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Nonfiction, October 2004

Abildskov, Marilyn
The Men in My Country (November 2004)
915.2 A148m 2004
Here is the story of an American woman living and loving in Japan. Satisfied at first to observe her exotic surroundings, the woman falls in love with the place, with the light, with the curve of a river, with blue and white porcelain dishes, with pencil boxes and with small origami birds. Later, struggling for a deeper connection, Abildskov meets three men who will be part of her transformation.
Bloom, Harold
Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? (October 2004)
809.9338 B655w 2004
In this inspiring book, literary critic Bloom takes readers from the Bible to 20th-century writing, searching for the ways in which literature can inform our lives.
Bradford, Sarah
Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy (November 2004)
B-B733br 2004
Drawing from contemporary documents and firsthand accounts, Bradford brings to life the art, the pageantry and the dangerous politics of the Renaissance world Lucrezia Borgia helped to create.
Brookes, Martin
Extreme Measures: The Dark Visions and Bright Ideas of Francis Galton (October 2004)
576.5092 G181b 2004
Explorer, inventor, meteorologist, psychologist, anthropologist and statistician, Galton was one of the great Victorian polymaths. But it was in the fledgling field of genetics that he made his most indelible impression. Galton took hereditary determinism to its darkest extreme, dreaming of a future society built on a race of supermen. Through this colorful biography, Brookes takes us on a journey to the origins of modern human genetics.
Calisher, Hortense
Tattoo for a Slave (November 2004)
B-Ca1295t 2004
Although Calisher's family eventually migrated north to New York City, the echoes of their days as a slave-owning Jewish family in the South still resonate with this acclaimed author.
Conroy, Pat
The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life (November 2004)
641.59 C754p 2004
This unique cookbook blends Conroy's tales with recipes for mouthwatering dishes from around the world.
Dawkins, Richard
The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution (October 2004)
576.8 D271a 2004
Renowned biologist and thinker Dawkins presents his most expansive work yet: a comprehensive look at evolution, ranging from the latest developments to his own provocative views, and loosely based on the form of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
de Blasi, Marlena
A Thousand Days in Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure (November 2004)
641.5945 D286t 2004
From the author of A Thousand Days in Venice, this is a sumptuous, passionate memoir of a life in rural Tuscany.
Dregni, Michael
Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend (November 2004)
787.87092 R369d 2004
Dregni has written the first major critical biography of Rom legend and guitar icon Django Reinhardt.
Ehrlich, Gretel
The Future of Ice: A Journey Into Cold (November 2004)
508.311 E33f 2004
Ehrlich travels to extreme points (from Tierra del Fuego to the top of the world) in her quest to understand the complex, primal nature of cold; the forces that are destroying the season of winter; and why the chaotic rhythms of weather are becoming even more disruptive.
Ellis, Joseph J.
His Excellency: George Washington (November 2004)
B-W318eL 2004
Ellis reveals Washington to us in the context of 18th-century America, allowing us to comprehend the magnitude of his accomplishments and the character of his heart and mind as they might have been perceived in his own time.
Epstein, Lawrence J.
Mixed Nuts: America's Love Affair With Comedy Teams: From Burns and Allen to Belushi and Aykroyd (October 2004)
792.7028 E64m 2004
From the days of vaudeville to Jerry and Elaine, Mixed Nuts is a history and celebration of a uniquely American art form — the comedy team.
Fiennes, Ranulph, Sir
Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest (November 2004)
919.89 F464r 2004
The real story of Captain Robert Scott's legendary Antarctic quest is told by the man whom the Guinness Book of World Records has proclaimed "the world's greatest living explorer," Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
Goodchild, Peter
Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove (October 2004)
B-Te238g 2004
Goodchild unravels the complex web of harsh early experiences, character flaws and personal and professional frustrations that lay behind the father of the H-bomb.
