangel turns its focus on Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, playing diplomatic games that put their ships in peril. The twenty-four-hour Arctic daylight in midsummer gave no respite from bombers, and the Germans wielded the terrifying battleship Tirpitz, nicknamed The Big Bad Wolf. Icebergs were as dangerous as Nazis. As a newly forged alliance was close to dissolving and the remnants of Convoy PQ-17 tried to slip through the Arctic in one piece, the fate of the world hung in the balance"--
Author: Common (Musician), author. Demary, Mensah, author. Published: 2019 Call Number: 177 Format: Books Summary: "Common believes that the phrase "let love have the last word" is not just a declaration; it is a statement of purpose, a daily promise. Love is the most powerful force on the planet and ultimately, the way you love determines who you are and how you experience life. Courageous, insightful, brave, and characteristically authentic, Let Love Have the Last Word shares Common's own unique and personal stories of the people and experiences that have led to a greater understanding of love and all it has to offer. It is a powerful call to action for a new generation of open hearts and minds, one that is sure to resonate for years to come."--Amazon.com.
