Readers' Advisory

Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York
By Kenneth Ackerman (2005)

A lively account of the life of a New York legend traces the rise of Boss Tweed, the corrupt party boss who controlled New York politics through a combination of corruption, bribery, and coercion until his own over-reaching destroyed him. (Publisher)

Music

Farewell Joe Cocker

Musician

1944-2014

Joe Cocker's voice was perfectly suited to sing the blues.  He became well known in the late 1960 and early 1970s. Personal and professional problems rivaling those described in blues songs plagued him over the years, and at times it seemed that his career was finished. In recent years, however, Cocker returned to music, expanded his range, and established a presence as a romantic balladeer.

Cocker began his musical career playing harmonica with The Cavaliers.  The band reorganized in the early 1960s as Vance Arnold and the Avengers with Cocker singing lead.  Between 1966-1970 Cocker was the leader of The Grease Band.  Cocker became as solo artist in 1972.

Click here for music by Joe Cocker.

Readers' Advisory

Farewell P. D. James

Author

1920-2014

 

 

 

Phyllis Dorothy James died Thursday at the age of 94. She was a best-selling author who didn't publish her first novel until she was 42. When she started writing mysteries in the early 1960s, she was holding down a full-time job, raising two daughters and supporting her ill husband, who died in 1964.  The enormous popularity of her novels — and of her detective hero, Adam Dalgliesh — eventually allowed her to devote herself full time to writing. Seven of her books were adapted for the public television series Mystery. And her novel The Children of Men was adapted into a 2006 film.

In 1991, Queen Elizabeth made P.D. James a baroness. (NPR)

Click here for books by P. D. James.

Readers' Advisory

Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight
By Jay Barbree with Forward by John Glenn (2014)

 

To date, everything written about Armstong's life and flights has been written from the outside looking in; Barbree is the only person whom Neil Armstrong trusted to share close personal details about his inspiring life story. Working from his years of notes, and with the full cooperation of the Armstrong family, Barbree has written the definitive biography of America's most famous astronaut and one of our greatest modern heroes. Much has already been written about Armstrong and the major players who helped him fly to the moon, but he wanted this book to emphasize his two passions--family and flight. Barbree and Armstrong discussed everything, from his two marriages and the death of his baby daughter, to his love of flying, the war years and of course, his time in space. The book, timed to coincide with the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch and full of never-before-seen photos, includes many personal details that have never before been written, such as what Armstrong really felt when he took that first step on the moon, what life in NASA was like, his relationships with the other astronauts, and what he felt the future of space exploration should be. (Publisher)

Readers' Advisory

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry : A Novel
by Gabrielle Zevin (2014)

A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner of Island Books, has recently endured some tough years: his wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and his prized possession--a rare edition of Poe poems--has been stolen. Over time, he has given up on people, and even the books in his store, instead of offering solace, are yet another reminder of a world that is changing too rapidly. Until a most unexpected occurrence gives him the chance to make his life over and see things anew.

Readers' Advisory

The Great Riots of New York, 1712-1873
By Joel Tyler Headley (1873)

First published in 1873, this book was republished in 2003 with an introduction by Pete Hamill. The Great Riots of New York presents an illustrated, fast-paced and chilling account of the major players and victims of over ten riots that rocked New York City from 1712 to 1873.  Headley's main purpose in writing this account over a century ago was to show his appreciation for the metropolitan police force, for he believed they "saved the city" during the Draft Riots. Using eyewitness testimonies by military authorities, policemen, and those involved, and extracting facts from available archives, pamphlets, and newspapers, Headley discusses with precise detail such uprisings as The Negro Riots of 1712-1741, The Doctors' Riots of 1788, and the Abolitionist Riots of 1834 and 1835, among many others.

Readers' Advisory

Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport
by Matthew Algeo (2014)

Strange as it sounds, during the 1870s and 1880s, America’s most popular spectator sport wasn’t baseball, boxing, or horseracing—it was competitive walking. Inside sold-out arenas, competitors walked around dirt tracks almost nonstop for six straight days (never on Sunday), risking their health and sanity to see who could walk the farthest—500 miles, then 520 miles, and 565 miles! These walking matches were as talked about as the weather, the details reported from coast to coast.

