December Monthly Book Feature
Empress of the East by Leslie Peirce In Empress of the East, historian Leslie Peirce tells the remarkable story of a Christian slave girl, Roxelana, who was abducted by slave traders from her Ruthenian homeland and brought to the harem of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in Istanbul. Suleyman became besotted with her and foreswore all other concubines. Then, in an unprecedented step, he freed her and married her. The bold and canny Roxelana soon became a shrewd diplomat and philanthropist, who helped Suleyman keep pace with a changing world in which women, from Isabella of Hungary to Catherine de Medici, increasingly held the reins of power. |
November Monthly Book Feature
Haven by Ruth Gruber Currently we, as Americans, are struggling with the issue of who gets to come to America and how do you become a citizen. Gruber in her book, Haven, provides us some insight as to how we handled this problem in the wake of WWII. In 1943, nearly one thousand European Jewish refugees from eighteen different countries were chosen by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration to receive asylum in the United States. All they had to do was get there. Ruth Gruber, with the support of Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, volunteered to escort them on their secret route across the Atlantic from a port in Italy to a “safe haven” camp in Oswego, New York. The dangerous endeavor carried the threat of Nazi capture with each passing day. While on the ship, Gruber recorded the refugees’ emotional stories and recounts them here in vivid detail, along with the aftermath of their arrival in the US, which involved a fight for their right to stay after the war ended. The result is a poignant and engrossing true story of suffering under Nazi persecution and incredible courage in the face of overwhelming circumstances. |
October Monthly Book Feature
Natural Disaster by Ginger Zee ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee pulls back the curtain on her life in Natural Disaster. Zee grew up in small-town Michigan where she developed an obsession with weather as a young girl. Zee opens up about her lifelong battle with crippling depression, her romances that range from misguided to dangerous, and her tumultuous professional path. Zee writes in an open and honest fashion, engaging her readers as she shares her journey to where she is today. |
September Monthly Book Feature
My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock After losing her high-octane job as an entertainment blogger, Noelle Hancock was lost. About to turn twenty-nine, she'd spent her career writing about celebrities' lives and had forgotten how to live her own. Unemployed and full of self-doubt, she had no idea what she wanted out of life. She feared change—in fact, she feared almost everything. Once confident and ambitious, she had become crippled by anxiety, lacking the courage required even to attend a dinner party—until inspiration struck one day in the form of a quote on a chalkboard in a coffee shop: "Do one thing every day that scares you." —Eleanor Roosevelt With Eleanor as her guide, Noelle spends the months leading up to her thirtieth birthday pursuing a "Year of Fear." From shark diving to fighter pilot lessons, from tap dancing and stand-up comedy to confronting old boyfriends, her hilarious and harrowing adventures teach her about who she is and what she can become—lessons she makes vital for all of us. |
August Monthly Book Feature
The Wind in My Hair by Masih Alinejad A photo on Masih's Facebook page: a woman standing proudly, face bare, hair blowing in the wind. Her crime: removing her veil, or hijab, which is compulsory for women in Iran. This is the self-portrait that sparked 'My Stealthy Freedom,' a social media campaign that went viral. But Masih is so much more than the arresting face that sparked a campaign inspiring women to find their voices. She's also a world-class journalist whose personal story, told in her unforgettably bold and spirited voice, is emotional and inspiring. A testament to a spirit that remains unbroken, and an enlightening, intimate invitation into a world we don't know nearly enough about, THE WIND IN MY HAIR is the extraordinary memoir of a woman who overcame enormous adversity to fight for what she believes in, and to encourage others to do the same. |
July Monthly Book Feature
Ashley's War by Gayle Lemmon In 2010 the U.S. Army Special Operations Command created Cultural Support Teams, a pilot program to put women on the battlefield alongside Army Rangers, Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and other special operations teams on sensitive missions in Afghanistan. The idea was that women could access places and people that had remained out of reach and could build relationships—woman to woman—in ways that male soldiers in a conservative, traditional country could not. Lemmon uses exhaustive firsthand reporting and a finely tuned understanding of the complexities of war to tell the story of CST-2, a unit of women handpicked from across the Army, and of the remarkable hero at its heart: First Lieutenant Ashley White. |
June Monthly Book Feature
Chasing Hillary by Amy Chozick This book could be companion to Katy Tur's Unbelievable about her coverage of Donald Trump. In this book for nearly a decade, award-winning New York Times journalist Amy Chozick chronicled Hillary Clinton’s pursuit of the presidency. Chozick’s assignments, covering Clinton’s imploding 2008 campaign and then her front-row seat to the 2016 election on “The Hillary Beat,” set off a years-long journey in which the formative years of Chozick’s twenties and thirties became, both personally and professionally, intrinsically intertwined with Clinton’s presidential ambitions. |
May Monthly Book Feature
Code Girls: The untold story of the American women code breakers of WWII. by Liza Mundy This book follows in the line of other recent books that have told the story of women's contributions to the war effort in WWII. I was a bit hesitant to read it, as I had read the others stories, thinking this might just be a repeat. I am glad I did not follow my instinct. Code Girls delivers an engaging read, helping the reader to again recognize all of the female talent that was tapped to help win the war. These women deserve the same recognition as all of the others who answered the call to help our country. It also has the added benefit of giving the reader insights into how codes are written and then broken. If you enjoyed Hidden Figures and The Girls of Atomic City, you will enjoy this one too. |
April Monthly Book Feature
Her Again by Michael Shulman When Meryl Streep performs, she makes it look so easy, as if her talent is in-breed and she just needs to flip a switch and she becomes her character automatically. This book provides a much different perspective and shares how she worked diligently to become the esteemed actress she is today. |
March Monthly Book Feature
Educated by Tara Westover Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. As the seventh child born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her “head-for-the-hills” bag. In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged metal in her father’s junkyard. When one brother came back from college with stories of the world beyond the mountains, Westover decides to prepare herself to successfully score high enough on the ACT test to be admitted to BYU. She ultimately earns her PhD in history from Cambridge University. Beautifully written, this is the story of one young woman's ability to overcome unbelievable challenges and find her place in the world. |
February Monthly Book
Feature Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History. by Katy Tur We are now in year two of Donald Trump's presidency. Katy Tur was in from the beginning of his rise to the oval office. As NBC's correspondent assigned to the Trump campaign, she spent 500 days following his campaign from start to finish. Tur provides us with an inside view of covering Trump's presidential campaign. Her dogged determination to hold Trump accountable for his statements led to Trump repeatedly single her out. At one point Trump got the campaign crowd so riled up against her that the Secret Service Service agents had to escort her to her car. Whether you like Trump or not, Tur's role covering his campaign gives her a perspective that very few people have about the man who sits in the oval office. |
January Monthly Book Feature
Shoot Like a Girl by Mary Jennings Hegar After being commissioned into the U.S. Air Force, MJ Hegar was selected for pilot training by the Air National Guard, finished at the top of her class, then served three tours in Afghanistan, flying combat search-and-rescue missions, culminating in a harrowing rescue attempt that would earn MJ the Purple Heart as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device. But it was on American soil that Hegar would embark on her greatest challenge—to eliminate the military’s Ground Combat Exclusion Policy, which kept female armed service members from officially serving in combat roles despite their long-standing record of doing so with honor. In Shoot Like a Girl, MJ takes the reader on a dramatic journey through her military career: an inspiring, humorous, and thrilling true story of a brave, high-spirited, and unforgettable woman who has spent much of her life ready to sacrifice everything for her country, her fellow man, and her sense of justice. |