Water Tossing Boulders

Water Tossing Boulders

Adrienne Berard

History / Nonfiction / Race

A generation before Brown v. Board of Education struck down America's "separate but equal" doctrine, one Chinese family and an eccentric Mississippi lawyer fought for desegregation in one of the greatest legal battles never told.On September 15, 1924, Martha Lum and her older sister Berda were barred from attending middle school in Rosedale, Mississippi. The girls were Chinese American and considered by the school to be "colored"; the school was for whites. This event would lead to the first US Supreme Court case to challenge the constitutionality of racial segregation in Southern public schools, thirty years before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. In this case confronting the "separate but equal" doctrine, the Lum family, along with an eccentric Mississippi lawyer, fought for the right to educate Chinese Americans in the white schools of the Jim Crow South. Through extensive research in historical documents and family correspondence,...
Read online
  • 13
The Survivalist

The Survivalist

Arthur T. Bradley

Nonfiction / Thriller / Science Fiction

Just when it looks like Deputy Marshal Mason Raines might finally settle into a life free from violence, he receives an emergency distress call from the New Colony. Not only has his handler been brutally attacked, but the life of a treacherous woman he once loved is also in danger. Forced to choose between contentment and duty, he must once again forsake his own happiness for the welfare of others. This time, however, he would be well served to remember that the motives of those being rescued are anything but pure.Faced with an equally daunting challenge, Tanner and Samantha travel west to Fort Knox, Kentucky. Their goal is as simple as it is impossible: to rob the nation's Gold Vault of all its remaining treasure. The trip takes an unexpected turn, and they find themselves recruited by and old woman eager to lay her husband to rest. But even that task is not without moral choices that have them questioning what it means to be one of the nation's last remaining survivors.
Read online
  • 13
Demo

Demo

Alison Miller

Psychology / Self Help / Nonfiction

November, 2002, and sixteen-year-old Clare is travelling from Glasgow to Florence with her older brother Danny to be a part of the anti-capitalist demo. Amidst the crowds they meet Julian and Letitia, two alluring and seductive anti-capitalists from down south. Over the next few years the lives of Danny, Clare, Letitia and Julian become impossibly tangled in the personal and the political as each decides what is and what's not worth shouting about. But how will they come to shape the world – and how will the world come to shape them?
Read online
  • 13
Cochrane in the Pacific

Cochrane in the Pacific

Brian Vale

Nonfiction

SUMMARY:In 1818, the revolutionary government of Chile was poised to attack Peru, the last bastion of Spanish power on the continent. The new ruler, the half-Irish Bernardo O'Higgins, threw his energies into creating a navy. Short of local naval manpower, the Chileans looked to Britain and the United States for the sailors needed to man and command their squadrons, many of them unemployed veterans of the Royal Navy. And, to be the new navy's commander-in-chief, they recruited one of the most fearless and controversial officers of the age: Thomas, Lord Cochrane. The story of the naval war in the Pacific is an exciting one. Under Cochrane's audacious leadership, coasts were blockaded, fortresses stormed and ships seized in bloody hand-to-hand fighting. The result was that Chile and Peru gained their freedom from Spain, while Cochrane enhanced his reputation and made a fortune in pay and prize money. For one hundred and fifty years, the accepted story of the war has been based on Cochrane's own version of events. But how accurate is Cochrane's account? To find out, Brian Vale goes back to the original documents, despatches, diaries and newspapers. The result is a new and vivid account of the war in the Pacific and a reassessment of one of Britain's legendary naval heroes seen at the peak of his career.
Read online
  • 12


Blood of Kings

Blood of Kings

Andrew James

Nonfiction / Culture

Praise for Blood of Kings: 'Extremely compelling..... an almost Game of Thrones feel at times. The novel is certainly a page-turner...I look forward to reading a continuation' Ancient Warfare Magazine'This is a brilliantly written and scrupulously researched historical novel that uniquely captures the atmosphere surrounding the rise to power of Darius, the greatest king of Ancient Persia. His story is interwoven with parallel events in Egypt and Greece, making this novel of absorbing interest to anybody with an interest in the ancient world' Dr John Curtis, OBE, FBA, formerly Keeper of the Department of Middle East, the British MuseumIt is 530 BC and Cyrus the Great has carved out the largest Empire the world had ever seen, making Persia the undisputed superpower of the ancient world. But there is treachery afoot, and Cyrus's life is in danger. In a fast paced tale of love, war, betrayal and revenge,...
Read online
  • 12
Walking Back to Happiness

Walking Back to Happiness

Anne Bennett

Nonfiction

Family saga set in Birmingham in the years following World War Two Hannah Delaney is a young woman with a secret. It is not one that she can share with her large family still back home in Ireland, and especially not with her dying sister. Hannah's moved to England to build a better life, and has met and fallen in love with a young soldier. They intend to marry on his next leave, but then comes D Day, and he doesn't return. Hannah is left alone and pregnant. Surrendering her baby to the nuns is the only option, and Hannah grimly picks up the pieces and goes to work in a Birmingham guesthouse. Common sense tells her to agree to marry sensible Arthur Bradley, but he too has a secret. And secrets will not remain hidden for ever...
Read online
  • 12
Forward

Forward

Abby Wambach

Nonfiction / Memoir

"Forward is the powerful story of an athlete who has inspired girls all over the world to believe in themselves. Abby shows us by example how to overcome problems and live a happier, braver life." —Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, New York Times Bestselling author of Lean In "This is the best memoir I've read by an athlete since Andre Agassi's Open. I could not put it down, and you will not want it to end." —Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and TakeAbby Wambach has always pushed the limits of what is possible. At age seven she was put on the boys' soccer team. At age thirty-five she would become the highest goal scorer—male or female—in the history of soccer, capturing the nation's...
Read online
  • 12
One Breath

One Breath

Adam Skolnick

Nonfiction / Sports

One Breath is a gripping and powerful exploration of the strange and fascinating sport of freediving, and of the tragic, untimely death of America's greatest freediver Competitive freediving--a sport built on diving as deep as possible on a single breath--tests the limits of human ability in the most hostile environment on earth. The unique and eclectic breed of individuals who freedive at the highest level regularly dive hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface, reaching such depths that their organs compress, light disappears, and one mistake could kill them.Even among freedivers, few have ever gone as deep as Nicholas Mevoli. A handsome young American with an unmatched talent for the sport, Nick was among freediving's brightest stars. He was also an extraordinary individual, one who rebelled against the vapid and commoditized society around him by relentlessly questing for something more meaningful and authentic, whatever the risks. So when Nick...
Read online
  • 12
BOOOM!

BOOOM!

Alan MacDonald

Nonfiction / History / Childrens

Old Grumbly, a massive volcano that looms over the Urk valley, has begun to rumble and many Urks fear The End of the World is nigh. They agree that the only way to avoid catastrophe is for someone to climb the volcano and make an offering to the ancestors. Preferably, this someone should be the Urk selected to succeed Chief Hammerhead at the momentous Anointing Ceremony . . . which just so happens to be Iggy. Now Borg can implement his latest plan to snatch control of the Urk tribe for himself, with the help of the Noneck tribe we met in the first book in the series, Oi, Caveboy!. It's time for Iggy to come up with a cunning plan.
Read online
  • 12