Other books that might interest you

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  Thomas Jefferson - The Failures...

  Jonathan Sistine

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  To study Jefferson is to ascend a mountain, its peak awash in veiling mists. He was the embodiment of the Enlightment man, the perfect synthesis of classicist, scientist, and visionary. How can we hope to understand such a towering figure? The Sage of Monticello, deified in American politics, speaks across the ages like a patriotic Moses, or Buddha, or Christ. 
  Or so his disciples would have us believe. 
  The real Thomas Jefferson was an ordinary man, with all the usual failings. Molded by the culture of the Virginia planter class, he fought against tyranny while oppressing his own slaves. He institutionalized racist attitudes, bickered with his rivals, lusted after other men's wives, and kept his own mixed-race children in bondage. 
  Yet his accomplishments are too spectacular to be denied. The Declaration of Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, he even abolished taxes (for awhile). As a Founding Father, his contributions eclipsed all the rest. Without Jefferson, the American experiment might have ended before it began. So how can we make sense of his personal failings in the context of his great works? 
  Thomas Jefferson: The Failures and Greatness of an Ordinary Man looks at Jefferson from the ground up, finding handholds in his love of Greek literature and fine wine, his affection for friends and family, and the compromises he deemed necessary for the survival of the nation. By exploring his relationships, the reader is invited into Jefferson's sanctum sanctorum, to stare unblinking at his complexity and follow truth where it leads.

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  Vanishing Fleece - Adventures in...

  Clara Parkes

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  A fast-paced account of the year Clara Parkes spent transforming a 676-pound bale of fleece into saleable yarn, and the people and vanishing industry she discovered along the way. Join Clara Parkes on a cross-country adventure and meet a cast of characters that includes the shepherds, dyers, and countless workers without whom our knitting needles would be empty, our mills idle, and our feet woefully cold. Travel the country with her as she meets a flock of Saxon Merino sheep in upstate New York, tours a scouring plant in Texas, visits a steamy Maine dyehouse, helps sort freshly shorn wool on a working farm, and learns how wool fleece is measured, baled, shipped, and turned into skeins.  In pursuit of the perfect yarn, Parkes describes a brush with the dangers of opening a bale (they can explode), and her adventures from Maine to Wisconsin ("the most knitterly state") and back again; along the way, she presents a behind-the-scenes look at the spinners, scourers, genius inventors, and crazy-complex mill machines that populate the yarn-making industry. By the end of the book, you'll be ready to set aside the backyard chickens and add a flock of sheep instead. Simply put, no other book exists that explores American culture through the lens of wool.

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  Judging Thomas - The Life and...

  Ken Foskett

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  Clarence Thomas, the youngest and most controversial member of the Supreme Court, could become the longest-serving justice in history, influencing American law for decades to come. Who is this enigmatic man? And what does he believe in?Judging Thomas tells the remarkable story of Clarence Thomas's improbable journey from hardscrabble beginnings in the segregated South to the loftiest court in the land. With objectivity and balance, author Ken Foskett chronicles Thomas's contempt for upper-crust blacks who snubbed his uneducated, working-class roots; his flirtation with the priesthood and, later, Black Power; the resentment that fueled his opposition to affirmative action; the conservative beliefs that ultimately led him to the Supreme Court steps; and the inner resilience that propelled him through the doors.Based on interviews with Thomas himself, fellow justices, family members, and hundreds of friends and associates, Judging Thomas skillfully unravels perhaps the most complex, controversial, and powerful public figure in America today.

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  Women Trailblazers of California...

  Gloria G. Harris, Hannah S. Cohen

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  In a series of biographical profiles, this volume celebrates the lives and achievements of women who made history in the Golden State.   Throughout California’s history, remarkable women have been at the core of change and innovation. In this fascinating volume, Gloria Harris and Hannah Cohen relate the stories of forty women whose struggles and achievements have paved the way for generations. Coming from all walks of life and entering a variety of fields—from activism and conservation to science, medicine, entertainment, and more—these women overcame prejudice, skepticism and injustice to prove that women can do anything.   Visionary architect Julia Morgan designed Hearst Castle; Dolores Huerta co-founded United Farm Workers; Donaldina Cameron, the angry angel of Chinatown, rescued brothel workers; and silent film actress Mary Pickford helped form United Artists Pictures. From fearless pioneers to determined reformers, Harris and Cohen chronicle the triumphs and disappointments of diverse women who dared to take risks and break down barriers.

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  Erich Hartmann: The Life and...

  Charles River Editors

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  The Third Reich's Luftwaffe began World War II with significant advantages over other European air forces, playing a critical role in the German war machine's swift, powerful advance. By war's end, however, the Luftwaffe had been decimated by combat losses and crippled by poor decisions at the highest levels of military decision-making, and it proved unable to challenge Allied air superiority despite a last-minute upsurge in German aircraft production. 
  When Erich Hartmann joined the Luftwaffe, it was a highly advanced, confident, and powerful weapon of war, and Hartmann was perhaps in the “sweet spot” of the Luftwaffe’s training program. He was surrounded by an organization and men with real combat experience, including in Spain, Poland, France and the first brutal 15 months on the Russian front, and all of that helped shape him into the fighter ace that he was to become. He went on to fly 1,404 combat missions and engage in aerial combat on 825 occasions. He crash-landed 16 times, but, never, as he liked to point out in post-war interviews, due to enemy action. As he put it, “I never became another pilot’s victory.” 
  Over the course of the war, Hartmann was credited with shooting down 352 enemy aircraft, 345 of which were Russian and seven being American, making him the most successful combat fighter of all time. In fact, the number is so incredible that it has inevitably come under intense criticism and scrutiny over the years, with some suggesting outright that the figure is falsified, while others have pointed to the unique combat circumstances of the Russian front and suggested that aerial combat there was somehow easier. 
  Either way, Hartmann was in continuous combat for 32 months of the most brutal conflict in history and came out of it almost entirely unscathed, perhaps his most remarkable feat of all.

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  Bloom in Barren Soil - A Memoir...

  Susan Montgomery

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  What do we do when diagnosed with a debilitating disease? How do we cope and heal when our life revolves around perfectionism and control? What journey do we take with our pain? 
  Susan Montgomery invites listeners to wander through the beautifully cultivated metaphorical garden in her memoir. As she deals with severe ulcerative colitis and navigates the challenging terrain of two colorectal surgeries, Susan discovers the resilience within her spirit. 
  Bloom in Barren Soil includes:An unfolding narrative as Susan turns to the creative arts—writing, painting, and learning to play music—as a sanctuary of solaceStories from her childhood that show the relationship with her parents, revealing growth and transformationVibrant paintings that blossomed from her brushes during her illness (available as a PDF on CreatedBySusan.com/Bloom) 
  Join Susan on this inspiring journey through her garden, where she learns to confront adversity, thrive, and ultimately bloom with newfound strength and compassion. 
  This is an uplifting tale, reminding us that the human spirit can flourish even in the most unlikely of places.

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