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Away from the dead / by Bergen, David,1957-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Away from the Dead is set in the chaotic times of the Russian revolution, and traces the lives of various characters connected through love and family and loyalty. The novel follows the lives of a bookseller south of Kiev who deserts the army and writes poetry to his lover back home; an adopted Mennonite/Ukrainian peasant who runs with the anarchists only to discover that love and the planting of crops is preferable to killing; and in which a Mennonite estate owner steals a young mother's child. Bookseller Julius Lehn is drawn by his first wife into the patriarchal world of a Mennonite colony beside the Dnieper River, where he learns that pacifists can be as vicious as those who fight. After his wife dies, he gains affection for Inna, who has been cast away from her adopted family's estate, and is the sister of Sablin, the peasant who fights with the anarchists and discovers that violence is the domain of both the rich and the poor. By late 1919, Lehn's bookshop in Ekaterinoslav (modern day Dnipro) has been destroyed, and he has returned to be with Inna, whose child is gone, and with the colony under attack. The anarchists, the Bolsheviks, the Whites -- all come and go, each claiming freedom and justice. In a violent world with no end, Sablin and Lehn and Inna choose love, hoping that one can, against all odds, turn away from the dead"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Anarchists; Booksellers and bookselling; Bookstore owners; Mennonites; War victims;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Red famine : Stalin's war on Ukraine / by Applebaum, Anne,1964-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gulag and Iron Curtain, winner of the Cundill Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award, a revelatory history of Stalin's greatest crime. In 1929, Stalin launched his policy of agricultural collectivization -- in effect a second Russian revolution -- which forced millions of peasants off their land and onto collective farms. The result was a catastrophic famine, the most lethal in European history. At least five million people perished between 1931 and 1933 in the U.S.S.R. In Red famine, Anne Applebaum reveals for the first time that three million of them died not because they were accidental victims of a bad policy, but because the state deliberately set out to kill them. Applebaum proves what has long been suspected: that Stalin set out to exterminate a vast swath of the Ukrainian population and replace them with more cooperative, Russian-speaking peasants. A peaceful Ukraine would provide the Soviets with a safe buffer between itself and Europe, and would be a bread basket region to feed Soviet cities and factory workers. When the province rebelled against collectivization, Stalin sealed the borders and began systematic food seizures. Starving, people ate anything: grass, tree bark, dogs, corpses. In some cases they killed one another for food. Devastating and definitive, Red famine captures the horror of ordinary people struggling to survive extraordinary evil"--
Subjects: Collective farms; Collectivization of agriculture; Famines; Genocide; Mass murder;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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North Korea journal / by Palin, Michael,author.; Palin, Michael.Diaries.Selections.;
"In May 2018, former Monty Python stalwart and intrepid globetrotter Michael Palin spent two weeks in the notoriously secretive Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a cut-off land without internet or phone signal, where the countryside has barely moved beyond a centuries-old peasant economy but where the cities have gleaming skyscrapers and luxurious underground train stations. His resulting documentary was widely acclaimed. Now he shares his day-by-day diary of his visit, in which he describes not only what he saw--and his fleeting views of what the authorities didn't want him to see--but recounts the conversations he had with the country's inhabitants, talks candidly about his encounters with officialdom, and records his musings about a land wholly unlike any other he has ever visited--one that inspires fascination and fear in equal measure. Written with Palin's trademark warmth and wit, and illustrated with beautiful colour photographs throughout, the journal offers a rare insight into the North Korea behind the headlines."--
Subjects: Diaries.; Palin, Michael; British;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The immortal King Rao : a novel / by Vara, Vauhini,1982-author.;
"Will you, dear Shareholder, set Athena free? Athena Rao must reckon with the memory of her father, King Rao--literally. Through biotechnological innovation, he has given her his memories. His Dalit childhood on an Indian coconut plantation in the 1950s is as alive to her as her own existence in a prison cell, accused of her father's murder. Egocentric, brilliant, a little damaged, King Rao had a visionary idea: the personal computer known as the Coconut. His wife, Margie, was an artist with a marketing genius. Together they created a new world order, led by a corporate-run government. Athena's future is now in the hands of its Shareholders--unless she can rejoin the Exes, a resistance group sustaining tech-free lifestyles on low-lying islands. Lyrical, satirical, and profound, The Immortal King Rao obliterates genre to confront the digital age. This gripping, brilliant debut poses an urgent question: can anyone--peasant laborers, convention-destroying entrepreneurs, radical anarchists, social-media followers--ever get free?"--
Subjects: Dystopian fiction.; Satirical literature.; Novels.; Biotechnology; Climatic changes; Fathers and daughters; Government, Resistance to; High technology industries; Involuntary memory; Memory; Technology and civilization; Women prisoners;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Avoid the day : a new nonfiction in two movements / by Kirk, Jay,author.;
"Seeking to answer the mystery of a missing manuscript by Béla Bartók, and using the investigation to avoid his father's deathbed, award-winning magazine writer Jay Kirk heads off to Transylvania, going to the same villages where the "Master," like a vampire in search of fresh plasma, had found his new material in the folk music of the peasants. With these stolen songs, Bartók redefined music in the 20th Century. Kirk, who is also seeking to renew his writing, finds inspiration in the composer's unorthodox methods, but begins to lose his tether as he sees himself in Bartók's darkest and most personal work, the Cantata Profana, which revolves around the curse of fathers and sons. After a near-psychotic episode under the spell of Bartók, the author suddenly finds himself on a posh eco-tourist cruise in the Arctic. There, accompanied by an old friend, now a documentary filmmaker, the two decide to scrap the documentary and make a horror flick instead-shot under the noses of the unsuspecting passengers and crew. Playing one of the main characters who finds himself inexplicably trapped on a ship at the literal end of the world, alone, and under the influence of the midnight sun, Kirk gets lost in his own cerebral maze, struggling to answer his most plaguing question: can we find meaning in experience?"--Amazon.com.