This long-forgotten sport, known as pedestrianism, spawned America’s first celebrity athletes and opened doors for immigrants, African Americans, and women. The top pedestrians earned a fortune in prize money and endorsement deals. But along with the excitement came the inevitable scandals, charges of doping—coca leaves!—and insider gambling. It even spawned a riot in 1879 when too many fans showed up at New York’s Gilmore’s Garden, later renamed Madison Square Garden, and were denied entry to a widely publicized showdown.

Readers' Advisory

Read It and Weep
Jenn McKinlay (2013)

When the Briar Creek Community Theater mounts its newest Shakespeare production, "Midsummer Night's Dream," library director Lindsey Norris gets involved when one of the cast is poisoned.

Business Books

New Books For BRIC

Business Resource Information Center

 

 BRIC 658-4012 Z

 

 BRIC 658.409 F

 

 BRIC 658.8 L

 

 BRIC 658.11 R

 

BRIC 808.0666 R



Readers' Advisory

Book of Life
by Deborah Harkness (2014)

Historian and witch Diana Bishop and her vampire scientist husband Matthew Clairmont return from a trip to the past still searching for the elusive alchemy tome Ashmole 782 in the final installment of the best-selling trilogy following Shadow of Night.

Readers' Advisory

Catcher in the Rye

J.D. Salinger

On July 16, 1951, J.D. Salinger published his only novel, Catcher in the Rye.  61 years later, Catcher in the Rye is still tops school reading lists.

Click here to request a copy.

Readers' Advisory

Farewell Nadine Gordimer

Nobel Prize Winning Author

1923-2014

Nadine Gordimer  was the Nobel Prize-winning author of short stories and novels reflecting the disintegration of South African society. While her early works were in the tradition of liberal South African whites opposed to apartheid, her later works reflect a move toward more radical political and literary formulations.  She won a Nobel Prize in 1991. (Biography in Context)

Click here for books by and about Nadine Gordimer.

Readers' Advisory

Farewell Louis Zamperini

1917-2014

Olympic Runner, POW, World War II Veteran

Subject of the book, Unbroken

 

 

Louis Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner and World War II veteran who survived 47 days on a raft in the Pacific after his bomber crashed, then endured two years in Japanese prison camps, died on July 3, 2014. He was 97 years old.

Zamperini is the subject of Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, which is being made into a movie directed by Angelina Jolie and is scheduled to be released in 2014. (Source: BBC.com)

Readers' Advisory

Dark Invasion: 1915 : Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America
By Howard Blum (1914)

When a "neutral" United States becomes a trading partner for the Allies early in World War I, the Germans implement a secret plan to strike back. A team of saboteurs--including an expert on germ warfare, a Harvard professor, and a brilliant, debonair spymaster--devise a series of "mysterious accidents" using explosives and biological weapons, to bring down vital targets such as ships, factories, livestock, and even captains of industry like J.P. Morgan. New York Police Inspector Tom Tunney, head of the department's Bomb Squad, is assigned the difficult mission of stopping them. Assembling a team of loyal operatives, the cunning Irish cop hunts for the conspirators among a population of more than eight million Germans. But the deeper he finds himself in this labyrinth of deception, the more Tunney realizes that the enemy's plan is far more complex and more dangerous than he suspected.

Readers' Advisory

Farewell Maya Angelou

Author / Poet

1928 - 2014

 

Maya Angelou, author, poet, playwright, stage and screen performer, and director, was best known for her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), which recalls a young African American woman's discovery of her self-confidence.  In addition to her books of autobiography, Angelou wrote several volumes of poetry that further explore the South, racial confrontation, and the triumph of black people against overwhelming odds.

Click here for book by and about Maya Angelou.

 

Freeport Authors

On May 21, 2014, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, North American Region, donated a copy of their new book Providing Global Leadership and Service and Timeless Service Since 1966 to the Freeport Memorial Library.  Pictured: seated (l to r)  Nkenge Gilliam, Historian - Theta Iota Omega; Doris White, Historian Emerita - Theta Iota Omega; Standing (l to r) Regina G. Feeney, Librarian, Freeport Memorial Librarian; Gladys S. Andrews - Theta Iota Omega - President; Deborah Santiago - Theta Iota Omega - 2nd Vice President; Cynthia J. Krieg, Librarian, Freeport Memorial Library.  This book will be added to the Library's Local Author Collection.

