Britt's Staff Picks


Showing 1 - 18 of 18  There are a total of 173 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The world turned upside down"
Star rating for The world turned upside down
Description:
"The only complete history of the Cultural Revolution by an independent scholar based in mainland China, 'The World Turned Upside Down' makes a crucial contribution to understanding the Cultural Revolution and its lasting influence today"--
Book cover for "Under the broken sky"
Star rating for Under the broken sky
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
When Soviet troops invade Japanese-occupied Manchuria during the last days of World War II, twelve-year-old Natsu Kimura must care for her younger sister as they struggle to survive and return to Japan.
Book cover for "The song of Achilles"
Star rating for The song of Achilles
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
Patroclus, an awkward young prince, follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate. Set during the Trojan War.
Book cover for "Man's search for meaning"
Star rating for Man's search for meaning
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose...
Book cover for "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming"
Star rating for How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming
Author:
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of adding one more planet to our solar system, Brown’s find ignited a firestorm of controversy that culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of “dwarf”...
Book cover for "A crack in creation"
Star rating for A crack in creation
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Book cover for "Sea prayer"
Star rating for Sea prayer
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey ... the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city's swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone"-- Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son,...
Book cover for "Midnight rising"
Star rating for Midnight rising
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
Chronicles the 1859 raid by radical abolitionist John Brown on Harpers Ferry, revealing how his acts, deemed terrorism by the South, prompted a counterattack by Robert E. Lee and galvanized Northern supporters during Lincoln's election campaign.
Book cover for "Fallout"
Star rating for Fallout
Description:
"Blume reveals how a courageous reporter uncovered one of greatest and deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century--the true effects of the atom bomb--potentially saving millions of lives"--
Book cover for "The rape of Nanking"
Star rating for The rape of Nanking
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Book cover for "Death is hard work"
Star rating for Death is hard work
Book cover for "The grift"
Star rating for The grift
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Once upon a time, Black Republicans were revolutionaries. Today, many see them as traitors, selling their souls for power. In 2021, Black conservatives are the greatest grift. Journalist and radio host Clay Cane examines how the Republican party evolved into a safe space for racists and how Black Republicans attempt to gain power by aligning themselves with white supremacy. Black Republicans consistently make viral news, whether it's Senator Tim...
Book cover for "Wilmington's lie"
Star rating for Wilmington's lie
Average Rating:
4.9 stars
Description:
"By 1898 Wilmington, North Carolina, was a shining example of a mixed-race community-a bustling port city with a thriving African American middle class and a government made up of Republicans and Populists, including black alderman, police officers, and magistrates. But across the state-and the South-white supremacist Democrats were working to reverse the advances made by former slaves and their progeny. They were plotting to take back the state legislature...
Book cover for "Hidden figures"
Star rating for Hidden figures
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives,...
Book cover for "The pornography wars"
Star rating for The pornography wars
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Description:
"For readers of Peggy Orenstein and Rebecca Traister, an authoritative, big think look at pornography in all its facets -- historical, religious, and cultural. In the 1960s, sex researchers Masters and Johnson declared the end of the fake orgasm. Nearly two decades later, in 1982, evangelical activist Tim LaHaye foretold that the entire pornography industry would soon be driven out of business. Neither prediction proved true. Instead, with the rise...
Book cover for "Until proven safe"
Star rating for Until proven safe
Description:
"Journalists Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley explore the history and future of quarantine, from the Black Death to Big Data"--
Book cover for "Between two fires"
Star rating for Between two fires
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm--that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict. Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels...
Book cover for "The ballad of Black Tom"
Star rating for The ballad of Black Tom
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"When [Charles Thomas Tester] delivers an occult book to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, [he] opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping"--Page 4 of cover.