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Kirk, Jay;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Red roulette : an insider's story of wealth, power, corruption and vengeance in today's China / by Shum, Desmond,author.;
Includes bibliographical resources and index."After the Communist Revolution, Desmond Shum's grandfather was marked as belonging to a "black category" that included former landlords and rich peasants--meaning the Shums would be stigmatized and impoverished. As Desmond was growing up, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity Shum earned an American college degree and returned to China to establish himself in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly intelligent and equally ambitious Whitney Duan who was determined to make her mark within China's male-dominated society. Whitney and Desmond formed an effective team and, aided by relationships they formed with top members of the red aristocracy, vaulted into China's billionaire class. Soon they were developing the massive air cargo facility at Beijing International Airport, and they followed that feat with the creation of one of Beijing's premier hotels. They were dazzlingly successful, traveling in private jets, funding multi-million-dollar buildings and endowments, and purchasing expensive homes, vehicles, and art. But in 2017, their fates diverged irrevocably when Desmond, while residing overseas with his son, learned that his now ex-wife Whitney had vanished along with three coworkers. This is both Desmond's story and Whitney's, because she cannot tell it herself."---Amazon.
Subjects: Shum, Desmond.; Duan, Whitney.; Businesspeople; Political corruption;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Cobalt red : how the blood of the Congo powers our lives / by Kara, Siddharth,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo's cobalt mining operation-and the moral implications that affect us all. Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt. To uncover the truth about brutal mining practices, Kara investigated militia-controlled mining areas, traced the supply chain of child-mined cobalt from toxic pit to consumer-facing tech giants, and gathered shocking testimonies of people who endure immense suffering and even die mining cobalt. Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. More than 70 percent of the world's supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. Billions of people in the world cannot conduct their daily lives without participating in a human rights and environmental catastrophe in the Congo. In this stark and crucial book, Kara argues that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo-because we are all implicated"--
Subjects: Cobalt industry; Cobalt mines and mining; Human rights; Miners;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Normal women : 900 years of making history / by Gregory, Philippa,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry? That the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was started and propelled by women who were protesting a tax on women? Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were inferior to men, but that they'd evolve to become ever more inferior? These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory's "Normal Women". In this ambitious and groundbreaking book, she tells the story of England over nine hundred years, for the very first time placing women-some 50 percent of the population-center stage. Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records, newspapers, and journals to find highwaywomen and beggars, murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The "normal women" you will meet in these pages went to war, ploughed fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency, and built ships, corn mills, and houses. They committed crimes, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things, and rioted. A lot. A landmark of scholarship and storytelling, "Normal Women" chronicles centuries of social and cultural change-from 1066 to modern times-powered by the determination, persistence, and effectiveness of women.
Subjects: Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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She who became the sun / by Parker-Chan, Shelley,author.;
"Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy. To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything "I refuse to be nothing ... " In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness ... In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family's eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family's clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate. After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness"--
Subjects: Fantasy fiction.; Historical fiction.; Famines; Orphans; Monks; Brothers and sisters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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Fabio's 30-minute Italian : over 100 fabulous, quick, and easy recipes / by Viviani, Fabio,author.;
"'In this amazing book, Fabio shows you how to make delicious Italian dishes easily and quickly! It's the next best thing to having him in your kitchen'--Antonia Lofaso, chef and restaurateur of Scopa Italian Roots, The Local Peasant, Sycamore Tavern and Black Market Liquor Bar. Dinner doesn't have to be daunting. In half an hour or less you can cook up an Italian meal at home like a professional chef. In this case, just like Top Chef star Fabio Viviani. Infused with his warmth and humor, this book brings Fabio into your kitchen. If fresh fettuccini with Manila clams and spicy sausages and chicken pizzaiola with mozzarella and pepperoni seem like recipes that are out of reach, think again. Fabio shows home chefs how to cook "Grandma Style" (that is, like an intuitive Italian), and even those on a tight schedule will soon be whipping up great dinners. The over 100 no-fail recipes include mascarpone and ricotta-stuffed peaches, 15-minute seafood cioppino, and salted caramel chocolate cake. Fabio's 30-minute Italian provides lots of time saving tips, from freezing batches of herbs and dressing to making your own pasta dough in three minutes tops. Along the way, Fabio shares stories from his early life in Florence where he apprenticed at age five to his wheel-chair-bound and wooden-spoon-wielding great-grandmother to his American life cooking dinner for his wife and infant son in Chicago."--
Subjects: Cookbooks.; Cooking, Italian.; Quick and easy cooking.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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