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Midnight in Washington : how we almost lost our democracy and still could

New Books - Sat, 07/16/2022 - 12:27am

Author: Schiff, Adam B. author.
Published: 2021
Call Number: 973.933
Format: Books
Summary: "From the congressman who led the first impeachment of Donald J. Trump, the vital inside account of American democracy in its darkest hour, and a warning that the forces of autocracy unleashed by Trump remain as potent as ever. In the years leading up to the election of Donald Trump, Congressman Adam Schiff had already been sounding the alarm over the resurgence of autocracy around the world, and the threat this posed to the United States. But as he led the probe into Donald Trump's Russia and Ukraine-related abuses of presidential power, Schiff came to the terrible conclusion that the principal threat to American democracy now came from within. In Midnight in Washington, Schiff argues that the Trump presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the peril will last for years, requiring unprecedented vigilance against the growing and dangerous appeal of authoritarianism. The congressman chronicles step by step just how our democracy was put at such risk, and traces his own path to meeting the crisis--from serious prosecutor, to congressman with an expertise in national security and a reputation for bipartisanship, to liberal lightning rod, scourge of the right, and archenemy of a president. Schiff takes us inside his team of impeachment managers and their desperate defense of the constitution amid the rise of a distinctly American brand of autocracy. Deepening our understanding of prominent public moments, Schiff reveals the private struggles, the internal conflicts, and the triumphs of courage that came with defending the republic against a lawless president--but also the slow surrender of people that he had worked with and admired to the dangerous immorality of a president engaged in an historic betrayal of his office. Schiff's fight for democracy is one of the great dramas of our time, told by the man who became the president's principal antagonist. It is a story that began with Trump but does not end with him, taking us through the disastrous culmination of the presidency and Schiff's account of January 6, 2021, and how the anti-democratic forces Trump unleashed continue to define his party, making the future of democracy in America more uncertain than ever."--Publisher's website.

Shark attacks of the Jersey shore : a history

New Books - Sat, 07/16/2022 - 12:27am

Author: Heyer, Patricia, author. Heyer, Robert, author.
Published: 2020
Call Number: NJC 597.33 HEYER
Format: Books
Summary: Every summer, thousands flock to the Jersey Shore for its beaches and boardwalks, but lurking in the depths beyond is a historic threat to tranquility. Dozens of shark attacks and interactions have occurred throughout Jersey Shore history that reveal bravery, heartbreak and the hubris of man. A boy paid a gruesome price for teasing a trapped shark in the first recorded attack in 1842. The three bloody attacks of 1960 left one man's limb amputated. The horrific summer of 1916 included seven attacks in a two-week span and crafted the caricature of the killer shark that remains in popular culture today. Authors Patricia and Robert Heyer dive into the history of when two apex predators, man and shark, cross paths on the shores of New Jersey.

These violent delights

New Books - Sat, 07/16/2022 - 12:27am

Author: Gong, Chloe author.
Published: 2020
Call Number: Y GONG
Format: Books
Summary: Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Descendant of the Crane, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River. The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang--a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette's first love...and first betrayal. But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns--and grudges--aside and work together, for if they can't stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule..--

The girl from the train

New Books - Sat, 07/16/2022 - 12:27am

Author: Joubert, Irma author. Silke, Elsa translator.
Published: 2015
Call Number: F JOUBERT
Format: Books
Summary: "A sweeping international love story that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit over the inhumanities of war and prejudice. Six-year-old Gretl and her sister jump from a train bound for Auschwitz, her mother and grandmother unable to squeeze between the bars covering the windows. The daughter of a German soldier, Gretl understands very little about how her grandmothers Jewishness brought her first to the ghetto, then to the train, and now, to the Polish countryside where she wanders, searching for food and water for her dying sister. Soon, Gretl finds refuge with Jakob, a Polish freedom fighter, and his family, where she is sheltered until the end of the war; Gretl is then sent away to a new life, a new name, and a new faith in Apartheid-era South Africa. As she comes of age in this strange place, she confronts its prejudices as she hides the truth of her past from her new family. When Jakob makes his way to South Africa many years later, Gretl and Jakob are reunited in a love story that transcends time and distance and survives the ravages of hatred and war"--

The help

New Books - Sat, 07/16/2022 - 12:27am

Author: Stockett, Kathryn.
Published: 2011 2009
Call Number: F STOCKETT
Format: Books
Summary: In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.