Readers' Advisory

The Fault In Our Stars
by John Green (2012)

Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

Readers' Advisory

Farewell Gabriel García Marquez

Author / Nobel Prize Winner

1927-2014

 

 

One of the most influential novelists of the twentieth century, Gabriel García Márquez was a key figure in the Latin American literary renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s. His novel One Hundred Years of Solitude was read throughout the world, selling millions of copies and introducing enthusiastic readers across the globe to the genre of "magical realism."  A prolific journalist as well as a novelist and short story writer, García Márquez has reported from several world capitals and remained active through the 1990s as publisher of the Colombian news magazine Cambio. He continued working into the early 2000s, although some reports speculated that the aging author had given up writing (Newsmakers, February 1, 2005).

Click here for books by and about Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Readers' Advisory

Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics
by Terry Golway (2014)

Rooted in Jeffersonian democracy and transformed by the massive Irish immigration of the mid-nineteenth century, Tammany Hall, New York City's Democratic organization, became synonymous with machine politics. Golway joins the revisionists in emphasizing Tammany's constructive contributions and its consequent impact on modern politics. An expert in Irish-American history, Golway unsurprisingly sees the origins of this form of political organization in Irish anti-institutional activism. In overcoming and battling nativism in America, reaching out, albeit not selflessly, to new immigrant groups and, after the Triangle Shirtwaist tragedy of 1911, supporting progressive social programs both at the local level and legislatively, Tammany thrived well into the 1900s. After the strong leadership by "Silent Charlie" Murphy came the ascendancy of governor and presidential candidate Al Smith. The organization became, through Senator Robert F. Wagner, a major factor in the New Deal and, later, American liberalism. Not ignoring instances of corruption large and small, from Boss Tweed to Jimmy Walker (Tammany coined the concept of "honest graft"), Golway makes his case for Tammany's impact eloquently. In doing so, he has provided an essential addition to the historical literature of New York and urban America. (Booklist).

Readers' Advisory

By Its Cover
Donna Leon (2014)

Investigating the thefts of rare book pages from a prestigious Venetian library, Commissario Guido Brunetti is stymied by numerous possible suspects and the murder of a seemingly harmless theologian.

Readers' Advisory

Race Underground: Boston, New York and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway
by Doug Most (2014)

In the late nineteenth century, as cities like Boston and New York grew more congested, the streets became clogged with plodding, horse-drawn carts. When the great blizzard of 1888 crippled the entire northeast, a solution had to be found. Two brothers from one of the nation's great families—Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York—pursued the dream of his city digging America's first subway, and the great race was on. The competition between Boston and New York played out in an era not unlike our own, one of economic upheaval, life-changing innovations, class warfare, bitter political tensions, and the question of America’s place in the world.

Readers' Advisory

Farewell Shirley Temple Black

Actress / Diplomat

1928-2014

Shirley Temple, Hollywood's quintessential child star during the 1930s and 1940s, became a diplomat in later years, serving as Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia and as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under her married name, Shirley Temple Black.

For books and DVDs about  and featuring Shirley Temple, click here.


Source:
"Shirley Temple." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. Biography in Context. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

 

Readers' Advisory

Farewell Pete Seeger

Folk Singer

1919-2014 

 

 

 

Pete Seeger became the most influential folk artist in America. He was instrumental in popularizing both the five-string banjo and the songs of populist America that could be played on it.  Seeger's songs such as "If I Had a Hammer," "We Shall Overcome," and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" served as anthems in the protests of the late 1960s.

 

Click here for material by and about Pete Seeger.

Databases

New Databases

The Freeport Memorial Library added three new databases to its collection.

Consumer Reports: Just like the print version, this online addition provides trusted, independent resource provides in-depth reviews of products ranging from vehicles to retirement accounts. Its ratings, side-by-side comparisons, and video-clips are updated frequently. 

Cypress Resume: Looking for a new job? You can create professional resumes, cover letters and reference sheets in minutes will this database. 

NoveList Plus: If you love to read or belong to a book club, this database is for you.  NoveList Plus offers information on more than 200,000 titles, including over 50,000 nonfiction titles. NoveList Plus also offers read-alike suggestions and book discussion guides for book clubs.

These databases can be used in the library or from home.  To access remotely, go to www.freeportlibrary.info; click “e-Resources”; choose “Research Databases” and click “Databases A-Z.”  You will need a Freeport Memorial Library card to use these resources