Hansen, Eric
The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer: Close Encounters with Strangers (September 2004)
910.4 H249b 2004
Eric Hansen is an intrepid traveler with a keen eye and an appreciation for the odd and unusual. Through it all he manages to capture the most revealing conversations and the most transporting moments in his travels, from the Maldives to Sacramento, from Cannes to Borneo and far beyond.
Hemingway, Valerie
Running With the Bulls: My Years With the Hemingways (November 2004)
B-H489hr 2004
Valerie Hemingway gives us a rare look into the life of Ernest Hemingway through the eyes of his personal secretary, confidante and daughter-in-law.
Johnson, LouAnne
The Queen of Education: Rules for Making Schools Work (October 2004)
371.2 J67q 2004
"Queen" LouAnne offers her down-to-earth advice about fixing schools. Johnson makes no secret about the fact that she is fed up with an educational system that is too quick to label and write off children who don' t fit the mold. With humor and good sense, she shows how a compassionate teacher or parent can cut through the red tape and make a crucial difference in the life of a child.
Jones, Gerard
Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book (October 2004)
741.5973 J77m 2004
This full-scale history of superhero comic books reveals how ambitious crooks and adolescent dreamers created a new art form and forever changed the entertainment business in America.
Kaplan, Vivian Jeanette
Ten Green Bottles: The True Story of One Family's Journey from War-Torn Austria to the Ghettos of Shanghai (November 2004)
940.5318 K176t 2004
The winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award is a compelling true story of one family's journey from Nazi-occupied Austria to the ghettos of Shanghai.
Kauffman, Michael W.
American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies (November 2004)
364.1524 K21a 2004
Kauffman offers an exhaustive reassessment of John Wilkes Booth and the murder of America's 16th president. Kauffman puts a new spin on well-worn data, adding a riveting reinterpretation that paints Booth as a ruthless player of complex games: a darkly brilliant manipulator of people, not all of whom realized what they were a part of until after Lincoln lay dead.
Kertzer, David I.
Prisoner of the Vatican: The Popes' Secret Plot to Capture Rome From the New Italian State (November 2004)
945.63 K41p 2004
Based on a wealth of documents long buried in the Vatican archives, this book tells the story of the Church's secret attempt in the 19th century to block the unification of Italy and seize control.
Kleinzahler, August
Cutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained (November 2004)
818.5 K64c 2004
Readers are taken on a wild journey from childhood to early manhood in the company of a New Jersey family in equal measures cultivated and deranged. These individual pieces, most of which first appeared in The London Review of Books, make up an intellectual and emotional autobiography on the run.
Kurtis, Bill
Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in American Justice (November 2004)
364.66 K96d 2004
Back in the 70s, Bill Kurtis, host of the popular television series "American Justice," supported the death penalty. But the ordeal of Ray Krone, a Phoenix postal worker twice convicted of murder and put on death row, only to be freed five years later on irrefutable DNA evidence linking the murder to another man, changed his mind.
Lucas, Geralyn
Why I Wore Lipstick to My Masectomy (October 2004)
362.196994 L933w 2004
In this soulful, surprising coming-of-age journey, a young, dynamic breast cancer survivor reveals how adversity became the impetus to examine her own sexuality and burgeoning womanhood.
Marshall, Joseph M.
The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History (October 2004)
B-Cr859ma 2004
In the great oral tradition of the Lakota people, Marshall shares the compelling history of a man, a tribe and a legacy of courage and endurance.
Martin, Deana
Memories Are Made of This: Dean Martin Through His Daughter's Eyes (October 2004)
791.092 M379mm 2004
Written with warmth, love and unabashed candor, this is a moving, often surprising portrait of an icon seen through the eyes of his daughter.
McCrum, Robert
Wodehouse: A Life (November 2004)
B-W838m 2004
He had an extraordinary Broadway career, wrote 90 novels and story collections, and among his immortal characters are Jeeves and the Empress of Blandings. McCrum's biography chronicles the achievements and shadows of a gilded life.
