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  Escape From The Confederacy

  Benjamin F. Hasson

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  Benjamin F Hasson was a Union officer in the Civil War of the United States. After being captured by the Confederacy, he escaped from a prison train taking prisoners to the infamous Andersonville prison. The short book points up Hasson’s ingenuity in overcoming obstacles to his flight to Union lines but also shows an insight into the lives of Southern blacks, both slave and free. This oral version omits the last section of his book, which is a list of men captured from his regiment and their fates. ( david wales)

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  Sacco and Vanzetti - The History...

  Charles River Editors

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  There are few cases in American history as well known as Sacco and Vanzetti, and perhaps none of them were as controversial or socially charged as the trials against the two Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. The two avowed anarchists were ultimately tried and executed for murder and armed robbery, but the case said as much about the society trying them as it did about their guilt or innocence. Nearly 90 years later, there is still a heated debate over whether the two men, who arduously asserted their innocence, were actually guilty, but what is clear is that many Americans at the time believed they were being unjustly accused based on anti-Italian prejudice and disdain for their political beliefs. After they were arrested and charged, a number of respected celebrities lobbied on their behalf, including Albert Einstein, H.G. Wells, and future Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, which compelled Massachusetts’ governor to appoint a commission to investigate the case even after Sacco and Vanzetti had been convicted and sentenced to death. Ultimately, however, the commission upheld the finding of guilty, and the two men were electrocuted to death in August 1927. Even in the wake of the executions, people continued to bring up the case, not only in an effort to determine whether the two were actually guilty but also to decry the perceived injustice. H.G. Wells compared the outcome to the Dreyfus Affair, writing, “The guilt or innocence of these two Italians is not the issue that has excited the opinion of the world. Possibly they were actual murderers, and still more possibly they knew more than they would admit about the crime.... Europe is not ‘retrying’ Sacco and Vanzetti or anything of the sort. It is saying what it thinks of Judge Thayer. Executing political opponents as political opponents after the fashion of Mussolini and Moscow we can understand, or bandits as bandits; but this business of trying and executing murderers as Reds, or Reds as murderers, seems to be a new and very frightening line for the courts of a State in the most powerful and civilized Union on earth to pursue.” Sacco and Vanzetti: The History of 20th Century America’s Most Controversial Case chronicles the notorious trial and execution of the two Italian anarchists.

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  Health Care Reform in the SCOTUS

  PBS NewsHour

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  Arguments at the Supreme Court Tuesday dealt with whether Congress had the authority to require citizens to purchase health insurance and whether the government could issue a financial penalty for those who decline. Betty Ann Bowser reports then Marcia Coyle and Susan Dentzer discuss the crux of the hearings with Gwen Ifill.

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  The Forger's Spell - A True...

  Edward Dolnick

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  “Mesmerizing account of an amateur artist who made millions selling forged paintings to art-obsessed Nazis and business tycoons” (Kirkus, starred review). 
   
  New York Times–Bestseller 
   
  A New York Times Staff Pick 
   
  “Dolnick brilliantly re-creates the circumstances that made possible one of the most audacious frauds of the twentieth century. . . . An incomparable page turner.” —Boston Globe 
   
  As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger’s Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. The con man’s mark was Hermann Goering, one of the most reviled leaders of Nazi Germany and a fanatic collector of art. 
   
  It was an almost perfect crime. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. But, as Edward Dolnick reveals, the reason for the forger’s success was not his artistic skill. Van Meegeren was a mediocre artist. His true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling both the Nazis and the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life . . .  
   
  “When it comes to forgery and its ability to fascinate, the bigger the better, and the greater the audacity the more compelling. . . . Author Edward Dolnick has hit the mother lode.” —Los Angeles Times 
   
  “Dolnick’s zesty, incisive, and entertaining inquiry illuminates the hidden dimensions and explicates the far-reaching implications of this fascinating and provocative collision of art and ambition, deception and war.” —Booklist 
   
  “A fascinating analysis of the forger’s technique and a perceptive discussion of van Meegeren’s genius at manipulating people.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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  Tolstoy and the Purple Chair -...

  Nina Sankovitch

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  Nina Sankovitch has always been a reader. As a child, she discovered that a trip to the local bookmobile with her sisters was more exhilarating than a ride at the carnival. Books were the glue that held her immigrant family together. When Nina's eldest sister died at the age of forty-six, Nina turned to books for comfort, escape, and introspection. In her beloved purple chair, she rediscovered the magic of such writers as Toni Morrison, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ian McEwan, Edith Wharton, and, of course, Leo Tolstoy. Through the connections Nina made with books and authors (and even other readers), her life changed profoundly, and in unexpected ways. Reading, it turns out, can be the ultimate therapy. 
  Tolstoy and the Purple Chair also tells the story of the Sankovitch family: Nina's father, who barely escaped death in Belarus during World War II; her four rambunctious children, who offer up their own book recommendations while helping out with the cooking and cleaning; and Anne-Marie, her oldest sister and idol, with whom Nina shared the pleasure of books, even in her last moments of life. In our lightning-paced culture that encourages us to seek more, bigger, and better things, Nina's daring journey shows how we can deepen the quality of our everyday lives—if we only find the time.

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  Shut Up Stop Whining and Get a...

  Larry Winget

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  Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life is a Wall Street Journal number one best-seller that isn't afraid to tell you it's time to change. From motivational speaker Larry Winget, also known as The Pitbull of Personal Development and The World's Only Irritational Speaker, comes a not-so-typical self help book. Winget's hilarious and in-your-face observations about the sometimes ugly truth of life will make you kick yourself in the butt and encourage you to change your life for the better.

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