New Nonfiction: Wednesday, August 27

If you frequently read fiction books, you might want to consider a nonfiction text for a change of pace. The library is constantly receiving new nonfiction and biography books, including the items below. Why not stop by and check out a book, CD, movie, or other material that you find interesting? We will continue to offer “Grab and Go” services for those who prefer to place their books on hold online and then pick them up on the shelves by the circulation desk.

Here are a few of the new nonfiction books that have arrived at the library recently. We invite you to check them out!

Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America

Jam-packed with fresh, revelatory evidence, Ellsworth’s research strongly infers that by the time that the house lights dimmed inside of Ford’s Theatre on April 14th, 1865, Booth was working alongside the Confederate Secret Service. Historians have long ignored that during the last ten months of the Civil War, the Confederacy launched a desperate, audacious war of terror against the north. In the North, Rebels attempted to derail trains, set buildings on fire, spread smallpox, and undermined public support for the Union army. In the summer of 1864, President Abraham Lincoln had a front-row view of the Civil War, as he dodged firing bullets from the approaching Confederate army at Fort Stevens. In Midnight on the Potomac, Scott Ellsworth rewrites history, arguing that the two events were in fact connected and that Lincolns’ assassination was likely ordered by leaders of the Confederate Army.

What My Father and I Don’t Talk About: Sixteen Writers Break the Silence

Tackles the intricate and challenging relationships we have with our dads, breaking the silence around these vital connections. Andrew Altschul reflects on the life-altering experience of becoming a father and how it reshaped his view of his own dad’s parenting. Isle McElroy shares memories of weekends spent tagging along as their father fixed up the homes of their wealthier neighbors. Jaquira Díaz delves into her father’s history in 1970s Williamsburg, uncovering the roots of their shared restlessness. Tomás Q. Morín paints a raw portrait of an absentee father, while Kelly McMasters portrays a loving and dedicated one. Jiordan Castle reveals how we can love our fathers from a distance and Susan Muaddi Darraj explores the particular challenges of ‘eldest daughter syndrome’ as a daughter of Palestinian immigrants.

The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood

The Boys in the Light follows the parallel journeys of Company D and Eddie Willner, the author’s father, as they experience two sides of World War II. At sixteen, Eddie Willner was among the millions of European Jews rounded up by Hitler’s Nazis. He was forced into slave labor alongside his father and his best friend, Mike, and spent the next three years of his life surviving the death camps, including Auschwitz. Meanwhile, in the United States, boys only a few years older than Eddie were joining the army and heading toward their own precarious futures. A company of 3rd Armored Division tankers quickly became battle-hardened and weary, constantly questioning whether the war was worth it. Eight months in, they got their answer when two emaciated boys stepped out of the woods with their tattooed arms raised, Eddie and Mike. Elmer and his soldiers could barely believe their eyes as they finally came face-to-face with the human cost of Hitler’s evil.