Mintz, Steven
Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood (November 2004)
305.23 M667h 2004
Underscoring diversity through time and across regions, Mintz traces the transformation of children from the sinful creatures perceived by Puritans to the productive workers of 19th century farms and factories, from the cosseted cherubs of the Victorian era to the confident consumers of our own.
Mohr, James C.
Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown (November 2004)
614.5732 M699p 2005
Mohr shares a dramatic account of the burning of Honolulu's Chinatown in the struggle to eradicate the plague in 1900.
Moon, Patrick
Virgile's Vineyard: A Year in the Languedoc Wine Country (October 2004)
914.48 M818v 2004
Upon inheriting a neglected house in the south of France, Patrick Moon sets out to discover how the Languedoc has managed to transform itself into one of the world's most exciting wine regions. Virgile, a young winemaker passionately devoted to perfection, offers to initiate Patrick into the mysteries of each season's work.
Parini, Jay
One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner (November 2004)
B-F263p 2004
The author of highly praised biographies of Robert Frost and John Steinbeck has written a biography of William Faulkner, arguably the most significant American writer of the 20th century.
Parson, Ann B.
The Proteus Effect: Stem Cells and Their Promise for Medicine (September 2004)
616.02774 P266p 2004
Part detective story, part portrait of the state of cutting-edge biomedicine, The Proteus Effect describes the little-known events leading up to the discovery of the stem cell, and goes on to describe its vast potential.
Persico, Joseph E.
Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918, World War I and its Violent Climax (November 2004)
940.439 P466e 2004
November 11, 1918. The Allied generals knew the fighting would end precisely at 11:00 a.m., yet in the final hours they flung men against an already beaten Germany. The result? Eleven thousand casualties suffered — more than during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Why? Allied commanders wanted to punish the enemy to the very last moment and career officers saw a fast-fading chance for glory and promotion.
Poole, Robert
Explorers House: National Geographic and the World It Made (November 2004)
910.6 P822e 2004
For more than 100 years, the National Geographic Society has brought "the world and all that is in it" to millions worldwide. Poole now provides a vibrant, behind-the-scenes look at this institution and its evolution into one of the most esteemed American institutions.
Queenan, Joe
Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country (November 2004)
914.104 Q3q 2004
In this romp through England, one of America's preeminent humorists seeks the answer to an eternal question: What makes the Brits tick?
Reid, T. R.
The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy (November 2004)
327.73 R358u 2004
The European Union, from its beginnings as an experiment in statecraft, has rapidly emerged as a resounding success; yet Americans have so far managed to ignore the geopolitical revolution under way across the Atlantic. Reid's book shows how Europe is developing itself into an economic, political and cultural powerhouse.
Rhodes, Richard
John James Audubon: The Making of an American (October 2004)
B-A916r 2004
Here is a revelation of Audubon as the major American artist he is. And here he emerges for the first time in his full humanity: handsome, charming, volatile, ambitious, loving, canny, immensely energetic. Richard Rhodes has given us an indispensable portrait of a true American icon.
Sawyer-Laucanno, Christopher
E.E. Cummings: A Biography (October 2004)
B-Cu912s 2004
Using thousands of primary sources including diary entries and notes from psychoanalysis, biographer Christopher Sawyer-Laucanno paints a dynamic portrait of the life and art of American poet e.e. cummings.
Williams, Patricia J.
Open House: Of Family, Friends, Food, Piano Lessons and the Search for a Room of My Own (November 2004)
B-Wi6754o 2004
Columnist Williams strings together a witty, insightful array of observations, reminiscences, anecdotes and commentaries on her life as a lawyer, scholar, writer, African-American, descendant of slaves, mother and single, 50-something woman.
Wooten, James T.
We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love (November 2004)
616.9792 W918w 2004
We Are All the Same is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit, even as it bears witness to the scope of the AIDS tragedy that is unfolding in Africa and around the world, cutting down millions of children like Nkosi Johnson.